The Forgotten Lands

Buckholm tower

Littledean tower

The United Borderlands Historic Trust is a philanthropic, non-governmental organisation set up to promote the historic area once known as the ‘Border Marches’ (and once more widely ‘The Old North’) as a both a viable and recognised area of the United Kingdom, and a well-known and attractive tourism destination.

The ‘Border Marches’ make up an area roughly the size of Wales. But although of vast importance to the historic, cultural, and artistic development of the United Kingdom, its very existence remains largely unknown to the modern populations of both this country and abroad.

The reason for this is that the area itself is split by both national and county boundaries (England/Scotland, Cumberland/Northumberland, and Scottish Borders/Dumfries and Galloway) and in each case, the area involved is seen by local authorities as the quiet, rural region, and as a result a neglected area.

Whereas in fact, taken as a whole, this is one of the most important areas of the United Kingdom.

It is also the very cradle of British Christianity, from the earliest Celtic Church onwards, and probably the best contender in Britain for studying the roots of the Arthurian legends.

Today, the area is very sparsely populated indeed, due in no small part to its violent ‘clearance’ in the years both preceding and following the Union of the Crowns, when King James VI of Scotland, 'inherited' the English throne, thus becoming also King James I of England.

The indigenous Borderers, some of the most capable light horsemen in Europe, who had been both used and persecuted by the monarchs of both realms, suddenly became redundant, and a dangerous irritant to the Crown.

Therefore, the worst were hanged, drowned, burned out of their homes, transported abroad, or sent to fight in foreign wars. And thus the land was emptied. What can be said however, is that without any doubt wherever the Borderers eventually settled, they changed that land forever, and thus the old ‘Riding Surnames’ of the Anglo-Scottish Borders are famous worldwide: very well represented indeed in the United States, and spread across Europe from the Low Countries and Scandinavia into the heartlands of Russia.

Unfortunately, the land they left, here along the Border line, has never really been subject to any systematic or comprehensive historical or archaeological survey, and although most of the history lies written upon the landscape, that landscape itself is under imminent threat, from industry, blanket forestry (largely sitka spruce) and further severe damage due to the installation of massive windfarms, all of which is with the approval of both the national and local governments plus local landowners, who benefit hugely from these enterprises.

The parties involved appear extremely reluctant to carry out detailed archaeological surveys, and rely on so called ‘desk surveys’ by their own chosen ( or employed) archaeologists. And of course a desk survey of the land reveals very little indeed, since no proper survey has ever taken place. Thus the graves and dwellings, the result of thousands of years of occupation, are being systematically ignored, and in the worst cases destroyed.

Much has already gone... much is currently under threat... and it is one of the aims of this Trust to record, preserve and signpost as much as it is possible to do.

The Ruthwell cross, Anglo-Saxon

Lowlands Scots left hand dagger

Bewcastle