The Grahams and Brackenhill
Brackenhill is one of the key locations associated with the Graham clan and provides a unique opportunity to interpret reiving history. Brackenhill became the most southerly outpost of the true Border Reivers. It is likely that Fergus Graham of Mote acquired Brackenhill after 1561. He purchased it from Sir Thomas Dacre and settled the property on to his third son, Richard (Ritchie) around 1580's.

The Graham crest

Brackenhill Tower is four and a half miles east of Longtown and stood perilously between the Debateable lands and the Bewcastle Wastes.

Brackenhill Tower was home to the Graham clan when they first arrived in the border area. The Grahams were banished from Scotland around 1516 due to their various misdemeanours. They were mercenaries, fighting men who earned their living on the battlefield and when they weren't soldiers, would make a living by robbery. The then head of the Graham clan, Lang Will Graham, fled to the English side of the border near Longtown in the early years of the 16th century.

He and his sons began to build a power base, which would become feared and virtually impregnable for almost a century. The Grahams held 13 towers, which were homes for the extended Graham clan family.

The chief seat of the family was Netherby (initially a fortified pele tower, later a grand stately pile was built on the site). One of Lang Will's sons, Fergus Graham of the Moat bought Brackenhill Tower from Sir Thomas Dacre and settled the property on his third son Richard (Richie) Graham who built the main tower house in 1584.

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