The Alnwick Castle Podcast
Alnwick Castle is one of North East England's top visitor attractions and has been part of British history for nearly 1,000 years. Now, Alnwick Castle has a podcast! Join hosts Daniel and Deborah, and regular special guests, as they discuss fascinating aspects of Alnwick Castle's history, from the people that lived there to its connections with famous events, its place as a filming location, and more. New episodes will be available every two weeks - make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any!
The Alnwick Castle Podcast
72 - Border Reivers - with Andy Rice
Alnwick Castle, for hundreds of years, was a border fortress, part of the defensive line protecting England from Scottish attacks. But throughout the medieval period and into the Tudor and Elizabethan periods, families on both sides of the border were known as reivers - thieves, raiders and criminals who took every opportunity to attack their rivals.
We spoke to our resident master longbowman, Andy Rice, who also happens to be a bit of an expert on the reivers! Andy tells us who they were, when reiving was at its peak and when it died out, and the Percy family's role as wardens on the border, based at Alnwick Castle, trying to restore order where they could.
You will also find out about the great rival to the Percys in Elizabethan times, Sir John Forster; what led the Archbishop of Glasgow to write "the great cursing" against the reivers, and their connection to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon!
We recorded this episode in Artisans Courtyard, on quite a windy day, so you may hear various microphone popping sounds background noises at certain times. (We have tried to remove these wherever we could.)
We hope you enjoy this look into reivers (especially if you've only heard the word before on sci-fi shows like 'Firefly'!) and also hope you can leave us a rating or review if you did!