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Showing posts with the label English West March

Triermain

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Sir Walter Scott penned a ballad called ‘The Bride of Triermain,’ a ruined castle that lies just a few miles west of Gilsland and was built as a protection against Liddesdale raids in the 14 th Century with stone taken from Hadrian’s Wall. The tower that stood on top of a glacial mound was demolished at the end of the 17 th Century, with the stone being recycled into the farm buildings nearby, so just a thick wall and fragment of the gatehouse remain of the moated castle. Triermain was built by the Norman de Vaux family, whose ancestors went on to become brewers in Sunderland with their famous Double Maxim beer popular among the Wearside shipworkers in the last century, and was in ruins by the end of the 16 th . Gilsland was Bell territory during the reiver period, with a few Milburns and Hardens for good measure. The Bells also lived across the line on the Scots’ side and were at feud with the Grahams in 1583 after the murder of two Bells – and a Graham that rode ...

Lanercost Priory, Brampton

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Lanercost was built by the de Vaux family around 1169 but is closely associated with the Dacres of nearby Naworth Castle. The priory was frequently subjected to Scottish attacks and was occupied as a base by William Wallace and his men after burning Hexham priory and firing a few more buildings in the surrounding area. The Bruce also used the building as a headquarters for decimating the countryside about in 1311, while 35 years later King David II broke the doors in and stole all the jewels before smashing up destroying anything he could. When the reivers where riding high in the 1590s, the tenants of Lanercost – mostly Bells - were paying blackmail (protection money) to Richie Graham. The priory was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1538 and was described as being in a state of decay for two or three years in an English West March inquiry for the Bishop of Durham in 1597 – and the jury, led by Christopher Dalston, did not know who was responsible for its repair...