158 Eecext Excavations at Birrens. 



there. The English captain, Sir Antony, was himself badly wounded 

 in the foot, eye, and hand, but after a while he completely re- 

 covered. 



The official record of the battle closes somewhat dolefully for 

 our side with the letter' addressed from Pontefract by King 

 Edwai'd III. to Sir Ralf Dacre, constable of Carlisle, commanding 

 that William Douglas and William Barde should be kept safely 

 ironed and in prison. The Sheriff of Cumberland was at the same 

 time to proclaim that the several captors of Scotsmen should keep 

 their respective prisoners secure. Barde was still a captive three 

 years later. Douglas's exact term of confinement has not been 

 ascertained, but Bower says it endured for two years. The flower 

 of Annandale soldiery had been nipped in its eai'ly bloom. And, 

 unfortunately, as Wyntoun notes in his brief record of the event, 

 the misfortune was only the " arles " of more — the earnest of 

 woi'se things, in especial of the evil day of Halidou." 



That ilke tyme at Lowchmabane 

 Off Anandyrdale the floure wes tane 

 With off the West JMarche men 

 That had thame in till Ingland then. 

 Amang thaim Willame off Dowglas 

 Takyn and had till presowne was. 

 This was hot erlys for to tell 

 Off infortwne that efftyr fell. 



Bower, above cited, also mistakenly places the engagement at Lochmaben. 



III. — Recent Excavations at Birrens — The Interior Buildings. 

 By James Barbour, F.S.A. 



The council of this Society having brought under the notice 

 of the council of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland the desir- 

 ableness of having excavations made at Birrens, that body 

 promptly took up the suggestion, and appointed a committee of 

 superintendence, on which the writer represented the local 

 Society, and made other necessary arrangements. Operations 

 were begun on 29th May, 1895, and were carried on for a period 

 of nearly nine months. Important information resulted regarding 

 the structure of the fortifications and the plan of the interior 

 buildings ; and altars, inscribed stones, pottery, and other objects 



1 Foedtru; 2it\\ March, 1333 ; /?«{«'« Cal, iii., 1074. 

 ^ Wyntoun'' ■•< CronykU, viii., 27. 



