Discovery of Ancient Graves. 359 



20 inches ; the length of the coffin inside, 6 feet 5^ inches ; 

 width at bottom, 20 inches; depth, 10 inches; width at top, 

 9 inches. The sides of the coffin consist of slabs of red 

 freestone, but none of them are large, and nearly all of 

 them have been broken by the digging ; they vary in 

 thickness from If inches to 3 inches, and from one to two 

 feet square. The bottom is also of freestone, similar to the 

 sides. There does not appear to have been any cover, but 

 it is possible that wood may have been used for that 

 purpose, and all trace of it obliterated. The sides of the 

 coffin slope gradually inward, from about 1 foot 8 inches at 

 the bottom to about 9 inches at the top. The situation of 

 the coffin is almost due east and west ; head to the west. 

 It is situated on the top of a natural mound — about 36 

 yards from the boundary line between Roxburgh and Ber- 

 wickshire — about 11 yards from the edge of the mound, and 

 3 feet from the hedge dividing the Stackyard Field from 

 the Pea Brae Field on Dalcove Mains farm. The distance 

 from the Greatridge Hall and Dalcove road, marked in a 

 sketch (which was annexed) is 445 yards; from Kelso and 

 St. Boswells road, 320 yards; and from Dalcove Mains farm 

 steading, 345 yards. 



There is no appearance of the place having been used as 

 a burying ground ; the graveyard at Makerston being about 

 a mile away, and that of Mertoun two miles. There is not 

 the slightest appearance of the bones having been burned, 

 and when found they occupied the position which would 

 naturally be found where a body was stretched at full 

 length. All the teeth in the upper jaw, with the exception 

 of two, were in position when found, but they have since 

 been pulled out by children visiting the grave. The left 

 half of the under jaw is amissing, but six teeth are fixed 

 in the part found. The skull is in a very good state of 

 preservation, but the other bones are almost crumbling 

 into dust. 



Particular search was made by David Gray, farmer, Dal- 

 cove Mains, for any article of stone, flint, or metal, which 

 might be of value to Antiquarians or others, but nothing 

 of the kind was found. 



The distance of the grave from the river Tweed is about 

 a mile as the crow flies, the nearest point of the Tweed 



