diff --git a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/ConfigUtil.java b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/ConfigUtil.java
index 8ae065bcc..d0bb3fdf1 100644
--- a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/ConfigUtil.java
+++ b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/app/ConfigUtil.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package org.jbake.app;
 
+import java.io.File;
 import org.apache.commons.configuration.CompositeConfiguration;
 import org.apache.commons.configuration.ConfigurationException;
 import org.apache.commons.configuration.PropertiesConfiguration;
@@ -7,8 +8,6 @@
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
-import java.io.File;
-
 /**
  * Provides Configuration related functions.
  *
@@ -133,10 +132,18 @@ public interface Keys {
 		 * Flag indicating if tag index file should be generated
 		 */
 		String RENDER_TAGS_INDEX = "render.tagsindex";
+
+        /**
         /**
          * String used to separate the header from the body.
          */
 		String HEADER_SEPARATOR = "header.separator";
+		/**
+		 * JBake will only scan this number of lines for a headers block separator.
+		 */
+		String MAX_HEADER_LINES_SCAN = "header.maxLines";
+
+
 		/**
 		 * Port used when running Jetty server
 		 */
@@ -181,7 +188,7 @@ public interface Keys {
 		 * The configured base URI for the hosted content
 		 */
 		String SITE_HOST = "site.host";
-	}
+    }
 
 	private final static Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ConfigUtil.class);
 	private final static String LEGACY_CONFIG_FILE = "custom.properties";
diff --git a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java
index d63565494..c92e55d71 100644
--- a/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java
+++ b/jbake-core/src/main/java/org/jbake/parser/MarkupEngine.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-
 import org.apache.commons.configuration.Configuration;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@
 public abstract class MarkupEngine implements ParserEngine {
     private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MarkupEngine.class);
 
-    public static final int MAX_HEADER_LINES = 50;
+    public static final int MAX_HEADER_LINES_DEFAULT = 50;
 
 
     /**
@@ -167,9 +166,10 @@ private boolean hasHeader(Configuration config, List<String> contents) {
 
         List<String> headerLines = new ArrayList<String>();
 
+        int scanMaxLines = config.getInteger(Keys.MAX_HEADER_LINES_SCAN, MAX_HEADER_LINES_DEFAULT);
 
         //for (String line : contents) {
-        for (int i = 0; i < contents.size() && i < MAX_HEADER_LINES; i++) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < contents.size() && i < scanMaxLines; i++) {
             String line = contents.get(i);
             if (StringUtils.isBlank(line))
                 continue;
diff --git a/jbake-core/src/main/resources/default.properties b/jbake-core/src/main/resources/default.properties
index 01a45d96f..fb37ea7b0 100644
--- a/jbake-core/src/main/resources/default.properties
+++ b/jbake-core/src/main/resources/default.properties
@@ -97,3 +97,5 @@ uri.noExtension=false
 uri.noExtension.prefix=
 # String used to separate the header from the body
 header.separator=~~~~~~
+# JBake will only scan this number of lines for a headers block separator.
+header.maxLines=50