The curse of this stone was proclaimed by the Archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar, in the year 1525.

This eternal curse was aimed at the cattle thieves and raiders who crossed the border to plunder the region, and it was read out along the whole border between England and Scotland.

Those affected describe a kind of disease that spread and wiped out local pig farming, fires in wine warehouses that caused unemployment, and the disappearance of people, especially children and women.

The curse went on to list the parts of the human body, starting with the head, the face, the brain, the mouth, the nose, the tongue, the teeth, the forehead, the shoulders, the chest.

It covered several organs such as the heart and the brain, the stomach, the back, the belly, the arms, the two legs, the hands, the feet, and every part of the body.

It also cursed those who make war on, take from and rob the men of the locality and of the whole surrounding region of Gavin Dunbar.

For vengeance will fall on you in the form of plagues and pestilence for your conduct and for the bloodshed of innocents, forbidding the locals, all men and women, from having any kind of contact with them, from eating, drinking, speaking, praying, lying, or in any other act, on pain of mortal sin.

In its final lines it condemns the people who committed these crimes, with all their companions, to the underworld forever: first on the gallows, then torn apart and dragged for their crimes.