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The Bore Stone, built into the wall of Morningside Parish Church in 1852, is reputed to have held the royal standard of James IV when the Scottish army gathered on the Burgh Muir before marching to Flodden in 1513. Snag is, it has no hole-socket for a flagpole, so it may have been just some kind of marker stone removed from the muir. It long lay in an adjoining field, before being built into the wall near this spot, and finally placed here by Sir John Stuart Forbes of Pitsligo Bart. 1852.

The plaque contains the lines:

Highest and midmost was descried
The Royal Banner floating wide,
The staff, a pine tree strong and straight,
Pitch'd steeply in a massive stone,
Which still in memory is shown,
Yet bent beneath the standard's weight.

[from the epic poem 'Marmion' by Walter Scott, published in 1808]