The Routledges early beginnings and days as Border Reivers, are quite often found inter-connected with the Scott's, whether it be, land sales, Reiving, or just direct knock on effects from their actions. There is not for one minute a claim here of a feud between the two families but they were certainly no stranger to each other. As we have already seen they had early dealings in the 1440's regarding the exchange of lands, and the first Routledge seems to have married a Scott. But from this point onwards our friendly and hospitable relations seem to break down. Other than a few more dealings where we are witnesses to documents concerning Scott's that is. Below are the other occasions where the Routledges have been a thorn in the Scott's side. Starting with what as far as I can tell is the Routledges first ever raid, and possible the most audacious; the burning of the Castle at Buccleuch!
The Scott's
The burning of the Castle, Manor house, or whatever it was at Buccleuch was to be the most daring and outrageous raid ever committed by the Routledge family in all the years of border reiving, yet it would be forgotten and lost to time. The last remaining reminisce that there had even been anything on the site would be a vague mention on an ordnance survey map saying, "site of castle", yet would neglect to state where in the square kilometer it once stood.
Buccleuch is the spiritual home of the Scott's if you like as it is where
they obtained the title, Duke of Buccleuch. But to find out why this land
was so important we must go back to long before the reivers, and even
before Edward I. Two brothers, natives of
Galloway, having been banished from that country, for a riot or
insurrection, came to Rankleburn, in Ettrick Forest, where the keeper,
whose name was Brydone, received them joyfully on account of their skill
in winding the horn, and in the other mysteries of the chase. Kenneth
MacAlpin, then King of Scotland, came soon after to hunt in the royal
forest, and pursued a buck from Ettrickheugh to the glen now called
Buccleuch, about two miles above the junction of Rankleburn with the river
Ettrick. Here the stag stood at bay; and the King and his attendants, who
followed on horseback, were thrown out by the steepness of the hill, and
the morass. John, one of the brothers from Galloway, had followed the
chase on foot, and now coming in, seized the buck by the horns, and, being
a man of great strength and activity, threw him on his back, and ran with
his burden about a mile up a steep hill to a place called Cracra Cross,
where Kenneth had halted, and laid the buck at the sovereign’s feet.
The king then went to the top of the hill and as a sign of his gratitude turned to the brother and said, "all the land that I see shall be yours,". Now how true this story is, it remains uncertain but is certainly a romantic notion. What is certain as that some time between then and Edward the I, they lost the lands at Rankleburn somehow. We know this as in the August of 1296 Richard le Scot of Murthoston's swore allegiance to King Edward the I of England, who on the 5th September restored his lands in the county of Selkirk, namely Rankilburn and Buccleuch. Before this the lands were owned by Nigel de Herris the kings forester. So as best as I could prove it for certain, this is when they acquired the lands and also what ever was already on the land. I can only assume to have lands restored, they must have had them taken by the English at some point. And I doubt very much they paid much attention to the English once they had their lands back.
So this gives us a bit of background as to when they definitely gained the lands that the site of Buccleuch sat within. The next bit of Scott history we need to consider had a direct knock on effect to Simon Routledge and his wife. James II of Scotland granted half of the Branxholm estate to Walter Scott in 1426. Then later he exchanged his lands of Murdieston in Clydesdale, with Thomas Inglis of Manir, for his half of the barony of Branxholm, in Roxburghshire, 23d July 1446. This would have left the only land to the south of Hawick not owned by the Scott's, that of Simon de Routluge and that of Margaret Cusing. Which Sir Walter then purchased, as I've already mentioned, in 1447 and in 1448. It was not long after this, it is recorded, that Sir Walter moved the principal family seat to Branxholm, meaning that it must have been somewhere else in his lands before hand. But where?
Buccleuch - Castle or Manor?
So where does all this fit in with the Routledges and a Castle at Buccleuch? It was in a website that I first read a reference saying that in 1494 Simon Routledge of the Prowis, his Son Mathew and accomplices were charged with basically raiding, plundering, sacking and burning the castle at Buccleuch. So from this snippet of information (in full below) I was determined to find out more about it no matter what and visit the remains of this castle perhaps... Little did I know it would take two years of reading, researching, visiting, and god only knows how many miles in the car or on foot with maps both new and old before I would find out the full story, and more importantly confirm it. All I had to go on was the extract from a book which although gave me some details, left me asking more questions than I could answer;
"Walter Scott, grandson and heir of the deceased David Scott of Buccleuch, who obtained, on the 25th of June 1494, a decree of the Lords of Council in his favour in reference to the theft and plunder of his grandfather's property, by certain depredators of the Borders, -- Simon Routledge of the Prowis, Mathew Routledge his son, and their accomplices, had taken from the despoiled David Scott and his tenants, of five horses and mares, forty kye and oxen, and forty sheep, household plenishing to the value of forty pounds, two chalders of victual, thirty salt martis, eighty stones of cheese and butter, and two oxen 'besides burning and spoiling of the place and manor of Buccleuch"
My first course of action I decided to take was to contact the current Scott's archivist and ask when the Manor at Buccleuch was burned down. To which I got the reply, "we've never had a manor at Buccleuch, although we do own the land". This left me a little lost, although they did inform me that the David Scott I was referring to died in 1491, and his father had died in 1468. So the raid had to taken place while David was the Laird and so therefore it was between 1468 and 1491; a 23 year window. Sir David Scott's son David had died in 1486 and was always referred to as David the Younger as he was never a laird and the title passed straight to Walter Scott, David the Younger's son, who obtained the above decree.
Sir David had been given the captaincy at Hermitage Castle by the Earl of Angus, Archibald Douglas, for him to run for him. This was in 1470. And in the 1480's David is often mentioned being in his seat in Parliament. So already in the 23 year period he was head of the family and he was barely at home, and due to the isolation of Buccleuch it was a prime target to be raided as its laird was never around. Sir David made out his last will and testament in 1490, and it was signed at the manor at Buccleuch. But also in the same source it started that he had been killed in 1492, not 1491. So the raid took place some time between 1490 and 1494.
I already know when the land was obtained, 1296, and the land today sits just off the B711 and follows the course of Rankle Burn. At the north is two farms named aptly West and East Buccleuch. So I got out a more detailed OS map and had a look to see if there was anything of interest marked on the map. There was sadly nothing saying "site of old manor" nor was there any obvious field boundaries. Heading south along Rankle Burn though there is something of interest.
The "Buccleuch church" site is believed to date back to the same time, if not before, the time of the raid involving Simon. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) gave a brief account of both the church site and the Castle. For the Church site it says that "The church was already ruinous by 1566" and that it used to serve the people of Rankle Parish, but there was no clues as to when it was built or demolished. All that can be seen today is the perimeter wall of the cemetery poking out of the trees and any lumps and bumps have long since disappeared among the trees and pine needles. Although if you don't mind getting your feet wet and wading across the burn to the other side, around the back the outline of the church can still be seen and some masonry still forms the outline of the church. Below is the how it looks today and also a view in the opposite direction taken in 1932.
Although the Church was an interesting find it was not what I was looking for. My first proof came from an OS map from 1927 and then I was pointed in the direction of the RCAHMS again to see what they had on the Manor. With the older map I hit jackpot but the with the RCAHMS, I found a description that went against everything that I knew.
The RCAHMS report states that "The farmhouse of East Buccleuch stands on the site of the manor-place of Buccleuch, which was burnt by Hertford in 1544" which when I first read I was concerned that the Routledges had not burned this site at all. However I soon found the sentence in the history books the mistake had come from. It had stated that in 1544 during the Earl of Hertford's devastating raid into Scotland, a year after Sacking Edinburgh, he had "ravaged the Lands at Buccleuch and burned the Branxholm Castle" Straight away I could see that they had mistaken the Scott's of Buccleuch and Branxholm title meaning that this was the Castle and that it was not the one at Branxholm. I soon proved this when I found out that the Branxholm Castle had existed in 1532 as it had been burned then too.
The RCAHMS have since corrected me and they put me in the direction of a book to me called the "The Scott's of Buccleuch, by William Frazer". This book not only provided me with a description of the castle before the current farm house was built, but also where it stood exactly and what remained of it. It was spread throughout the book in the two following entries;
"The site of the former Manor-house of Rankilburn or Buccleuch is very appropriate for a residence. The old mansion stood on a rising ground at the junction of the Rankilburn and the Buccleuch burn. To the north and south of the site, on either side of the burn, are haughs or level grounds for meadow hay. These are surrounded on every side by high sloping green hills. Part of the present farm-house of Easter Buccleuch, which was built about the year 1832, and particularly the west end, stands on the site of the foundations of the old mansion. These foundations were extensive and were trenched out to enlarge the garden in front of the present farm-house of Easter Buccleuch." (page xlv - volume 1)
"The
manor-house of Buccleuch, which was situated on a rising ground at the
junction of the Buccleuch and Rankil burns, has already been described.
Like other Border mansions, it did not escape the ravages incident to
Border warfare. In the year 1494 it suffered considerable damage from a
raid by Simon Routledge in the Trowis and Matthew his son and their
accomplices, who, after removing the cattle, horses and sheep, plundered
the mansion and set it on fire. in the judicial proceedings against the
invaders, it is called the place and manor of Bukcleuch.
About the year 1832 the foundations of the ancient castle of Buccleuch were cleared out. An old spur, an old bridle-bit and several other ancient articles were found in the high ground that marked the site of the ancient manor. The stones of the house had been carried off from time to time to build houses for the farmers and shepherd of the neighborhood"
So that was it. The manor house had stood on the high ground at the junction of Rankle Burn and Buccleuch Burn. Then in 1832 it had been excavated, and apparently quite extensively too. And all that remained of the manor was a large piece of masonry. And a few artifacts which seem to have completely disappeared of the face of the earth. But that is not all that remains of that Manor though; two curiosities remain...
The first is that when sitting in East or west Buccleuch you can hear what happens in the other, yet there is the Rankle burn between them and about 600 meters too. The story goes that when the fire place was getting re-designed in the house a cellar was found under the house... And is believed to be an underground passage. The other curiosity is a large mound to the south of the Rankle Burn, which pulls out worked stones on a regular basis.
I doubt I will ever know what it looked like the manor, but I can at least say where it was and when it was there. And who knows one day I might get some archaeologists to dig it up and have a look...
Branxholm Castle
Not content with stumbling
across the find, in which us Routledges had burned and sacked a Castle/Manor
that the Scott's never even knew they had, I then went and made another
discovery that would upset their history further. Although this is only a
recent discovery and I do not as know much as I do about the above Manor. This
again is something that the ordinary person or historian would not have
found if he had not been researching the Routledge name specifically like
I was. This time my initial find did not come from a website but from 'Pitcairn's
criminal trials of Scotland 1483-1650'. Its is a compilation of crimes and
trials in Scotland, that from what I can gather resulted in a high
punishment, as most of them are executed.
The particular trial that a historian pointed me in the direction was that of a 'John Dalglese' on November 24th 1510. A long list of crimes sat with his name that he was accused of, among which was the theft of oxen and cattle, and also inter-communing with a group of Armstrong's and English Reivers. It is with the later that is of interest to us Routledges in particular. The item (charge) read;
“Item: for treasonable inbrining of Black John Roucleshe and his accomplices, traitors of Leven, to the burning of Branxham; and ‘Hereschip’ of horses, oxen, grain and other goods, extending to ‘vi markis’: And for the treasonable intercommoning with the said Traitors in their deeds”
Yet again I was left asking more questions than I had answers, but to which none I could answer. I've already said above that Branxholm Castle was first burned in 1532 according to the history books so this must have referred to the land in the area. Although as above this is an assumption and it was assumptions that led to the sacking and even the existence of the manor at Buccleuch being forgot or accredited to someone else. However thanks to the Scottish Gazette I have come across the following description of the early castle/tower at Branxholm;
"In 1420 the lands were acquired by the Scotts, who built the first fort, which became the centre of the barony created in 1463 for Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, whose son David enlarged the structure in 1472. Burnt by the Earl of Northumberland in 1532 and dismantled by the Scotts before a raid by the Earl of Sussex in 1570, it was fully restored by Sir Walter Scott by 1576 into the Z plan courtyard structure of today"
So it seemed that in 1494 we had burned Sir David's home, and then in 1510 we burned the one he had enlarged in 1472. But for this instance I decided that I was going to concentrate on the person rather than the place. Black John Routledge, was the first time I had come across a Routledge Reiver who had a nickname, and would not be the last as you will see on later pages. Now the black could mean a few things and it is so easy to romanticize at this point and get carried away. Black could refer to his hair colour, he was a family out cast, or he was a notoriously infamous criminal in the area. We know that he was English and he was a traitor of Leven. Leven is now called the Line and runs through the parish of Bewcastle; The Routledge spiritual home. So either he was from the area or he was an outlaw from that area that dwelled elsewhere. My search continues.
As this event only took place 16-18 years after the burning at Buccleuch it is possible that John, Simon and Mathew knew each other. As I mentioned on the previous page in the exchequer rolls off Scotland "Mathei, Jacobi, Johannis and Symonnis Routlich" are found paying some sort of tax or fine to the crown at or near Selkirk in 1501. The names today gives us a Mathew, Jacob, John and Simon. Now this may all be a coincidence, or it could be too good to be true, but what I have come across in later documents is that the most senior or the head of the family is listed first when names are wrote down like this. So this could fit Mathew being the head and having two sons, Jacob and John, and Simon the old grandfather. Of course this is purely me indulging a fantasy and I could never prove this theory.
But getting back to facts. I have looked hard, and will continue to look, for more evidence of what became of Black John for it was not him who was being tried, but more mentioned. The problem is though that 1510, is still in that vague area of history when looking for records and is more down to luck then perseverance. I have looked for more information on 'John Dalglese' and all I found on him was he has been accredited with burning the lands at Branxholm in 1510.
I do wish people who write these books would actually learn to read though, as this is twice the Routledges have been robbed of their crimes and ill doings by someone else in the pages of history. Incidentally 'John Dalglese' was hanged for his crimes, while Black John Routledge seems to have lived another day. Serves him right for stealing our glory in Reiving history.
Reiver Scott's
Above I have covered two
occasions, which a few and far between, where the Routledges where the
attackers and victors in a raid, and at the right end of a sword. Almost
a hundred years later though the tables had been turned and the Scott
family was even more powerful, whereas the Routledge family had been
ravaged by fate, as you will read later. Now it was the Scotts turn
to cause the Routledge name pain and suffering, as they would have many
other Reiver names along the West and Middle Marches. There is various
occasions over the 1500's where this became the case, so I'm just going to
present two of them below. The first had a direct effect on the Routledges
in years to come and the other is a raid where we suffered at the hands of
a Buccleuch.
The first was something I stumbled upon by complete accident when I was researching for something else. It was just a few paragraphs in a book that were made in glancing reference, yet held the key as to why Bewcastle would for many years to come suffer at the hands of Scottish reivers. In October 1531 there had fray between the Musgrave's and the Forster's, in which the course a Foster had been killed. Sir Christopher Dacre, uncle to the Captain of the Marche, saw this as an opportunity to pit Reiver families against his enemies. And so on November 1532 he made an arrangement with Thomas Armstrong, the Elwood's, and other Scots of Liddesdale, under which these were promised indemnity and freedom from reprisals in the respect of all attacks made on Sir William Musgrave and his tenants of Bewcastle. On the 1st July 1533 one of the Musgrave men was killed in a wave of raids after raid into the area.
Dacre was brought before Carlisle in July 1534 where he was charged with this agreement. At this hearing it also came to light that he had made another one with William Scott of Buccleuch. This basically meant that they had a free run off the West march and could not be brought to answer for any of their crimes. From the 1530's we know of only three Routledges confirmed living in Bewcastle area, and they are John, William and Thomas his son. John Routledge was giving evidence in 1538, while William and Thomas were accused of treason in October 1535. William was acquitted and Thomas was beheaded and his head placed on a spike on one off the gates at Carlisle Castle.
The last Routledge-Scott I'm going to cover is just a raid from November 1588. The record comes from the Border papers, which is a valuable insight when it comes to searching for raids. It had no date other than being in the November of 1588 and in Bewcastle. The record said the Captain Steven Ellis and the surnames of the 'Rowtledges' in Bewcastle complained upon the 'Laird of Bucklughe, the Laird of Chesame, the Young Laird of Whithaugh, and their accomplices to the number of 120 horsemen armed with steel caps. spears, guns, lance-staffs and dagges, swords and purposely mustered by Bucklughe, who broke the house of Wille Rowtledge. Whereupon they took 40 kye and oxen, 20 horse and meares, and also laid an ambush to slay any who followed.
90 years after Simon burned Buccleuch the Scott's rode upon the Routledges of Bewcastle time and time again, burning their homes and murdering their family. Yet no body forgot about them Scotts Reiving did they? Their crimes where not forgot and unheard of...
...The victors always write the history books!
