Popping Stone Quote from Mason's Gilsland Guide c 1869.

The Popping Stone is in the bed of the river, and about 200 yards from the well at Gilsland. It is told with pride by the inhabitants here, that Sir Walter Scott first popped the question near this Stone; pieces of which, if placed under the pillow, are said to cause people to dream of their future partners. Near this famous stone is the Kissing Bush, beneath whose profuse leafage it is said that the sweet compact was sealed.