A football match in 1599 between men of Bewcastle, England, and Armstrongs of Whithaugh, Scotland, was followed by ‘drynkyng hard’. Final score was two dead, 30 taken prisoner ‘and many sore hurt, especially John Whytfeild, whose bowells came out, but are sowed up againe’. 1/5 
The Middle Ages brought 600 years of border warfare. Daniel Defoe wrote on his tour through Northumberland in 1724: ‘Every place shews you ruin’d castles, Roman altars, inscriptions, monuments of battles, of heroes killed, and armies routed. 2/5
Northern England’s border counties have spent more than half of the past 2,000 years being fought over if you include the Roman era. It profoundly influenced both nations. 3/5
For border residents, fighting could be brutal, with homes and towns on both sides sacked and burned. Nonetheless centuries of warfare have left little legacy of bitterness between people on either side of the border - unlike, say, the Balkans in the modern day. 4/5
Picture: Kinmont Willie, the Capture of William Armstrong of Kinmont, by John Faed, 1820-1902 (private collection). 5/5
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