William's Cleugh

This huge piece of fell sandstone, also known as the Girdle Stone, weighs about 1400 tons. It is said that messages were left here by reivers in the days of the Debatable Lands on the Scottish-English border. Some members of the Scottish Borders Hill Walking Club were unable to resist a scramble on the stone.

View towards the Kielder Stone.

There is a closer view here NT6300 : The Kielder Stone from Haggie Knowe

The small boundary stones and the huge Kielder Stone both mark the Scotland-England Border. From the Kielder Stone, the Border line turns right (south-west) to follow Kielderstone Cleugh on the climb over Peel Fell.

The Kielder Stone (or 'Stane' as it is called on the Scottish side of the Border which it marks) is also known as the Girdle Stone or Rocking Stone. I safely walked around it several times, albeit clockwise, to avoid incurring the wrath of 'the little brown man of the moors'. 'The Kielder Stone', a poem by Wilfred Wilson Gibson, recounts the terrible consequenses of passing round the stone in the wrong direction: "Three times round the Kielder Stone Widdershins I walked alone — And his little son was born Lifeless on the morrow's morn." It has been described as the second largest boulder in Northumberland (the largest being the Drake Stone, above Harbottle). The sandstone erratic weighs about 1600 tons and was probably moved to its present location by the action of glaciers. During the times of the Border Reivers, the Wardens of the Marches of both the Scottish and English side would use the Stone as a meeting place and a letter drop. Today the clefts of the boulder hide both a geocache and visitors' log book, retaining the tradition. Sir Walter Scott added much to the romantic mystery of the Kielder Stone in recounting in his Poetical Works (1838), 'The Cout [Chief] of Keeldar', a Border Ballad by John Leyden, in which the chief is pursued back across the Border, past the Kielder Stone, and eventually killed by Lord Soulis' men after an ill-fated raid on his castle: Green vervain round its base did creep, A powerful seed that bore; And oft, of yore, its channels deep Were stain’d with human gore. And still, when blood-drops, clotted thin, Hang the gray moss upon, The spirit murmurs from within, And shakes the rocking stone. There was no vervain to be seen today but certainly some hanging grey moss NT6300 : Lichen 'beard' on the Kielder Stone

The beard-like lichen is probably a species of Usnea. It is interesting to note that the Berwickshire Naturalists Club reported the species, Usnea barbata, on the stone in 1904. The Witch's hair lichen (Alectoria sarmentosa), usually only found in the Scottish Highlands and possible relict of ancient pine woods has also been described from the Kielder Stone, and looks not dissimilar. The 'beard' is more luxuriant on the north-east corner of the boulder, growing at about head height, perhaps getting more moisture and shelter from the wind in that location.

In the choice between deep heather higher up and dense bracken lower down, staying at home would definitely win!

The Scaup Burn running through the valley of Kielderstone Cleugh is on the right. Just below this location it is joined from the left (north) by the Black Needle burn. The prominent valley further away is that of the Carry Burn with a number of land-slip depressions along its length. The large one just right of centre is known as Upper Stony Holes.