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Description: | The 'cross' stands in a small wood beside the A696. A circular stepped base leads to a square stone base on which sits a smaller square stone base of medieval date. From this rises an upright tapering stone with two iron pegs attached to the south face. Additional Information: The Percy Cross commemorates the Battle of Otterburn between the Scots and the English in 1388. Although indecisive and of no great importance historically this has long been the subject of ballads and poems, most notably 'The Battle of Otterbourne' of the early 1400s, 'Chevy Chase' of the fifteenth century and a poem in Sir Walter Scott's 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish and English Borders' (1803). The story of the battle is that the Scots army under the Earl of Douglas camped at Otterburn on their return from a raid on Northumberland. The English army under Henry Hotspur (TWNE33 qv) and Ralph Percy pursued them and attacked before night fell even though they had by then already marched 32 miles that day. In the ensuing slaughter Douglas was killed and so were 100 of his men but his army remained in possession of the field. Meanwhile, Hotspur and Ralph Percy were both captured and 1800 of their men were killed.(1) The exact site of the battle has long been debated, amongst others by Sir Walter Scott.(2) It has recently been suggested that the lower part of the medieval base which is incorporated in the present structure originally marked the spot where, after the battle, the body of Douglas was mounted on a bier to be carried to Melrose Abbey. The fact that there still exist socket-stones known as the Golden Pots marking the spots where the bier was set down each day supports this theory. | Subjects: | Cross | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Stonemason: Not known | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=7532... | Go to resource |
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