Description:

This quiet spot offers stunning views over the ‘debatable lands’ and comes with a tale to tell. On July 7, 1575, the Redeswire (or Reidswire) Fray broke out here, a fierce border skirmish between the Scottish and English Wardens of the Marches just east of Carter Bar. A small monument marks the ridge with the inscription: 'ON THIS RIDGE JULY 7th 1575 WAS FOUGHT ONE OF THE LAST BORDER FRAYS KNOWN AS THE RAID OF THE REDESWIRE'. To keep the peace, both sides had arranged regular “Truce Days,” but on this one, tempers flared. Sir John Carmichael, Scotland’s Warden of the Western March, arrived with pikemen and gunmen to meet his counterpart, Sir John Forster, whose reputation for double-dealing made trouble likely. Tensions escalated into a fight after trading insults, with the English firing cannon and arrows. They were initially winning, until reinforcements from Jedburgh turned the tide for the Scots, who routed the English, captured Forster, and killed several nobles. Wanting to avoid angering Queen Elizabeth, the Scots treated their prisoners well and released them soon after.