94 Notes on Cummertrees. 



weight to one sixpence. There is no date on any of the coins, 

 and as there are no numerals after either of the kings' names, it is 

 likely that the Scotch are of thereig-u of Alexander I. of Scotland, 

 and the English of Edward I. of England The brow of Alexander 

 as marked on the coins is lofty, and the countenance fierce, agree- 

 able to the epithet ' acer ' given to that king in history ; while 

 the countenance and bushy locks on the coins of Edward bear a 

 strong resemblance to the portraits of that monarch." (New 

 Statistical Account, Cummeitrees, 1834.) 



D. 



" The farmer who found the arms, considering them of no 

 value to the public, had them all but a brass battle-axe converted 

 into husbandry' utensils. He says that the swords were about two 

 feet in length, edged on the one side to the handle, and on the 

 other for the half length of the blade ; that the spears were long, 

 but were nearly all broken, and were more injured by rust than 

 the swords ; that in the same field he also found a number of horse 

 shoes, some of which were an entire circle, and others curiously 

 turned in at the heel, while none of them were exactly in the form 

 of the present horse shoe. The arms were scattered over the 

 field, and not more than eight inches from the surface." 



" It would seem from this that the arms had not been buried 

 nor hid there, but that each lay on the place where it had fallen 

 from the hands of its owner. But if this supposition be correct, 

 the battle must have been fought previous to the founding- of the 

 Burgh of Annan, which is within a mile of the field and when the 

 surrounding country was an almost entire wilderness ; for, upon 

 anj' other supposition than that of almost total destitution of 

 inhabitants in the neighbourhood, it would be difficult to concei%'e 

 how such a great quantity of arms was permitted to remain 

 unmoved till the natural accumulation of debris on the earth's 

 surface formed a covering over them. The subsoil of the field in 

 which they were found is a hard till, almo.st as impenetrable as 

 rock, otherwise they would no doubt have been sunk much deeper 

 than they were." (New Statistical Account, Cummertrees, 18o4.) 



