Hawick Reivers Festival (RenFaire with Scocha and even a few kilts)

**cessna152towser** · 24th March 07, 08:18 AM

The first of the reivers march into town this morning. This annual re-enactment commemorates the Borders clans of Armstrong, Elliot, Scott, Turnbull and others who would sometimes feud amongst themselves or would sometimes unite against English families such as the dreaded Howards or Routledges from across the Border.

More reivers arriving.

Blue Bonnets o'er the Borders

Mounted Reivers

Their destination is Drumlanrig's Tower, re-opened today for the summer season, now open daily till 31st October.

There are stalls in the courtyard of Drumlanrig's Tower.

A wee kiltie in Teviotdale tartan.

Me in my Freedom Cargo kilt. (weighed down with my purchases from the stalls).

**cessna152towser** · 24th March 07, 08:27 AM

Scocha played live. A rare non-kilted appearance. Note Ian Scott in knee breeches, centre of picture. David Chapman is next to him in the light blue jeans and blue shirt commemorating the Battle of Hornshole, 1514.

Border Pipes (edited 11th April, thanks wgority for the gen)

Lowland Pipes - (edited 11th April, thanks wgority for the gen)

Traditional basket weaving.

Clanranald Trust had a stall.

With a display o' helmets

and shields, chain mail, swords and axes, etc.

Which the youngsters were able to try on.

**cessna152towser** · 24th March 07, 08:35 AM

The halberdiers have seized the first criminal of the day, ex-cornet Richard Walker. Here he stands trial, prosecuted by local lawyer John Hunter and defended by Iain Burke frae Galashiels.

All to no avail as the crowd cries out a verdict of Guilty and the halberdiers hussle him awa'

Tae serve a sentence in the stocks, where the kids will throw wet sponges at him.

Then the halberdiers arrested the recently retired chief of the local police, Watson McAteer

He pleads for mercy

But he's off tae the stocks an' all.
Maybe I should get awa' hame before ah get masel arrestit by those halberdiers!

**cessna152towser** · 24th March 07, 08:45 AM

After the Reivers have left, the townspeople re-enact the Hot Trod, which is a traditional right in Borders law to go after the Reivers, recover your own property and burn the Reivers out of their habitations. This is re-enacted by a torchlight procession at dusk to a park on the outskirts of town. Wax torches are sold during the day and local youngsters dress in period costume to collect funds for the fireworks display afterwards. Here we see two local girls suitably attired.

PHOTOS OF THE HOT TROD FOLLOW LATER IN THIS THREAD

**Pour1Malt** · 26th March 07, 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by cessna152towser

...
But he's off tae the stocks an' all.
Maybe I should get awa' hame before ah get masel arrestit by those halberdiers!

brill!

lueks like a guid day an' a'....

ta fur a' the bonny piccies!

guid oan ya Alex!

**wgority** · 10th April 07, 06:55 AM

Looks like you had a great day overall. I love spending time in the border country. Hawick, for those not familiar with the town, is pronounced to sound like "Hoik".

Originally Posted by cessna152towser

Northumbrian Small Pipes

No, they're not Northumbrian Smallpipes. Those are Border Pipes and they're being played by Matt Seattle who has been a friend of mine for a number of years. Matt is a noted authority on Border Pipes. He has composed numerous tunes for them, as well as writing and publishing a number of books of tunes for the instrument, including The Master Piper, The Border Bagpipe Book, Over The Hills And Far Away and many others. He re-discovered the William Dixon manuscript which was the basis for The Master Piper and had previously been thought lost sometime between the 1780s and 1820s. This manuscript as proven to be essentially the Rosetta Stone connecting modern pipers to the repertoire for the Border Pipes from the early 1700s. Matt lives not too far from Hawick. That particular set of pipes were made by Nigel Richards.

Originally Posted by cessna152towser

English Great Pipes - thanks Beloitpiper for identifying these pipes.

Nope, again they're misidentified. Those are similar to the single-droned student version of Lowland Pipes as made by Jon Swayne. I'm thinking that particular set may have been made by Dominic Allen.

These are English Greatpipes from my collection. Sorry for the bad photo, but I'll try to take a newer, better one soon.

The drone is well over 3 feet long for this set in the key of "D". The lower the key, the longer the drone. I've seen a set in "G" for which the drone is ridiculously long. Please note the rather substantial difference between the bell ends of both the drone and the chanter in the 2 photos.

**beloitpiper** · 10th April 07, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by wgority

Looks like you had a great day overall. I love spending time in the border country. Hawick, for those not familiar with the town, is pronounced to sound like "Hoik".

No, they're not Northumbrian Smallpipes. Those are Border Pipes and they're being played by Matt Seattle who has been a friend of mine for a number of years. Matt is a noted authority on Border Pipes. He has composed numerous tunes for them, as well as writing and publishing a number of books of tunes for the instrument, including The Master Piper, The Border Bagpipe Book, Over The Hills And Far Away and many others. He re-discovered the William Dixon manuscript which was the basis for The Master Piper and had previously been thought lost sometime between the 1780s and 1820s. This manuscript as proven to be essentially the Rosetta Stone connecting modern pipers to the repertoire for the Border Pipes from the early 1700s. Matt lives not too far from Hawick. That particular set of pipes were made by Nigel Richards.

Nope, again they're misidentified. Those are similar to the single-droned student version of Lowland Pipes as made by Jon Swayne. I'm thinking that particular set may have been made by Dominic Allen.

These are English Greatpipes from my collection. Sorry for the bad photo, but I'll try to take a newer, better one soon.

The drone is well over 3 feet long for this set in the key of "D". The lower the key, the longer the drone. I've seen a set in "G" for which the drone is ridiculously long. Please note the rather substantial difference between the bell ends of both the drone and the chanter in the 2 photos.

Ah yes, you're right. I thought the chanter looked a bit long for English pipes. Good eyes!