Redeswire - The Smiths at Fenwick and the last Border Raid

​As the 2019 Common Riding season is now well underway which sees many Border towns celebrate their unique but common heritage as they ride their historic boundaries throughout summer, this month’s guest post written by Rosemary Dixon – Smith could not be more appropriate.  Initially I had thought of writing an introduction to her piece, but then thought no, and my reasons for this are tri-fold.  To begin with, Rosemary (Mole) is a first rate genealogist and family historian based in South Africa. Secondly, she will need no introduction to regular readers of my blog, as she first acquainted us with her own Smith Family of Northumberland back in June 2016.  Thirdly, her article stands so well on its own it does not require any preamble from me!  In reading it, I hope that readers will be inspired to adopt Rosemary’s principle and take some time to think ‘outside of the box’ when researching their own family history.  I have merely added some notes and links that may be of interest or use at the end.

The Cheviot Hills at Carter Bar

Smiths at Fenwick and the last Border Raid
by Rosemary Dixon-Smith

​In the course of family history research we find ourselves delving into a pot-pourri of sources which helps to build up the big picture. The ancestor didn’t live in a vacuum and the more we discover about the context of his time, the more fascinating his story will be. Thus I was led into learning about such topics as indentured servants sent to the colonies, the slave trade, the Napoleonic Wars, everyday lives of mariners during the Age of Sail and much more. Even though a link between our own ancestor and certain significant events may appear tenuous, research often turns up surprising and colourful by-ways. Ignore them at our peril.

​Our John Smith (born 1821), a name to conjure with, was residing at Fenwick, Northumberland, from at least 1845/6 to 1854.  Fenwick was on the very edge of Stamfordham parish, almost into Matfen parish. Whellan's Directory for Northumberland 1855 (i.e. compiled about a year before) shows:  ‘Fenwick, Stamfordham, John Smith, blacksmith.’ John had married Margaret Little, daughter of Adam Little, a mason of Falstone, in 1844, at St Andrews, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. While they were at Fenwick the couple had three sons, George, Adam and Thomas. Adam did not survive past his fourth year. 

'Auld Enemies' The Red Coats and The Scots

In 1857 another son, William, was born but by then the family had moved away from the Fenwick/Stamfordham border and were at Black Hill, Benfieldside, County Durham. Black Hill was a colliery and would have provided useful work for John the blacksmith. Concerned as any head of household to give his family a roof over their heads and enough to eat, it’s unlikely that John gave much thought to events which occurred in Fenwick long before he lived there. Yet he may have heard snatches of a Border ballad, the Raid of the Redeswire (Redswire in English), commemorating one of the last of the numerous Border frays between the Scots and the English.

​1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Fenwick thus: ‘FENWICK, a township in Stamfordham parish, Northumberland; on an affluent of the river Pont, 13½ miles NW by W of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Acres, 1, 634. Pop., 103. Houses, 16. Fenwick Tower here was for ages the seat of the Fenwicks (‘gentlemen of the English Middle Marches’); but was forfeited in 1688, and has long been in ruins. A large quantity of gold nobles, of Edward III., was found at the taking down of a part of the wall of it, in 1775. The remains of it now are small, and have been absorbed into the structure of a modern farm-house. The Fenwicks were long conspicuous actors in the Border wars; and they are noticed in the ballad of the Raid of the Redeswire’:

I saw come marching o'er the knows
Fyve hundred Fenwicks in a flock,
With jack and spurs and bowis all bent,
And warlike weaponis at their will.

The Raid of the Redeswire was a border skirmish on 7 July 1575 which took place at Carter Bar, the Cheviot pass which enters Redesdale. The skirmish was between (on the English side) the English Warden of the Middle Marches, Sir John Forster, with Sir George Heron, Keeper of Redesdale, Keeper of Liddesdale and Scottish Warden and (on the Scottish side) Sir John Carmichael the Lord Warden of the Marches with George Douglas of Bonjedward.  It was the last major battle between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland before the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

Cross-border Truce Day Meeting Points, courtesy of The Reivers website http://reivers.info/reiver-truce-locations/

​Sir John Carmichael met Sir John Forster at a hill called Red Swire in Carter Bar for a regularly scheduled Truce Day. They discussed matters associated with their two regions. Both men were accompanied by a number of armed guards.  One of the matters on the agenda was an Englishman who had stolen some items from a Scotsman and who was supposedly in Forster's custody. Carmichael demanded that the man be delivered to Scotland for justice, but Forster replied the thief had taken ‘leg-bail’ (escaped from custody) and could not be produced. This turned into an argument that involved personal insults from both parties, until members of the English contingent could no longer hold their temper and attacked, killing two men and wounding several others. The Scots were forced to retreat, but during their flight they joined up with another group from Jedburgh who were late to the meeting. This gave the Scots an advantage. They began to break the English lines and in time, the English were routed. George Heron was killed, along with his brother John and 23 other Englishmen. Forster and several other nobles were captured, and the Scots, quick to take advantage of the situation, made an impromptu raid taking 300 cattle from local farms. 

​The prisoners were brought to James Douglas who was the regent for King James VI. This soon became embarrassing for the Scots, as the prisoners had likely been taken for their ransom value, although Douglas stated that it was to keep them from being killed in the heat of battle. He wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth describing the events, but she was outraged and sent William Killigrew to demand immediate satisfaction. Douglas was directed to meet with George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon, who was the lieutenant of the northern counties, to work out the details, and the two men were able to come to an amicable solution, as Douglas had no wish to anger Elizabeth and she wanted to avoid a war.

The Redeswire Stone

​The story of the skirmish was turned into a Border ballad edited and published by Walter Scott.  On the Cheviot Hills, near the place where the battle was fought, a monument known as the Redeswire Stone was built in commemoration of the battle. It reads: 

On this ridge, July 7th, 1575 was fought one of the last border raids, known as The Raid of the Redeswire.

​It’s not impossible that John Smith in the relatively peaceful 1850s might have had occasion to raise a glass to the Bad Old Days of the 16th century and perhaps even to visit the commemorative Redeswire Stone.

© Copyright Walter Baxter and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Snippets and Links

Rosemary, by imagining herself in ancestors’ shoes has evoked a certain empathy and appreciation of time and place.  From approximately the reign of Edward the borderlands were, and are still, unique in terms of culture and customs.  They were defined or set apart from their respective nations by a set of laws known as the ‘Leges Marchiarium’ of which the ‘Days of Truce’ such Redeswire, designed for the amicable settling of differences, is a prime example.  A copy of the Leges Marchiarum available online at Google Books .   Northumberland also differed from the rest of England in the way in which land was held from their feudal superiors. The need to provide manpower for defence resulted in a unique form of land holding called Border Tenure or Tenant Right, in which land was held subject to the provision of ‘military’ service when required.  This type of landholding with the right to succession gave security of tenure and helped forge strong alliances.  Hence the ‘Fyve hundred Fenwicks in a flock’ as quoted by Rosemary.

​For the family historian Muster Rolls and later Militia Rolls can be a valuable source.  Until the 1514 Alnwick Muster Roll was recently rediscovered the earliest example dated from 1522. More can be read about these types of documents and where they can be found in ‘Tudor and Stuart muster rolls : a directory of holdings in the British Isles’ by Jeremy Gibson and Alan Dell (enter the appropriate postcode to find in a library near you) or in the relevant research guides provided by The National Archives.  In 1757, an Act was passed ‘for the better ordering of the Militia Forces … in England’ before this Act was passed troops were only ‘mustered’ when needed.  As the new law stipulated the recording of every man aged between 18 and 50 (in 1762 the upper age was reduced to 45) was recorded by each parish constable, the Militia Rolls act like a mini census albeit only of the male population.  From the list a ballot was held to decide which men would serve and these can often be found in Quarter Session records along with annual returns of serving officers submitted to the local JP’s.  Examples of these can be found on the Northumberland Communities Website such as the extract shown below for the parish of Stamfordham in 1762.  

Extract from the Stamfordham Militia Roll of 1762, reproduced courtesy of Northumberland Communities Website https://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/008758FS.htm

​Some Militia records ‘Wo 96 - Militia Service Records 1806-1915’ are also available through Find My Past and these include many Scottish Militia regiments.  However, many Scottish Militia records can also be found in the papers of the Sheriff Court with the heyday for records being the period surrounding the Napoleonic Wars.  Like their English counterparts, the men were drawn from the district in which they lived, but aged between 18 and 30 (until 1802 when the age was raised to 45) and were also subject to a ballot to determine who actually served.  More information can be found through The National Records of Scotland website.  As such these records are a valuable source of information in the pre-census period of both countries.

For the lucky few (like me) who live north of the border, membership of the National Library of Scotland provides online access to the State Papers from 1509 - 1714, as well as the various Calendars such as The Calendar of Border Papers ‘Relating to the affairs of the Borders of England & Scotland’ Vol 1 1560 – 1594 which encompasses the period of the Redeswire Raid of  1575.[1]  These are also available through British History Online but a subscription is required. 

​The life and times of the Borderer resulted in a light cavalry that was second to none to Europe which proved indispensable both in the times of Anglo-Scottish campaigning, and the rather more nefarious domestic activities of the Reivers!  This riding culture lives on through the re-introduction of the historic rideouts.  Jedburgh’s Callants Festival 2019 runs from 23rd June to Sunday 14th July so there is still plenty of time to get involved should you wish to do so. The Redeswire rideout takes place on the Saturday of the first full week in July, which this year falls on the 6th .  It is the longest of all the border rideouts and this years schedule is as follows:

​Leave Back Bongate 10.00 am - Arrive Redeswire 12.30 pm / Leave Redeswire 1.05 pm - Arrive Dolphinston Moor 3.00 pm.  Leave Dolphinston Moor 4.30 pm - Arrive Market Place 6.00 pm

Copyright of Return to the Ridings, Jethart Callants Festival https://returntotheridings.co.uk/jethart-callants-festival/

​It only remains for me to wish the Jethart (Jedburgh) Callant and his followers ‘Safe Oot, Safe In’ and to thank Rosemary for her wonderful blog that has, I am sure, got us all thinking of ways in which we can enrich our own family history research.

About Rosemary

Moles Genealogy Blog Though South African ancestry is of particular interest to me, there are no boundaries in family history. I have traced my own and other peoples' ancestors in the UK, Canada, US, Australia,and Europe. My special field is Natal - settler families, maritime history, Anglo-Zulu and Anglo-Boer Wars; favourite pursuits: dating photographs, costume history, the history of slavery, lighthouses, history of India and the Indian diaspora, explorers, missionaries, ships; shipwrecks, British history, militaria. Comments on my blog or questions welcomed. ​

If you a question for Rosemary or would like to contact her you can do so here

[1] There are images of several original manuscripts relating to the Redeswire Raid available though the State Papers Online via the NLS, including a letter from ‘Mr. Kyllygrew to Mr. Walsyngham’ dated the 17th July 1575 which contains the names of some of the fallen .  Document Ref.: SP 52/26/2 f.180 , Date: July 17 1575, Source Archive: The National Archives of the UK   Copyright: Reproduced by kind permission of The National Archives   Gale Document Number: MC4307784017.  I just haven't had time to transcribe them ahead of this post.  However, if they are of particular interest to anyone out there I will gladly do so.