My Trotter Ancestry and the Border Reivers Link

“For over 350 years up to the end of the 16th century what are now Northumberland, Cumbria, The Scottish Borders, Dumfries, and Galloway rang to the clash of steel and thunder of hooves.  As George MacDonald Fraser explains in his book, The Steel Bonnets, "The great border tribes of both Scotland and England feuded continuously among themselves.  Robbery and blackmail were everyday professions; raiding, arson, kidnapping, murder, and extortion were an accepted part of the social system.

While the monarchs of England and Scotland ruled the comparatively secure hearts of their kingdoms, the lance and the sword dominated the narrow hill land between.  The tribal leaders from their towers, the broken men, and outlaws of the mosses, the ordinary peasants of the valleys, in their own phrase, 'shook loose the Border'.  They continued to shake it as long as it was political reality, practising systematic robbery and destruction on each other.  History has christened them the Border Reivers.” http://www.reivers.com/aboutt.htm (link not now available)
My Trotter ancestors most probably were Border Reivers belonging to the border clan or tribe known as Trotters. This clan are thought to have held power over an area near Berwick and derived their name from their mode of transport. They rode little Scots ponies, which had the ability to cover long distances while carrying heavy loads and trotting at a steady continuous pace.

In Elizabethan times, wardens were established to keep peace across the Border Marches and Trotters are named as wardens in the Stanhope area. As the social system changed, many Reivers became pitmen, as did my Trotter ancestors.