Policeman's Gate

About Policeman's Gate

The ‘policeman’s gate’, site of the murder of a policeman in November 1880. PC Thomas Scott accused two Kirk Yetholm gypsies, Stovie Jock Tait and Will Blyth, of poaching and indeed two rabbits and a ferret were found in their pockets. Tait and Blyth jumped over the low wall by the path but when Scott and a gamekeeper that was with him, followed, the poachers threw stones at the constable, knocking him over and into the Halterburn. The unconscious constable was taken to Pawston, half a mile away, in a cart but he died later of tetanus as a result of his injuries.
Tait and Blyth were arrested, tried for manslaughter, and sentenced. Tait to penal servitude for life and Blyth to ten years penal servitude. After he had served twenty years, Tait returned to live in Kirk Yetholm. It is said that when he was dying, his dog had to be shot in order to allow neighbours to attend to him.
Grid Ref: NT 84695 29272
You can continue over the Cheviots hills and walk to the Stawford and an Iron Age fort Great Hetha (Grid Ref: NT 88541 27413)