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05-29-2009, 04:09 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Hawick, Scotland
Posts: 8,843
| | | Invasion of England via Larriston Fell
The sign at Dinlabyre, in Liddesdale, says this a private road, and give no clue that you can get to England this way, yet this is an old reivers route across the border, over the top of Larriston Fell. 
After walking among tall trees for some time, a cleared area rewards us with this view as we turn and look back into Liddesdale. 
After an hour or so of climbing gradually upwards, we come to the cairn on the summit of Larriston Fell. 
From the cairn we can see over into England, yonder trees are beyond the border. 
Descending along the old road, still about half a mile to go to the English border. 
Looking back, we see that this area of Scotland consists of heather clad peat bog, so it is important to stick to the road. The modern radio mast is adjacent to the cairn on the summit of Larriston Fells. This road is known as the Bloody Bush Road because........................................... ..
Last edited by cessna152towser; 05-29-2009 at 04:26 PM.
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05-29-2009, 04:24 PM
| | | | Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Hawick, Scotland
Posts: 8,843
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...........every bridge built along this road near the border, whether of stone, metal, or wood, has been destroyed overnight within a decade, or has had to be demolished after being found covered entirely in mysterious blood. 
The road needs to cross this small valley on its way to the English border. The need for a bridge is dispensed with by constructing this crude stone and earth culvert to facilitate the passage of animals and carts. 
Arriving at the gateway to England. The road passed between the two narrow stone pillars. The modern wooden post on their right bears a small plastic St. George Cross and Welcome to England on one side and Saltire and Welcome to Scotland on the other side. The large stone pillar marks the border. This is at the top end of the vast Kielder Forest in the North Tyne Valley. The old road continues past the end of the nearest stand of trees and goes down the valley of the Lewis Burn to the North Tyne at what is now Kielder Reservoir. 
The plaque on the large pillar tells us that there is a toll to be paid for taking animals across the border, 2 old pennies for horses leading coals, 3 old pennies for other horses, one old penny for cattle and a half of a penny for swine, calves and sheep. Anyone refusing to pay the toll will be prosecuted for trespass. I wonder what the border guard would make of my Scottish twenty pound note! This is a very old Border crossing, known to have been in use since Norman times as properties along the route are mentioned in the Domesday Book. The references on the plaque to the mileage to Lewisburn Colliery and to horses leading coals suggest that the plaque dates from the early years of the industrial revolution when coal from North Tyneside would have been hauled over this road to the textile mills in the Scottish Borders before the railway opened in 1862, and later the coming of the motor vehicle meant less of a time penalty in following the more circuitous route around the hills. Over the years many people have disappeared on their way over the Bloody Bush Road and this border crossing is said to be haunted and not to be attempted after dark. 
Anyway I promised you I would invade England so here is a view taken from the English side showing the gateway into Scotland. You can still see the metal hooks on the gateposts from which the gate would have swung. All I have to do now is trek back across this moor and down the other side to where I left my car at Dinlabyre!!
Last edited by cessna152towser; 05-30-2009 at 03:05 PM.
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05-29-2009, 04:42 PM
|  | Retired Forum Moderator | | Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 12,178
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Great photos Alex, and very interesting reading, glad you went in the daytime we wouldn't want you to go missing.
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05-29-2009, 04:50 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (OCONCAN)
Posts: 2,928
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Great pictures, Alex. Those places remind me of a song I can only partially remember: "Lock the door, Lariston, Lion o'Liddesdale . . . ".
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05-29-2009, 04:59 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Scotland, but would like to stay in the USA
Posts: 414
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A great bit of history, I like spooky tales.
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05-29-2009, 05:11 PM
|  | Has not logged in for 1 year | | Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Florida
Posts: 914
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Thank you for sharing a bit of history with us. And I'm happy to see you made it back before dark!
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05-29-2009, 05:21 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Grand Island, New York
Posts: 2,147
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Great pictures as always, Alex. One of these days I will have to make it over to Scotland and see these sites in person.
__________________ I am easily moved for sympathy for dogs, far more so than for humans, because dogs do not understand. There is no way to explain that you will return, that the vet will make it all better, that they cannot go shooting today because that is not what today is about. They cannot work out that their misery is finite and will some time end, and so their misery is magnified.
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Mad Dogs and Scotsmen
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05-29-2009, 05:35 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Posts: 1,899
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Fabulous photos and descriptions, Alex! Thank you.
Cheers,
Sandford
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05-29-2009, 05:43 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 1,002
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Great photos. I'd love to find this place when I visit the Liddesdale region this July, but I know I won't have the time for it. Perhaps on the next trip!
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05-29-2009, 05:53 PM
|  | | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Cleburne, Tx is home.. but liable to be anywhere for work.
Posts: 2,711
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Get pictures and story... Thanks
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