Following the ice age, the returning groups of hunter gatherers would have found the Tweed valley a prime spot to move into. It had easy access along the coast and up the river into its lush valleys.  The earliest evidence of re-colonisation dates back 8,000BC and one of the earliest houses found in Scotland was at Kelso. It dated to between 3,900 and 3,700 BC.

The Romans arrived in Scotland in AD80. Although they officially abandoned the land above Hadrian’s Wall around 185AD they left behind a partially Romaised population which continued to use Roman coins up to 4^th century. The road system that they created continued to be used for 1,000 years.

With the stabilising presence of the Romans gone the Borders, like the rest of Britain, fell into a period of almost constant warring between tribes, kingdoms and invaders. The Vikings raided coastal regions and the Anglo-Saxons pushed up the east coast to Edinburgh but failed to gain any ground in much of the Borders.

After a period of relative calm, the death of Alexander III in 1286 led eventually to the wars of independence with England. In 1295 Scotland signed an alliance with France which was effectively a declaration of war on England. Fighting continued until 1328 when England was forced to recognise the independence of Scotland.

This near constant state of war forced families to steal in order to survive and so the reiving (raiding began). Sheep, cattle, grain and anything that could be taken was targets for the reivers. Family feuds started which further inflamed the situation. Reiving continued unabated from until King James the VI of Scotland became king of England in 1603. He started unifying his two kingdoms and took steps to put and end to the reiving. By the 1640s it had all but died out with only a small number still involved.

Around 1800 the textile industry, for which the Borders became famous, began to flourish with the main textile towns of Hawick, Selkirk and Galashiels rapidly developing with the prosperity that this brought.