A Handshake amongst Ourselves
By Randall Stephen Hall.
The Reiver and the Gael from my album WAKE THE BLUE SLEEPER
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Of all the Border Reiver names From Scotland and England, two of the most significant in Ulster just might be Trimble (Turnbull) and Hume.
According to Robert Bell, who wrote THE BOOK OF ULSTER SURNAMES, the Border Reivers were all technically Catholic when they arrived in in Ulster but equally Godless, after being exiled, during the Pacification of the Borders 1603-1610. A seven year process of hangings, drownings, expulsions, imprisonment, evictions and burnings, creating a large influx of Border refugees into an Ulster, still reeling from the almost genocidal events at the end of the Nine Years War. (Some would be more affirmative regarding the term genocide.)
Many of the names I got to know in school at B.R.A. in North Belfast, were Armstrong, Bell, Elliott, Kerr, Crozier, Graham, Moffat, Young, Carruthers, Thompson, Henderson, Anderson, Douglas, Dickson, Nixon, Dodds, Hall, Irvine, Johnston, Huddleston, Charlton, Robson and many more. Yet, at the time I did not know who the Reivers were or their significance within the nine counties of Ulster. Many of them found a free rein and appreciation in Fermanagh.
Why is it that we are still so ignorant about the Border Reivers and why is it that no contemporary academics seem interested in sharing this information with the wider public in Northern Ireland? Surely it would be to our benefit as it is something we all share and should know about? They bridge the two sides of our hybrid culture.
Of course the Reivers were so feared and loathed they were actually cursed at a cursing
stone by the Bishop of Carlisle. Collectively they were involved in organised crime going back to the days of William Wallace. Such as murder, theft, sheep and cattle rustling, extortion, blackmail (a term they invented), rape, various vendettas and feuds between families and much more besides. Even the term “bereaved” comes from that time.
They rode the countryside on horses known as hobblers or bogtrotters in groups of 300
or more like small bands of mercenaries. They wore steel bonnets, light armour and sported high riding boots. Their weapons were swords, daggers, crossbows and they used an eight foot spear, a shield called a targe and carried muskets. They could survive in the wet and the cold using sheep’s wool blankets. They were hardy folk, well used to violence
and they knew how to protect themselves, being well versed in guerrilla fighting.
So it seemed doubly ironic to me when I became aware of the handshake of David Trimble with John Hume as a symbolic act and part of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. On the surface, two men from different cultural experiences yet two individuals with roots amongst the Border Reivers across the waters.
This missing part of history for children in primary or secondary education is a sad indication as to how divided we still remain and an expression of being unable to take ownership of this shared story for the Border Reivers, through marriage, necessity, commerce and of course love ended up on both sides of the conflict we experienced as THE TROUBLES..
Will things change? Will we ever heal by learning more about who we really are
rather than just being kept apart by divisive and innaccurate labels.
Stephen Stiofán
If you would like to discuss this further
I can be contacted at www.randallstephenhallsongs.
or by email at randall.stephen.hall@gmail.com
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Illustrator, storyteller, poet and musician
Thanks Jude…Very interesting.