On the night of 13 April 1596, the Scottish Warden Robert Kerr of Cessford led a daring raid on Carlisle Castle to free Kinmont Willie Armstrong, who had been illegally arrested by the English. The rescue party scaled the castle walls during a rainstorm, freed Kinmont Willie, and escaped back into Scotland. The ballad of Kinmont Willie, probably composed by Kerr himself or his circle, became one of the masterpieces of Border literature. The episode demonstrated that even the greatest English border fortress was vulnerable to determined raider assault.
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