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Anne T visited on 29th Aug 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Midshiels Standing Stone, near Hawick: At our last visit, we were put off from entering the field because of a very large bull and his ladies. The bull stood guard near the stone, and any approach made him stand tall, with splayed legs, looking menacingly at us – I contented myself with taking photos from near the gate in the field. At this visit we parked near the entrance to Midshiels farm, at NT 53459 17603, where we made sure we weren’t blocking the entrance into field. Immediately opposite, at NT 53461 17624 is a metal gate into the field, with the top of the stone just visible. Husband, Andrew, opened the gate and was in the field, and I was just about to follow when a loud voice behind me stopped me going an further. There was a large, but friendly, farmer and his lad in a very large pickup truck. “There are bullocks in that field – if they see you, they’ll go for you. Drive into the next field and go up to the tunnel – you can turn round there. You can see the stone from there.” I thanked him for the ‘heads up’. Andrew moved the car, but rather than drive the car up to the tunnel, the ground was a bit too uneven to risk the bottom of the car, so we left it at the edge of the field at NT 53518 17745 and walked to the gate near the tunnel at NT 53388 17830. From here, it looked as if all the cattle were at the far end of the field, with many of them lying down, although the hump in the middle of the field made it difficult to really see. We decided to take the chance and walk to the stone, as we could have got back to the gate quickly. This stone was glorious in the sunshine, with a most peculiar small ‘hook’ to the top. I tried to capture the shadow in the strong sunshine.

Anne T visited on 3rd Jun 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Midshiels Standing Stone, Hawick: We'd arrived (unknowingly) in Hawick on their Riding of the Marches day. The shops were shut and the town was almost deserted. Having visited some other sites on the southern side of Hawick, we decided to stop off to see this standing stone and cairn on the way back home. Following the curious one-way system though Hawick, we ended up on the Borders Abbey Way heading north-east out of the town. At Bucklands, we found where the entire town was - at a community centre at the edge of the town. A marshall stopped us and told us we wouldn't be able to get any further up the road as the procession of horses was coming through. Doubling back through the industrial estate, we took the A698 out of town, turning left over the picturesque Hornshole Bridge, rejoining Borders Abbey Way a few hundred yards before the entrance to Midshiels Farm. A couple of hundred yards further north-east along the road, there was a large passing place, so we hugged the car into the hedgerow and hopped out. About 50 metres further back, on the other side of the road, a gate let us into the field leading to the dismantled railway embankment to the west. Following the left hand hedge-line along, we came to another gate, just before a tall brick bridge leading under the railway line. This gate gave access to the field with the standing stone and cairn. However, the field was full of gently grazing sheep and lots of lively, curious bullocks along with what looked like a very large bull. My hand went onto the gate and they were running towards us. I elected to use the zoom lens on the camera, and was really disappointed not to have seen this standing stone closer up. But there is lots to see in this area, so undoubtedly a return visit will be in the offing at some point in the not too distant future.



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 4 Access: 4

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