Lilliard's Stone

We're a big fan of promoting Girl Power at the Fabulous North and are champions of local legends such as Grace Darling, Emily Wilding Davison and Lady Anne Clifford, but we now have to add Maiden Lilliard to this epic list.

Let's go back in time a bit to build up Maiden Lilliard's heroics. After James V of Scotland died in 1542 his throne was passed on to his daughter Mary Queen of Scots. However she was only one week old at the time, so not sure how capable she was of ruling the country.

Now Henry VIII wanted to rule Scotland too so he thought of a bonkers idea of marrying his son Prince Edward to Mary. Imagine not getting any sleep on your honeymoon as you were having to do night time feeds for your new wife!

Anyhoo, the Scots laughed and said no chance, but that didn't go down well with Henry and he hoyed his toys out the pram and so began the Rough Wooing. The English reduced most of the border regions to smoking ruins, but on their way home from scuppering Melrose Abbey they were met by a small Scottish force here at Ancrum Moor.

Now the Scottish ladies were a different breed and didn't want their fellas to have all the fun. So at the Battle of Ancrum Moor, Fair Maiden Lilliard followed her bloke into the heat of battle. Her deeds are immortalised on a headstone in this little monument. It reads:

Fair Maiden Lilliard
Lies under this stane
Little was her stature
But muckle was her fame
Upon the English loons
She laid monie thumps
And when her legs were cuttit off
She fought upon her stumps
AD 1544

What an absolute legend! But we're afraid this is exactly what it is.

This location was recorded as Lillesietburn (and sometimes known as Lilisyhates) in the 12th century and Lylliot Cross in 1378, both predating the Battle of Ancrum Moor by a few centuries.

Monks from Melrose Abbey erected a stone at this spot beside the Dere Street Roman road over 800 years ago and was known as the Lylliot Cross. Apparently members of the Scottish and English crowns met here to resolve disputes.

Sometimes these disputes were not resolved and one of these led to the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. The battle was celebrated in a ballad called Chevy Chase which mentions a heroic squire:

For Witherington needs must I wayle,
As one in doleful dumpes;
For when his leggs were smitten off,
He fought upon his stumpes.

Ah sounds kinda familiar.

Fast forward a few hundred years later and the local vicar of Melrose Rev. Milne gave the name Lilliards Edge to this little ridge in 1743. He claimed there was a burial monument here, although it was all broken up (Lylliot Cross) and he quoted the lines from her ditty. The monument you see here was built in the 19th century on the same spot and includes the poem on the headstone.

So looks like the Rev coined this legend from the ruins of the Lylliot Cross, the ballad of Chevy Chase and the Battle of Ancrum Moor.

If you want to visit Lady Lilliard's Stone, then best to park up the road to the east and then follow Dere Street for 2.5km. Don't worry you won't miss it as there is a big arrow and an information board for you to read.

Maybe a 30 minute walk to get there and you can follow it on the map above or open it in OS Maps.

Or if you are parked up at the marvellous Monteath Mausoleum on one of their open days, then carefully cross the road and look out for this little gate in the hedgerow.

Follow the track for 500m until you reach the stone. Don't forget to enjoy the magnificent scenery where you have the Eildon Hills to one side and the Waterloo Monument to the other.

It's a shame that the legend of Maiden Lilliard is apocryphal, but the information board sums it up perfectly.

The maiden Lilliard may be a myth, but she nevertheless represents the real heroism of thousands of women on both sides of the Border who endured the long drawn our wars of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.