English: The Rookhope Ryde tells the story of a raid by Tynedale cattle thieves on Weardale in December 1569. The timing is significant as many local men were absent having joined ‘the Rising of the North’ – the plot to overthrow Elizabeth I and restore Roman Catholicism. But those remaining, although outnumbered by the intruders, chased after them and recovered their livestock. The Bonny Moor Hen is another, later ballad which chronicles the tale of the confrontation between the Bishop of Durham’s baliffs and several Weardale miners who were alleged to have been poaching the Bishop’s game.