The border Grahams

The Grahams had held lands in the borders since the mid 13th century although the ancestor of the Grahams of Eskdale are said to come from the Menteith branch. Sir John Graham ‘with the bright sword’, banished from Scotland by the crown for some unknown quarrel is given to be the ancestor of Lang Will Graham who planted his sons along the banks of the river Esk throughout the debateable land stretching into England. By 1552 the clan numbered some 500 warriors with thirteen peel towers across their territory. The Grahams lived in several settlements and were organised into ‘bands’ under ‘headsmen’ such as Graham of Rosetrees, Graham of Netherby and Graham of Kirkandrews. Forced in the 1590’s to sign a bond with the English government of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) similar to those forced on the Irish Clans a generation earlier, the border clan was fiercely persecuted when James VI (1567�) took the English throne. A border commission was set up and many Grahams were executed or banished to the Low Countries and Ireland.