BATTLE OF FLODDEN 307 



Assembled on Piper's Hill, on the plot of ground which 

 Mr John C. Collingwood had generously presented for the 

 erection of a monument to mark the site, approximately, of 

 the centre of the battlefield, and to honour the memory of 

 thousands of the brave of both nations. Captain Norman 

 reminded members that the scheme had originated with 

 the Chib at their annual meeting of 1907. About it he 

 was anxious that there should be no misconception. The 

 movement was a joint one, by Englishmen and Scotsmen from 

 both sides of the Border. The character and dimensions of 

 the monument would depend upon the amount of response to 

 the Flodden Memorial Committee's appeal for funds. One 

 thing was certain — a better locality could not be found than 

 that on which they were standing. It was in a commanding 

 position, and could not be far from where the closing tragedy 

 was enacted. Before leaving, the President pointed out the 

 sites of the King's Stone, and Marmion's Hill with the real 

 Sybil's Well near its base. Considerable confusion, he said, 

 had constantly arisen in the minds of visitors and students 

 of the battle by finding Sybil's Well with its inscription on 

 Flodden Hill among the trees above Blinkbonny, where it 

 had been placed, or rather misplaced, by the late Marchioness 

 of Waterford, with entire disregard of historical accuracy. 

 As regards the King's Stone, which members had viewed that 

 morning, it had really nothing to do with the battle. It was, 

 in fact, a very ancient Tribal Gathering or Trysting Stone, 

 which had evidently been transported from the cherty magnesian 

 limestone quarry at Carham, either mechanically or by glacial 

 action. 1*^ 



^^ The prevailing misapprehension about the King's Stone has probably 

 been perpetuated by, if it did not originate in, Scott's Notes to Marniion — 

 "An unhewn column marks the spot where James fell, still called the 

 King's Stone." As a matter of fact it is situated about three-quarters 

 of a mile Northward from the locality of the final scene of the battle, 

 on the farm of Crookham Westfield, formerlj^ a Moor. There is inter- 

 esting incidental evidence that just thirty-two years after Flodden, 

 this rugged column was known as the Standing Stone. The Earl of 

 Hertford, on one of his expeditious into Scotland, left Newcastle in 

 September 1545, "and all his army had a day appointed to mytte at 

 the Stannyngston on Crocke-a-More (Crookham Moor)." 



