Richie Graham of Brackenhill (1555-1606) was a prominent Reiver active in late sixteenth century Great Britain.

Richie was the son of Fergus Graham of Mote in Lydysdale, Cumberland.[1] Fergus Graham of Mote acquired Brackenhill in Arthuret after 1561. He purchased it from Sir Thomas Dacre. He settled the property on to his third son, Richard or Richie in the 1580s.

Richie Graham tried to break into Falkland Palace in June 1592

Richie Graham built Brackenhill Tower in 1584 .[2]

On 27 June 1592 he joined the forces of the rebel Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell and surrounded and besieged Falkland Palace in Fife while James VI and Anne of Denmark were in residence.[3] Graham and his companions, including Thomas Musgrave, captain of Bewcastle, sacked the town of Falkland and stole 80 horses and clothes and money from the townspeople.[4] After the Raid of Falkland he sheltered the Scottish rebel James Douglas of Spott at Brackenhill.[5]

He aided Lord Buccleuch in springing Kinmont Willie from Carlisle Castle in 1596.[6] In June 1596, he was accused of making the queen's tenants pay rent to him, and hosting a coiner making counterfeit money in a dwelling in a mill and in a room in the tower of his own house at Brackenhill.[7]

Richie Graham died in 1606.[8]

Richie Graham can be confused with a contemporary Scottish Richie Graham, who was involved in the North Berwick Witch Trials.[9]

References

  1. ^ Brackenhill Tower, Cumbria accessed 21 June 2011
  2. ^ Restoration - Cumbria accessed 21 June 2011
  3. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 708, 718, 743.
  4. ^ Joseph Bain, Calendar of Border Papers: 1560-1594, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 516
  5. ^ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 5 (London, 1894), p. 20.
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2022.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ Joseph Bain, Calendar of Border Papers, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1896), p. 141 no. 285.
  8. ^ Muncaster Papers, Cumbria Archive, DPEN/216/f.118
  9. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 505.
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