THE COMMON BITTEEN. 59 



from the above road to a short distance beyond Causeway- 

 bank, as it was in 1816. For the use of the plan of the 

 western part I am indebted to Colonel Milne-Home of 

 Wedderburn, and for that of the eastern portion I have 

 to thank Mr. John Blackadder, Blanerne, who has likewise 

 kindly favoured me with some notes regarding the drainage 

 of the Mire. This, it appears, was done by deepening the 

 western outlet of the superfluous waters of the Mire, and 

 cutting a deep cast or ditch along the centre of the valley 

 to lead the water to the western outlet. Mr. Blackadder, 

 in his notes, says : " Sir William Hall of Whitehall, about 

 the year 1780 or 1785, when the Duke of Bridgewater's 

 canals were working in Lancashire, had a survey made for a 

 canal from Eyemouth to Duns, to pass through Billie Mire, 

 Billie Burn, and the ravine south of Elfole, and terminate 

 near the present Manse. The cast was cut in the year 1801 

 or 1802. John Wait and Thomas Wilkie, Chirnside, were 

 the contractors. Several people in Chirnside remember the 

 whole of the Mire on the east of the Mire Bridge being 

 covered with water, one cart only being able to pass at 

 a time where the present bridge is built. The edges of the 

 swamp were covered with rushes and black-headed reeds or 

 canes, which were cut by the people of the adjoining villages 

 for thatching their houses. After the cast was made, Mr. 

 George Logan, tenant of Auchencrow Mains, drained his 

 side of the bog, and for several summers employed his men 

 and horses before harvest to cut the present Mire Brae 

 road, carting the earth which came from the cutting — 

 some thousands of loads — and spreading it on the moss 

 to firm it. During the drainage operations he discovered 

 upwards of twenty querns or hand corn-mills, supposed to 

 be some of those left by General Leslie's army when it 

 crossed the Mire near the site of the causeway stones, which 

 are yet to be seen at this point. It would seem that the 



