Milnholm (Newcastleton)

Trip No.31  Entry No.4  Date Added: 30th Jun 2017
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Milnholm Cross, Newcastleton: Not my usual type of cross, but interesting nevertheless. This cross sits just to the south of Newcastleton Village, on the right hand side of the B6357. There is a small layby at NY 47633 86073 where a side road heads off up the hill, signposted to Ettleton cemetery. It is very reminiscent of a site near Eskdalemuir that we visited some time ago. Carby Hill settlement can be clearly seen to the south-west.

The railings made it quite difficult to photograph the cross properly. I wasn’t that enamoured of it, or the location (more interested in going up to the cemetery at Ettleton, but we didn’t go there). There is an interpretation board at the base of the steps.

Newhall Hill (Paddockhole)

Trip No.35  Entry No.3  Date Added: 26th Jul 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 24th Jul 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Newhall Hill Settlements, near Paddockhill, Scottish Borders: From Little Hill, we thought we’d stop off at Balliehill Hillfort again, but driving up to it, it was covered in enormous cattle grazing contentedly within it. Taking one look, we decided to press onto Newhall Farm. Following the minor road that runs alongside the western bank of the Water of Milk, we enjoyed the views down the valley. Reaching Paddockhill, we turned right, then immediately right again, over Paddockhill Bridge and followed the road through Newhall Farm to a small bridge hidden between the trees. We couldn’t see the burn as it was being used as a dump for old industrial pipes and equipment, fencing and telegraph poles, but just before the bridge was a small area which had been hard-cored, so we parked there. The gate to the two tracks leading up Newhall Hill was just behind us. Taking the right hand track, we plodded up this steeper-than-it-looked hill. Would it never end??

Eventually the track ran out and we set off across the pasture to find the settlements. I heard the noise of a quad bike and the farmer appeared, with this two dogs, over the top of a hill, screeching to a halt in front of me. I thought he was going to hit me, so took a large backwards step, but he stopped in time. “Nearer to heaven here’ he said and pointed to all the wind farms surrounded the hill. “Don’t think they do any harm, do they?” he added. I put my hand out to stroke one of the dogs and the farmer barked at me: “Don’t! He’ll have your hand off.” He told us the settlements were just over the next small brow on the hill, said he lived at the small farm yonder rather than the big one down in the valley below that we could see, then hared off at great speed with both dogs balancing on the back of the quad bike.

Two hundred yards further on, a deep ditch and large bank of Settlement B came into view, complete with eyesore of a very large quarry beyond.

I walked all round the outer bank of the lower settlement, then went into the inside. Apart from a very boggy part, which looked like it might have been a well at some point, we couldn’t make out any features internally.

I would have liked to have walked up the hill to Settlement A but the heads and bodies of some very lively bullocks kept watching us. I didn’t fancy being surrounded by them, so we decided to walk back down to the car.

We would have ended up at the Severn Brethren stone circle, but as we neared it, realised we’d been here before, and it was very unremarkable.

Little Hill (Craig)

Trip No.35  Entry No.2  Date Added: 26th Jul 2017
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 24th Jul 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Little Hill Hillfort, Craig, Scottish Borders: This might be a 'short walk on a footpath', but it was a steady climb! After visiting Barntalloch Castle, we could see no way of getting into the old churchyard nearby, as it looked as if the building had been converted into a house. Mistake not to try, as Canmore said there was an inscribed stone.

We drove onto Little Hill, stopping to take a photograph of Barntalloch from a layby on the B709. The River Esk looks glorious sparkling in the sunshine with its loops and cobble banks.

There is a footpath/track leading up to Little Hill hillfort from just before the bend at Craig at NY 33656 88271, where there was room to tuck the car in at its junction with the road. There has been lots of activity with telegraph poles in this area, with lots of spare ones lying around; in fact climbing up the hill they got in the way of the view over to the west until we got above them. Craig Hill to the south of Little Hill looms large and dominates the scenery; there is also a settlement on its lower slopes south of Little Hill, although we didn’t spot this on the climb up.

We left the stony track up the hill and followed what seemed to be a hollow way up to the fort, approaching this from its north western side where I spotted the well at NY 33858 88237, next to a cattle feeder.

This is a lovely spot with its flower meadows and virtually 360 degree views. There don’t seem to be any features in the interior, or at least we didn’t see them as the grass was so lush. Andrew thought he saw a couple of roundhouses, due to the change in vegetation, but I thought it was a bit of a stretch, but there were two circular areas that were slightly scooped and had less wild flowers within them.

I walked down to the south western (stem end of the pear) end of the fort, which is slightly separated from the rest of the fort by a dip, effectively splitting the fort in two.

On the way back down we stopped to photograph the entrance at the northern end of the fort. From here we could see the racing tracks of the race horse training stables in the valley below. There was also a line of stones running from approx.. NY 33920 88223 to NY 33978 88200 near the road also seems to follow the line of a water course. If you plot the points of the well and these stones, they seem to follow a straight line. Some of the taller stones also hide springs.

A lovely walk and well worth stopping. The views on a sunny, warm day like today were lovely. As I keep repeating, our ancestors chose some very nice places to live.

Barntalloch (Langholm)

Trip No.35  Entry No.1  Date Added: 27th Jul 2017
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 24th Jul 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Barntalloch Motte, Staplegordon, Langholm: It was dull and very wet at our house, and fed up of the rain, we decided to head off to the Scottish Borders for some sunny, 25 deg C weather. Landing in Langholm by 2.30pm, we stopped off for coffee and cake before heading off into the wilds of Eskdale.

I spotted this site on the map, just west of Langholm, down a small road leading to a hamlet called Staplegordon. It caught my eye because it not only had the motte but the remains of a chapel. I like looking around the gravestones.

We parked in what looked like a parking area for fishermen to the right of the far side of the bridge. There is actually another car park by the farm nearer to the motte. There are posts indicating the routes of different Langholm Walks.

Just past the farm to the left of the bridge, the track splits at NY 35445 87796. The northern section leads down to the old graveyard and a bungalow (looks like the chapel was converted into a dwelling). A track led through another farmyard to our left which curls to the south west, around the side of the motte.

The lady farmer roared up on her quad bike and stopped to say hello. She didn’t seem to mind us tramping through her farmyard, but wasn’t very forthcoming. When I got home and did some research on Canmore, I found out that the old chapel was supposed to have an inscribed stone. We didn’t walk down there as we couldn’t see a way of reaching the churchyard except through the main gate of the cottage.

Hawick Mote

Trip No.29  Entry No.1  Date Added: 31st Jul 2017
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Hawick Motte/Mote, Scottish Borders: We arrived in Hawick, intending to buy a map, but the majority of the shops (apart from Dorothy Perkins, the bookmakers, charity shops and 1 café, were closed (looking at the opening times, they largely shut at 2pm on a Saturday. The town seemed deserted apart from a few tourists. We later found out that most local people had gathered near the community centre for the Riding of the Marches.

We couldn’t get a map, so relied on Andrew’s phone with TrigPoint on it. We were on our way to Lord’s Tree Cairn, driving down a street called Loan, when we spotted The Mote, so screeched to a halt by the side of the road and went round to take a photograph.

Quite extraordinary, The Mote is in the middle of a housing estate, with people’s washing hung up nearby. It rises steeply up out of the ground and there is a wooden staircase which takes you to the viewing point at the top. Andrew said it was only as large as our living room – no room for more than 12 people at most. Looking at this on UK Grid Reference Finder, it is located in Moat Park at the Southern end of the town. Plenty of dog walkers, all whom ignored me taking photographs.

Venchen Farm Cottages (Town Yetholm)

Trip No.37  Entry No.1  Date Added: 7th Aug 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Venchen Farm Cottages Standing Stone, Scottish Borders: Having left home to avoid days of damp, rainy weather, we went in search of sunshine and blue skies. The further we travelled up the A68, the more obvious it became that the grey skies got darker the more northerly we got. As we reached Town Yetholm, the heavy raindrops started to fall with the ferocity of hail.

Venchen Farm Cottages are easy enough to find, heading north about 1.6 km north out of the village. This stone looms large out of the grassy verge; at first I thought it was just a village sign. We pulled into a small parking spot just past the stone, nearer to the cottages, by which time it was pelting down even harder and I had the camera covered with kitchen towel and handkerchiefs to keep it dry.

The Canmore notes, which we’d printed off before setting off, said that a hedge had been removed for the stone to be exposed. On UK Grid Reference Finder, the hedge can be seen with the stone tucked away behind it. The grass verge itself didn’t seem to show any signs of disturbance, considering the hedge was only removed in February this year, although the earth around the stone was visible, together with some packing stones and the vegetation along the verge was more weeds than grass.

Difficult to get photographs with the rain, but managed to keep wiping the lens.

Virtue Well (Yetholm)

Trip No.37  Entry No.2  Date Added: 7th Aug 2017
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Virtue Well, Yetholm: From Venchen Farm Cottages Standing Stone, by the time we drove back down to the west side of the road bridge over Bowmont Water at NT 82132 28576, and parked at a little layby just before the road junction, the rain had eased off a little.

There were two routes up to the well, the first at NT 82128 28603 led up a wet, slippery hill towards a wood, which was rather overgrown. We opted for the footpath proper, starting at NT 82206 28645, with a proper track leading up to Braehouse Farm.

According to UK Grid Reference Finder, the path deviates through the woodland, past the well, but in real life, the track continues straight up to the farm, and we had to tramp through knee high grass through the wood.

Having found this poor little well, I couldn’t but help feel sorry for it. Such a tragedy. It reminded me of the well we’d seen in Middleham – broken up, dry and just part of an old garden wall. At least under the trees we were largely sheltered from the rain.

Stob Stones

Trip No.37  Entry No.6  Date Added: 8th Aug 2017
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Stob Stones, Scottish Borders: From the Green Humbleton Scooped Settlement, by the time we started climbing up towards the Stob Stones, not only was the wind was howling and I was leaning hard into it, but the rain drops were like small pins being driven into my cheeks. I confess to getting a bit fed up and wanting to turn around at this point, but a long-held desire to see these stones kept me going. It was worth it.

Walking over the Stob Rig earthworks (I stopped to photograph these on the way down), the Stob Stones are two standing stones, one now broken and lying prone, sitting on a sort of promontory as the ground to the north and west drops steeply down. Canmore says these stones are at over 1,000 ft above sea level and are situated 230 yards west of the Border. They definitely sit on some kind of mound.

To the west lies the border between England and Scotland, and we walked a 100 metres or so further up the hill, just so we could see the stone wall which makes up the boundary. Tantalisingly, we could see cairns on the adjacent hillside, but being England, different rules for walking (and I was too wet to want to go on).

Stob Rig (Yetholm)

Trip No.37  Entry No.7  Date Added: 8th Aug 2017
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Stob Rig Earthworks: On the way up to the Stob Stones from the Pennine Way, there were two really obvious earthworks running in parallel towards the stones and we walked between them to reach the stones. I was keen to try and get out of the wind and the rain (almost impossible in this high, exposed spot) so didn't stop to photograph them.

On the way back down to re-join the Pennine Way, the earthworks were slightly less obvious. With the howling wind and the rain lashed sharply against my cheeks, I was tempted to put the camera safely in the rucksack, but having walked all this way up the hill, I wanted to document them.

In the end, I only managed to photograph the eastern most of the banks; the photos of the western-most had too many raindrops on the camera lens to be of any use.

Green Humbleton Hillfort

Trip No.37  Entry No.8  Date Added: 8th Aug 2017
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Green Humbleton Hillfort: Having been virtually blown off the hillside at Green Humbleton Scooped Settlement on our way up the Pennine Way, we decided we’d visit the Stob Stones first and see if the wind died down on our way back. If the wind was bad on Stob Rig, then what would it be like on the top of this cone-shaped hill? It didn't, so reluctantly we decided to try on a warm, sunny day.

By the time we walked back down the Pennine Way/St Cuthbert’s Way, we were absolutely soaking wet, but at least in the valley below the wind had died down. Rather than the 6-8 cars in the parking area by Bowmont Water, there was only one camper van and our car. A lovely spot for some ‘wild camping’.

Sheilknowe Burn Enclosure

Trip No.37  Entry No.3  Date Added: 8th Aug 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Shielknowe Enclosure, Yetholm: From the Virtue Well we made our way to Kirk Yetholm, finding the small side road which is actually the Pennine Way, but which can be driven down to a small parking area beside where the Halter Burn and Shielknowe Burn meet. Here a footbridge leads over the Burn, the Pennine Way and St. Cuthbert’s Way meeting at this point.

We tried St. Cuthbert’s Way first of all, running parallel to Shielknowe Burn on it’s eastern side, but after a few hundred yards, came across a rocky outcrop where I would have needed to turn into a mountain goat (OK for my husband, but not for me) so we retreated and walked almost back to the footbridge. There is another mown track which runs on the western side of the stream – boggier but much easier to follow and the sides of the small gorge not quite so precipitous.

It's a good job we had the GPS with us, together with a printed sheet of the Canmore details, otherwise we’d have walked across this settlement without knowing it was there. By finding it’s centre (the south western edge is almost at the corner of the fenced off field containing Shielknowe Burn Scooped Enclosure.

By carefully walking over the area, we could see very slight banks and changes in vegetation, but my goodness, had we not been out with NOWTAG, we would have missed this.

Shielknowe Burn Scooped Settlement

Trip No.37  Entry No.4  Date Added: 8th Aug 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Shielknowe Burn Scooped Settlement, Yetholm: This scooped settlement, lying on the northern side of Shielknowe Burn is much easier to see, and is visible from Shielknowe Enclosure, cut by the fence which also cuts the Enclosure. The muddy track from Shielknowe Enclosure runs downhill, crosses the burn, and leads up to join St. Cuthbert’s Way.

Two scooped out areas can be seen, although the farmer had very tightly knotted the twine securing the gate, so whilst Andrew (husband) hopped over the gate, I undid the ‘Gordion Knot’ to get into the settlement. The grass was very tussocky and wet, so walking along the banks of the western most scoop was interesting.

Much more exciting sites to come, so we didn’t spend an awful long time here.

Green Humbleton Settlement

Trip No.37  Entry No.5  Date Added: 8th Aug 2017
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Green Humbleton Scooped Settlement, Yetholm: Now this was a settlement I could get excited about, and what views! If the first two enclosures on the way up here were somewhat dull, this more than made up for it! To the north and east the land dropped steeply away to Humbleton Syke and to the west Green Humbleton hillfort dominated the view.

By the time we got here, the wind was absolutely howling and we had to retreat to the walls of the scoop to get some respite.

There is a very clear oval scoop with a D-shaped enclosure to its north. To the north east of the D-shape there were some stones that Andrew called me over to look at. I did want to be persuaded they formed a cist. What a place to be buried. It could be a well, but there is no mention of either in the Canmore records.

If it hadn’t been so windy, I would have loved to have spent more time here. With the dark clouds looming, we decided to go up to the Stob Stones rather than risk being blown off the top of Green Humbleton hillfort. If the weather was favourable, we’d try on our way back.

Moor Head (Brundean Laws)

Trip No.47  Entry No.1  Date Added: 3rd Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 20th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Moor Head (Brundean Laws), Scottish Border: This was our first stop on our journey to Armadale, and a part of the world we’ve been to before on a walk up Dere Street, but not stopped at these stones before. We parked at Brundean Laws farm entrance at NT 71651 11987 and walked up the track past the first few houses, to where the track divides at NT 72183 11509 just before Brundean Laws Farm, taking the right hand fork as we faced the main farmhouse. The area where the standing stones are has not been mowed, so stands out as a taller circle of grass around a telegraph pole at the south eastern end of the large field in which the stones stand.

We followed the track that heads of westwards until we were level with the stones, then headed the 30 metres or so to unmown area in which they stood. There is one main stone which is clearly a standing stone, with a second recumbent stone to its south east. A second, broken, stone pokes up out of a mound of smaller stones, which I thought was a quarried stone which had just been dumped, but checking with the Canmore record, this is the second standing stone. With the tall grass and thistles around the stones, it was difficult to tell if there were any more stones undergoot.

The stones do stand on a slight mound (although Canmore says they are 170 metres SSW of Moor Head summit) and if the Christmas tree forest hadn’t been to it’s north, west and south, would have had a commanding view over the surrounding hills which towered above this spot.

Haughhead Kip (Eckford)

Trip No.47  Entry No.2  Date Added: 3rd Oct 2017
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 20th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Haughhead Kip Tumulus & Inscribed Stone, Scottish Borders: This is one of the strangest sites I’ve been to recently, although in a lovely location. Sited just to the east of the A698, north of the B6401 and south of Kale Water, to the north west of the little village of Eckford, we parked on a corner of this narrow road at NT 72558 26695, where there was just enough room to pull the car right off the road. The B6401 was a busy little road, and we avoided cars walking west back to the field with the tumulus.

There is a gate into the field at NT 72289 26736, and it wasn’t until we were 20-30 metres into the field that we realised it had been planted with really tiny cabbage or turnip plants, drilled into wide rows. Being so close to the tumulus, we carefully picked our way across the rest of the field until we got to the gate to the tumulus at about NT 72184 26830. From there, it was a little climb up to what I can only describe as either an altar or a tumbledown box grave.

Certainly worth stopping to see. Canmore debates whether or not the mound was erected to contain the altar. Due to it’s location close to Kale Water, I think it was a tumulus used to locate the inscribed stone on top of it, to give it greater importance.

Ancrum Old Church

Trip No.47  Entry No.3  Date Added: 3rd Oct 2017
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 20th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Ancrum Old Church, Scottish Borders: This is a very beautiful location, just to the west of Ale Water and north of the B6400, west of the village of Ancrum. There is parking for 3-4 cars at the south western end of the church yard. A gate and steps lead down into the church yard; the ruined church stands at the northern end of the graveyard.

We walked all around the church, at first unsure of where to look. In the end, by holding my mobile above my head, I managed to get the Canmore record up, so we knew exactly where to look.

Ancrum 1 and 2 are within the village, within private grounds. We did spot the two inscribed slabs, a hogback and a cross base. There was a young man flying a drone all around the church and churchyard, and his dog kept following us. I tried to engage him in conversation, but only got that he was making a film for ‘his own purposes’.

We wandered over the old pack horse bridge to the eastern side of Ale Water, but this was a building site. We could see the western end of Castle Hill hillfort. By this time, it was getting late and the climb looked steep, so we bottled out of the climb, stopping off to look at Ancrum Market Cross on the way to Armadale.

Castle Hill (Ancrum)

Trip No.47  Entry No.4  Date Added: 4th Oct 2017
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 20th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Castle Hill Hillfort, Ancrum, Scottish Borders: It was getting late in the evening, with dusk coming on, so sadly there wasn’t time to drive back into Ancrum and back round the other side to clamber up to this enticing hill fort, which is visible from Ancrum Old Church and can also be clearly seen on UK Grid Reference Finder. We did try walking across the pack horse bridge across Ale Water, letting ourselves out of the wrought iron gates at the eastern side, but the cottage and adjacent barns we’d have needed to walk through were a building site and were cordoned off.

Decided to leave this for another day, and drove back past the market cross to photograph that before heading off to Armadale.

Dods Corse Stone (Boon)

Trip No.50  Entry No.1  Date Added: 6th Oct 2017
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 24th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Dods Corse Stone (Cross shaft and base): We pulled over in field entrance opposite wood the stone stands within, at NT 58395 46267. There was another huge bull with his ladies in this field, standing staring at us very menacingly, as if he was about the charge at us. As we were getting out of the car, we were overtaken by 3 army land rovers on exercise, the driver of the first vehicle waved.

The step on the stile into the wood was very tall, so my knees needed a bit of help getting up on it. There was a very narrow path leading to the north of the small wood. There is a fence line running east-west and another small section of wood (a narrow section of field is shown on the map). Following this inner fenceline some 200 metres to the west, we eventually came across the cross and base almost buried under moss and debris from the surrounding trees.

The incised cross on the northern face could just be made out, but the cross in relief on the southern face remained buried under the moss. All under foot around the cross were other bright red sandstone stones, but with all the forestry work, and debris from it, made it difficult to tell what archaeology there might be around us.

Purveshaugh

Trip No.50  Entry No.2  Date Added: 6th Oct 2017
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 24th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Purveshaugh (Earlston) Standing Stone, Scottish Borders: Our second stop of the day. Although the B6105 is supposed to be a minor road, it is still very busy and traffic rushes along it at a pace of knots. We managed to pull into the ungated field entrance without causing too much chaos.

A few steps into the field, we realised it was planted with wheat. We managed to navigate the 10 metres or so from the field entrance to the stone by following the empty ground where the tractor wheels had run, so didn’t cause any damage.

I was really amused to see the stone had its own name sign ‘Standing Stone’. It really is the most oddly shaped stone, like a small chair. Canmore says it is unsculptured, and it looks as if it has been quarried before being located here. I was surprised to find Canmore had two other records for this site, within a few tens of metres of the stone – a post medieval farmstead (Canmore ID 343237) and a well (Canmore ID 343240), neither of which we saw evidence for on the day.

Not a great location in modern times, with power lines running almost overhead, and the busy road.

Maxton Burgh (St Boswells)

Trip No.50  Entry No.3  Date Added: 6th Oct 2017
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 24th Sep 2017. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Maxton Burgh Cross, Scottish Borders: We stopped off at a garden centre café in Newton St. Boswell’s for refreshments, then carried on eastwards towards the small village of Maxton. We didn’t have precise grid references for this cross at the time, and with no mobile signal, we were a little lost as to where to find it. Eventually I managed to pull up the website for Maxton village, which described the location of the cross as being just off the main street, in front of what was the smiddy, “on what remains of the village green”. They state that “Parts of the cross are probably original 13th century, but the main part was replaced in 1881 by Sir William Ramsay Fairfax, Bart.”

We drove up and down the A699 through the village trying to find the old village green, even driving down St. Cuthbert’s Way to the church. Eventually, we decided to park on the main road and walk around. From here, the cross was easy to spot. The old village green is now someone’s private garden. The man who lived in the cottage immediately behind the cross said it was OK to go and look. Photographing the cross was somewhat hampered by the land rover parked immediately next to it. Fancy having the old village green for your private garden!