THE first 12 sites have been designated in a landscape-scale eco-museum to mark next year’s 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden

The concept of an eco-museum is to highlight and join up locations with links to a particular theme.

The initial dozen sites all have connections with the 1513 battle in Northumberland in which King James IV of Scotland’s army suffered a catastrophic defeat by the English.

Each site has been provided with a Flodden eco-museum “brand” board and QR code to enable the downloading of information by smart phone.

Thousands of leaflets have also been printed for each location.

The idea of what will be England’s first eco-museum is to guide visitors from one site to another on a journey of discovery.

The sites are:

Flodden Field, where the battle was fought;

The medieval Church of St Paul at Branxton. In the days following the battle Branxton’s church served as a temporary mortuary and burial site;

Etal Castle, fortified in the 14th Century and captured by James IV before the battle;

Heatherslaw Mill, the earliest reference to which is from 1306. Still a working mill on the River Till, it is likely to have ground flour or meal for both armies;

Twizel Bridge, which marked its 500th anniversary last year and at the time of its construction was the largest single-span bridge in Britain. It provided the only dry crossing of the Till between the Tweed and Etal and was probably used by both the English and Scots.

Norham Castle, originally built by the Bishops of Durham in the 12th Century. Captured by James IV after a five-day siege;

Ladykirk Church on the opposite bank of the Tweed to Norham. Said to have been built by James IV after raids into Northumberland in the 1490s. Home to a bust of the Scottish king;

Barmoor Castle gates. Crafted by local blacksmith Stephen Mather as a memorial to the battle at what is now Barmoor Castle Country Park but is where the English camped the night before the clash;

Weetwood Bridge which crosses the Till and is on the direct route from Wooler Haugh where the English army camped;

Coldstream Museum, on the site of a priory whose nuns would have witnessed the Scots army on its way to Flodden. The Prioress is said to have sent wagons to the battlefield to retrieve the dead;

Fletcher Monument, Selkirk. It commemorates the return to the town of the only survivor of 80 local men from Flodden.

Flodden Wall, Edinburgh. Part of the town wall repaired and fortified after the Scots defeat at Flodden.

It is hoped that up to 25 more sites will be identified in the second phase of the eco-museum.