The Packman's Brae Stone
Not confirmed - no source checked here quotes an inscription; this may be an uninscribed grave marker rather than a lettered stone. 'The murdered man was buried where he fell, and the stone that marks his resting-place may still be seen in the hedge to the west of the [road]' (per the local history source below, exact wording only seen as a search-engine snippet here, not the full page).Context & sources
Found via a Historic Environment Scotland full-text search for 'murdered', via a listed-building record for the former girls' schoolhouse that stands on the road named after this killing. Per Historic Environment Scotland's own account: a road at Polwarth, Berwickshire (Scottish Borders), is called Packman's Brae after an argument between two packmen (travelling pedlars) at St Mungo's Fair, once held on the village green when Polwarth was more prominent than it is today. One packman was murdered by the other and buried where he fell; his grave is marked on the early Ordnance Survey map (OS Name Book, 1856-58; OS map, 1858). A separate local-history source, 'Marchmont and the Humes of Polwarth', corroborates this and adds that a stone marking the grave 'may still be seen in the hedge to the west' of the road - not independently confirmed here, and no date, names, or fuller detail of the killing itself has been found. Year given here (1800) is a rough placeholder only, based on the fair having been active before the OS Name Book's 1850s survey; treat as unconfirmed.
- Historic Environment Scotland Portal, listing LB46328, 'Packman's Brae, The Old Schoolhouse'
- Historic Environment Scotland Portal, listing LB46327, 'Packman's Brae, Bridge Spanning Polwarth Burn' (same story repeated)
- 'Marchmont and the Humes of Polwarth' (local history book, publisher/author/date not identified here) - quoted via search-engine snippet only, hosted on Wikimedia Commons as a scanned PDF, not opened directly
Behind a paywall
- 'Marchmont and the Humes of Polwarth' in full (scanned PDF on Wikimedia Commons - found via search but not successfully opened here) - would likely give the fuller story, names, and a date, and confirm whether the stone is still visible today.
Needs an in-person visit
- Packman's Brae road, Polwarth, Scottish Borders - to look for the stone reportedly standing in the hedge to the west of the road, and to check the Ordnance Survey Name Book (1856-58, Reel 64, Book 38, NMRS) for any name or date not captured in the listing summary here.
- Town
- Polwarth
- County
- Scottish Borders
- Country
- Scotland
- Coordinates
- 55.745, -2.407
- Year
- 1800
- Condition
- Unknown
Know something we don't?
Submit a correction, an extra detail, or a photo for this record. Reviewed by hand before it's applied.