By Jack Story & Geoff Storey
The earliest Norse settlement of which our Stori ancestor would have been a part, took place in the 9th century near the
Solway Firth just north of the city of Carlisle. The area then known as Strathclyde, was located in the northwestern part of
England, along the border with Scotland. He would have settled on the English side of the border, most likely in a lovely plain
along the River Eden.
The Storey’s were prolific and became an established clan living in relative peace with their neighbors until the time of King
Edward I (c1300). During Edward’s reign, the kingdoms of England and Scotland went to war, and for the next 300 years,
the Storeys found themselves entangled in the Border wars between the two kingdoms.
The Storey’s, Story’s and Stories who inhabited the border region of northern England during the 14th to 17th centuries were
part of a society that is difficult for their modern descendants to comprehend. Life in the border region was marked by war,
lawlessness, feuds, plunder and even murder. A feud between the Storeys and Grahams in the 16th century, forced many
of the Storey families to migrate eastward from the area surrounding the city of Carlisle, to Northumberland in the east.
When King James VI of Scotland united the thrones of England and Scotland in the early 1600’s, both governments now set
out to quiet the old Border (now the heartland of Britain). Their measures were harsh. The wilder Storey element would have
been resettled in Ireland or conscripted into the King’s armies on the Continent. Many Storey’s of course, stayed quietly on
the old Borderlands, while others moved south to their old cattle markets in Norfolk. From Norwich, and later Ireland, many
emigrated firstly to America, and then a hundred or so years later, to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
An excellent book which documents the conditions of life among the border families, and contains several references to the
Storey family is ‘The Steel Bonnets’ by George MacDonald Fraser. For a summary of Fraser’s material which includes
evocative artwork, read Osprey’s, "Men-at-Arms", series No. 279, "The Border Reivers".
Also, a website is dedicated to the border reivers (plunderers) and is accesible at www.reivers.com. |
