The Berwickshire News reports that over the past few months interested groups on both sides of the England:Scotland border have been meeting to discuss raising the profile of the battle area near Branxton on the English side, resulting in plans for an eco-museum - a museum without walls which will connect the built, natural and cultural threads that are part of the Flodden story across Northumberland and the Scottish Borders

"The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away"
The ‘eco-museum’ will link over 10 physical sites with strong associations with Flodden:

• Flodden Field (battlefield walk, interpretation, web)
• Norham Castle (besieged before the battle)
• Etal Castle (besieged 1513 Border Warfare exhibit)
• Heatherslaw Corn Mill (mill working in 1513)
• Barmoor Castle (Surrey’s camp)
• Twizell Bridge (crucial river crossing for English army)
• Ladykirk Church (built by King James IV)
• Branxton Church (adjacent to the battle-site)
• Coldstream Museum; Coldstream Priory
• Weetwood Bridge (river crossing point)
• Fletcher Monument, Selkirk (400th anniversary 1913)

EU Leader funding of £24,265 has been successfully applied  allow Phase 1 of the project to get underway - establishing the web portal for the ‘Eco-museum’, signage for the initial sites connected with the battle, leaflets and other information led by project officers Chris Burgess and Jane Warcup.

The team are also running a workshop series to inform and encourage local people to get involved in the venture and the quincentenary activities marking the Battle of Flodden.

The idea behind Flodden Eco Museum is to allow communities, projects, locations and events to retain their individual ownership, but to be linked through a single brand, in this case the battle of Flodden and the 500th year commemoration in 2013.

A wide range of organisations from the public, private and voluntary sector (over 70) are already on board, such as the Coldstream 1513 Club, Coldstream Community Council etc and organisers are hoping to attract others who can offer their own perspective when it comes to marking this historical event, as part of a wider project.

Workshops scheduled to start next week will offer advice as to how this will work. From 5.30 to around 7.30pm events will will be held in locations across the Borders and Northumberland.

Workshop dates:
February 2, Glendale Gateway Trust, Wooler.
February 9, Coldstream Community Centre, Coldstream.
February 15, The Collingwood Arms, Cornhill on Tweed
February 16, Black Bull, Lowick (Lowick/Ford/Barmoor);
February 21, Salutation Inn, Shoreswood, (Duns/Ladykirk/Norham)
February 22, County Hotel, Selkirk.

At each event the project officers, will be joined by other experts offering advice on a range of topics such as: eco-museums; funding sources; marketing and branding; interpretation and IT presentation on web portal (businesses, clubs and organisations); development workshop on new research (archaeology and history).

Coldstream & District History Society member James Bell has written a book on Flodden and has studied it for many years.

Explaining events and their historical importance he said: “The Battle of Flodden, or (St Paul's church) Branxton Moor as  English chroniclers called it, was the culmination of a short campaign by the Scots after their King, James 1V, declared war on England and Henry VIII in the Flodden war.

The Battle proved a disaster for the Scots, as well as losing King James IV a whole generation of the country’s nobility was wiped out on Branxton Hill, September 9, 1513, when around 10,000 men lost their lives. It hastened Scotland’s union with England, leaving the country exposed and leaderless.

Since the early 1950s the dead of both nations are remembered annually during the Flodden ride-out, the main event during Coldstream Civic Week when over 300 horses and riders follow the Coldstreamer and his right and left hand men over Coldstream Bridge to Flodden, to lay a wreath at the Flodden memorial before galloping up Branxton Hill where an oration is  given about the battle.

James Joicey of Ford & Etal Estates, has been heading the initiators group/steering group since 2008, and initial background work has been done by Peter Lewis, from Newcastle University’s International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies. Now they are widening the project out further as more individuals and groups express an interest in becoming involved.

A new documentary film about the Battle of Flodden is currently underway, as is the the acquisition of what will probably be the UK’s smallest Information Centre!

It is hoped to house an information centre in the old telephone box in Branxton, which  will be high tech inside. The plan is that apps will be downloadable from internet access, giving information about genealogical work and other activities.

Dr. David Caldwell from the National Museums of Scotland indicated plans for an international conference on Flodden to be held in autumn 2011, possibly in Ford Castle (above)