I 9 I 3" I 9 I 4-] -^ ncient Monuments of Gorebridge District. gj 



between the walls was filled with a rich black mould 

 irregularly interspersed with charcoal, fragments of bone, 

 and the teeth of sheep and oxen. 



In Crichton parish exists one of the finest weems in 

 Scotland. It was discovered on Crichton Mains in 1869. 

 Again the plough was the agent of discovery. One of the 

 horses seemed to put its foot in a hole and to stick fast. In 

 trying to extricate it the underground chamber was revealed. 

 Mr Pringle, the farmer, reported the incident to Mrs 

 Callendar of Prestonhall. Her factor, a Mr Maddison, was 

 soon on the scene, and under his careful supervision excavation 

 was proceeded with. Soon a large and well-built underground 

 chamber was cleaned out. The floor proved to be of natural 

 rock. The walls were of a Cyclopean style of masonry : no 

 lime and no mortar had been used, but the large undressed 

 stones had been placed above each other, converging inwards. 

 The roof had been covered in with large stone slabs. It was 

 also found that the walls were studded here and there with 

 square and chiselled stones, manifesting the diagonal and 

 diamond markings peculiar to Koman workmanship. There 

 are thirty of these stones in the walls. The chamber, pear- 

 shaped like the weem of Borthwick, was 51| feet long, 6 feet 

 high, and from 7 to 9 feet in width. The chief doorway was 

 formed of two upright stones and a covering stone slab, and 

 was 3 feet high, 33 inches wide at the top, and 36 inches at 

 the bottom. Some 14 feet from this entrance was another 

 doorway on the left-hand side 43 inches high, 36 inches in 

 width at the bottom, and 33 at the top. 



This is a relic which makes one think. It would be the 

 dwelling-place or place of refuge of a great man in the old 

 days, and reveals how low the civilisation must have been 

 when it was constructed. One wonders when it was formed. 

 No definite conclusion can be arrived at. But this we can be 

 sure of — it could not have been formed earlier than 80 A.D., 

 the year that Agricola the Eoman general first advanced into 

 the Lothians. The presence of stones in the walls displaying 

 Roman mason-work guarantees that. Now the Eomans re- 

 mained masters in this part of Britain until 422, when the 

 decadence of the Eoman Empire at the heart demanded the 

 withdrawal of all troops from the extremities. Was it con- 



