The River Sark or Sark Water is a river best known for forming part of the western border between Scotland and England. Most of its short length, however, is entirely in Scotland. It flows into the estuary of the River Esk just to the south of Gretna. [1]
The Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Sark in October 1448. It was a significant victory for the Scots, who had not defeated England since the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. [2]
The river has been made famous, partially by the Robert Burns' poem, Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation , which in the first verse it says:
- Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
- Fareweel our ancient glory;
- Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name,
- Sae fam'd in martial story.
- Now Sark rins over Solway sands,
- An' Tweed rins to the ocean,
- To mark where England's province stands-
- Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!" [3]
The poem's subject was the alleged sale of Scotland in the Anglo-Scottish Treaty of Union. [4] The most famous town on the Sark is Gretna Green, best known for its wedding industry. [5] The A74(M) motorway passes over it.
The area around the Sark was notoriously marshy and sandy, as much of the coast of the north west Irish Sea is. The small section between the lower end of the Sark and the River Esk is known as the "debatable lands", and was formerly a haven for criminals and outlaws who wished to exploit the weakness of the two countries' border defences. [6] The boundary between the Sark and the Esk is called the Scots' Dike.
Its name is not connected with "Cutty Sark".
Gretna Green is a parish in the southern council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, and is situated on the Scottish side of the border between Scotland and England, defined by the small river Sark, which flows into the estuary of the western contiguous Solway Firth. It was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green railway station serves both Gretna Green and Gretna. The Quintinshill rail disaster, the worst rail crash in British history, in which over 220 died, occurred near Gretna Green in 1915.
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian and, to the south-west, south and east, the English counties of Cumbria and Northumberland. The administrative centre of the area is Newtown St Boswells.
The Battle of Solway Moss took place on Solway Moss near the River Esk on the English side of the Anglo-Scottish border in November 1542 between English and Scottish forces.
Coldstream is a town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream is the home of the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army.
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of southern Scotland.
Gretna is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, originally part of the historic county of Dumfriesshire. It is located close to the A74(M) on the border of Scotland and England and near the mouth of the River Esk.
The River Esk, also known as the Border Esk, is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, that enters the English county of Cumbria and flows into the Solway Firth.
Cutty Sark is a range of blended Scotch whisky produced by La Martiniquaise. The whisky was created on 23 March 1923 as a product of Berry Bros. & Rudd, with the home of the blend considered to be at The Glenrothes distillery in the Speyside region of Scotland. The name comes from the River Clyde-built clipper ship Cutty Sark, whose name came from the Scots term "cutty-sark", the short shirt [skirt] prominently mentioned in the famous poem by Robert Burns, "Tam o' Shanter". The drawing of the clipper ship Cutty Sark on the label of the whisky bottles is a work of the Swedish artist Carl Georg August Wallin. He was a mariner painter, and this is probably his most famous ship painting. This drawing has been on the whisky bottles since 1955. The Tall Ships' Races for large sailing ships were originally known as The Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races, under the terms of sponsorship by the whisky brand.
"Tam o' Shanter" is a narrative poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1790, while living in Dumfries. First published in 1791, at 228 lines it is one of Burns' longer poems, and employs a mixture of Scots and English.
The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands, lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question as to which it belonged, when they were distinct kingdoms. The name either signifies litigious or disputable ground, or it comes from the Old English word 'battable'.
Liddel Water is a river running through southern Scotland and northern England, for much of its course forming the border between the two countries, and was formerly one of the boundaries of the Debatable Lands.
Canonbie is a small village in Dumfriesshire within the local authority area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, 6 miles south of Langholm and 2 miles north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is on the A7 road from Carlisle to Edinburgh, and the River Esk flows through it. There are frequent references in older documents to it as Canobie.
The Anglo-Scottish border is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to as "the Borderlands".
The Scots' Dike or dyke is a three and a half mile / 5.25 km long linear earthwork, constructed by the English and the Scots in the year 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England.
The Solway Plain or Solway Basin is a coastal plain located mostly in northwest Cumbria in England, extending just over the Scottish border to the low-lying area around Gretna and Annan. It lies generally north and west of Carlisle along the Solway Firth, and is drained by the rivers Esk and Lyne. It is associated with the westernmost part of Hadrian's Wall. In medieval times, clay houses known as dabbins were commonly built on the Solway Plain. The Solway coast has been designated an “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”.
The Battle of Sark, alternatively called the Battle of Lochmaben Stone, was fought between England and Scotland in October 1448. A large battle, it was the first significant Scottish victory over the English in over half a century, since the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. It placed the Scots in a position of strength against the English for over a decade, until Edward IV ascended the English throne, and it brought the powerful Douglas family to even greater prominence in Scotland.
"Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation" is a Scottish folk song whose lyrics are taken from a poem written by Robert Burns in 1791, listed as number 5516 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It has continued to be associated with Scottish nationalism and also been referenced in other situations where politicians' actions have gone against popular opinion.
Parcel of Rogues is an album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span. It was their most successful album thus far, breaking into the Top 30.
Events from the year 1763 in Scotland.