458 D. Milne Home^Esq., on Ancient Camjis. 



■^m^ EYE SKETCH OF 



'^' |ASTLt|)ON-l^lCK 



1^- 



NEAR COLDSTREAM 



possession. It is probable that tliese ditches and embank- 

 ments had formed part of a camp, similar in structure and 

 object to the " Snuke " already described. The site was well 

 chosen, as the gi'ound here being high, an extensive prospect 

 was secured over the country south of the Tweed, and the 

 high bank of the river, on which the camp abutted, rendered 

 it quite unassailable on that side. Captain M'Laren with 

 some plausibility suggests that the town of Coldstream had 

 derived its name, not from the cold temperature of the river 

 (as is commonly supposed,) but from '* Castra-ham," the 

 hamlet near the camp. 



Here as in other parts of the River Tweed, the chief ob- 

 ject of the camps is indicated by the existence of fords by 

 which a passage across it could be obtained. 



The two camps now described are situated between two 

 fords, the upper one having been at the junction of the Leet 

 and TAveed, the lower one about a mile distant, being oppo- 

 site to the village of Lennel, from which there still exists an 

 old parish road leading to the ford. 



It is rather remarkable, that these fords exist at the pre- 

 sent day, notwithstanding the lapse of several centuries. The 

 circumstance proves, how very little the river must have 

 changed, during that long period, either in its course or in 

 the levels of its channels. How very remote then in time, 

 must have been the formation of those old river banks, which 

 line most of the old Haugh lands, and at levels from 15 to 

 20 feet above the present levels of the river. 



