BORDER, THE, the territory on both sides of the bound ary line between England and Scotland, but especially the Scottish side. The vicissitudes of its life illustrate the relations between the two kingdoms for centuries before the union. The line begins on the coast of Berwickshire at a spot 3m. N. by W. of Berwick, and, after running a short distance west and south reaches the Tweed near the village of Paxton, whence it keeps to the river to a point just beyond Carham. There it strikes off south-south east to the Cheviot hills, the watershed of which for 35m. consti tutes the boundary, which is thereafter formed by a series of streams—Bells Burn, the Kershope, Liddel and Esk. After fol lowing the last named for Im. it cuts across the country due west to the Sark, which it follows to the river's mouth at the head of the Solway firth. The length of this boundary is 108m., but a direct line from Solway to the North sea is only 70 miles. At the extreme eastern end a small district of 8sq.m., consisting of the tract north of the Tweed not included in Scotland, forms the "bounds" or "liberties" of Berwick, or the country of the borough and town of Berwick-on-Tweed. On the extreme west between the Sark and the Esk, as far up the latter as its junction with the Liddel, was "No man's land" (locally debatable or thriep land), for generations the haunt of outlaws and brigands, the possession of which was a constant source of contention between England and Scotland until its boundaries were finally adjusted in 1552. The English border counties are Northumberland and Cumber land, the Scottish Berwick, Roxburgh and Dumfries ; though his torically, and still by usage, the Scottish shires of Selkirk and Peebles have always been classed as border shires.
On the south side are lofty, bleak moorlands, affording sub sistence for sheep and cattle, and rugged glens and ravines, while on the north there are many stretches of fertile soil, especially in the beautiful valleys and dales. The Roman road known in medi aeval times as Dere street crossed the Cheviots at Brownhartlaw (1,664ft.), close to the camp of Ad Fines by means of which the warlike Brigantes on the south and the Gadeni and Otadeni on the north were held in check, while another Roman road, the "Wheel Causeway," passed into Scotland near the headwaters of north Tyne and Liddel.
The main ways across the border in modern times include roads from the Scottish side converging on Berwick and continued southward along the coast or via Wooler, roads from Wooler on the English side crossing at Coldstream, with a secondary route via the valley of Bowmont Water reaching the Tweed at Kelso, the road from Hexham via the Reed valley to Carter Bar and Jedburgh crossing the Cheviots at over 1,25oft. above sea, the north Tyne way to Liddel Water followed by a secondary road related to the Wheel Causeway of the Romans, and the roads from Carlisle and Brampton on the English side via Longtown and via Gretna Green. (For early history see LOTHIAN ; NORTHUMBRIA; In the i 2th century were founded the abbeys of Hexham and Alnwick, the priory church of Lindisfarne and the cathedral of Carlisle on the English side, and on the Scottish side the abbeys of Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose and Dryburgh. The deaths of the Scot tish king, Alexander III. and Margaret the Maid of Nor way (1290) were followed by the wars of the succession and independence between the kingdoms. Berwick and Carlisle were repeatedly assailed, and battles took place at Halidon Hill (1333), Otterburn (1388), Nisbet (1402), Homildon (1402), Piperden Hedgeley Moor (1464), Flodden (1513), Solway Moss (1542), and Ancrum Moor . There were also innumerable fights arising out of family feuds and raids among the Douglases, the Percies, Scotts of Buccleuch, Kers, Humes, Haigs of Bemer syde, Armstrongs, Eliots, Grahams, Johnstones, Maxwells and other families, of which the most serious were the encounters at Arkenholme (Langholm) in 1455, the Raid of Reidswire (1575), and the bloody combat at Dryfe Sands • The English expe ditions of 1544 and 1545 involved the destruction of the four Scottish border abbeys, the sack of towns, and the obliteration of Roxburgh. The only other important conflict belongs to the Covenanters' time, when the marquess of Montrose was defeated at Philiphaugh in 1645. Partly for the defence of the kingdom and partly to overawe the border freebooters and moss troopers, who menaced the peace until they were suppressed in the 17th cen tury, castles were erected at various points on both sides of the border.
The line of the border was usually divided into the East, Mid dle and West Marches, each under the control of an English and a Scots warden, who had to keep the peace, enforce punishment for breach of the law, and take care that neither country encroached on the boundary of the other. The wardens usually conferred once a year, as a rule in a friendly spirit, though in 1575 a display of temper led to the affair of the Raid of Reidswire. The appoint ment was important and lucrative, part of the fines and forfeits falling to the warden, who was also entitled to ration and for age for his retinue. On his first public progress to London, James VI. of Scotland and James I. of England attended service in Ber wick church (March 27, 1603) "to return thanks for his peaceful entry into his new dominions." Anxious to blot out the bitter past, he forbade the use of the word "Borders," replacing it by "Middle Shires," which, however, soon ceased to be used. Frontier fort resses were to be dismantled and their garrisons reduced to nomi nal strength. This policy had the desired effect, though the expres sion "Borders" proved too convenient geographically to be dropped. Some English strongholds, such as Alnwick, Chilling ham, Ford and Naworth, have been modernized; others, like Nor ham, Wark and Warkworth, are picturesque ruins; but most of the Scottish fortresses have been demolished and their sites built over, or they are now grass-grown mounds. A chain of peel towers crosses the country from coast to coast. Many were homes of marauding chiefs, and nearly all were used as beacon-stations. Early in the 18th century the Scottish gypsies found a congenial home on the Roxburghshire side of the Cheviots; and later the Scottish border became notorious for loo years as offering hospi tality to runaway couples who were clandestinely married at Gretna. Green, Coldstream or Lamberton.
Border ballads occupy a distinctive place in English literature. Many were rescued from oblivion by Sir Walter Scott in Min strelsy of the Scottish Border and he preserved a great deal in Border Antiquities of England and Scotland. Border traditions and folk-lore appealed strongly to James Hogg ("the Ettrick Shep herd"), John Wilson ("Christopher North"), and John Mackay Wilson (1804-35), whose Tales of the Borders, published in long enjoyed popular favour.