4 Life and Times of " The Druid." 



depredations of the Scots. No village, no 

 farmstead, no cattle-yard, no stable full of 

 horses was safe against the incursions of 

 these lawless and daring marauders, who car- 

 ried away all that they could drive before 

 them into Annandale and Nithsdale. 



For these obvious reasons the people of 

 Cumberland found it necessary from the 

 earliest times to stand to their arms in order 

 to resist and drive off their troublesome tor- 

 mentors. They fortified their houses, leaving 

 a large vaulted chamber beneath into which 

 their cattle were driven at night. Along the 

 whole length of the Border, castles — or as 

 they were called, Peel Towers — were erected 

 at a distance of a mile from each other, and 

 in some cases there was an underground road 

 of communication between them. Some of 

 these old keeps still survive, disclosing walls 

 about ten feet in thickness, a few feet above 

 the ground. They were divided into three 

 storeys, the lower one being an arched stable 

 where the cattle found shelter. The mas- 

 sive door was then fastened, and the men 

 mounted to the upper rooms. If assailed, 

 they betook themselves to their weapons, 



