Mr Hardy on Langleyford Vale and the Cheviots. 369 



Hughes opened a few of the tombs in the higher part ; but 

 the soil being peaty, it had probably absorbed the lime con- 

 tained in the human frame-work, for nothing remained. The 

 cists were short, and formed of boulders. A remarkable 

 British division dike crosses the point of the Sneer nearest to 

 Careburn. On the southern side, just as we enter Langley- 

 ford vale, we see it go up the steep heathery acclivity of 

 Brand's hill, across which it passes, guarded by for tie ts, and 

 accompanied by grounds of ancient occupation, till it loses 

 itself among the Old Middleton camps and fortlets, towards 

 which we glanced from the Middleton Hall side. The shep- 

 herds now call it the " Aud dike"; but when I first knew it, 

 it went by the name of the " Roman dike," and was regarded 

 as of great antiquity. An old shepherd told me, that it ran 

 from Ingram, on the Breamish, to Akeld; while another 

 affirmed, that it had a course of a hundred miles. Whether 

 it was the old march of grazing grounds, the boundary line 

 of tribes, or a fortified barrier, we can never know. These 

 hill-Britons, although it has not yet been noted here, were 

 fond of separating walls, whether for the protection of their 

 flocks, or crops, or to distinguish family property. I have 

 not tried to trace this dike southwards ; but it may be the 

 same which joins a group of camps and fortlets, and ground 

 of old culture, now waste, between Middleton burn and the 

 upper Lill burn, near Ilderton Dod hill. It remains for 

 others to enquire whether the British settlements on the 

 moor edges were linked together in one chain. Northwards, 

 according to some, after crossing the Sneer, it combined with 

 a still well marked old wall, which separated the cultivable 

 grounds of the old Slack farm from the grazings on the Crags; 

 which terminates at the Slack washing-pool on Care burn. 

 It was then said to ascend the face of Watch-law ; but I 

 examined the circuit of that hill without success. Many 

 tumuli and an ancient road lie between it and Hartheugh, 

 but no wall. The more probable opinion is, that it proceeded 

 aslant the lower part of Hartheugh, and is now incorporated 

 with modern fences in one portion, and afterwards defaced 

 for a considerable distance by tillage grounds. Pursuing 

 this direction, we arrive at what may be its continuation, 

 about the middle of the Common houses, where a wall, 

 marked with upright stones, accompanies a road and several 

 fortlets and camps across to Humbleton hill. I have not 



