Twin Law Cairns

Crawford Macnab

27 March 2026

A dry but windy day saw 13 marauders - Andrew, Crawford, Moira C, Pam, Stuart, Sheila, Graham, Jan, Mike, Bob, Jim, Sarah and TK, meet at the Watch Water reservoir for our walk up to the Twin Law cairns.

Cosmo made up the team.

TK was a 16 year old Thai boy staying with Sarah who joined us on the walk. (TK being a nickname for something unpronounceable!)

From the watch car park we headed generally west in to a cold wind with views opening up over the reservoir.

A gentle warm up on a tarmac part of the Southern Upland way took us to Scarlaw farm.

Through a closed gate we crossed over a ford that would have been Google Maps “fastest” road to reach the car park. Fortunately we all avoided this.

We continued on the Southern Upland Way on a grassy path up towards Twin Law cairns, giving way to the odd cyclist, walker and all-terrain vehicle coming the other way.

In no time at all the Twin Law cairns came in to view with a trig point between them.

Both cairns had sheltered seats, with the eastern cairn having a visitors book that Graham signed.

Andrew and Mike provided a brief history of the Cairns which I believe was along the lines of..

The Twin Law Cairns are two prominent stone cairns located on the summit of Twin Law (447m / 1466 feet) in the southern Lammermuir Hills of the Scottish Borders, situated approximately 7½ miles northeast of Lauder and 10 miles west northwest of Duns.

Legend: Local folklore claims the cairns mark the graves of two brothers from the Edgar of Wedderlie family who unknowingly fought on opposite sides (Scots vs. Saxons) in an ancient battle and died together.

The site was used for target practice during the Second World War; excavations by Lady John Scott revealed a ransacked cist (small, stone-built coffin-like box or chamber) in each cairn, with upright stones measuring roughly three feet long.

After lunch we retraced our steps back down the Southern Upland Way for almost a kilometre before heading north across an area with burnt heather, descending down to reach some Grouse Butts.

From here there was a good track down in to a gulley where the Watch Water was crossed before descending mostly east to reach the Southern Upland Way again. At this point Jim took the quickest route back to the car park to get home in time for his DPD delivery! The rest of us followed a good path on the southern side of the reservoir to again join the Southern Upland Way which took us back down the access road to our starting point.

There was time enough for us all to stop at the Lanterne Rouge cafe in Gifford where they were most accomodating, fitting us all around their “just about big enough” shared table. Cakes, coffee and teas were gladly consumed by the wind swept marauders..

(The name of the cafe comes from the award given to the last placed cyclist in the Tour De France)