The Reivers view of religion was the result of a number of factors. To begin with the church had little presence on the border. Due to the state of the border there were few members of the clergy who would wish to take up residence and the challenge of converting cattle rustlers, theifs and murderers.

The one indisputable fact concerning the Border Reivers was their supreme ability in the art of theft and guerilla warfare. A lifestyle which required specialist equipment. The fully equipped Reiver represented an elite light cavalryman, capable of navigating rough terrain at night with practiced stealth, and when required implementing deadly force.

This is a stretch of land measuring, at the longest, 12 miles by 4 miles, but its size bears little relation to the trouble it caused. It had been called the Debatable Land as early as the 15th century, because its ownership was in dispute between England and Scotland.

Solway Moss is possibly most notable for a staging ground of a remarkable victory for the English against the Scots. Leading up to the battle was an escalation of raids incited by the respective governments. There was an increase in reprisal raids most notably resulting in a raid by Robert Bowes the English East March […]

Hermitage Castle resides in the small valley of the Hermitage Water in Liddesdale, that turbulent Reiver infested haunt. The name is said to derive from a holy man whom lived within the valley long before the castle was ever built. What that holy man would make of the ruin which stands even today is questionable. […]