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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BORE-STANE, Bore-stone, Boar Stone, n. For meanings, cf. Harestane.

1. A stone bored for the reception of a flagstaff.Sc. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XVIII. 402:
On Brocks-brae (in the parish of St Ninians), the Bore-stone, from a hole in its centre, is said to have supported Bruce's standard. [W. M. Mackenzie, Battle of Bannockburn (1913), 51 note, rejects this tradition.]Sc. 1883 J. Grant Old and New Edinburgh III. 28:
A fragment of the hare-stane, or bore-stane, in which the royal standard was planted . . . is still preserved, and may be seen built into a wall, at Banner Place near Morningside Church. [In the same book (I. 326) called the Hare Stone.]Sc. 1934 W. Power My Scotland ii.:
Of her old national monuments, the one that appeals most to me is the Flodden borestane at Boroughmuir, where the Scottish army mustered for doom. [Scott calls this stone the harestone, lit. the white or grey stone, later a boundary stone.]

2. A boundary stone, either single or one of a series.Fif. 1855 D. Beveridge Culross, etc. (1885) II. 322:
The adjoining grounds . . . are laid out in beautiful walks formed out of the old moor of Culross, the termination of which and of the ancient burgh territory is marked by the celebrated “Bore” or boundary stone — a shapeless lump of sandstone.Ib. 100:
“Head Court of the Burgh of Culross, holden at the Boar Stone 18th May 1730 by Laurence Johnston and James Robertson, baillies. [Bailie Macdonald of Culross has made (1935) a very careful examination of this stone and thinks he has found distinct traces of a bore in the cleft of the stone, but he has never heard of its being used for the reception of a flag either at the Burgh meetings or the Burgh Ridings.]Edb. 1924 R. Cochrane Pentland Walks 96:
The Bore Stone [between Carlops and Balerno] is the extreme north point in the boundary line of Peeblesshire, and the north-west limit of Penicuik Estate.