Riding the Marches

Riding the Marches take place at various time of the year depending on the area. Marches means boundaries. The boundaries between England and Wales, and between England and Scotland, were called marches. It is an old tradition which has gone and come in many areas which involves riding the boundaries of a town.

Examples of Riding the Marches can be found in Forres:
On Wednesday, the ancient custom of riding the town's marches of Forres was revived after an interval of fifty-eight years, the last time on which they were ridden being in October 1840. The members of the council were all mounted. In addition, a number of citizens were mounted, there being a large parade of cyclists, and all the elder school children. The procession started at the Court House at 11.30 am on the High Street towards Balnageith. Halting for a few minutes at the hawthorn tree, the town clerk explained the ancient rights and privileges of the burgh, before it proceeded to Horse Market Green. The main procession filed past the Gas Works to Bogton Cottage, round by Sueno's Stone to Bogs of Blervie returning to the Court House via Deer's Well, Leanchoil Hospital, and Cluny Hill Hydropathic. Crowds filled every available vantage point, and as the day was treated as a holiday, all were free to witness the unique event.
From the files of "The Northern Scot", May 7th, 1898

In Kirkcudbright it occurs in October and you can find more information on Kirkcubright's home page

In Selkirk it is called the Common Riding and they have much information with lots of great pictures on their website.

You can find more articles in the archive under Fada 's Farsaing (Far and Wide)

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