The verse on the stone runs, "Fair maiden Lilliard lies under this stane, Little was her stature, but great was her fame, Upon the English loons she laid many thumps, And when her legs were smitten off she fought upon her stumps." The legend says she fought at Ancrum Moor after her lover was killed, and cut down an English commander.
The Langs point out that the last lines repeat an older couplet about Widdrington in the ballad of Chevy Chase, where his legs are cut off and he fights on his stumps. They suggest the name Lilliard's Edge simply suggested a girl called Lilliard, and her story became a local myth. The place name is recorded as Lillesietburn in the twelfth century and Lillyat Cros in 1378, long before the battle. The present monument dates from the nineteenth century and replaced an earlier stone with the same lines, recorded broken in 1743. The pin is placed at the battlefield and is approximate.
Comments