Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
A standing stone near the word 'Northe' at top right is about ten miles from the southern
Lochmaben stone on the Esk estuary. The latter was the traditional 'trysting place' where the
warring factors met to negotiate truces and exchange prisoners. The fortified towers of two
such prominent families are shown on this map: those of Fergus, Tom and Richard 'Greme'
(the English Grahams) at centre, and the Scot Sandy Armstrong's tower between the left two
lines at the top.
This important strategic map was made by Henry Bullock, otherwise recorded only in con-
nection with buildings, as he later became Master Mason of the King's Works. Chosen as 'a
man of some experience', he was paid 20 nobles (about £1,500 today) 'for special service' -
presumably for 'the juste and true making' of this map. Perhaps as a response to the demands
of high-level politics, this is an early example of a map drawn to scale, with a scale bar at its
lower edge. It appears that Bullock used a local or 'customary' scale; a perch of about 8 yards
long instead of the standard 5½ yards can be calculated from the length of the four straight
lines on the map against their length on the ground.
These lines illustrate English and Scottish proposals for the border, a compromise sugges-
ted by the French, and 'the last and Fynal Lyne' agreed on 24 September 1552. The map was
filed with an account of the negotiations by the French ambassador in London, a mediator in
the case. While the final line gave the largest area of the Debatable Land to Scotland, this was
mostly moorland. The new frontier was then marked on the ground by an earthwork from Esk
to Sark, still evident as Scots' Dike.
State Papers reveal that drawing the line on this map was considered to be an integral part
of defining the border. It is an early record of a map used as a tool in making an international
boundary, which gives us a visual idea of the process behind it. The lines represent the debate
about the land among the three parties.
