Border country

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The border country is the area either side of the Anglo-Scottish border including parts of the modern council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders, and parts of the English counties of Cumbria, County Durham and Northumberland. It is a hilly area, with the Scottish Southern Uplands to the north, and the Cheviot Hills forming the border between the two countries to the south.

Before the two kingdoms were united as the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Border clans would switch allegiance between the Scottish and English thrones depending on what was most favourable for the members of the clan.

Border clans should not be confused with the Highland clan; the Border clan was a much looser structure, with far less in the way of clan culture or a recognition of clan history.^{[citation needed]} However, it is still acceptable to refer to the Border families as 'clans' as the Scots themselves appear to have used both terms interchangeably until the 19th century. A 16th century Act of the Scottish Parliament talks about the chiefs of the border clans and a late 17th century statement by the Lord Advocate also uses both terms interchangeably. Although Lowland aristocrats may have increasingly liked to refer to themselves as 'families', the idea that the term 'clan' should be used of highland families alone is a 19th century convention.^[1]

Historic Border clans include the following: Armstrong, Beattie, Bell, Carr, Crozier, Dickson, Douglas, Dunn, Elliot, Fenwick, Graham, Hall, Kerr, Naisbitt, Nixon, Ogilvie, Reed, Ridley, Robson, Scott and Storey. In addition, there were Lowland families associated with these clans, including the Ballantyne, Fraser, Jamieson, Henderson, Irvine, Jardine, Moffat, Porteous, Tweedie, and Veitch families, among others.

See also

• Border Collie
• Scots' Dike
• Bishop of Durham
• Border Reivers
• History of Northumberland
• History of Cumbria
• Scottish Marches

References

Further reading

• Homer Dixon B. The Border or Riding Clans and History of Clan Dickson, New York, Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers, 1889
• Alexander Nisbet. Nisbet's System of Heraldry published in Edinburgh, 1722

Coordinates: 55°26′10″N 2°43′08″W / 55.43611°N 2.71889°W / 55.43611; -2.71889

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