Richie Graham of Brackenhill (1555-1606) was a prominent

Reiver Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their v ...

active in late sixteenth century Great Britain. Richie was the son of Fergus Graham of Mote in Lydysdale, Cumberland. Fergus Graham of Mote acquired Brackenhill in

Arthuret Arthuret is a civil parish in the Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,434, increasing to 2,471 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes the town of Longtown and the village of Easton. It ...

after 1561. He purchased it from Sir Thomas Dacre. He settled the property on to his third son, Richard or Richie in the 1580s. Falkland Palace - geograph

Richie Graham built

Brackenhill Tower Brackenhill Tower is a peel tower, in the parish of Arthuret, in Cumbria, just north of the River Lyne. The site is about north of Kirklinton and east of Longtown, or north of Carlisle and east of Gretna Green, and is a good defensive posi ...

in 1584 . On 27 June 1592 he joined the forces of the rebel

Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...

and surrounded and besieged

Falkland Palace Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish Kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, providing an escape from political and religious turmoil. Today it is under the stewardship o ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

while

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and En ...

were in residence. Graham and his companions, including Thomas Musgrave, captain of

Bewcastle Bewcastle is a large civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Cumberland. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 411, reducing to 391 at the 2011 Census. The parish ...

, sacked the town of

Falkland Falkland may refer to: * Falkland, British Columbia, a community in Canada * Falkland, Nova Scotia, a community in Canada * Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the south Atlantic Ocean * Falkland, Fife, a former burgh in Fife, Scotland ** Falkl ...

and stole 80 horses and clothes and money from the townspeople. After the Raid of Falkland he sheltered the Scottish rebel

James Douglas of Spott James Douglas of Spott (died 1615) was a Scottish landowner and conspirator. Career He was a son of James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, the Regent Morton. He was appointed Prior of Pluscarden in 1577 by his father, and given a lease of lead mine ...

at Brackenhill. He aided Lord Buccleuch in springing

Kinmont Willie William Armstrong of Kinmont or Kinmont Willie was a Scottish border reiver and outlaw active in the Anglo-Scottish Border country in the last decades of the 16th century. He lived at the Tower of Sark, close to the border between Scotland an ...

from

Carlisle Castle Carlisle Castle is a medieval stone keep castle that stands within the English city of Carlisle near the ruins of Hadrian's Wall. First built during the reign of William II in 1093 and rebuilt in stone under Henry I in 1122, the castle is over ...

in 1596. In June 1596, he was accused of making the queen's tenants pay rent to him, and hosting a coiner making counterfeit money in a dwelling in a mill and in a room in the tower of his own house at Brackenhill. Richie Graham died in 1606. Richie Graham can be confused with a contemporary Scottish Richie Graham, who was involved in the

North Berwick Witch Trials The North Berwick witch trials were the trials in 1590 of a number of people from East Lothian, Scotland, accused of witchcraft in the St Andrew's Auld Kirk in North Berwick on Halloween night. They ran for two years, and implicated over seventy ...

.''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 505.

References

1555 births 1606 deaths Border Reivers 16th-century English people People of Falkland Palace {{England-bio-stub