Poet Pippa Little explores role of female Reiver

Posted by The Journal on Nov 19, 09 09:55 AM in News

Poet Pippa Little was drawn to the Border Ballads and their stories of the raiding Reiver clans and lawless times.

But she was taken by the way women were relegated to the background in the tales of days more than 400 years ago when families were forced to live in bastles, or fortified farmhouses.

Poet Pippa Little, from Cramlington

Around 1,000 bastles were built in Northumberland, of which about 200 survive.

Now Pippa has decided to at least partly restore the balance by devoting her new collection of poems - Foray - to the Reiver women.

Pippa, 51, who lives in Cramlington, said: "The Reivers subject is all very macho and when I started my research I found that there was not much about the women, and so I imagined what it must have been like from their point of view.

"Life then was hard and tough and very violent, and the bonds of family must have been very important.

"But women were referred to just as somebody's wife or somebody's mother and I thought it was a real shame that they had been sidelined."

Foray, which is published by Biscuit Press at ÃÂ£6.99, was launched last night at a reading by Pippa at South Shields Central Library.

As the winner of last year's Biscuit International Poetry Prize, Pippa's choice was either ÃÂ£1,000 or the publication of her latest collection.

On Sunday at 2.30pm Pippa will also give a reading at Bellingham Heritage Centre in Northumberland with fourth-generation fiddle player Rachel Pearson.

There will also be a reading at 7pm on November 26 at the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle.

Pippa, who is married with three sons, also won the Andrew Waterhouse award from New Writing North, and studied contemporary women poets for her PhD.

She said: "I found that little seems to have been written specifically about the Reiving women - small glimpses here and there, or stories about marriage customs. But it's clear that women played a crucial part in keeping these communities going.

"They did all the expected tasks such as brewing, cooking, farming what little land they had, child rearing, making clothes and housekeeping and keeping things going on their smallholding while the men were away.

"There was always the threat that a raid would ruin your home and they had to start all over again. Although the Reivers had a bloody reputation, they also loved poetry and music.

"The women were the storytellers and the keepers of the ballads. They were at the core of it. "

Some women, says Pippa, would also have taken part in raids.

"Some would have been involved in what was called scum fishing, which was smoking out the occupants of bastles and towers.

"They took part in raids and forays because it was necessary for their survival."

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