Reivers History
Tales of blood and guts
As you will probably know, the word Reiver means plunderer. The route is named after the murdering bandits who ran a medieval equivalent of Cosa Nostra.
This was the Chicago or Sicily of its time, when marauding clans terrorised both the English and Scottish sides of the Border for 350 years, right up to the 17th century. They lived by cattle rustling, kidnapping, extortion, arson and murder. The route passes many castles like Bew Castle as well as a number of fortified farmhouses like Askerton Castle, all of which reveal the defensive needs of the area as well as its rich heritage.
Despite the cosy thematising that has been perpetrated by tourism to give the past a false appeal, there is nothing remotely quaint or faintly honourable about Reiving; many of the families were happy to swing both ways, fighting for the English if the price was right, or vice versa.
One family, the Grahams, were so infamous that their surnames were banned by law, so the Grahams changed them to Maharg (Graham backwards), which later also became McHarg. Indeed, the word 'blackmail' comes from the Reivers: a farmer paid 'blackmail' - rent in the form of cattle instead of the legal 'whitemail', which was paid in silver, to a powerful Reiver who would give him 'protection' in return.
The guilty family names
Archbold; Armstrong; Beattie; Bell; Burns; Carleton; Carlisle;Carnaby; Carrs; Carruthers; Chamberlain; Charlton; Collingwood;Crichtons; Crisp; Croziers; Cuthbert; Dacre; Davidson; Dixon;Dodd; Douglas; Dunne; Elliot; Fenwick; Forster; Graham; Gray;Hall; Hedley; Henderson; Heron; Hetherington; Hume; Irvine; Irving; Johnston; Kerr; Laidlaw; Little; Lowther; Maxwell; Milburn;Musgrove; Nixon; Noble; Ogle; Oliver; Potts; Pringle; Radcliffe;Reade; Ridley; Robson; Routledge; Rutherford; Salkeld; Scott; Selby; Shaftoe; Storey; Simpson; Tait; Taylor; Trotter; Turnbull; Wake; Watson; Wilson; Woodrington; Young.