168 YEAVERING BELL AND HAREHOPE FORT 



rich booty they held, especially when they saw their forward 

 march would still be commanded by the English force with 

 its deadly host of bowmen. When they did break up they 

 were at the mercy of the English all the way to the Tweed, 

 thirteen miles off, where it is narrated that five hundred of 

 them perished on entering where the river was not fordable. 

 Locally, the field in front of the low Homildon buildings, 

 where the smithy stands, is known as the Reid Riggs, not 

 that field further North where the battle stone is erected, 

 and which is so named on the Ordnance Map. This agrees 

 with the supposition that the Scots formed on the lesser hill 

 referred to. It was a doleful day for Scotland, but time has 

 healed the wound ; and, looking at the ground, we can 

 realise that, in spite of their remarkable bravery, the Scots, 

 being where they were, and as they were, could not have 

 saved themselves from a crushing defeat. 



