Border ballads

The often drama-laced boundary between Scotland and England has for centuries been fertile territory for ballads – historical, narrative folk songs that celebrate the heroes and outlaws of times gone by. The tradition is so rich here that ‘Border ballads’ have long been an established part of the local culture, with these dark, mysterious songs customarily sung unaccompanied.

The genre was immortalised when Sir Walter Scott compiled an anthology of Border ballads – originally released in 1802, then published in expanded form in later editions – under the title Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Among the best known ballads in the collection is the tale of the miscreant Hobie Noble (‘Now Hobie he was an English man, And born into Bewcastle dale, But his misdeeds they were sae great, They banishd him to Liddisdale’).