Touring the Tweed with Gary (Devore).

Though overly restored in the nineteenth century, the church of St Cuthbert at Norham on the Tweed still has some of the sumptuousness that originates in its original foundation by the bishops of Durham (Durham Cathedral houses the bones and grave of Cuthbert, and Norhamshire was not part of the border county of Northumberland, but of the County Palatine of Durham). The south arcade and chancel of c1170 remain.

It was on this exact spot in May 1290 that Edward Longshanks, King of England, declared he was come in the character of supreme and direct lord (Arthur’s heir), to maintain the tranquility of Scotland in its disputes over the succession, and to mete impartial justice to the numerous claimants of its crown.

There followed three centuries of border conflict.