Scottish Travellers - Scottish Lowland Groups - Border Gypsies: Kirk Yetholm

Border Gypsies: Kirk Yetholm

Scotland has had a Romani population for at least 500 years, they are a distinct group from the Highland traveller and share a common language and heritage with the English Gypsies and Welsh Kale. The first official mention of Travellers in Britain was in 1505, when it was recorded that seven pounds were paid to 'Egyptians' by King James IV at Stirling. They enjoyed a privileged place in Scottish society until the Reformation, when their wandering lifestyle and exotic culture brought severe persecution upon them. Romani populations from other parts of Britain often travel in Scotland. These include English Romanies and Welsh Kale. English Gypsies/Travellers from the north of England mainly in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Cumbria as well as an annual gathering at Appleby Horse Fair may be part of common communities with Scottish Travellers living in the Lowlands and borders. Romanichal traders were upwardly mobile, by 1830 travelled to the potteries in Staffordshire and buying china and other goods, selling the items chiefly in Northumberland, while based in Kirk Yetholm in Roxburghshire. By 1874 these Gypsies were commented on as "Having physical markers in their dusky complexion that is characteristically Gypsy]...and... Some people from the Scottish travelling community are even members of Romani organisations based in England and are a minority group in Scotland. Includes Romanies of English heritage in Scotland,