0:00:09 > 0:00:121,900 years ago, Rome divided Britain with a wall.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19That border has haunted us ever since.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21At times, it has shattered communities
0:00:21 > 0:00:24and plunged them into violent conflict.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32But beneath the wall lies another land -
0:00:32 > 0:00:34a symbol of unity, not division,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38a land with its own unique customs and traditions -
0:00:38 > 0:00:42the forgotten Middleland that once dominated the centre of Britain.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51I'm drawn to border regions
0:00:51 > 0:00:56and fascinated by what borders do to people and their societies.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59I've walked across frontiers from Iran to Indonesia...
0:01:03 > 0:01:05..and I've worked as part of diplomatic missions
0:01:05 > 0:01:08in Iraq and the Balkans.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13I've seen first-hand the terrible effect of borders on communities.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Now I want to unpick the history of our own border area
0:01:18 > 0:01:20in the middle of Britain.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Nothing matters to me more than the story of this border.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26I'm a Scottish man living on the English side of the border.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30I'm the MP for the only constituency with border in its name.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34And in September 2014, Scotland is going to vote on independence.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39Now more than ever, we need to understand where this border
0:01:39 > 0:01:43came from and remind ourselves that there is another story
0:01:43 > 0:01:47buried in these mountains - the story of the Middleland.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07This is Longtown auction mart,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10perched on the border between England and Scotland.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Sheep have been bought and sold in this town for hundreds of years.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Border towns like Longtown
0:02:19 > 0:02:21are the heart of what I call the Middleland -
0:02:21 > 0:02:25the upland border country that stretches across the modern border
0:02:25 > 0:02:30between England and Scotland, from the Highlands to the Humber.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32These sheep have come from farmers from both sides
0:02:32 > 0:02:34of the English-Scottish border.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37They will have come from the sharp limestone ridges
0:02:37 > 0:02:39around the Lake District and the Pennines,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41from the round, border, upland hills.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43And these are true border sheep.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45It doesn't matter to the sheep
0:02:45 > 0:02:48whether they're feeding on English or Scottish grass,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52what matters is what price are you going to get in the market?
0:02:53 > 0:02:56These are Texel crosses, these.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Let's get a hold of this lamb here. This little lamb here.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Chris Harrison has farmed sheep along the border all his life.
0:03:04 > 0:03:05All right.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08I was brought up on a hill farm, my father was a hill farmer
0:03:08 > 0:03:10and my grandfather before that.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13My grandmother was from Scotland, she was a Scot,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15my grandfather's from Northumberland,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17my wife's from Durham city,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20I'm from Cumbria so I think I'm British.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23I think sheep farmers are the same no matter where they live -
0:03:23 > 0:03:25whether they live on one side of the border or the other,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27most sheep farmers are exactly the same.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29We both have the same interests,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34we both have the same concerns and we both have the same complaints.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36You've never felt like a Scottish sheep farmer
0:03:36 > 0:03:40- is any different to an English sheep farmer?- Not at all.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48The Middleland has struggled for survival
0:03:48 > 0:03:50ever since the Roman Emperor Hadrian
0:03:50 > 0:03:54divided our island with a wall in the 2nd century.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01At times, its unique culture has been crushed,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04trampled by English and Scottish nationalism.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07At others, the border has almost disappeared,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10allowing a great Middleland culture to flourish.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Many scholars disagree with me,
0:04:15 > 0:04:20but I see the central story of Britain in terms of the Middleland -
0:04:20 > 0:04:24a story of a land and a people fighting for survival
0:04:24 > 0:04:26in the shadow of the Roman wall.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31The pinnacle of Middleland civilisation
0:04:31 > 0:04:34was the great Anglian kingdom of Northumbria,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37which dominated Britain in the 7th century.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42At its height, it spanned from the Firth of Forth in the north,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44to the Humber in the south.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Its kings ruled from places like Bamburgh,
0:04:50 > 0:04:52near today's English-Scottish border.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Northumbria was one of the greatest Christian civilisations
0:04:56 > 0:04:58that has ever existed.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Its saints and scholars, Cuthbert and Bede,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04had a European-wide reputation.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Popes and emperors learned from the Middleland.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15For over 200 years, Northumbria was the powerhouse of Britain.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18But it was not to last.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32In 793, Viking raiders attacked Northumbria.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34They came without warning straight from the sea
0:05:34 > 0:05:37and they shattered a civilisation.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44The Royal Marines Commandos - focused, disciplined,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47and terrifying sea-borne assault specialists -
0:05:47 > 0:05:49are a good way today of understanding
0:05:49 > 0:05:53what a Viking assault might have been like.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The amazing thing, being in this boat, is you get a sense
0:05:56 > 0:05:58of what it must have been like to be a Viking.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01You've got the spray in your face,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03you've got the men ready to land on the beach -
0:06:03 > 0:06:06you can see them shivering because it's unbelievably cold.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10They would have travelled hundreds of miles from their homeland.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13It's an unknown beach, an unknown language.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Is somebody waiting for you? How deep is the water going to be?
0:06:16 > 0:06:19And are you going to make it back alive?
0:06:33 > 0:06:37They hit the beach with total surprise, unbelievable speed.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39And they were in amongst the population
0:06:39 > 0:06:41before anyone knew they were there.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58It must have been terrifying.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Cold, wet, coming onto a shore that they don't know,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03about to do something that they're trained to do.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05They're trained to fight but, actually,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08they don't know what conditions they're going into.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10How important do you think the element of surprise
0:07:10 > 0:07:12- would have been to the Vikings? - It would have been vital for them.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15When it comes to doing a beach attack,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18it comes to doing something like this, surprise is absolutely key.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20You land when you're not expected, and actually,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23landing at night is the best time of maintaining that surprise.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26And, presumably, it is important that you know your beach,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28you know your tides.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31For us, we spend a lot of time looking at the beach conditions,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33looking at where we're going.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35We have a lot of equipment that enables us to do that.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38I'm not convinced the Vikings had the same but they would have spent
0:07:38 > 0:07:40some time attacking beaches year on year
0:07:40 > 0:07:43and therefore got to know a little bit about the conditions,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46but not as much as we know.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51The Viking pirates targeted the great monasteries
0:07:51 > 0:07:53at the heart of the Middleland civilisation.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58For them, the churches or the libraries they were attacking
0:07:58 > 0:08:02were places from which they were going to steal gold or treasure...
0:08:03 > 0:08:05..or people.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07But for the terrified population on the beach,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12these ghostly figures, who could creep up almost every night,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15must have seemed like demons from another world.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24For the next 70 years, the Vikings raided again and again,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28attacking suddenly different points on the west and east coast
0:08:28 > 0:08:33and then, finally, in 866, a huge Viking army landed.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35It marched on York.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40The later Viking sagas remember them tearing out the lungs of the rulers
0:08:40 > 0:08:43of the Middleland, spread-eagling them across their chest.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47The kingdom of Northumbria lay in tatters.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49Vikings spread across the Middleland,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51and the kingdom of Northumbria
0:08:51 > 0:08:54was pushed back to an area north of the River Tyne.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Over time, Vikings would form part of a new Middleland kingdom
0:09:00 > 0:09:03that stretched from Dumbarton in modern day Scotland,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07to the Lake District in England - the kingdom of Cumbria.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15A century and a half after the first Viking raiders,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18another wave of Viking farmers settled the inhospitable,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22harsh, upland landscape that we now call the Lake District.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30They appeared to focus on rocky terrain,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33which had been avoided by the local population.
0:09:34 > 0:09:39The Northumbrian Angles farmed on the rich lowland soil,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41for them this must have seemed horrendous.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43This is thin, bare, acidic -
0:09:43 > 0:09:46very difficult to grow any crops here -
0:09:46 > 0:09:49and yet this is the where the Vikings made their home.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53The Vikings were able to pasture their sheep
0:09:53 > 0:09:55and cattle on this unpromising soil
0:09:55 > 0:09:59using techniques they brought from their homelands in Norway.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04This helped create the upland farming culture we see today.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09It's so difficult to get living connections to the Vikings
0:10:09 > 0:10:12but I think here, actually, we may have got one.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Because this is a tree that I believe
0:10:14 > 0:10:16was probably planted by the Vikings.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Look at it. It's got a very thick trunk and then,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23when you climb into it, it's got this very distinctive spindly top
0:10:23 > 0:10:26because it's been pollarded.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29The Vikings cut this in order to feed green shoots to their cattle.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32You can see trees like this right across the Norwegian fjords.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34I just love it.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38It's something where you feel the hack of the Viking axe,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40a tree which the Vikings worshipped.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44It's alive, living still, and connected to Viking lives.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01The culture of these steep-sided valleys
0:11:01 > 0:11:04has a parallel in modern Afghanistan.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09In 2002, I walked through mountainous regions,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12where each valley contained a new community
0:11:12 > 0:11:14with a radically different identity.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Viking communities in the Lake District
0:11:20 > 0:11:22may have lived a similar life,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26in small fiefdoms bound in by the steep fells on either side.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Dry-stone waller Steve Allen lives 13 miles from my home.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42These dry stone walls are a defining feature of the Middleland,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45crisscrossing the land on both sides of the border.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50So, what are we up to here? What's this?
0:11:50 > 0:11:53We're repairing a gap to keep the sheep on the fell.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56That's a typical sort of wall repair we're doing today.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59- Can you look for one? - Oh, lord. OK, how about this one?
0:11:59 > 0:12:01- Go on, then. How about that? - That's a bit too tall.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05- You don't like that?- Might go in. Will have to go in like that.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08- Is that all right? - I don't like doing that.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11It's called a soldier, that one, where they're longer...
0:12:11 > 0:12:13What's it called?
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Soldiers, when they're stood up straight like a soldier.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19- And you don't like them?- Not really, no, it'll do.- What's wrong with them?
0:12:19 > 0:12:21It doesn't quite look right to me, but anyway...
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Tell us, how much of a stone wall can you build in a day?
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Normally the walls around here are about 4ft 6 high,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32one man can build 4m a day quite easily.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35And if you build it well, how long will it last?
0:12:35 > 0:12:37It will last 150-200 years. Yeah.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39So it could be there for hundreds of years.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42This stone could be used in another 1,000 years.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44Do you feel sometimes,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48a connection with the people from the past who built them?
0:12:48 > 0:12:52I can appreciate all the hard work and all the labour
0:12:52 > 0:12:55that's gone into somebody that's made a wall originally.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58We're using the same materials, built in the same way.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03So, yeah, it's not a bad life, being a dry-stone waller.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Do you think you'd like to take it up?
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Viking settlers didn't only change the landscape,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15they also changed the language.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Words derived from Norse are still used across the Middleland,
0:13:19 > 0:13:21on both sides of today's border.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25We can see the history of the way the Vikings farmed
0:13:25 > 0:13:27in the place names.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Down there in the valley bottom was a man called Ulf, Ulf's vatn -
0:13:31 > 0:13:33what we call Ullswater.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35And we can see his thwaite,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38the place name for where he kept his horses.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40We can see also this place.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44This valley is called Grizedale from the Viking word "grize" for pigs.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47They gave us the names not just for the fells and the becks
0:13:47 > 0:13:50but even the rocks, the crags, the scars.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56The souls of the Vikings are trapped in the names of the Lake District.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03The kingdom of Cumbria became a unique fusion
0:14:03 > 0:14:07of the ancient Celtic culture, that had existed before Roman times,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and the newly-arrived Viking settlers.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Few artefacts remain from this time,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18but hidden away in a small churchyard in Penrith
0:14:18 > 0:14:20on the edge of the Lake District,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24is a fascinating grave which shows the way in which the Middleland
0:14:24 > 0:14:27had the capacity to combine diverse cultures.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30This is something really amazing.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33You'd never find anything like it in the south of England
0:14:33 > 0:14:35or the north of Scotland.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38These are unique things called hogback tombs.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41It really, to be honest, should be in a museum
0:14:41 > 0:14:43but I quite like the fact that actually it's out here
0:14:43 > 0:14:47and it's been here for 1,000 years, gathering moss and lichen
0:14:47 > 0:14:50so much so that you can barely see what it once was.
0:14:50 > 0:14:57But look carefully and these sinuous lines are the tail of a serpent,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59a Viking serpent.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02What's it doing? Is it chewing its tail?
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Is it at the root of a sacred tree?
0:15:04 > 0:15:08We don't know, but what we do know is that this is a serpent
0:15:08 > 0:15:12that has its roots in Viking pagan mythology.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17But if you look at either end of his tomb
0:15:17 > 0:15:20you can see there are Christian crosses.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24So, a man with a Viking background, who's also a Christian.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35The kingdom of Cumbria, with its unique culture,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39would be the last truly independent kingdom of the Middleland.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42By the middle of the 10th century, it was being squeezed
0:15:42 > 0:15:45by increasingly powerful and aggressive neighbours.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50To the south, England was forming as the kingdom of Wessex expanded.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56To the north, the kingdoms of Picts and Scots were fusing together,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58forming Scotland.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08We know very little about the end of this last Middleland kingdom
0:16:08 > 0:16:11but there is a legend that its final ruler,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13King Dunmail, is buried here,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17at the mountain pass of Dunmail Raise in the Lake District.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Historian Fiona Edmonds, from Cambridge University,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29helped me understand the traditional legend.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35This is the cairn of Dunmail Raise and the cairn,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37according to tradition,
0:16:37 > 0:16:42was raised over the body of Dunmail, the last king of Cumbria.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45This is amazing. And they seem to have even run the road
0:16:45 > 0:16:48on either side of it to show their respect for the cairn.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53There is a strong tradition about a battle here.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Dunmail lost the battle and was slain and was buried here.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04And his crown was taken to Grizedale Tarn and thrown in.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08- We should go and look at the tarn. - Indeed.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Dunmail's kingdom would have been defined
0:17:16 > 0:17:20by this kind of landscape - a patchwork of high mountain passes
0:17:20 > 0:17:23and hidden valleys whose scattered communities must have been
0:17:23 > 0:17:27very difficult for English or Scottish invaders to control.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35According to the legend, Dunmail finally fought and lost
0:17:35 > 0:17:38an important battle in these hills.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Ah, there we are. So, this...this is it.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53So, according to legend, after the battle and the death of Dunmail,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56his crown was brought here, thrown into the tarn
0:17:56 > 0:17:59and one day the crown will be retrieved
0:17:59 > 0:18:01and the kingdom will rise again.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09It's interesting, when we look at this lake,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13that the legend of the lake is a legend of people
0:18:13 > 0:18:16romantically imagining a kingdom coming back.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18It's a bit like Arthur.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21It's a legend of if the crown can come out again,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23the Cumbrian king will come back
0:18:23 > 0:18:25and the Cumbrian kingdom will emerge again.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Yeah, there are certainly Arthurian resonances to that tradition
0:18:28 > 0:18:30but there is a kernel of truth,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33in that we know that the kingdom was under pressure
0:18:33 > 0:18:35from the Scots and the English.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Apparently what happened was that the English king, Edmund,
0:18:39 > 0:18:44came and ravaged the area and then granted it to Mael Coluim,
0:18:44 > 0:18:46or Malcolm, King of Scots.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49So, already there you can see a deal being done
0:18:49 > 0:18:52between the Scottish and the English King.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Whatever the truth of the legend, historians do know
0:18:58 > 0:19:01that by the close of the 10th century, Dunmail was dead
0:19:01 > 0:19:03and by the middle of the 11th century
0:19:03 > 0:19:06the kingdom of Cumbria had faded away.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12The world is scattered with lost identities, lost countries,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16lost people, forgotten ethnicities.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20So this, in Cumbria, is part of a whole bundle.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22You can find them in Afghanistan,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26in kingdoms on the edge of Kashmir, in the Balkans.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Cumbria was one of those places.
0:19:28 > 0:19:33A place that would have felt rich, powerful, strong -
0:19:33 > 0:19:38a kingdom - and would never have imagined that, as time went on,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42it would be forgotten and become only a legend in a lake.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59The kingdoms of the Middleland may have gone,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02but its culture survived, still quite distinct
0:20:02 > 0:20:06from the Highlands of Scotland or the Lowlands of southern England.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10The people of the Middleland still spoke the same patchwork
0:20:10 > 0:20:13of languages and even preserved their own legal codes.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22This distinct culture would be violently challenged
0:20:22 > 0:20:26by a new force which struck Britain in 1066.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29The Norman invader, William the Conqueror,
0:20:29 > 0:20:33saw the independent-minded Middleland as a rebellious area
0:20:33 > 0:20:36and a potential threat to his regime.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38He was determined to neutralise it.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47In the winter of 1070, William's men swept across the Middleland,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50bringing death and destruction from York to Durham
0:20:50 > 0:20:53in what would be known as the Harrying of the North.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57100,000 people died.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02William's soldiers burned the villages, they destroyed the ploughs
0:21:02 > 0:21:05so the crops could not be planted for the following year,
0:21:05 > 0:21:10they piled the grain and cattle and burned them too.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13And, according to the same contemporary chronicler,
0:21:13 > 0:21:19people fed on horse, on cat and even human flesh.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23And the only thing seen moving through the deserted villages
0:21:23 > 0:21:27of the Middleland, were wild dogs and wolves
0:21:27 > 0:21:29feeding on the bodies of the dead.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46The devastation of the 11th century Middleland was so brutal
0:21:46 > 0:21:50that even William's biographer was moved to write...
0:21:52 > 0:21:54.."When I think of helpless children,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57"young men in the primes of life,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01"and hoary greybeards perishing alike of hunger,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05"I am so moved to pity that I would rather lament the grief
0:22:05 > 0:22:08"and sufferings of the wretched people
0:22:08 > 0:22:12"than make a vain attempt to flatter the perpetrator of such infamy."
0:22:18 > 0:22:20The Harrying of the North reminds me
0:22:20 > 0:22:22of the Marsh Arab region of southern Iraq,
0:22:22 > 0:22:27where I served as a deputy governor in 2003 and 2004.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Saddam Hussein saw the autonomous,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34independent-minded Marsh Arabs as a threat,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36and he wiped out their culture -
0:22:36 > 0:22:39draining the marshes on which they lived,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41laying mines and bombing them
0:22:41 > 0:22:44until their land was as empty as the Middleland.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48The Scottish king came for the survivors,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and for decades afterwards it was said that every Scottish home,
0:22:52 > 0:22:57even the poorest, had a slave from these northern lands.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59In William the Conqueror's Domesday Book,
0:22:59 > 0:23:04much of the north-east of England is simply described as a wasteland.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08And as for the old kingdom of Cumbria, it's not even mentioned.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25By the end of the 11th century, much of the Middleland was a wilderness.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29The rapidly growing kingdoms to its north and south
0:23:29 > 0:23:33handed this stricken landscape over to religious communities.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41The monks, arriving here in the century that followed,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45carried with them from continental Europe the seeds
0:23:45 > 0:23:47of a great renaissance for the Middleland.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55For these monks it didn't matter where the kingdom of Scotland ended
0:23:55 > 0:23:57and the kingdom of England began.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00They were building their own kingdom of God.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Drawing on the inspiration of 7th-century Middleland saints,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09like Cuthbert and Bede, they built dozens of monasteries,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11and began to transform the landscape.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14One of these monasteries was Dryburgh Abbey,
0:24:14 > 0:24:1720 miles north of the border in modern-day Scotland.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21There are still Cistercian monks living in the Middleland.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Barry Dougan lives and works at nearby Nunraw Abbey.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30So, could you give us a sense of the rhythm of a monk's day?
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Well, the monk's day starts...
0:24:34 > 0:24:39It would start very early in the morning, while it was still dark.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43So, in the Middle Ages, I believe at about 2:00am or 2:30am.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Today we rise at 3:15am,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51go straight to the church for the first service of the day,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54which is the Office of Vigils which begins at 3:30am.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58The rest of the morning and in the afternoon
0:24:58 > 0:25:00you would then go to your work.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Do you think there are parts of your life
0:25:05 > 0:25:08which a 12th-century monk would still recognise?
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Well, a monastery today, it's not a medieval theme park.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16The first Cistercians had very high ideals
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and a great emphasis on simplicity and manual work.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25And still today we have the same emphasis,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28so that there are working periods during the day,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32in the morning and the afternoon.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34There are all the daily tasks and departments -
0:25:34 > 0:25:39the laundry, cleaning, administration.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43- Is it hard? Is it a tough thing? - It can be hard and austere.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46There's a wee story from the Middle Ages
0:25:46 > 0:25:49that illustrates Cistercian life.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55There's a brother who's ploughing all day and he's tired and he's hungry
0:25:55 > 0:25:59and suddenly he has a vision of Christ ploughing with him.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03And that story illustrates that outwardly,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Cistercian life can be hard and austere
0:26:07 > 0:26:10but inwardly it can be filled with the sense of the presence of God.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18The industry and skill of the monks
0:26:18 > 0:26:22transformed the culture and economy across the Middleland.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27The 12th-century monks were an amazing gift to this area
0:26:27 > 0:26:30because they didn't just pray, they were like modern aid workers.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32They brought health, education,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34they transformed the landscape.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38They drained the soil, introduced new agricultural techniques
0:26:38 > 0:26:40and they took small local farms
0:26:40 > 0:26:43and they transformed them into a global business.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54In just two generations, the monks improved the land so much
0:26:54 > 0:26:57that parts of the Middleland were transformed
0:26:57 > 0:26:59into some of the best grazing land in Britain.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06The vigorous trade at Longtown has its roots in this monastic past.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15One of the most extraordinary things the monks did was this -
0:27:15 > 0:27:17they took local sheep farming
0:27:17 > 0:27:19and they made it into a vast international trade.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22One monastery alone could move 20,000 sheep a year,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25more than this entire auction market sells in a day.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27AUCTIONEER CALLS
0:27:35 > 0:27:38With their close ties to monasteries across Europe,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42the monks had direct access to the international trade in wool.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45The economy of the Middleland boomed
0:27:45 > 0:27:48and the people counted their wealth in sheep.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58As the Middleland became fertile and prosperous,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02the region now became attractive to the English and Scottish kings,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06who quarrelled over where one kingdom began and the other ended.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11By the middle of the 13th century, a rough line had been drawn
0:28:11 > 0:28:15between the two kingdoms a few miles north of Hadrian's Wall.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21But this was not yet a true border.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24The people living along it wouldn't have defined themselves
0:28:24 > 0:28:26primarily as Scottish or English.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Everyone spoke the same dialect of English
0:28:29 > 0:28:32and many people owned land on both sides of the line.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43But in 1272 a new English king came to power,
0:28:43 > 0:28:47whose personal ambition would devastate the Middleland.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50The military frontier, which had been dormant since Roman times,
0:28:50 > 0:28:52was about to return.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59By this time, England was no longer seen by other countries
0:28:59 > 0:29:02as an impoverished barbarian fringe of Europe.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Under Edward I it had become a superpower.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10Edward I was a king on an epic scale.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Strong, tall, a man who had made his reputation in Syria
0:29:15 > 0:29:19killing an assassin in his tent with his bare hands.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23But, above all, he was a king with extraordinary ambition.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30Edward's government moved around England
0:29:30 > 0:29:33but his most important seat of power
0:29:33 > 0:29:35was here, at the Palace of Westminster.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45The Palace of Westminster has been at the heart
0:29:45 > 0:29:47of English government for 900 years.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51It was here that Edward feasted, held his councils,
0:29:51 > 0:29:53condemned his enemies to death.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58And it was from here that he created the institutions of Parliament,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02of law and administration that survived almost unchanged
0:30:02 > 0:30:04until the 19th century.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10He had created a centralised, ultra-modern machine.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22Edward didn't want to be a king
0:30:22 > 0:30:24confined just to the borders of England,
0:30:24 > 0:30:27he felt he had a right to much more.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32First he conquered Wales, then he set his sights on Scotland.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35He was determined to be the overlord of the whole of Britain.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42And Edward might have succeeded,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46had his towering ambition not come up against formidable opposition.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Edward's famous antagonist, Robert the Bruce,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55has become a symbol of Scottish nationalism.
0:30:55 > 0:31:00But he wasn't a Highland clansman, he was a noble from the Middleland.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05He was a man who was a symbol of the Middleland.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08The family land holdings stretched all the way from southern Scotland
0:31:08 > 0:31:10down to the edge of Yorkshire.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12He spoke Norman French.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15He had far more in common with English and French aristocrats
0:31:15 > 0:31:18than he did with ordinary people on either side of the border.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22Bruce's struggle against Edward
0:31:22 > 0:31:25appeared to have been motivated not so much by nationalism
0:31:25 > 0:31:29as by a desire to protect his own family's power.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32The barons of the Middleland paid taxes nominally to both English
0:31:32 > 0:31:36and Scottish crowns but they were largely left alone to conduct
0:31:36 > 0:31:40their own affairs and it was this autonomy that was now under threat.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42Bruce's family interests
0:31:42 > 0:31:46included the English royal fortress of Carlisle castle.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Professor Dauvit Broun from Glasgow University
0:31:49 > 0:31:52explained to me why Bruce and other Scottish barons
0:31:52 > 0:31:54were threatened by Edward's rule.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00Well, I think the crucial thing is the way the countries were governed.
0:32:01 > 0:32:07England has become the most centralised state in western Europe.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10This is good if you're the king
0:32:10 > 0:32:13and if you're people on the make to be his ministers.
0:32:13 > 0:32:19It's not good if you're a baron or a regional magnate
0:32:19 > 0:32:23or somebody in the elite with serious interests in Scotland.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26The last thing you want is for that to be all swallowed up
0:32:26 > 0:32:28and become part of England.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32So, Edward I, what does he get wrong about this whole situation?
0:32:32 > 0:32:35He knew these people very well.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40He may have reckoned that they would be happy enough
0:32:40 > 0:32:44to knuckle under to his overlordship.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46So he knows them well.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48He wouldn't have committed himself to this campaign
0:32:48 > 0:32:50if he thought he was going to lose.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54So, if you'd asked him, "Why do you think you can pull this off?"
0:32:54 > 0:32:58He got his way through playing his political cards brilliantly,
0:32:58 > 0:33:02I mean, he was superbly effective there.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06I think he would have been confident because of sheer military muscle.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12With Edward as overlord, the future for Bruce looked bleak.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18A humiliating life as Edward's vassal
0:33:18 > 0:33:22within a centralised state in which power was wielded from London.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31In the end he broke free. It was a huge risk.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35He risked his family, his life, his lands
0:33:35 > 0:33:37but he could not bear English rule.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40And he had himself crowned King of Scotland.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56The war between the two rival kingdoms,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59that had been raging for a decade, now escalated.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03The culture and prosperity of the Middleland,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07painstakingly built by the monks over 200 years, was shattered.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Robert the Bruce sent these raids deep into English territory,
0:34:14 > 0:34:18burning abbeys, destroying fields, chopping down the fruit trees
0:34:18 > 0:34:21so people couldn't feed themselves, and the English responded in turn.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35It was a welter of destruction and horror
0:34:35 > 0:34:38which hadn't been seen in more than 200 years,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40since William the Conqueror harried the north.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02The border between England and Scotland now sprang into life
0:35:02 > 0:35:05a few miles north of the old Roman frontier.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11It was brutally enforced by the authorities on both sides.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17For the first time in their history, the people of the Middleland
0:35:17 > 0:35:21had to finally throw in their lot with one side or the other.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24You had to choose - were you English or Scottish?
0:35:24 > 0:35:27It was illegal for a Scotsman to marry an Englishwoman.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29And without written permission,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32it was forbidden for an Englishman to cross into Scotland.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40The bloody conflict between England and Scotland had reopened the scar
0:35:40 > 0:35:42inflicted by the Romans over 1,000 years before.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50The building of Hadrian's Wall had created a military frontier
0:35:50 > 0:35:54which had defined the character of the Middleland for centuries.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56And now that frontier was back.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00War devastated the local economy.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Deprived of their livelihoods, the farmers of the Middleland
0:36:05 > 0:36:10were drawn into a world of mafia bosses and cross-border raids.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12It reminds me of the North-West Frontier
0:36:12 > 0:36:14of Afghanistan and Pakistan -
0:36:14 > 0:36:17there too an arbitrary line was drawn on a map
0:36:17 > 0:36:19by English and Scottish officers,
0:36:19 > 0:36:23there too that border created a corridor for invading armies,
0:36:23 > 0:36:25a place of bandits and spies -
0:36:25 > 0:36:27one of the most dangerous places on earth.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40The North-West Frontier is still a place
0:36:40 > 0:36:45where superpowers vie for control, flushed with weapons
0:36:45 > 0:36:48and dominated by smugglers and warlords.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09There was one section of the Anglo-Scottish border
0:37:09 > 0:37:12that was more violent and contested than any other.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14This is like a lost fragment of the Middleland.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17It was forgotten as England and Scotland was forming.
0:37:17 > 0:37:2140 square miles of territory that didn't belong to anyone.
0:37:23 > 0:37:25This was the Debatable Land,
0:37:25 > 0:37:29a place that neither England nor Scotland controlled.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35A nest of the most violent bandits.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38A no-man's land.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54The area became so dangerous, you could either live in a mud hut -
0:37:54 > 0:37:56which you could build again in a day -
0:37:56 > 0:37:59or you constructed a building like this.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05This tower near the Scottish village of Canonbie, in the Debatable Land,
0:38:05 > 0:38:09was one of hundreds built across the borderlands.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14They were watch towers and defensive fortresses
0:38:14 > 0:38:17with walls up to 2m thick.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23In the south of England castles were grand palaces
0:38:23 > 0:38:26but here fortified buildings like this
0:38:26 > 0:38:29were scattered in their thousands through the landscape. Why?
0:38:29 > 0:38:30Because on any night,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33armed men could explode through your courtyard.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37God help you. They'd take everything they could carry - pots and pans,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40even children's clothes, and then they'd ride off into the night
0:38:40 > 0:38:43with all your cattle and your provisions for the winter.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51It must have been terrifying, knowing that if they broke through
0:38:51 > 0:38:54they could kidnap your six-year-old son
0:38:54 > 0:38:57or, if they set the building alight, you could be burnt alive.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04If you managed to make it up here,
0:39:04 > 0:39:06you could light a beacon and hold out long enough
0:39:06 > 0:39:09for your relatives to come galloping over the hills to rescue you
0:39:09 > 0:39:11and then the whole game's reversed -
0:39:11 > 0:39:15you're racing to catch the people who've attacked you.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17They are cutting back and forth on hidden routes in the wilderness,
0:39:17 > 0:39:19through the mosses,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22trying to make it back to the safety of their own peel tower.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Imagine the society and economy that emerged from a life like this.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32This was a place which was a failed state.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35There was nothing that we would recognise as the rule of law,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37no security.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40It was a place where protection money was taken
0:39:40 > 0:39:42just not to attack your neighbour.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46It was a place where the word blackmail was invented.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50A mafia society where the only honour
0:39:50 > 0:39:55was honour amongst thieves and the greatest heroes were those thieves.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59For the mafia godfathers it must have been glorious -
0:39:59 > 0:40:04a place of courage and honour and excitement.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06For everyone else, a living hell.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11And there was a name for these people - the reivers.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18The reiver, who's believed to have owned the peel tower here,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21was one of the most famous.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24Johnnie Armstrong of the cross-border Armstrong clan
0:40:24 > 0:40:27led a band of violent reivers who were all experts
0:40:27 > 0:40:30in cattle theft, extortion and hostage taking.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Over generations, bandits like Johnnie
0:40:35 > 0:40:39become heroes of the border area and acquired legendary status.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49The reivers didn't only thrive in the Debatable Land,
0:40:49 > 0:40:52the violence engulfed the entire border region.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56You can still sense the souls of these outlaws
0:40:56 > 0:40:59in the wild land which they dominated.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05This is Tarras Moss on the Scottish side of the border,
0:41:05 > 0:41:08familiar territory for Johnnie Armstrong
0:41:08 > 0:41:11and fellow bandits like the English reiver Hobbie Noble.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21Farmer Duncan Telford's family
0:41:21 > 0:41:25have lived near Hobbie Noble's land for generations.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30Hobbie Noble was the most famous reiver from the Bewcastle area.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33He was pinching off his own neighbours on the English side.
0:41:33 > 0:41:34He got kicked out of England
0:41:34 > 0:41:37and came and lived with the Scottish raiders.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41So he was like a famous outlaw, really, like a Wild West figure.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44Aye, yes, yes, aye. Not to be messed with.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52- It's great weather you've got round here.- Aye, this is typical.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01This would be Armstrongs, Elliots, Scotts,
0:42:01 > 0:42:03these sort of families, around here?
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Ah, yes. There'd be a lot of Armstrongs,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08there'd be Armstrongs on the English side and the Scots side.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Johnnie Armstrong was one of these legendary figures.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14Oh, aye. He went to meet the King of Scotland
0:42:14 > 0:42:17with 40 of his followers and they couldn't make much on him
0:42:17 > 0:42:21so they hung him and his 40 followers on the spot.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Caerlanrig up there, aye.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27- That's a terrible thing.- Well, they must have been naughty boys!
0:42:29 > 0:42:33Duncan, you've got a reiving tattoo and your child is called Reeve.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Yeah, me son's called Reeve, aye.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39It's not got an I in it, like. It's RE-EV-E. Yeah.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41And is there something that appeals to you about that?
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Is it something that you like about the reivers,
0:42:44 > 0:42:47that attracted you to them?
0:42:47 > 0:42:51It's cos they were the same as me, farmers from the same place,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54same job so there's similarities.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58Do you think if you'd been living then you would have been a reiver?
0:42:58 > 0:43:02Definitely. Aye. You wouldn't have a choice.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06And do you think you would have been good at it or enjoyed it?
0:43:07 > 0:43:10I would say so, aye. What do you think?
0:43:16 > 0:43:20The border was designed to separate people into two countries
0:43:20 > 0:43:23but in fact it created a shared identity.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26The Armstrongs and Elliots on this side of the border
0:43:26 > 0:43:29absolutely no different from Hobbie Noble's family,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31or the Grahams, on the English side of the border.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34They robbed each other but they wore the same clothes,
0:43:34 > 0:43:36they rode the same horses,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39they sang the same ballads about their exploits.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45These ballads are still performed here in Liddesdale.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48FOLK MUSIC PLAYS
0:43:48 > 0:43:54# He has sent it to Johnnie Armstrong
0:43:55 > 0:44:01# To come and speak with him speedily..."
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Locals still argue about what happened here over 400 years ago.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13Most of the history that's known about the execution
0:44:13 > 0:44:15of Johnnie Armstrong actually comes from the ballad.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18"The King to send down to sort them out."
0:44:18 > 0:44:20There's only one way to sort them out is hang them,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22and hang all his men and all with him.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25Simple as that, I would think.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27But who was the bigger villain?
0:44:27 > 0:44:30The king. The government.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32THEY LAUGH
0:44:43 > 0:44:45It's very tempting to think of the borderers,
0:44:45 > 0:44:47because of all this violence and mayhem,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50as though they're intrinsically warrior people,
0:44:50 > 0:44:52as though it's about ethnic hatred,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54as though they're intrinsically hard men.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57This is something people used to say during the Balkan wars,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59it's something that I've heard in Afghanistan.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03Now, Afghanistan is warrior tribal society but it's not true,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05not true of any of those people
0:45:05 > 0:45:10because, in the end, these societies are victims of proxy wars.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13They're caught between two neighbouring states
0:45:13 > 0:45:16who are exploiting them for their own ends.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20This was a war that began with Hadrian's Wall
0:45:20 > 0:45:22and these communities were wracked
0:45:22 > 0:45:25on the dividing point between two nations.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39By the 16th century, the border area had been divided
0:45:39 > 0:45:42into six separate regions stretching 50 miles north
0:45:42 > 0:45:44and south of the border.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49They were called the Marches.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55Each march was governed by a warden
0:45:55 > 0:45:58whose job was to try and keep the peace
0:45:58 > 0:46:01and bring reivers like Johnnie Armstrong to justice.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06During Armstrong's time,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10the English warden of the western march lived here at Naworth Castle
0:46:10 > 0:46:12on the English side of the border.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16His name was Thomas Dacre.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Right. HE GROANS
0:46:25 > 0:46:29Now, this is the top of the castle, virtually.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32A few bits of Roman wall stone down here
0:46:32 > 0:46:36and a great view of Jockland over there.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Philip Howard is directly descended from Thomas Dacre.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45- And your ancestors built this castle?- That bit there, 1335.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49Around about 1500, the most famous of the Dacres, Thomas Dacre,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53he built all of this and he built the great hall and everything
0:46:53 > 0:46:57and he was Warden of the Western March.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59What did a Warden of the Western March do?
0:46:59 > 0:47:03He was meant to protect this area.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08To protect the people here and to keep law and order.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11We had the high rights and the low rights.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14The high rights, as can be seen on our hanging tree,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18was to hang Armstrongs, where Lord William happily hung 63
0:47:18 > 0:47:20in two years, which was a thing.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23There's another tree, we think, somewhere else,
0:47:23 > 0:47:27which sadly fell down, where my father always promised me
0:47:27 > 0:47:31we hung 46 members of the Hay family, which was another good day.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34And the low rights were to incarcerate.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38We had... Sadly that wing got burnt down
0:47:38 > 0:47:40but we've got a dungeon and a pit,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43but there were seven separate dungeons right the way through
0:47:43 > 0:47:46for us to maintain law and order and there was a lot of it to maintain.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49And are there still a lot of Armstrongs around?
0:47:49 > 0:47:51Unfortunately so. We did our best.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56Actually, three of them actually work with us at the moment,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59and Bells and Ridleys and Stewarts.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02And so I think we're a little bit friendlier now.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04What sort of man do you think he was?
0:48:04 > 0:48:06What was his personality?
0:48:09 > 0:48:13He was a tough man. He would have been a tough man.
0:48:13 > 0:48:19Dacre, all of those guys must have been brutal,
0:48:19 > 0:48:22duplicitous, cruel, hard men.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26You were looking at a time
0:48:26 > 0:48:31where it was like his own fiefdom he was running.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35He answered to the King but actually he didn't, he answered to no-one.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37He was in charge of life and death.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47Thomas Dacre made his name at the Battle of Flodden in 1513,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51where the Scottish king was killed by English forces.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56And because I'm a Scot, Philip likes to remind me
0:48:56 > 0:48:59of this fact at every possible opportunity.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04These seem to be an extraordinary pair of boots that you've produced.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08Yeah, well, I thought I'd get a few exciting things to have a look at.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10There's some moss-trooper's boots,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13which are probably meant to be genuine moss-trooper's boots.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17So these are, what, 400 or 500 years old?
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Tromping through the mosses of Cumbria and Scotland.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24You'd need to be a strong man to wear those things, wouldn't you?
0:49:24 > 0:49:31- And the sword?- Well, it is said this blade came from the Battle of Flodden
0:49:31 > 0:49:35where, of course, the Howards and Dacres
0:49:35 > 0:49:38commanding the army inflicted a catastrophic defeat
0:49:38 > 0:49:42on the Scottish nation, which I think you're aware of.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45So much so that actually, after the Battle of Flodden,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48Henry VIII, in grateful thanks,
0:49:48 > 0:49:54allowed my ancestor to put on his Howard coat-of-arms
0:49:54 > 0:49:56the Scottish Lion, which actually, if you look,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00has its legs and bits chopped off and has an arrow through its throat.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03And, apparently, if we go into Scotland,
0:50:03 > 0:50:04which obviously we don't often,
0:50:04 > 0:50:08we are meant to be allowed to wear a black tartan
0:50:08 > 0:50:12because of the killing of the Scottish king.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16- Philip, thank you. - It's been a pleasure.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Despite the brutality and determination
0:50:19 > 0:50:21of men like Thomas Dacre,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24the chaos and anarchy in the Middleland continued.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30The English and Scottish authorities
0:50:30 > 0:50:33decided they couldn't hope to restore law and order
0:50:33 > 0:50:36until a clear border had been agreed
0:50:36 > 0:50:38across the entire length of their kingdoms.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44The dispute over who controlled the Debatable Land had to be resolved.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47It was finally divided in 1552...
0:50:49 > 0:50:52..when the English and Scots, after centuries of fighting,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55got in a French ambassador who drew a straight line on a map.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59And it's this - it becomes an earth bank running for miles.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02Finally, it's possible to have a nationality.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05My cows are English, my sheep are Scottish.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08My brother is English, I am Scottish.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12This was the moment at which the kingdoms were finalised
0:51:12 > 0:51:14and it's still the border today.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18In the end, becoming English or Scottish comes down to this.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22Now I'm a Scot... and now I'm an Englishman.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28With the border defined from coast to coast,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31there was now pressure to reinforce that division.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35And the final end of all the conflict and war
0:51:35 > 0:51:37between England and Scotland is a proposal
0:51:37 > 0:51:43that lands on Queen Elizabeth I's desk to build an 80-mile wall
0:51:43 > 0:51:49from sea to sea with towers and ramparts to keep out the Scots.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Over 1,000 years after the Romans had deserted Hadrian's Wall,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01the idea of a physical border had returned.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06Dozens of small forts would be linked by parapets and ramparts
0:52:06 > 0:52:0820ft wide and 40ft high.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12Huge ditches would be dug on the Scottish side,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14up to 60ft wide.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18While on the English side, a complex system of half-moon ditches
0:52:18 > 0:52:20and trenches was proposed.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25The fortifications were immense but the Queen was assured
0:52:25 > 0:52:29that the proposal would only cost a mere £30,000 -
0:52:29 > 0:52:31a few million today.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38Fortunately the idea was dumped and the wall was never built.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44But this is exactly where that great wall would have been.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01The English may not have built their wall
0:53:01 > 0:53:03but as the end of the 16th century approached,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07the Middleland was still divided in two and the lawlessness
0:53:07 > 0:53:11and criminality continued across the entire border area.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16The late 1500s finished with an explosion of violence.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Here in Carlisle Castle, one of the Scottish leaders even managed
0:53:19 > 0:53:24to break loose a notorious bandit, Kinmont Willie,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27right under the nose of the English wardens.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31Kinmont Willie had terrorised the border community for decades,
0:53:31 > 0:53:35at times it's even possible he was being used as an agent
0:53:35 > 0:53:37or spy for the Scottish authorities.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41But when Queen Elizabeth I of England died
0:53:41 > 0:53:44and was succeeded by King James of Scotland in 1603,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47uniting Scotland and England,
0:53:47 > 0:53:49Kinmont's career was effectively over.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54So long as there's a border, you can never really have security because
0:53:54 > 0:53:57everything's caught up in the war between England and Scotland.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00So you try to arrest a bandit and immediately
0:54:00 > 0:54:03someone comes along and says they've got to be released because
0:54:03 > 0:54:07they're being used as a spy or to do a raid against the Scottish crown.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10But once the border's gone and the war's finished,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13then these bandits are no longer necessary,
0:54:13 > 0:54:15governments no longer get involved.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17They've ceased to be useful.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19These guys clanking around with their old swords
0:54:19 > 0:54:22have just become an embarrassment.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28Kinmont Willie's last appearance
0:54:28 > 0:54:31was when he rode up to Carlisle with a few of his friends,
0:54:31 > 0:54:33drunk out of his mind,
0:54:33 > 0:54:36burnt a few outbuildings then he rode up to the gates
0:54:36 > 0:54:39of the castle itself and hammered on the gates,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42shouting out some old, half-remembered border war cry.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46But no-one cared.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48They hardly even noticed.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57Men who had once been useful allies were now hanged,
0:54:57 > 0:54:59entire clans were deported.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03The age of the reivers was now over.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15Without the tension of the frontier,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19farming, trade and prosperity flourished again.
0:55:19 > 0:55:21The border became irrelevant.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34This was the vision of King James when he became no longer
0:55:34 > 0:55:38just King of Scotland and England but the King of Britain.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40He insisted the names of the countries would go,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43they would be called North Britain and South Britain
0:55:43 > 0:55:46and instead of the border there was going to be a Middleshire.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53With the Union Of The Crowns in 1603,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56Britain had been brought under the control of one monarch.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02Just over 100 years later, our two parliaments became one.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12The Middleland became again the centre of a renaissance.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Its writers - Wordsworth and Walter Scott -
0:56:15 > 0:56:18immortalised its landscape and history
0:56:18 > 0:56:20and inspired the whole of Europe.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27There is still a border in the Middleland but it has become
0:56:27 > 0:56:32a subtle encounter between very closely related cultures.
0:56:37 > 0:56:42In September 2014, Scotland will vote on independence
0:56:42 > 0:56:46and the possibility of an international boundary will return,
0:56:46 > 0:56:49opening a new chapter in the history of the Middleland.
0:56:51 > 0:56:53The story hasn't ended.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58We still don't know whether we're going to have a Middleland -
0:56:58 > 0:57:02a unified, upland culture stretching almost from Edinburgh to the Humber
0:57:02 > 0:57:05or whether the Romans will win through -
0:57:05 > 0:57:07that harsh, artificial line,
0:57:07 > 0:57:12that border that divided nations and pitted them against each other.
0:57:12 > 0:57:152,000 years have passed and we still don't know
0:57:15 > 0:57:17which of those two principles
0:57:17 > 0:57:20is going to define Britain for the future.