Common Riding

Common Riding
Name	Common Riding
Location	Scottish Borders
Dates	Annual (varies by town)
Frequency	Annual
Genre	Border custom, equestrian festival

Common Riding

Common Riding is a traditional equestrian festival practiced chiefly in the Scottish Borders, celebrating historical claims to common land, local defense, and community identity. The observance combines mounted processions, ceremonial inspections, and civic rituals tied to medieval charters and regional memory. Communities across Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, and Peeblesshire maintain variants that interweave local families, municipal institutions, and regional commemorations.

History

Origins of the festival trace to medieval practices associated with grazing rights and the enforcement of commons recorded in charters such as those from Roxburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed. Early documented mentions appear alongside disputes adjudicated at institutions like the Court of Session and activities involving border magnates including the Earl of March and Clan Douglas. Episodes of cross-border raiding during the era of the Wars of Scottish Independence and later engagements such as the Battle of Flodden and the Rough Wooing shaped the ceremonial memorialization of vigilance. Municipal records from burghs including Jedburgh, Hawick, Selkirk, and Galashiels show evolving civic roles for sheriffs, provosts, and town councils in organizing ridings. Nineteenth-century antiquarians such as John Leyden and collectors associated with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland documented oral histories and ballads that linked local processions to border conflicts and legal custom. Twentieth-century pressures—industrialization tied to mills in Peebles and wartime mobilization during the First World War—prompted adaptation of rituals, while bodies like the National Trust for Scotland and the Scottish Borders Council later engaged in preservation. Contemporary scholarship by historians at institutions such as University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, and University of Aberdeen situates the festival within studies of ritual, law, and regional identity.

Traditions and Rituals

Key practices include the riding of boundaries, known in some towns as the "Rideout," the inspection of marches, and the retrieval of symbolic objects such as the sotterns and bawbee. Civic officers—provosts, town clerks, and captains—participate alongside local hereditary figures from families tied to the marches like the Kers and Johnstones. Processions often invoke commemorations of skirmishes involving units associated with the Border Reivers and references to engagements near sites like Hermitage Castle and Roxburgh Castle. Rituals incorporate legalistic elements derived from charters registered in repositories such as the National Records of Scotland and hearings once held before magistrates linked to the Sheriff Court. Folk traditions recorded in collections of the School of Scottish Studies and publications by the Oral History Society preserve chants, challenge-and-response formats, and oath-taking that reenact historic wardenship. Some ceremonies draw on wider Scottish pageantry traditions exemplified at events like the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and civic processions in Stirling.

Events and Schedule

Annual calendars are town-specific: for instance, Hawick’s Riding occurs in June, Selkirk traditionally rides in late spring, and Galashiels stages its main events in August. Typical schedules feature an opening ceremony at municipal venues such as the town hall or market cross, mounted patrols along boundary lines like those near Teviotdale and Yarrow Water, and communal gatherings at landmarks including Scott’s View and local parish kirks. Auxiliary events include concerts by regional ensembles tied to institutions like the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, exhibitions in museums such as the Borders Textile Towerhouse, and civic dinners hosted in partnership with bodies like the Chamber of Commerce. Competitive elements—horse shows, piping contests under adjudicators from the Piping Centre, and pageant entries—often accompany commemorative speeches by members of parliamentary constituencies represented in the House of Commons and ceremonial toasts involving historical societies.

Participating Communities

Prominent participating towns include Hawick, Jedburgh, Selkirk, Galashiels, Peebles, Langholm, Kelso, Lauder, Coldstream, Gala (as community events in Galashiels), and Eyemouth. Smaller villages and hamlets from Teviotdale, Ancrum, St Boswells, Walkerburn, Duns, and Greenlaw maintain localized ridings and complementary ceremonies. Historic border seats such as Roxburgh and trading ports like Berwick-upon-Tweed have influenced customs, while civic organizations—including local rotaries, the Royal British Legion, and volunteer pony clubs—support logistics. Collaboration with cultural bodies such as the Scottish Folklore Society and archives like the National Library of Scotland helps coordinate programming and oral-history projects.

Costume, Music, and Symbols

Participants wear regalia tied to burgh offices and family heraldry, including tartans associated with clans like Clan Scott and Clan Armstrong, sashes for mounted captains, and civic chains worn by provosts. Music is central: pipe bands drawing on traditions from the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming and local fiddlers inspired by collections from Niel Gow provide processional accompaniment. Symbols include flags and banners bearing municipal coats of arms registered with the Lord Lyon King of Arms, replicas of historic standards similar in provenance to artefacts held at National Museums Scotland, and emblems such as civic silver—chalices and maces—crafted by silversmiths affiliated historically with guilds in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Ballads and songs recorded in anthologies by Hamish Henderson and Sir Walter Scott enter into ceremonial repertoires.

Modern Significance and Preservation

In contemporary contexts, Common Riding functions as a focal point for heritage tourism promoted by agencies like VisitScotland and for community cohesion supported by local development trusts. Preservation efforts engage academics at the School of Scottish Studies Archives, curators at regional museums, and heritage officers within the Historic Environment Scotland framework to balance authenticity with safety regulations enforced by authorities including Police Scotland and local licensing boards. Debates around inclusivity, commercialization, and animal welfare have involved advocacy groups such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and cultural commentators writing in outlets like the Scotsman and BBC Scotland. Grant funding from bodies like the Heritage Lottery Fund and initiatives by the Arts Council of Scotland facilitate educational programs, digitization of oral histories at the National Records of Scotland, and intergenerational transmission through youth organisations connected to the Boy Scouts Association and local pony clubs. The festival’s continued vitality is reinforced through partnerships with universities, municipal governments, and voluntary associations that document, adapt, and promote the complex legacy of border ritual.

Category:Festivals in Scotland