The last wolf in Southern Scotland

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when wolves were hunted to extinction in Scotland – and even harder to say when the last ones roamed the Borders. That presented me with a challenge, when writing The Dance of Vipers as I wanted to include them in a storyline but wasn’t sure if that could have been possible in 1517.

In the end, I used an excellent paper by John G. Harrison (The Last Wolf in Scotland) and then applied some creative licence.

The basic facts are as follows. There were certainly wolves in the north of Scotland, well into the mid-1600s (although specific claims relating to 1680 and 1743 seem to be unfounded). As for the south, there were confirmed reports (with the bodies as proof) from Cockburnspath in 1458 and Linlithgow in 1497.

So that’s at least twenty years before The Dance of Vipers. But could any have survived in the remote corners of the Borders, a little beyond that? Well, in this period, all we have is contemporary reports, rather than animal carcasses – and some of the observers are less well-informed than others. But I was quite persuaded by a comment from Hector Boece (the great Scottish Historian) complaining that there were wolves ‘everywhere’ in 1527.

The clincher was when I discovered that the little hamlet of Westruther in Berwickshire used to be known as ‘Wolfsruther’ (or ‘the swamp of the wolves’). And that the new name only appeared in 1655. While there were certainly no wolves in the area by then – it seemed plausible that there might have been in 1517. So I took the plunge and set my scene there.

Howl at me on hello@aknairn.com if you think I’ve got it wrong.