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Reivers were busiest during the raiding season but what did they do when they weren't on raids?

Reivers were busiest during the raiding season but what did they do when they weren't on raids? 




The now extinct Galloway Nag played a big part in the lives of the borderers. They led the reivers through the worst bogs and mosses. They also had another use: horse racing. 

Horse racing was popular with the reivers, race meetings were a common event and a great place for reivers to meet and do business, mainly horse trading. Although trading horses and dogs across borders was illegal and punishable by death, this didn't deter people from doing it. 

Of course these meetings also meant gambling, whether it be betting on the winning horse or playing cards and dice. The meetings were also a place to plot the latest raids- at Langholm races, the rescue of Kinmont Willie from Carlisle Castle was planned. 

Football, not the game we know today, was one of the main sports of the borders. It is likened to Rugby but with very few rules, more like a game called murder ball, a game where physical violence is encouraged. It was played all levels of society and was even played by the Earl of Bothwell. 

One of the earliest recorded games of football was between the Armstrongs of Liddesdale and the garrison at Bewcastle. Unfortunately, no date or score was recorded of this match. A Mr William Ridley set an ambush for the Armstrongs together with some of his friends. 

The Armstrongs got word of this and, not short of local support, they brought two hundred followers to the game and turned the table on Ridley and his supporters. 

In the end, two were left for dead and another man's bowels fell out but were stitched back in. It is also said that the people of Jedburgh played football with the heads of captured English soldiers, although there is no concrete evidence of this. 

Today in Jedburgh on the Thursday after shrove Tuesday, they play a game called 'Hand Ba'. This game is a throwback to the game of football player in the Tudor times. 

West Cumbrians will also be familiar with this, the teams are split into two teams: 'Uppies' from the high area of the town and 'Downies', from the lower area of the town. 

The game starts at midday and lasts until the last ball is thrown with goals at both ends of the town. Up and down Britain there are different names and versions of this, as violent as they can get, fortunately there's never any reports of bowels falling out. 

The reivers were also well known for their poetry and ballads of the history of the borders. The ballads often celebrated events and characters of the borders. The ballad of Johnnie Armstrong depicts the treacherous act by King James V of Scotland in the murder of Johnnie Armstrong. 

And finally reivers sometimes partook in laying with a lady of the night. It is believed it was common in rural life as well as urban life. Many farm workers, shepherds and lairds travelled to Carlisle or Berwick to acquire the services of a whore. 

At the time Carlisle and Berwick were the only towns in the borders, places such as Dumfries and Jedburgh were villages. Both towns supported garrisons meaning there was always plenty of trade. 

Even the Scottish king James IV was recorded to acquire the services of a whore, his clerks recorded that he paid several cash sums to a Janet Barearse.

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