Wright's Houses (AKA Borthwick Mains) Standing Stone
Sunday 9/12/01 3:30pm
On an amazing and glorious Winters afternoon myself and Fiona set off from the nearby town of Gorebridge in search of this stone. We parked at the crossroads just past Wright's Houses and set off along the road looking for the stone. We walked for a fair bit before I checked the map and realised that we must have gone right past it! We retraced our steps, climbing up the embankment at the roadside to check the field for any signs of megaliths. Then, tucked away and nestled in the prickly hedge we found it! The top of the stone looks like it has some deep hollows on it, but hard to tell due to the thick blanket of moss and the thorns in the hedge stopping me getting a closer look ;) I stood and looked round n round at the land- this site is near the souterrain at Crichton, but not within visibility of each other. Then Fiona pointed out the setting sun- ha- this wee stone was facing the sun going down in a ridge between the distant hills- lovely! We watched the sun dip down out of view, then chatted to a woman on horseback who'd just come along the country road. She passed this site regularly and thought it was maybe a mile stone and was pleasantly surprised to hear it was rather a bit older. On the way back to Gorebridge we stopped at the side of the road to admire the most fantastic view of the Pentlands and all of Edinburgh laid out before us in splendid Winter light.
In Adam McLeans 'Standing Stones of the Lothians' (1977) this site is described as being 'in a remote region'. Not anymore as it's only two mins out of Gorebridge which is slowly becoming indivisible from Edinburgh.
An entry from Ancient Stones, an online database that covers most of the standing stones, stone circles and other stones found in South East Scotland. Each entry includes details, directions, photograph, folklore, parking and field notes on each location.
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