,
Roxburgh and Dumfries; though historically, and still by usage, the
Scottish shires of Selkirk and Peebles have always been classed as
Border shires. On the English side the region is watered by the Till,
Bowmont, Coquet, Rede and North Tyne; on the Scottish by the Tweed,
Whiteadder, Leet, Kale, Jed, Kershope, Liddel, Esk and Sark. Physically
there is a marked difference between the country on each side. On the
southern it mostly consists of lofty, bleak moorland, affording
subsistence for sheep and cattle, and rugged glens and ravines, while on
the northern there are many stretches of fertile soil, especially in the
valleys and dales, and the landscape is often romantic and beautiful.
Railway communication is supplied by the east coast route to Berwick,
the Waverley route through Liddesdale, the London & North-Western by
Carlisle, the North British branch from Berwick to St Boswells, and the
North Eastern lines from Berwick to Kelso, Alnwick to Coldstream, and
Newcastle to Carlisle.

At frequent intervals during a period of 1500 years the region was the
scene of strife and lawlessness. The Roman road of Watling Street
crossed the Cheviots at Brownhartlaw (1664 ft.), close to the camp of
_Ad Fines_, by means of which the warlike Brigantes on the south and the
Gadeni and Otadeni on the north were held in check, while another Roman
road, the Wheel Causeway, passed into Scotland near the headwaters of
the North Tyne and Liddel. (For early history see LOTHIAN; NORTHUMBRIA;
STRATHCLYDE.) In the 12th century were founded the abbeys of Hexham and
Alnwick, the priory church of Lindisfarne and the cathedral of Carlisle
on the English side, and on the Scottish the abbeys of Jedburgh, Kelso,
Melrose and Dryburgh. The deaths of Alexander III. (1286) and Margaret
the Maid of Norway (1290), whose right to the throne had been
acknowledged, plunged the country into the wars of the succession and
independence, and until the union of the crowns in 1603 the borders were
frequently disturbed. Berwick and Carlisle were repeatedly assailed, and
battles took place at Halidon Hill (1333), Otterburn (1388), Nisbet
(1402), Homildon (1402), Piperden (1435), Hedgeley Moor (1464), Flodden
(1513), Solway Moss (1542), and Ancrum Moor (1544), in addition to many
fights arising out of family feuds and raids fomented by the Armstrongs,
Eliots, Grahams, Johnstones, Maxwells and other families, of which the
most serious were the encounters at Arkenholme