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Power lines and Scot's Dike

The "Debatable Lands" were until the 16th century a lawless area on the Anglo-Scottish border occupied by families of Border Reivers, and beyond the control of either England and Scotland. The dispute between the two countries was finally settled by arbitration by the French Ambassador in 1552 who determined the border along a west-east line linking the Rivers Sark and Esk, leaving a tongue of English territory north of the River Esk. Two parallel ditches were dug to mark the border, and for at least the last 150 years, the Dike has been occupied by an plantation some 5 kilometres long and 100 metres wide. The only place where the continuity of the plantation is broken is here where the transmission lines pass through a cut gap.