A curious border anomaly explored on Wednesday.
The national boundary follows the centre of the River Tweed for several miles apart from two small deviations. The larger anomaly is the field shown above on the south bank which is part of Scotland. (The smaller anomaly is a very small part of the north bank opposite Horncliffe which is in England.)
From the east end of the field, looking west -
B6350 is behind the hedge to the left. The uncultivated strip which the bike is standing in is presumably no mans land. River Tweed is off to the right.
From the point where BS is marked on the map, looking east -
and from the same location looking north towards the river -
A row of posts, the first of which the bike is leaning on, head towards the river and seem to follow the English side of no-mans land. I couldn't find any sign of the Boundary Stone marked on the OS map. The first edition 25 inch to mile from 1860 shows other boundary stones nearer the river, but I was wearing cleats and didn't fancy the walk.
The only explanation I have read about this field is a probably fanciful tale that it and an equivalent on the north bank opposite were played for annually in a primitive football match between the young men of Coldstream in Berwickshire and those of Cornhill in Northumberland. The former grew to be a much larger settlement with a bigger pool of players and consequently won the match, and the field, every year. Eventually they won it outright, or the match was such a foregone conclusion that it stopped being played.
