With their defiant motto of ‘Boldly and rightly’ and crest of a hand clutching a cutlass, the Elliots were for centuries one of the most notorious clans of the near-anarchic Scottish Borders.
• As reivers, or raiders, they pillaged not only their neighbours’ lands and goods, but also raided south of the Border into England.
• Thought to have had earlier roots that lay in Angus, in the far north, it is not known with any degree of certainty why they eventually settled in the Borders, but Liddesdale became their main territory.
