Lives of the Borderers: Shielings and Peel Towers
Smailholm Tower, Smailholm, Roxburghshire, Scotland
Hello everyone, kind of been missing in action for a while, lots is going on but today's my first day of holidays! Good fun, good fun, hopefully I'll get that Sekigahara series done. In the mean time, here's a little about the Border people of the Marches of Scotland and England and how they lived
The Borderers fell into two categories â those who were practically nomads and those who lived in the towns and cities of the area. Those who lived in towns might have lived in Carlisle or Annandale while those who were nomadic, as the name suggests, moved around according to seasons more than animals.
Those who were partially nomadic essentially moved in April and towards Winter. This can be seen in the pattern of the Reivers â those who lived in the borders but relied on pillaging in parts of the year in order to survive, although famous families who were also considerably richer used it for other means. From autumn through spring was the most common time in which raiding occurred while summer was used for animal husbandry.
During the winter, simple Borderers lived in a winter dwelling that was highly susceptible to the Reivers â understandably food was scarce in these times and many of those on the Borders ate what was accessible to them. This was generally meat and soup based with bread eaten rarely as Borderers rarely cultivated crops. Additionally, despite stereotypes, Borderers appeared to rarely drink or at least buy their own alcohol â itâs easy to challenge this considering the English border of the Middle March had a pub for every 46 people.
While some cultivation of crops such as barley did occur, much focus went into rearing Cattle and Sheep. At the time, Sheep were not used for mouton and instead for wool, however Border wool was considered to be of poor quality. However, this would change during Elizabeth Iâs reign as the popularity of mouton rose and brought more trade to the area. During April and the 4 or 5 months following, Borderers would live in Sheilings. These buildings could be built in a matter of hours and itâs said that the inhabitants did not care if they burnt down, as another could be built almost immediately.
More settled Borders lived in typical housing of towns at the time which was less simplistic and more hardy, often owing to some sort of sense of stronger community than what the more Nomadic Borderers would experience. These towns would also be better defended and it was only this that really set them apart from the towns to the South of the Border Marches.
In terms of structures for defence the most common was Peel (sometimes spelt Pele) towers, which were stone towers that were between 3-4 floors and had only one entrance, which was a door with a first layer made of iron and the second of strong oak wood. The ground floor was used for storage, and as the only entrance, while the others were used as living spaces and the roof as a beacon to either call for help or warn of danger. The walls would be lined with the typical narrow slits seen in castles and other defence structures of the time, allowing for archers to defend the Peel towers, while objects could also be dropped from above. They may also be surrounded by a wall, known as a barmekin/barnekin, that would provide a safe haven form minor attacks for cattle and people alike. These fell under regulation in 1535 when an act was passed, denoting that they had to be 2ft thick and 7-8ft tall.
Another defensive stratergy of the tower was actually the stairs. They would be built in an anti-clockwise direction, thus a defendant would have a sword in one hand and his unguarded side would be against a wall. In contrary, an assailant would have his sword hand against a wall and unguarded side exposed. Itâs also said that the Kerr family â who were notoriously left handed â built their towers clockwise.
In order to protect these towers if forced to flee, they would be filled with peat that was already smouldering and then abandoned. This prevented generally entry to the Tower and thus no gun powder could be laid nor could it be destroyed from the inside. This meant that â while the inner wood frame would need to be replaced â the overall stone structure would be largely in tact and there would be no need for the rebuilding. There was especially good reason for this, as having to rebuild an entire stone tower would be costly and leave the Border chief open to attack, his people having no where to congregate in order to defend themselves.
