Border Ballads

A lot of our knowledge about the Reivers and their lives comes from the songs and ballads passed down across the generations. These ballads are in turn intimately linked with Sir Walter Scott who collected the songs as he travelled across the Border lands.

Although they started out as songs Sir Walter Scott in fact introduced them to a wider public as poetry.

Ill Week, Reivers and Northumberland history

When Queen Elizabeth 1st died on 24th March 1603 the growing lawlessness in the Borders came to a dramatic conclusion. Believing that the rule of law was effectively suspended the Border Reivers mounted a huge raid into Engalnd. Over 4,000 cattle and 5,000 sheep and goats were stolen during what became known as ILL week.

However as soon as James VI of Scotland became James 1st of England the need for a frontier was done away with. He abolished the "marches", abolished the post of warden of the Borders and change the name of the area to "The Middle Shires".
He then went about pacifying the area.

History of Northumberland - Ponteland Pele Tower

Ponteland is built around an ancient crossing point of the river Pont. In 1244 it was here that a peace treaty between England and Scotland was negotiated. The village is on a well trampled path between Newcastle and Scotland. The danger of raiders meant that a Pele tower, attached to the vicarage was essential to help safeguard the inhabitants.

A Pele tower was usually of simple construction, walls over 10 feet thick and a huge reinforced door.

History of Northumberland and Berwick-upon-Tweed

Looking back across the centuries, talking about the reivers and the hostility between England and Scotland one usually ends up discussing Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Back in the 13th century Berwick was probably one of the wealthiest cities in Scotland. In 1291 Edward the 1st presided over a great meeting to determine the King of Scotland. His choice was John Baliol, who in turn swore an oath of allegiance to the English crown.
However in 1296, a disaffected John Baliol rebelled and invaded Northumberland. Edward 1st rode northwards and his 1st target was Berwick. A combined land/sea attack overwhelmed the defences and the rich and wealthy town was put to the sword.
It is claimed that over 17,000 towns folk perished.

Over the years Berwick has seen many important historical figures. For instance

1. Edward II fled to Berwick after his humiliating loss at Bannockburn.
2. Twenty years later the longbowmen of Edward III inflicted equally awful punishment on the Scots at Halidon Hill.
3. James VI of Scotland, on his way to London to be crowned James I of England became terrified when crossing the river over the old wooden bridge at Berwick. The new stone bridge was called the King James Bridge ever since.

Ancient Northumberland Roads

From medieval times through to the creation of the turnpikes there were a number of different types of road traversing Northumberland.

The most important ancient roads were the Highways. These were usable at the drier times of the year and these roads would follow the harder ground and lighter soils , often leading to inexplicable twists and turns.

After the Highways came the paved roads. These were either old Roman roads or were "made up" with stone. The paved roads were also known as streets.

After the paved roads came the Salt roads and then the Drove roads.

Further down the list in order of importance we get Lanes and finally tracks or paths.

Drove roads in Northumberland

Drift or Drove roads across Northumberland were the ancient paths taken by cattle, geese and sheep across the countryside between Scotland and London. The drove roads tended to avoid the main highways and towns.

Some experts have estimated the number of cattle being driven down from Scotland to London as high as 30,000 per year. The majority of these would have gone through Northumberland. The drive from Scotland to London would have typically taken eight weeks.

However these drove roads have not left a lasting legacy on place names within Northumberland.

Salt roads in Northumberland

Back in the middle ages each "town" tried to be self supporting. However Salt was one commodity which usually had to be imported. This in turn made it an attractive source of tax revenue. The roads which were used to help transport Salt became known as Salt roads. One of these followed an even older track from the Tyne through Alnmouth into Scotland.

The Salt trade has left its mark amongst place names in Northumberland, examples being

1. Saltwick
2. Salters' Bridge
3. Salters' road

The Salt roads generally ranked quite low on accessability although it is believed that some were paved.

Welcome to Vicky's Cottage Blog

I went to school at Longridge Towers, just outside Berwick-upon-Tweed. When I was 14 it came that time when we had to choose our subjects, one of which being the choice between History and Geography. Although some of my friends struggled with the decision between the two subjects, I on the other hand found it quite simple, Geography! I always found History to be so tedious and with aspirations of become a Marine Biologist coupled with my love for going scuba driving off the Berwick coast, I didn’t see how history would help me much.

However as we get older our priorities and interest change and I have found that even though our office at Northumbria Byways is in a very quiet and rural area we have some interesting links to great times and events in history.

For example, I was quite interested to find out that the Village of Farlam, just along the road from my office, is the birthplace of Joseph Bell, the Chief Engineer of The Titanic. He was a well respected and brilliant engineer, considered to be the top of his trade and so it was not surprising that he received the job on The Titanic, the most celebrated job in engineering at the time. He and his crew are deservedly credited with maintaining power to the pumps and the lights, after disaster struck The Titanic in order to give the boat its best possible chance for staying afloat long enough for The California, the closest boat at the time of the iceberg collision, to reach The Titanic. Unfortunately, the boat was breaking faster than any rescue could reach them and broke in two between boiler rooms 1 and 2 where the freezing water from the Atlantic came crashing in killing Joseph Bell and his crew immediately. However, without their great effort to keep the power going and keeping The Titanic afloat the bit longer many more people would have died.

There is so much more to tell about the land around Northumbria Byways office, but that’s another story for another day! If you fancy staying in this area, take a look at the holiday cottages near Hadrian's Wall that we can offer or perhaps some North Pennines holiday cottages.

Animals On Our Travels

Travelling around checking out new Northumberland holiday cottages and updating the photographs of current cottages in the Northumbria Byways brochure, it is amazing the variety of unusual animals we see on our journeys.

Something small and beige shot across the road in front of the car the other day with it’s tail in the air. It reminded me of a dodgem car at a funfair when I was little. The tail, which had a black tip, looked just like the pole which goes up from the dodgem car to the mesh above which I suppose is electrified as sparks appear as the car moves forward. We decided between us it was a stoat or weasel. We drove a few more miles and came across a badger by the side of the road, unfortunately it was not moving very swiftly. No prizes for guessing what had happened to it.

That day our destination was The Granary in Sharpeton village in the Northumberland National Park. There is a farm just as you approach the village and they have Llamas. What strange animals they are - they have a very superior look about them.

These two in the photo look like an old married couple, one has a bad fitting wig, puckering up to apply her lipstick and the other bushy eyebrows and a beard, wondering where he has left his newspaper!

Surprise Stop At Alnwick Gardens

Recently I had to travel to Longhoughton in Northumberland to check out a very picturesque cottage for possible entry into our Northumbria Byways brochure. As it was a Sunday and a bright sunny day, my husband and I decided to ask his mother is she would like to come along with us for a ride out. She is 89 with mobility problems so she doesn’t get out of the house very often.

As a surprise for her we decide to stop off at The Alnwick Gardens on our way home to have lunch and a wander around the gardens. I telephoned the Alnwick Gardens in advance to arrange a wheelchair for her. They were very helpful and a wheelchair was reserved for us. My mother in law has a disabled parking badge so we drove to the disabled parking area, which is very close to Alnwick Gardens.

We were met by a very friendly and helpful parking attendant. We told him we had pre-arranged a wheelchair so he immediately went off to collect it for us. We decide to have lunch in the Tree House, so headed off in that direction. We had not bought our admission tickets, which we needed to go into the Tree House, so I had to go back to buy them, £8.00 each for us and £7.50 for mother in law. We paid an extra £1 per ticket for a Gift Aid Donation which I thought was a good idea. Having to go back for the tickets was a little annoying to be honest as there were no signs to say we needed admission tickets if we were going straight to the restaurant and not exploring the whole of the Tree House. Never mind, we went into the Tree House restaurant and were taken straight to a table. The Sunday Lunch Menu was very good - excellent roast topside of beef and huge Yorkshire puddings! After lunch we had a leisurely stroll around the Gardens and saw plenty of flowers and plants in bloom as well as a lovely carpet of bluebells. All in all, a 'grand day out'!