The Catrail, or Picts-Work-Ditch, by James Smail. 115 



■was very spongy, but the blanks were so diminutive that it may 

 be said to be almost continuous for the above named distance. 

 At the foot of the Pike it crosses Langside Burn, and then 

 passes by the east, at the foot of what Gfordon calls "the re- 

 markable Hills called the Maiden Paps " — a well-known land 

 mark, 1,677 feet in height, being a spur of Greatmoor, 1,964 

 feet. We walked to the top of the first named height, which is 

 remarkably steep, from which we had a fine view of mag- 

 nificent and almost countless hills, rising tier on tier as far as 

 the eye could reach. After passing the Maiden Paps the Catrail 

 crosses Harwood Burn, where it is lost for a short space, and it 

 then runs through a somewhat flat bit of ground lying between 

 Shankend hill and the Leap Fell, until it reaches the Waverley 

 line of railway, which cuts through it about a quarter of a mile 

 from the Shankend Railway Tunnel. It can there be seen from 

 the windows of a passing train. From the railway it runs in 

 almost a direct and in an unbroken line to Roberts-linn, on 

 Langburnshiels, at the Limekilnedge road. It is plainly marked 

 in all the flat land just mentioned, but is shallow, and only from 

 12 to 14 feet bi-oad. Even where it is level, the line is easily 

 traced, for along its whole course the bent grass is lighter in 

 colour on its track than the surrounding grass ; and, on the other 

 hand, on cultivated land, where much soil has been ploughed into 

 its track the grass is generally greener on the line of the Catrail 

 than on the surrounding parts. Snow also lies longer on even 

 the flat parts of the Catrail than on the other flat land ; and in 

 " a griming o' new fa' en snaw '' the flat parts are more easily 

 traced than at any other time. 



From Eoberts-linn to near the Abbey, a sweet spot at the foot 

 of Cliphope Burn, a distance of 4 miles, it is not now traceable. 

 "We came to only one short part of it ; and I was not really cer- 

 tain that it was the Catrail, near the very top of Laidlerhope 

 Burn — north side. At Cliphope it is very probable that the Cat- 

 rail has been turned into the " Galloway road " for some dis- 

 tance, and the same on Dawston-rig, for that road is in the track 

 of the Catrail. 



The GaUoway road was used for a long period of years 

 as a highway for carrying coal to Hawick from the edge 

 of England. The coal was carried in bags on the backs of the 

 well-known GaUoway ponies — hence the name '' Galloway road." 



