When King James VI united the crowns of Scotland and England after the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 there were some serious repercussions for the local families who were involved in border reiving.

The theft of livestock, kidnapping for ransom, murder, mutilation, burglaries and tit-for-tat feuds had been ongoing in the areas since the late Thirteenth century and he resorted to hanging his way through old charges in an attempt to bring the border region under control.

He appointed ten commissioners, five from each country, to bring offenders to the bar in a purge that ran from 1605 to 1609 – though in reality, it ran on for several years after.

Four Redesdale men, and two from Tynedale, were demanded by the Scottish commissioners to appear at a court session in front of them, alongside a number of Scots’ suspects, and answer charges at Jedburgh in the April of 1605.

placeholder image — Reiver re-enactors at Chesters

Christopher and Robert ‘Hob’ Dodd were accused of fencing five cows stolen from Gilbert Elliot, but were acquitted of the charges.

Hob Hall also walked free for stealing cattle from James Rutherford while James Allison was breathing a sigh of relief as a charge of stealing twelve sheep from Andrew Henderson in Mangerton was also thrown out.

The offences weren’t great, in the bigger picture of all the lawlessness in the area at that time, but when Gregory Wallace appeared accused of taking eighteen sheep from the young Rutherford Laird of Hunthill, ten sheep belonging to John Rutherford and a goat from William Rutherford, it was enough to see him condemned and executed.

Archibald ‘Cold Archie’ Milburn had been taken to Hawick and imprisoned there ahead of the Commissioners court but had broken out, only to be recaptured.

The cover of Jon Tait's new book, released in February 2026

For his jailbreak, and taking just two cows belonging to Martin Elliot and another of Gilbert Elliot, he was also led to the scaffold and had the rope strung around his neck.

When the reivers saw the kind of justice that was being handed out, large numbers of them went fugitive and were outlawed for failing to appear and hear the charges brought against them.

With the hanging of Teviotdale, Liddesdale, Tynedale and Redsdale men also taking place at Dumfries, Hawick, Peebles, Carlisle and Newcastle, the border, which had been renamed the ‘Middle Shires’ by James, was a dangerous place to be if you were off one of the surnames.

At least 224 from both nations suffered capital punishment in the first two years of the commission.

* If you’re interested in finding out more about the border reivers, Jon Tait’s ‘Raiders along the Anglo-Scottish Border – A history of those Pacified by King James’ is released by Pen & Sword in February. You can pre-order the book here Raiders along the Anglo-Scottish Border: A History of those ‘Pacified’ by King James: Amazon.co.uk: Jon Tait: 9781036135638: Books