Common Riding

Langholm and its land

It’s an ancient place,
Where clay is got
And it belongs to us by
Right and Lot;

Tarras Moss is the centrepiece in many stories about the Borders in the period of the sixteenth century. In the days of the Border reivers it is said that only the local people knew how to cross Tarras Moss safely as it was very wet with large areas where horses were liable to get bogged down.

The reivers often hid or took refuge on the Moss and brought the cattle they had ‘reived’ with them to avoid being chased. It was a custom, known as the ‘hot trodd’ that if the owner of cattle that had been stolen could find them within 6 days, they were entitled to get them back. It therefore paid for a reiver to have a good hiding place to hold onto them.

The people of the Langholm area have always collected natural resources from the moorland for a variety of uses. Peat was used for heat and cooking, heather for a number of purposes and stone for building. Plants may have been used for dyeing wool. In the early eighteenth century the landowners started to enclose land and that would have meant that the people of Langholm would have been unable to collect these natural resources.

Before 1759 the common land of Langholm, the ‘commonty’, was a vast area of difficult land to the south and east of the town, from the Esk up and over Whita hill down to the Tarras. In 1757 one landowner brought an action in the Court of Session against neighbouring landowners to divide the commonty between them. Evidence was taken from the elders of the parish, the commonty boundaries were walked over and agreed and valuers and witnesses were appointed.

In 1759 the Court awarded the landowners most of the commonty. The Act of Division allowed that common mosses could be left undivided and so it was at Langholm. The elderly witnesses gave evidence to the court that the tenants and inhabitants had always had access to the commonty to take peats and other benefits. They were now left with the Common Moss (only about 100 acres) with instructions from the court to mark its bounds and maintain the road up the hill. This they have done for 260 years.

The first marking of the boundaries happened in 1759 with a man known as ‘Bauldy Beattie’ walking around the land boundaries. Later people started to ride around the boundaries on horseback and this became known as the Langholm Common Riding.

Langholm Common Riding continues today and some of the common land is now in community ownership and is part of the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve. The Common Riding now takes place on the last Friday of July and brings crowds of thousands of people to witness the hundreds of people riding around the boundaries or marches of the common land.

During the Common Riding the ‘fair’ is ‘cried’ twice by a man standing on the back of a horse. This is a stirring moment for the Langholm people. The Common Riding is full of traditions but demonstrates the strength of feeling the people have for the land that surrounds the town of Langholm.

People have also used the Tarras Valley for recreation for generations including picnics, swimming and games with families enjoying nature and fun out of doors. This continues to this day.

The people of Langholm have also used the Tarras Valley for recreation for generations including picnics, swimming and games with families enjoying nature and fun out of doors. This continues to this day.

An extract from one of the proclamations ‘cried’ at Langholm Common Riding

“Now gentlemen, we’re gan frae the toun

And first of a’ the Kil-Green

We gan roun’

It’s an ancient place

Where clay is got

And it belongs to us by

Right and Lot;

And then frae there the

Lang Wood we gan’ throu’

Where every ane may

Breckens cut and pu’

And last of a’ we to the Moss do steer,

Tae see gif a’ oor Mairches

They be clear;

And when unto the Castle Craigs

We come,

I’ll cry the Langholm Fair

And then we’ll beat the drum.”

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Langholm and its land

An extract from one of the proclamations ‘cried’ at Langholm Common Riding

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