V.E. Weighill

The Scots’ Dike (hereafter the Dike) is unique in Scotland: not only is it one of the earliest man-made national borders but, being the only one that is still legally recognised, it has great significance for the identity and history of the nation. Crossing the Debateable Land (hereafter the Land) lying in the parishes of Canonbie and Half Morton in Dumfriesshire and Kirk Andrews in Cumbria, it forms the westernmost end of the Scottish–English land border. Surveys of the Dike carried out in the early and late twentieth century included details of boundary stones along its length but not their precise locations or, in most cases, their number. This paper reports a survey carried out in June, July and November 2016 which sought to make good these omissions as well as to update the findings of the earlier surveys. A full account of the long and complex history of the Debateable Land is beyond the scope of this paper but, in order to set the survey in context, an outline is given.