47 i Report of Meetings for 1889. By Dr. J. Hardy. 



foot-drained, so as to appear as if laid off in ridges by the plough. The 

 shepherd thought the drainage had been orerdone. 



The other plants intermixed were Ajuga reptans, Viola palustris, Stellaria 

 graminea, Poly gala vulgaris, Euphrasia officinalis, Potentilla Tormentilla, 

 Lychnis Flos-cuculi, Linum catharticvAn, Pedicularis sylvatica, Orchis 

 maculata, Myosotis repens (in drains). Nearer Bagraw ford and Muirdykes, 

 in a more clayey soil, grew Trifolium medium, Lotus corniculatus, Viola 

 lutea, blue var. (also found on Dawston Rig), Alchemilla vulgaris, Galium 

 cruciatum and saxatile, Hieracium pilosella, Achillea Ptarmica, Rhinanthus 

 Crista-Galli, Pedicularis palustris, &c. The Flora on the whole was poor 

 and common-place, but characteristic. The Wood Anemone and Bitter 

 Vetch, I may here mention, grow on Dawston Big. 



After refreshment at Wormscleugh, where the intelligent shepherd, 

 William Glendiuning, met us by appointment, we again sallied forth. Peat 

 was the fuel here ; the stone cheese-press stone still hung in its wooden 

 frame, and continued in use ; good rhubarb grew in the garden ; Herb 

 Gerard was a weed of old standing. Crossing the Wormscleugh Burn and 

 ascending the slope on to the Whele Rig, we soon reached the Whele Kirk, 

 passing the low tumuli on the height of the ridge. This ridge is about two 

 miles long, by half a mile broad, culminating at Whele Big Head (1465 

 feet), and having the Peel Burn on the east, and Wormscleugh Burn on 

 the west. The Kirk, as indicated by its outline, is very small, and the 

 churchyard has been of limited extent. Mr Smail has already given an 

 account of it, see Club's Hist. Vol, ix., pp. 116-7. Mr E. J. Wilson gives 

 me some notes about it : " Close to the line of the Wheel Causeway is the 

 site of Whele Kirk. [It is quite plain that the name originates from the 

 Causeway ; even Peel Fell is called Wheel Fell in Armstrong's Map], the 

 only remains of which are the foundations and the walls of the building 

 and graveyard adjoining, entirely overgrown with turf. [Nettles have 

 now usurped the Kirk floor]. Most of the stones used in building an 

 adjacent sheep-fold, show chamfers and other architectural details." 

 Quoting a note of Mr James Telfer, inserted in the introductory chapter 

 to Robert White's Otterburn, Mr Wilson continues: " Within the memory of 

 those still living, one of the workmen at the farm of Peel had in his 

 possession the piscina or holy water basin of Whele Kirk, which his wife 

 appropriated as a clew basket — that is a dish in which she kept her worsted. 

 Telfer says, ' it was like a stone basin which projected from the wall 

 supported by a rudely sculptured arm.' " It was Anally " consigned to 

 the more undignified purpose of a trough for pigs feeding out of, and 

 eventually was broken up and utilised to sand the floor with, when he 

 enquired for it in 1851." 



Some other remains, including an old quern, were carried off snrrep- 

 tiously. There is a section of a head of a window of the Kirk engraved in 

 Mr Bruce Armstrong's Liddesdale, at p. 90. 



We seated ourselves by the Monk's Well and had a refreshing drink. 

 There is no want of good water in the vicinity. Resting here, we looked 

 across to the vast Peel Fell (1964 feet) fronting us. The lower part is 

 green, but the apical portion is capped with peat. At its base is a thriving 



