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Battle of Hornshole
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In 1514 a skirmish took place at Hornshole, a few miles out of Hawick,
when English soldiers were pillaging the area which was still recovering
from the disaster of Flodden. Local youth (most of Hawick’s men were
killed at Flodden) rode out from the town, fought the soldiers and won,
something which is still celebrated in Hawick every year through various
ceremonies during the Common Riding.
The seven-hundred strong band of unlikely allies whom chased Lord Dacre
and his brothers back over the border in November 1513, would no doubt
have dispersed into Hawick and its surrounding valleys, spreading word
of his campaign of “sword and fire”, prepared to protect themselves and
their kin to the last.
Sclaterford was an embarrassment to Lord Dacre and his reputation, an
incident he’d be keen not to repeat or in future report to his
superiors. He had other worries to contend with, first and foremost the
charge of illicit meetings with Lord Home. Most of the prisoners taken
in the aftermath of Flodden were ransomed or exchanged between October
1513 and February 1514, and it would certainly make sense for Dacre and
Home, as Warden-General and Lord Chamberlain respectively, to be in
contact with one another. Three such meetings are believed to have
occurred over that period, with Dacre admitting to seeing Home in
February 1514 at “Coklawe for redress…for the ransoming and getting to
liberty their kynnesmen”; ‘Coklawe’ perhaps being Hawick’s forgotten
castle at Ormiston (see The Hawick Paper, May 4, 2018).
And although the Dacres were one of the major landowners in Tudor
England, Lord Thomas was carefully watched and occasionally restrained
by Henry VIII for his questionable allegiances. The rates he received in
his role were inferior to medieval wages, and it took years of loyal
service to the crown for him to achieve an annual income of more than
£1500, making him latterly one of the wealthiest peers of the realm.
As stated last week, the break-up of Lord Dacre’s raiding party - which
until that point had proven measurably successful - bought the Borders
breathing space when it was most needed.
Hawick had been established as a
burgh of barony in 1511 when James IV granted a charter of novodamus to
Sir William Douglas of
Drumlanrig, removing any doubt about who owned the newly-elevated
town and its common lands. Sir William had been slain at
Flodden, and his successor James - a
hot-headed teenager - would not inherit the Barony of Hawick (because of
his age) until after the Battle of Hornshole; even then he required
special dispensation from the Council of Regency.
Without a baron, the key decisions around defence and arms would have
fallen upon the shoulders of the town’s magistrates and burgesses (or
freemen), and Hawick was well defended by the baron’s tower – referred
to in 1507 as “turrim edificatam burgo de Hawic inter pontes” ie the
tower built in Hawick between the bridges – and other stone
fortifications, making it an unlikely target in the short-term.
No major raids or forays enter the written record between November 1513
and May 1514, during which time Lord Dacre would have been able to rest
his battle-weary men, gather reinforcements, and tug at the state’s
purse strings. In a letter sent to the Lords of Council at London, dated
May 17, 1514, he reports: “That inasmuch as I am Warden of the Marches,
and has the hole authorite in my hands under the King’s grace, the
Scottes have, and daily doth distress the King’s bordours and subgietts,
without any great hurte is done again unto them.” The underlying tone of
the message was clear; here was a man infuriated by the nous and skill
of the Border Reivers, who continued their way of life right under his
nose.
It was in this spirit of vengeance that a fresh campaign of terror began
in early May 1514. Lord Dacre was keen to impress upon his superiors
that he was still able to execute his duties, noting: “There never was
so mekill myschefe, robbery, spoiling and vengeance in Scotland as there
is nowe, without hope of remedye, which I pray our Lord Gode to
continewe.” For every sheep or kye taken by the Scots, one or two
hundred were taken in kind by his men, and six times as many towns and
homes were burned on the Scottish side of the border.
The traditional date of the riding of the marches suggests that the
Battle of Hornshole took place near the end of May, although the letter
from Dacre describing English raids was written on May 17 and the full
moon when raids often took place was around May 8 in the Julian
calendar.
The letter also provides us with the historical backdrop to Hornshole,
detailing the raiding party’s destructive route through the Borders:
“Along the Liddall (twelve miles) were one hundred ploughs, the Ludder
(six miles) forty, in the two Carlangriggs [Teviothead] forty, along the
Ewse (eight miles) one hundred and forty, the Teviot (from Branksholme
to Ewse Doores (eight miles) eighty, the Borthuike (eight miles from
Borthwykemouth to Craikecross) one hundred, the Ale (from Askrige [Ashkirk]
to Elmartour [Alemoor Tower]) fifty lies all,” describing that “all, and
every of them, waist now, and noo corne sawne upon none of the said
grounds.”
These were Douglas-held lands, and at Branxholme, Lord Dacre’s command
was just three miles from the door of the baron’s tower; by now the
inhabitants of Hawick would have been well aware of the number and
strength of the enemy. Any record of the raid stops at Ashkirk, a barony
in its own right and prior to the Reformation a place of at least equal
importance to Hawick; this was after all the home of the Bishop’s
Palace, a country retreat owned by the Diocese of Glasgow that would be
a fruitful target for any budding reiver.
Quite why the raid stopped here is unknown, but the likelihood is that
this was another successful foray, and Lord Dacre’s men had simply
overstretched their supply lines and were a step too far from their
bases in Redesdale and Tynedale. Lord Dacre, as was custom, would likely
have divided his men into smaller companies, one or two hundred strong,
taking alternate routes back over the border. The most direct route, one
followed on previous raids, was in a roughly south-easterly diagonal
over Synton Moss and Groundistone Heights, via Alton and Courthill, to
the banks of the Teviot at Hornshole, onward to the Rule valley and
Carter Fell; the end goal perhaps being the warden’s castle at Harbottle,
and maybe even a chance raid at the Douglas seat of
Cavers, another place of great
ecclesiastical and political importance in those days (see The Hawick
Paper, July 14, September 29, and October 6, 2017).
Hornshole is an old name by any account. James Turnbull of Hornshole was
witness to a document for the Scotts of Buccleuch in 1456, his lands
lying to the east of Courthill. And Hornshole in 1514 was by no means
the small parcel of land that it is today; the name originally applied
to a farm on the north side of the river, also taking in large sections
of Breryzardis (Briery Yards), the Trows, and Midshiels.
Local etymologist Michael Braithwaite attributes the name to the River
Teviot’s deep pools and twisting narrows at this point in the land.
Others have suggested that it could mean Heron’s Hole ie a fishing spot
for Hawick’s national bird, or possibly Orm’s Hole, sharing roots with
nearby Ormiston.
The visit of Dorothy and William Wordsworth to Hornshole in 1803 did
much to muddy the waters, as their guide on that occasion, Sir Walter
Scott, introduced the place as ‘Horne’s Pool’, said to be named after “a
contemplative schoolmaster” who lived nearby and often walked there,
known to Scott in his youth.
So why would an English raiding party under the command of Lord Dacre
choose to camp here overnight? There was no metalled road or bridge over
the ravine as there is now, and the likeliest crossing point on the
river, en route to Cavers, would have been the ford at Midshiels, as
established by Alan G. Brydon in Reflections O’ Hawick.
I have a theory to support this. Although the Douglases held superiority
over most of the surrounding lands, the Turnbulls had been lairds of
Hornshole since 1456. The incumbent laird in 1514 was John Turnbull, and
his immediate predecessor Adam had previously brought in Englishmen from
Tynedale to plunder Minto. They also owned land stretching to the Barony
of Newton Chamberlain and beyond, which aligns nicely with the proposed
route of the raiding party south from Ashkirk. So, perhaps Hornshole
served as a temporary refuge for the English. Logic would state
otherwise; this branch of Turnbulls were “broken Scots” who held no
allegiance to either crown, and in the years following Hornshole they
were given remission for supporting the treasonous Homes.
Truth is, we’ll never know!
Whatever the reason, a decision had to be made tout suite. Tradition
states that having received word of Lord Dacre’s raiding party, the
magistrates called a meeting of Hawick’s inhabitants and proposed that
the enemy should be resisted at all costs, rather than give the town
over to plunder. Should they stand their ground and defend the baron’s
tower, or take the initiative and ambush the enemy, as at
Sclaterford?
It is said a makeshift band of around two hundred callant youths, those
young enough to have been spared the horrors of Flodden but not yet old
enough to be burgesses in their own right, mustered any weaponry within
the common armoury that they could lay their hands on: pikes, halberds,
swords, bows, arrows, spears etc. The following morning, as the English
soldiers slumbered, the youths of Hawick set off along the banks of the
Teviot to Hornshole, most of them by foot and some on horseback, taking
the soldiers by surprise in a skilled and methodical way, killing around
forty of them.
As was customary, the spoils of war were gathered following the battle,
including armour, horses, loot – and a flag bearing the arms of the
Priory of St Andrew in Hexham, one of the key recruiting grounds for
Lord Dacre’s military campaign. We can trace the roots of the Hawick
Flag directly back to a monogrammed stone carving at Hexham Abbey during
the time of Prior Thomas Smithson (1499-1524). The carving design was
also used on the seal of the Manor of Hexhamshire, an ancient feudal
body with administrative responsibility for the Tynedale area, while an
even earlier example of the saltire on Hexham’s official arms still
exists today, from the time of Prior Rowland Leschman (1480-1491).
The captured flag was pennon-shaped (ie a pennoncelle or pencell),
containing a golden saltire cross of St. Andrew on an azure blue
background – “It’s Royal Blue, wi’ gold running through,” as the song
goes. These were usually carried on a lance by an individual of less
rank than a standard bearer, bearing a personal device, richly fringed
with gold. And although it was highly unusual for such a flag to be
employed during a raid, this was no ordinary raid; this was a church and
state-sponsored operation “for the special hurt and destruction of the
Scots”.
Tradition tells that the captured English flag was joyously carried to
Hawick at a gallop. Sir Walter Scott was the first to hazard a guess as
to who that person may have been – in his eyes, Watt Tinlin - while
other accounts say it was young James
Douglas(1), the soon-to-be baron.
It may come as a surprise to some that there is absolutely no written
historical record of the Battle of Hornshole; what we know, or at least
what can extrapolate, has “come doon thrae lang syne” ie through song,
verse and spoken tradition.
Collectively these predate the publication of Henry VIII’s state papers
and Dacre’s despatches, which support the basics of the tradition and
provide an invaluable insight into the border campaign. The rest is
essentially educated guesswork.
The first mention of the battle in print occurs in Arthur Balbirnie’s
Auld Sang, which simply states “By Teviotside they took this Colour, A
dear memorial of their valour”; this dates from around 1800. James
Hogg’s slightly later song, published in 1819, devotes about half its
verses to these events: “Nigh where Teviot falls sonorous, Into
Hornshole dashing furious, Lay their foes with spoil encumbered: Quite
secure, even sent’nels slumbered”.
However, the first detailed account - Robert Wilson’s 1825 History of
Hawick - refers to the site of the battle as “the Trows” rather than
Hornshole (this making sense in the days before the bridge). There is no
evidence to support the numbers stated in his account, and most likely
there were far fewer people involved.
Aside from the flag, another possible nod to history are the halberds
carried by the burgh officers at the Common-Riding, said to be exact
copies of those taken from the English at Hornshole. James Wilson in his
Annals of Hawick states that there were people living around 1850 who
claimed to have seen the originals.
If the tradition holds true, then it is understandable that Dacre would
conceal his losses and make no mention in his dispatches to an already
psychopathic king. Lord Thomas was married to Elizabeth de Greystoke,
through whom he gained vast tracts of land, and was succeeded by his son
William. Henry VIII named Thomas a Knight of the Garter in 1518, and he
was ultimately killed in a fall from his horse in 1525 and is buried at
Lanercost Priory near Brampton.
The Hawick Archaeological Society has twice made field trips to
Lanercost, first in 1933 and more recently in 2017. It was such a
peculiar feeling to witness first-hand the final resting place of Thomas
Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, orchestrator of some of Teviotdale’s
darkest days, when we have few surviving graves from anyone of that era
in Hawick. It can rightly be argued that Hornshole was in many respects
the genesis of our town’s culture and time-served traditions, but it
also proved a false dawn for the victors: a century of upheaval and
uncertainty was to follow in its wake.
In one final twist of fate, on July 26, 1951,
William Douglas-Home, a younger
brother of the former Prime Minister Sir Alec, married
Rachel Brand, 27th Baroness Dacre,
thereby uniting the two families that once stood on opposing sides at
both Flodden and Sclaterford.
This article was first published in the June 6, 2019 edition of The
Hawick Paper, and was written by Alastair M. Redpath. Enquiries and
corrections to aliredpath@hotmail.com.
Notes:
1. It was suggested that this was the 'Good' Sir
James, who, however, was long dead by then!
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Source
Sources for this article include:
The Hawick Tradition of 1514 (1898), R.S. Craig & Adam Laing; Reflections O’
Hawick (2015) -‘1514’, Alan G. Brydon; The Story of Hawick (1937), W.S. Robson;
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509-1514
(1920), J. S. Brewer; Rulewater and Its People (1907), George Tancred; Hawick
Archaeological Society Transactions (1913, 1922, 1951, 2006, 2013), William
Murray, George Watson, J.C.G. Landles; A Hawick Word Book (2019 ed.), Professor
Douglas Scott; Hawick and the Border (1927), R.S. Craig; Tom Scott, Hawick
Museum
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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