BANKS OF THE TWEED AND SOME OF ITS TRIBUTARIES. 531 
lake could have discharged. In that case, the flat land now existing there, was 
probably the bottom of the lake ; and as it is 125 feet above the sea, the barrier 
must have been at least 60 feet high, and about a mile in length, judging 
by the present configuration of the district. Such a barrier might have 
existed. Bounding Millfield Plain, at its north end, there are now numerous 
hills of detritus, which rise up to a level of upwards of 200 feet above the sea. 
Similar detrital hills probably existed near New Etal; and these could easily 
have been cut through, by the action of the united rivers which form the Till 
at this place. 
On the other hand, there are some facts which suggest the possibility 
of an arm of the sea having stretched up here. It will afterwards be shown, 
that in the valley through which the River Tweed flows, there are traces of 
extensive flats, at various heights, from 175 to 212 feet above the present sea 
level. 
So also along the valley of the River 77//, at Tiptoe and Old Heiton, there 
are several flats at a level of from 175 to 185 feet above the sea, some of them 
bounded by sloping banks. If these flats and banks are due to aqueous action, 
the lake theory is hardly admissible, because it must have been a body of 
water which extended over the whole valley of the Tweed; and even if the 
sea stood there, no higher than 200 feet above the present level, there would be 
a passage into Milfield Plain, not only by the valley of the Till, but by Branxton 
Valley to the north-west. 
There are traces of sea action on the hills round Milfield Plain, at greater 
heights. 
One of the proofs of this fact, is the oceurrence of great beds of stratified 
sand. On the road to the east of Kirknewton there is such a knoll, now used 
as a quarry, at a height of 220 feet above the sea. On the road from Wooler, 
by Weetwood House, and leading up towards Weetwood Moor, there are masses 
of stratified sand at heights from 300 to 400 feet above the sea. 
On the side of Weetwood Hill, facing the north, at a height of about 400 
feet above the sea, there is a large bit of projecting sandstone rock,* noticeable 
even from Wooler. On inspection, this rock was found much broken or 
fissured, and, moreover, rubbed and hollowed out, as by water. The fissures 
and hollows are filled with water-borne, hard pebbles, several of them of Cheviot 
porphyry. The following woodcut (fig. 10) gives an idea of the spot. 
Then there are several traces of a terrace or shelf on the sides of the hills 
elsewhere, at almost exactly the same height of 400 feet above the sea. 
For example, Middleton Hall, the residence of HucueEs, Esq., situated 

* The rock was pointed out to me by Mr Harozg, Secretary of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ 
Club. ' 
