The Solway Country – the lands surrounding the inner Solway Firth – constitutes one of the many small regional worlds of the British Isles that are remarkable for the ways in which their landscapes evoke a powerful sense of territorial identity rooted not only in their physical appeal, but also in the richness and distinctiveness of their human history and geography. The Solway Country is an archetypical but hitherto little known exemplar of places like these. This book captures the spirit and substance of the Solway Country’s allure by means of a series of layered narratives dealing with its natural milieu, its past social and political turmoil, its changing forms of rural and agrarian life, and its responses to the industrial and urban forces that were unleashed in Britain after the eighteenth century. The Solway Country has the added charm of being partly in England and partly in Scotland, so that its personality partakes of elements of both. At the same time, the region exhibits a composite geographic unity derived from the central physical feature of the Solway Firth itself and from the many common aspects of local life and livelihood that have left deep imprints on the landscape. This unity is expressed symbolically in the peculiar hybrid culture of ballads and songs that emerged alongside the theft, murder, and mayhem that raged in the Anglo-Scottish marchlands in the days of the border reivers.

Border Fury provides a fascinating account of the period of Anglo-Scottish Border conflict from the Edwardian invasions of 1296 until the Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland, James I of England in 1603. It looks at developments in the art of war during the period, the key transition from medieval to renaissance warfare, the development of tactics, arms, armour and military logistics during the period. All the key personalities involved are profiled and the typology of each battle site is examined in detail with the author providing several new interpretations that differ radically from those that have previously been understood.

"[An] entertaining work of geographical sleuthing.…Surprises abound." —The New Yorker An oft-overlooked region lies at the heart of British national history: the Debatable Land. The oldest detectable territorial division in Great Britain, the Debatable Land once served as a buffer between England and Scotland. It was once the bloodiest region in the country, fought over by Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and James V. After most of its population was slaughtered or deported, it became the last part of Great Britain to be brought under the control of the state. Today, its boundaries have vanished from the map and are matters of myth and generational memories. In The Debatable Land, historian Graham Robb recovers the history of this ancient borderland in an exquisite tale that spans Roman, Medieval, and present-day Britain. Rich in detail and epic in scope, The Debatable Land provides a crucial, missing piece in the puzzle of British history.

"A classified catalogue of papers from Archaeologia aeliana, 1813-1913", is included in the Centenary volume, ser. 3, v. 10, p. 334-376.