McCabeGall

Gilnockie Tower, being approached by border reivers from a 19th century print. Brackenhill Pele Tower, built in 1584 by Ritchie Graham. Hughie Graham " or " Hughie Graeme " is a border ballad collected by Robert Burns.There is a printed version in the Bodleian Library under the title "The Life and Death of Sir Hugh The Grime", dated between 1672 and 1696. The Burns version was printed in 1803. The story concerns Hughie Graham a infamous  border reiver . He is captured stealing the bishop's horse and sentenced to hang on the gallows. There are pleas made to ransom him which are rejected. In the last lines of the ballad he sends greetings to his father, and offers his sword to  Johnnie Armstrong , and a curse to his wife who he appears to blame for betraying him with the bishop. HUGHIE GRAME (Hughie the Graeme) The Laird o' Hume he's a huntin' gone Over the hills and mountains clear, And he has ta'en Sir Hugh the Grame

  The Bonny House of Airlie The Bonny House of Airlie  is a traditional Scottish folk song from the seventeenth century, the author unknown. It relates the story of the raid by  Archibald Campbell , Earl of Argyll on  Airlie Castle , the home of  James Ogilvy ,  Earl of Airlie , which occured in the summer of 1640. A broadsheet version of the ballad first appeared in 1790 and was published as number 199 in  Francis Child 's collection  The English and Scottish Popular Ballads  of 1882. Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll by David Scougall The ballad is based on real events, where a decades long feud between the clans  Campbells  and  Ogilvys   was renewed when they joined opposite sides in the  National Covenant  and  Bishops' Wars .  Ogilvy would raise several hundred men for King  Charles I , whilst Campbell became a leading figure of the Covenanters. Ogilvy would march his men south and Archibald seized and destroyed the castle of Airlie. The ballad claims tha

The Bonnie Earl of Moray  Painting of the body of the dead Earl  of Moray commissioned by his mother to show the wounds inflicted during his killing (1592).  The ballad is believed to have been composed in early 17th century, the composer not known. It was a popular ballad based on the rivalry between  James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray , and the  Earl of Huntly , which resulted in Huntly killing Moray in 1592.  Both their families, the Stewarts of Doune (pronounced "doon") and the Gordons of Huntly, had a history of bloody feud against each other.   Francis James Child  reveals some background to the murder explaining that Huntly was eager to prove that Moray was plotting with the  Earl of Bothwell  against  King James VI . He received a commission from the king to bring Moray to trial, however in the attempt to arrest him Moray's house at  Donibristle  in  Fife  was set on fire, and Moray was slain on the grounds.   Walter Scott  would relate the story that Hu

  The statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Derby, in memory of the march south during the  Jacobite rising of 1745 .  Walter Scott featured the song a Blue Bonnets over the Border  in his historical novel "The Monastery", published in 1820, and which was set during the early  Scottish Reformation, 1560. The Blue Bonnets referred to in the song are woollen hats worn by the Scots as a form of identification during battle.   In this version featured here, the army is marching for the Queen, whilst other versions such as those sung by the folk group The Corries refer to the King - Bonnie Prince Charlie during the 1745 Jacobite Rising.  The tune and melody, although the lyrics and context are different, was inspired by  "Lesley's March" , a song about the Scots Covenanter army under   Alexander Leslie   (c.1580-1661) which invaded England in 1640 and defeated an English army at the  Battle of Newburn . Blue Bonnets over the Border, by Walter Scott March, m