The great Clans of the ‘movable’ Scottish Borders

First of all, however, I would like to add my voice to those appealing for support for the major renovation project at the home of the Saltire, Scotland’s national flag, at Athelstaneford in East Lothian.

Among several improvements, the biggest development on the site will be the transformation of the Hepburn Doocot, with a new audio-visual system telling the history of the Saltire, one of the oldest national flags in the world. First of all, however, the 16th century Doocot needs repairs and refurbishment costing £93,000.

I am delighted Historic Environment Scotland announced yesterday that it has agreed to support the restoration of the Hepburn Doocot with £36,581, as part of its historic environment repair grant programme. This excellent project should be supported by Scots everywhere. If you are reading this, why not contribute as an individual, or contact your clan society to make a donation for a very worthwhile cause. The renewed public appeal is online at saltire.scot.

And now, in alphabetical order, those three Borders clans:

CLAN AMSTRONG

Strictly speaking, by the rules I set some months back, the Armstrongs should not be considered of full clan status as they have not had a chief for centuries, and therefore are not included in the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, and no one is recognised as the clan chief by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. They are therefore an armigerous clan: one whose name is registered with the Lyon Court but which has no legal status.

Try telling the many thousands of Armstrongs worldwide that they are not a clan. There is a thriving clan association with a useful website, and clan members hold regular gatherings to discuss clan issues and promote the name of Armstrong generally.

The origins of the clan are lost to history, not least because recent DNA studies suggest the original Armstrongs may have been Pictish. Tradition has it, however, that the clan’s founder was an 11th century Northumbrian earl of Danish descent called Siward Digry, which translates as Sword Strong Arm. Another story is that an armourer of a King of Scots called Fairbairn saved his monarch’s life by heaving the king back into his saddle, earning the name Armstrong, and being given lands around Liddesdale in the Scottish Borders as a reward.

Whatever the origin, it is clear the Armstrongs were a formidable family on both sides of what is now the Border between England and Scotland, and the name is still found in both the Scottish Borders and Northumberland. The first of the name in written history dates back to a charter witnessed in 1223 in Ousby in Cumberland – that area having previously been part of Scotland.

The movable border between Scotland and England was to be the making, and breaking, of Clan Armstrong. For they were based mainly in the Debatable Lands, between Carlisle and Langholm, over which Scottish and English armies fought from before 1300 to just after 1600, and the Armstrongs were nearly always to the van in these numerous Border conflicts – though history shows they were quick to change sides at times.

READ MORE: Scottish voters ditching Tories after lockdown breaches, new poll finds

The Armstrongs were Border reivers, small armies of the clan imposing their control on their own lands and raiding other territories. Flashman author George MacDonald Fraser, who was also a very good writer about factual history, states in his book The Steel Bonnets that the Armstrongs could put 3000 men in the field, and by the early 16th century, they were considered to be the leading clan of reivers.

They were also seen as a threat to the monarch and other lords, which led to the downfall of many leading Armstrongs in the 16th century. Johnnie Armstrong and his brother Thomas built Gilnockie Tower around 1520, but it was burned by the English in 1528. Fully restored, it now serves as a hugely interesting centre for Clan Armstrong and is very much worth a visit.

Johnnie of Gilnockie raided England and it was in retaliation for his attack on Netherby that Gilnockie was torched. According to the ballad Johnnie Armstrong, King James V promised safety to Armstrong and his men if they came to his court, but in reality it is more likely that James V put together a powerful army and marched against Johnny of Gilnockie.

However it was achieved, Johnnie and 36 of his men were hanged by the royal forces at Carlenrig, or Caerlenrig, on the River Teviot, ten miles south west of Hawick.

The king’s grandson, James VI and I was the real architect of the Armstrongs’ downfall, however. Armstrongclan.info has the best version of what happened after the Union of the Crowns in 1603: “The new King of Great Britain set about the Pacification of the Borders, ordering all the fortified houses in those parts to be demolished, and for the locals to turn to agriculture and peace. Gilnockie Tower was one of the few that survived.

Those who defied these orders suffered a swift and savage summary “justice” – none more so than the Armstrong clan. Known thieves were rounded up and hundreds were executed without much in the way of a trial; charges were trumped up, or old charges were revived, and mass executions followed.

Many were deported to Ireland, and their homelands were confiscated. It only took seven years for reiving society to be dismantled, and the last Chief of Clan Armstrong – Archibald Armstrong of Mangerton – was hanged around 1610.

Armstrongs were part of the Plantation of Ulster, and from there they made their way as Ulster Scots to the Americas. Later, some Armstrongs went further afield in the British Empire. They mostly flourished, and at one point in the 20th century, the most famous man on Earth, and the Moon, was an Armstrong.

It was in 1969 that Neil Alden Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon. According to armstrongclan.info: “Neil Armstrong had strong ties to his Clan roots. In March 1974, Neil Armstrong returned to the land of his ancestors. He was made a Freeman of Langholm, and climbed the stairs to the top of Gilnockie Tower, which now has a small exhibition commemorating the Clan’s most famous son.

“Which brings the Armstrong story full circle. Centuries after Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie went reiving by the light of the moon to feed his family, Neil Armstrong, the man who walked on that moon, returned to the Borders to explore his roots and climb Gilnockie Tower. It makes

you proud to be an Armstrong!”

My personal favourite Armstrong, however, is Gary, the Scottish international scrum-half who played such a pivotal role in the 1990 Grand Slam.

CLAN ELLIOT

Though the current chief of Clan Elliot is Margaret Eliott of Redheugh, who is a member of the Standing Council of Scottish chiefs, the clan is officially registered with the Lord Lyon King of Arms in the name of Clan Elliot and since that is also spelling used by the Clan Society, I will stick to that version.

Like so many Scottish clans, the early history of Clan Elliot is shrouded in some mystery, though unlike so many clans, there is a reason why the Elliots’ origins are obscure – the family’s collection of documents were lost in a disastrous fire at Stobs Castle in 1712. There is a theory that the original Elliots or Aylotts were from Britanny and were part of the Anglo-Norman group that came to Scotland in the time of King David I (reigned 1123-1154).

By the time Robert the Bruce was trying to gain the throne of Scotland, a Walter d’Alyth is named as a supporter, with the family based in Angus. The Bruce took the lands of the traitor Walter de Soulis and gave them to his illegitimate son, Robert, and it is speculated that the Elliot family went south with him to Liddesdale. It is known that a charter by King Robert gave them lands at Redheugh.

Like their great rivals and often allies, the Armstrongs, the Elliots became reivers, and very good at it they were, too. By the late 14th century they were recognised as a clan with a chief, and the fact is that of all the Border clans, the Elliots stuck to clan structures most of all, suggesting that their antecedents were indeed northern.

Many accounts say that the clan appeared out of nowhere in the late 15th century, but there is evidence that the clan was established in the Borders long before then, though certainly Robert Ellot (sic) of Redheugh was stated to be the 10th clan chief in 1497 when he was allied to the very powerful Douglas family.

The son of the 12th chief was killed at Flodden in 1513, while Robert Ellot, 14th chief, fought against the English in the war known as the Rough Wooing, though he was also involved in the feuding with other Border clans, such as the Scotts and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell – who would later marry Mary, Queen of Scots.

The Union of the Crowns and the Pacification of the Borders by King James VI and I put paid to the reivers, and not a few Elliots went to Ireland in the Plantation of Ulster. The Elliot family name began to feature at the court of King Charles II and it was Sir Gilbert Eliott (sic) of Stobs who became clan chief in 1773. Another branch of the clan became famous first as the Baronets of Minto and then as the Earls of Minto, with the 1st Baronet, Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, being a strong opponent of the Act of Union.

Scottish diplomat Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto (1751 - 1814), 1812.

Noted for their role in the British Empire, the Minto Elliots were prominent in diplomatic circles over many decades, the 1st Earl being Governor-General of India (1806-13) and the 4th Earl serving as Governor-General of Canada (1898-1904) and Viceroy of India (1905-10) – this is the Gilbert who survived breaking his neck in the Grand National.

The Elliot clan is scattered across the globe, but there will be a Gathering of the Clan under its 29th chief Margaret Eliott in Scotland next year.

CLAN SCOTT

Having written extensively about this clan’s most famous member before, I will not be mentioning Sir Walter Scott in this brief foray into the history of a great Borders clan.

The clan’s name is as old as Scotland itself, as it derives from Scotti, the name given to those immigrants from Ireland who came to Scotland in the first years of the first millennium. The earliest record of the name was not until around 1120, when a charter noted the name of Uchtred Scott.

Further church charters and documents noted the name Scott and le Scotte at the end of the 12 century, but the most famous early Scott was Michael Scott the Wizard (1175-1232), a noted philosopher and mathematician who was famed across Europe.

The Scotts have always been associated with Buccleuch, which has been the family seat since the 13th century. The second Laird of Buccleuch, Sir Michael Scott, fought for Robert the Bruce, and various chiefs of the clan died in battle against the English.

The Scotts became Borders reivers, and had infamous conflicts with their rival reivers such as the Kerrs and the Elliots. The Scott family rose to real power, becoming first the Earls and then the Dukes of Buccleuch, with successive clan chiefs serving as officers for the Government against the Jacobites.

They also acquired huge tracts of land down the centuries so that current clan chief, Richard Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, the 10th Duke of Buccleuch, was until recently the largest private landowner in Scotland.