Selby's Cove

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Reputed to be the spot where a Coquetdale rogue known traditionally as ‘Black’ Walter Selby hid away his stolen animals, the cove is a natural rock crevice and atmospheric place on the south side of Simonside tucked away among the marshy ground and tangled heather.
Black Walter was a Royal Constable but was also member of the notorious ‘Mitford Gang’ and had a reputation as a robber and a warrior. He spent time locked up in the Tower of London and was executed along with his two sons by Scottish King David II’s invading army as they took Liddel Mote castle before the Battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346.
His reiver descendents were the brothers Robert and Thomas Selby whose pele tower was at Biddlestone Hall, situated in a hamlet nine miles up the valley.
Thomas was complaining about a murder by Hector Turnbull of Stoney Letch in 1596 and the Laird of Cranston filed a bill against Robert in 1601 for lifting 18 oxen and 8 kye. Perhaps these animals were hidden away in the secluded cove when he returned over the border from his raid.
On the north side of the hills down away from Simonside towards Rothbury stands the remains of Great Tosson Tower, a huge pele that was built to give defence against Scottish raids by the Ogle family.

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