The accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne in 1603 removed the fundamental reason for Border lawlessness — the existence of a frontier between two hostile kingdoms. James moved immediately to pacify the region. A joint Anglo-Scottish commission executed hundreds of reivers, deported others to Ireland, and dismantled the system of tower houses that had enabled border violence. Within a generation, the Border counties were transformed from a war zone into ordinary rural counties. The reiver world was gone.
Hundreds of reivers executed; many families transported to Ireland
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near Roxburghshire