REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1898 275 



5. — Hume Castle and Vicinity from Kelso. 



The fifth meeting of the season took place on Wednesday, 

 28th September. It had been arranged for the Kelso 

 district, and consisted of two parties, one of which, after the 

 arrival of morning trains, assembled at the Queen's Head 

 Hotel, drove from Kelso via Birgham to Eccles Church, and 

 there it was met by a brake with the other party from 

 Duns via Caldra, where the President had been called for. 

 Amongst those present were Colonel Milne Home, Prenident ; 

 J. H. Milne Home, Caldra ; Rev. George Gunn, Stiehill, 

 Secretary; G. P. Hughes, Middleton Hall; T. Craig Brown 

 and Captain Craig Brown, Selkirk ; Eev. John Johnston, 

 Eccles ; Rev. J. Gordon Napier, Kelso ; Dr Cahill. Berwick ; 

 J. Ferguson, Duns ; William Maddan, Berwick ; J. and Mrs 

 Ford, Duns; Dr S. M'Vie, Chirnside; James A. Somervail, 

 Broomdykes ; J. and Miss Wilson, Duns; C. S. Romanes, 

 Edinburgh; J. and Mrs H. Paton, Edinburgh; Dr Stevenson 

 Macadam, Edinburgh ; D. M'B. Watson. Hawick ; J. Waugh, 

 Hawick; George Fortune, Duns; R. and Mrs R. Carmichael, 

 Coldstream; Miss Bryson, Edinburgh; Herr Johannes Albe, 

 Duns ; Thomas Brotherston, Hume Byres ; John Cuthbert, 

 Hume ; and William Smith, Stiehill. 



The Kelso section of the party drove by the left bank of 

 the Tweed to Birgham, where, despite the showery and 

 boisterous character of the weather, a halt was made, and 

 a brief historical account of the place was listened to with 

 much interest. 



Birgham or Brigham lies opposite Carham. Some suppose 

 that the decisive battle of Carham (a.d. 1018) was fought 

 on the Birgham side of the river. It was also the place 

 where the King (William the Lyon), the nobles, earls, clergy, 

 and other landowners met in council in 1188. They decided 

 to refuse the request which Hugo, the Bishop of Durham, 

 made on behalf of Henry II. of England for funds for a 

 new crusade, and which were called Saladin's tenth. In 

 1289 the Committee of Estates, in full assembly there, 

 consented to the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the 

 Princess Margaret of Scotland, which was prevented by her 



