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Edinburgh, Morningside, Morningside Road, Bore Stone
Commemorative Monument (19th Century), Commemorative Stone (16th Century)(Possible)
Site Name Edinburgh, Morningside, Morningside Road, Bore Stone
Classification Commemorative Monument (19th Century), Commemorative Stone (16th Century)(Possible)
Alternative Name(s) Morningside Parish Church; Hare Stane; Battle Of Flodden War Memorial
Canmore ID 52669
Site Number NT27SW 44
NGR NT 24508 71568
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/52669
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT27SW 44 24508 71568
(NT 2451 7160) Hare Stane (NR)
OS 6" map, Edinburghshire, 1st ed., (1852).
The Bore Stone is now erected on a pedestal at the NW corner of the boundary wall of Morningside Parish Church. It is a slab of coarse red freestone, 4'10" x 2' x 10 1/2" thick at top and 7" thick at bottom. Its surfaces are badly weathered and none of the cup-shaped markings on it are artificial. A plaque fixed to the pedestal alleges that the Royal Standard was pitched in it for the muster of the Scottish army on the Borough Muir before the Battle of Flodden in 1513. It long lay in the adjoining field, was then built into the wall near the present site, where it was placed in 1852. There is no evidence that there were a muster on the Burgh Muir in 1513, and it is suggested, from its dimensions, this stone could be the cover of a cist (Paton 1942).
H M Paton 1942; RCAHMS 1951.
NT 2451 7157. The Bore Stone is as described above. Its having been a cist cover is a possibility only.
Visited by OS (B S), 3 December 1975.
NT27SW 44 24508 71568
NMRS PRINT ROOM:
Inglis Photograph Collection, Acc No 1994/90
View of stone and explanatory plaque.
Publication Account (1951)
212. The Bore Stone, Morningside Road.
This slab of coarse red freestone measures 4 ft. 10 in.in height by 2 ft. in breadth, with a thickness of 10½ in.at the top and 7 in. at the foot; its surfaces are badly weathered and none of the cup-shaped hollows on the front and sides is artificial. In 1852, at the instance of Sir John Stuart Forbes of Pitsligo, it was set on a pedestal in its present position at the N.W. end of the boundary wall of Morningside Parish Church, with an inscribed tablet beneath which states it to be "THE BORE STONE IN WHICH THE ROYAL STANDARD WAS LAST PITCHED FOR THE MUSTER OF THE SCOTTISH ARMY ON THE BOROUGH MUIR BEFORE THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN 1513" This identification is, however, incorrect as the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer for that year shows that James IV set out from Edinburgh before the standards were ready; moreover the rendezvous for the muster was Ellem in the Lammermoors, and not the Burgh Muir of Edinburgh (1) as related by Pitscottie (2).
RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941
(1) O.E.C., x, p. 80 and xxiv, pp. 108-125. (2) The Historie and Cronicles of Scotland, S.T.S., i, p. 259·
Project (1997)
The Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (http://www.pmsa.org.uk/) set up a National Recording Project in 1997 with the aim of making a survey of public monuments and sculpture in Britain ranging from medieval monuments to the most contemporary works. Information from the Edinburgh project was added to the RCAHMS database in October 2010 and again in 2012.
The PMSA (Public Monuments and Sculpture Association) Edinburgh Sculpture Project has been supported by Eastern Photocolour, Edinburgh College of Art, the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland, the Hope Scott Trust, The Old Edinburgh Club, the Pilgrim Trust, the RCAHMS, and the Scottish Archive Network.
Field Visit (15 November 1999)
A solid sandstone rock with surface indents, claimed to have supported (bore) the pole for the Royal Standard.
Inscriptions : On plaque fixed to wall below Bore Stone (raised gilded Gothic letters):
THE BORE STONE / In which the Royal Standard was last / pitched for the muster of the Scottish / army on the Borough-muir before the / Battle of Flodden / 1513 / It long lay in the adjoining field, was then / built into the wall near this spot, and finally / placed here by Sir John Stuart Forbes / of Pitsligo Bart. / 1852 / Highest and midmost was descried / The Royal Banner floating wide; / The staff, a pine tree strong and straight, / Pitch'd deeply in a massive stone, / Which still in memory is shown, / Yet bent beneath the standard's weight. / Marmion
Signatures : None
Year of unveiling : 1852 (plaque)
Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0074)
