The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands,
[.] lay between Scotland and England.
It was formerly in question as to which it belonged to when they were distinct kingdoms.
For most of its existence, the area was a lawless zone controlled by clans of "
border reivers" which terrorized the surrounding areas. It became the last part of Britain to be brought under state control in the middle of the 16th century by
James V of Scotland, and was eventually divided between Scotland and England.
Geography and etymology
The Debatable Lands extended from the
Solway Firth near
Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England.
Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...
to
Langholm in
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...
, the largest population centre being
Canonbie.
The lands included the
baronies of
Kirkandrews, Bryntallone and Morton.
They were around long from north to south and wide.
The boundaries were marked by the rivers
Liddel and
Esk in the east and the
River Sark in the west.
The name either signifies litigious or disputable ground, or it comes from the Old English word "battable" (land suitable for fattening livestock).
"Border reiver" clans
The origins of the peculiar status of this territory have been the subject of various interpretations. One of the more convincing proposals is that it arose from a landholding created on both sides of the
Esk in the twelfth century. For over three hundred years the area was effectively controlled by local "riding surnames" or
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
s of
border reivers,
Scots for plunderers or raiders. They successfully resisted any attempt by the Scottish or English governments to impose their authority.
In his history of these clans (''The Steel Bonnets'', 1971),
George MacDonald Fraser writes that the
Armstrongs alone could put 3,000 men in the field. Other clans in the area were the Elwands, Ellwoods, or
Eliotts who extended into
Teviotdale; the Nixons who were more numerous in
Cumberland; the Crossars in Upper
Liddesdale; and the
Grahams, who owned five
towers in the Debatable Land. The
Irvings,
Carruthers, Olivers, Bells, Dicksons, and Littles were also present in varying numbers.
In the 15th century, both England and Scotland considered the Debatable Lands to be too poor and lawless to fight over or to attempt to govern. The prevailing anarchy in the area, however, spilled over into both countries as the reivers launched frequent raids on farms and settlements outside the Debatable Lands, and used the profits to become major landowners. This led to the parliaments of both kingdoms
outlawing everyone in the Debatable Lands in 1537 and 1551 respectively, providing that "all Englishmen and Scottishmen are and shall be free to rob, burn, spoil, slay, murder and destroy, all and every such person and persons, their bodies, property, goods and livestock".
Eventually, however, the Debatable Lands became the last part of Great Britain to be brought under the control of a state
beginning in 1530, when King
James V of Scotland took action against the lawless
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
s of the Debatable Lands and imprisoned the lords
Bothwell,
Maxwell
Maxwell may refer to:
People
* Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist
* Justice Maxwell (disambiguation)
* Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of N ...
and
Home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...
,
Walter Scott of Buccleuch, and other border
laird
Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...
s for their lack of action. James took various other steps, but significantly he broke the strength of the Armstrongs by hanging
Johnnie Armstrong of
Gilnockie and thirty-one others at
Caerlanrig
Caerlanrig - also spelled 'Carlenrig' - ( Gaelic: ''Cathair Lannraig'') is a hamlet in the parish of Cavers, Borders, Scotland, lying on the River Teviot, 6 miles (10 km) north east of that river's source, and 10 miles (16 km) sout ...
Chapel, under questionable circumstances.
Division between England and Scotland
In 1552, commissioners from Scotland and England met and divided the Debatable Lands between England and Scotland, with a line, known as the
Scots' Dike, drawn from Esk to Sark, abolishing the Debatable Lands'
de facto independence from either crown.
Regent Arran gave
John Maxwell of
Terregles £200
Scots in 1553 towards the building of "a dyke upun the Marches of this realm of the ground once called Debatable".
Since then, the
Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England.
The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...
has remained essentially unchanged. The 1552 division of the Debatable Lands, the Scots' Dike and the several changes to the status of
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...
between the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries until it finally became English in 1482, remains the only significant alterations to the border agreed in the 1237
Treaty of York.
The French diplomat
Henri Cleutin described visits by the Regent
Mary of Guise to the area in the 1550s. Cleutin wrote to
Antoine de Noailles, the French ambassador in London, about the Graham Family who were at the centre of troubles. Richard Graham and his son William Graham, two English members of the family occupied Priory lands at
Canonbie, and had expelled John Graham, the Scottish owner or tenant. Cleutin commanded a unit of cavalry during the Regent's progresses.
In 1590
James VI of Scotland declared that the Debatable Lands and the lands of Canonbie were annexed to the crown, and he set new leases to various landowners.
[David Masson, ''Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1585-1592'', vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), pp. 799-800.]
See also
*
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...
*
History of Cumbria
*
List of places in the Scottish Borders
''Map of places in the Scottish Borders compiled from this list'':See the list of places in Scotland for places in other counties.
This list of places in the Scottish Borders includes towns, villages, hamlet (place), hamlets, castles, golf courses ...
*
March law (Anglo-Scottish border)
*
Scottish Marches
Notes
References
*
*John M. Todd (2006), 'The West March on the Anglo-Scottish Border in the Twelfth Century, and the Origins of the Western Debatable Land', Northern History, 43:1, 11–19, DOI: 10.1179/174587006X8678
;Attribution
*
Further reading
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External links
SCRAN: Johnnie Armstrong - A Reiver's StorySCRAN: Family Names: ArmstrongVideo on the 'Monition of Cursing' stone, Carlisle.{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2018
History of the Scottish Borders
Military history of the United Kingdom
History of Dumfriesshire
Anglo-Scottish border
Disputed territories in Europe
Former disputed land areas