56 THE COMMON BITTERN. 



Droeden leuch, and stalk'd awa, 

 And vanish'd in a babbanqua'. 1 



Lintlaw Burn is said to have had its origin in Preston 

 Clench, a rocky ravine to the west of Buncle Church, which 

 is supposed to be the ancient " crahochtre " mentioned in 

 old charters as part of the boundary of Coldinghamshire, 

 where there is a fine perennial spring. 2 Its chief sources 

 now appear to be in the neighbourhood of Buncle Wood, 

 and, being increased by many small sykes and rills, it 

 runs eastwards a little below Slighouses, 3 where it receives 

 the Marygold Burn, and, continuing its course, enters Billie 

 Mire Burn about half a mile to the north of East Blanerne. 

 Not far from its mouth, on a little haugh, formerly stood 

 Billie Mill, which was taken down in December 1845, the 

 site being still marked by one or two old trees. The waters 

 from all these rivulets being united in Billie Mire Burn or 

 Cast flow southwards and join the Whitadder a short dis- 

 tance below East Blanerne. 



Until the beginning of this century the whole extent of 

 the valley from Causewaybank on the east, 4 to about half a 

 mile beyond Billie Mains on the west, formed one long, 

 continuous, and very deep quagmire, which received the 



1 Billie Mire. See Popular Rhymes of Berwickshire, by Dr. Henderson of 

 Chirnside, pp. 8, 9 ; also Carr's History of Coldingham Priory, pp. 11, 12. 



2 The water from tins spring now supplies Bonkyl Lodge, being conveyed 

 thither by gravitation in a pipe. 



3 Formerly the property of Dr. James Hutton, one of the founders of geology, 

 who settled here in 1754, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. 



4 Judging from the account given of Billie Mire in Carr's History of Colding- 

 ham Priory, where it is said to have been six miles in length, and from the extent 

 of the deposit of alluvium shown on its site in Sheet No. 34 of the Geological Survey 

 of Scotland, this bog would appear in ancient times to have reached to within 

 about half a mile of the point where the railway crosses the valley from East 

 Keston to Prenderguest, or about a mile to the east of Causewaybank. Probably 

 the part between Causewaybank and the eastern end of the alluvial deposit, shown 

 on the Geological Survey Sheet, may have been drained about the middle of last 

 century, when agricultural improvements of all kinds were begun in Berwickshire. 

 This part would be easily drained on account of the slope of the ground enabling 

 the water to run off freely by the Horn Burn. 



