The wall was cespititious, composed of earth or of the materials promiscuously taken from the ditch. "Non tam lapidibus," says Gildas, "quam cespitibus." There were nineteen forts erected upon it at certain intervals, the mean distance from station to station being 3554+ yards, or something more than two English miles, so that an alarm could easily be communicated from one to another on the approach of danger. Roy makes the total length of the wall from Old Kilpatrick church to Carriden to have been 63,980 yards, or 36 miles and 620 yards English, being nearly 39 Roman miles; a measurement which corresponds very much with that of Gordon. From Dunglass to Blackness, the distance is about 40 English miles.

The origin of the appellation " Graham's" or " Grime's Dyke," which is sometimes given to the wall, seems not to have been exactly determined by antiquaries. According to Horsley, "Graham" in the Gaelic language signifies black, and, from its application to a large ditch and rampart that traverses a great part of Northumberland, which is so designated from its dark and sombre appearance in passing through the moors, this wall, he conjectures, may have taken its name from the same circumstance. The prevailing use of the appellation in the possessive case, however, would seem to restrict it to the name of a person; and the common legend is, that "Grime," nephew to Eugenius, King of the Scots, with his troops broke through the wall a few miles westward of Falkirk, between Camelon and Castlecary, and had the achievement immortalized by having his name given to the wall as its vernacular designation.

On the south side of the wall, and running in a great measure parallel with it, a military way was constructed for the more convenient and expeditious communication between the different stations. Roads of a similar description seem to have traversed the country in various directions; and, from south to north, it would appear that, by means of this kind, a line of connection was maintained through the whole extent of the Roman territories in Britain. Richard of Cirencester makes mention of a Roman way, that proceeded from the wall in Northumberland, by which I apprehend he means the wall built by the Emperor Adrian, by the Eildon hills, Borthwick Castle, Muttonhole, Cramond, Queensferry, and Abercorn, to Carriden, at or near the eastern termination of Antoninus's wall; and, several years ago, some remains of a causeway were dug up on the ridge that runs from Blackness to the road that leads from Carriden to Walton, to all appearance a branch from or an integral part of the above-mentioned way.

At Carriden various Roman relics have been found at different times, such as a Vespasian of gold; a stone, described by Gordon as having an eagle with expanded wings, holding a corona triumphalis in her bill, and standing in the middle of two Roman vexilla or standards, on one side, and on the other the letters con. IULIA, and others so obliterated as to be illegible, which was built in a wall added to the house by Alexander Miln, Esq. the then proprietor; Roman pottery; an old Roman altar, having no inscription, placed at the time in the garden; and a brass gladius or sword, which is now in the Advocates' Library. " About fifty years before" the former Statistical Account of the parish was written, the author says, that, "in digging up stones to build a park dike, axes, pots, and several vases, evidently Roman, were found, and sent to the Advocates' Library." In levelling the tumulus above Grange House, already referred to, in spring 1833, several rude stone coffins with bones in them were found, but from the appearance of the bones, there was reason to believe that they had been deposited there at a much later date than the time of the Romans.

At the eastern extremity of the parish, on a promontory jutting into the Firth, stands the Castle of Blackness, one of the four national fortresses of ancient times, whose preservation is guaranteed by the Act of Union. The period of its erection is unknown, and its history has been very imperfectly recorded. It is a structure more characteristic of the warfare of a ruder age than adapted to the modern improvements in the military art.

Mansion-Houses. The mansion-houses of Carriden, Bonhard, and Grange, are fabrics of some antiquity; the first of them, with some modern additions, being still occupied as the residence of the proprietor; the second attached to a farm; and the third, after being lately put under some repairs, occupied by a tenant.

1841,

1197

The births in 1700 were 25 males, 19 females-deaths, 4 males, 9 females.

1710

36

49

11

8

The greatest number of marriages from 1754 to 1800 inclusive, was in 1763 and 1765, amounting to 19 in each year; the smallest in 1757, amounting to 3.

The yearly average of births for 7 years before 1935, about 31
marriages,

8

Two of the proprietors are resident. The number of those whose property amounts to the yearly value of L.50 and upwards is six.

The people are in general industrious, but among some classes there is to be found room for improvement in point of cleanliness, and domestic comfort and accommodation. When dressed according to their taste, and especially as they are to be seen at church, their appearance is most respectable.

Rent of Land. The rent of the best land is from L. 4 to L. 5, that of the worst is about L. 1. The average grazing of a milk cow is L. 3, 10s.; of others L. 2, 10s.; and of a sheep 10s. per year.

Kinds of Stock. - The sheep mostly fancied for fattening are the black-faced; the breed of cattle is chiefly the short-horned; but various sorts from the north are also in much request by the farmer. The horses are for the most part the Clydesdale,

Husbandry. The style of husbandry in practice is the most approved of the present day. The farmers are most intelligent, enterprising, and active; and the state of cultivation in which the farms are upheld is of the highest order. Much has been done of late to improve and ameliorate the soil by draining, manuring, and regulating the fences. Tile-draining has been introduced with great advantage. Sown grass is often grazed instead of being cut, as being more conducive to keep the land in heart. Growing of turnips has been adopted to a considerable extent, with the most decided benefits to the cultivator. The duration of leases is generally for nineteen years. The usual rotation pursued is that of six years. Some of the farm-buildings are of a superior class. In two instances, the thrashing-mills are driven by steam-engines, and the fields, with few exceptions, are well inclosed.

Quarries and Mines. There are several quarries of free and whinstone in the parish, but they are only wrought occasionally for domestic use. The substrata abound in coal, and coal has been wrought in the parish from time immemorial. In former times the supply was furnished from the estates of Carriden, Bonhard, and Grange. Within the present century, no less than ten different pits have been at work, though at different times, and all of them within little more than a mile distant from each other. At present there are only two in operation, belonging to the Duke of Hamilton.

The seam of coal wrought in the mingle or engine-pit, which was the only one at work in 1832, for which year the following account is given, is called the Eastern Main coal, and is in general about 4 feet thick. There are now (1843) four in operation. The workings are situated on the western boundary of the parish, close to that of Borrowstounness, the coal going under the name of the Bridgeness coal in the towns to which it is taken, from the name of the pier where it is shipped. The pit is 771⁄2 fathoms deep, and the coals are drawn from the dip by an engine to the pit bottom, whence another engine raises them to the surface, the water being pumped up by a third engine of greater power, erected at the mouth of the pit to within 21 fathoms of the surface, where it escapes by a day-level to the Forth. The quantity of coals produced in 1832 was 9780 tons great coal, 18,062 tons chows, and 4363 tons small coal. There are about ninety-five men, many of them residing in the parish of Borrowstownness, employed in hewing the coal, which is brought from the workings in corves or baskets set upon hurleys, which run upon a plate railway, driven by their children or putters to the place, from which the engine below takes it to the pit bottom. The colliers are paid 2s. 10d. per ton for working the great coal, Is. 10d. per ton for chows, and 8d. per ton for small coal. A collier with his putter may put out 11⁄2 ton great coal, and 2 tons chows in a day. The small coal is quite unsaleable; the greater part of it is, of course, left in the waste, and, were it not for the use of the saltpans, none of it would be brought up at all. The pit is about a mile from the shore, the coals being conveyed to the place of shipment by a railway. The coal dips generally to the west at the rate of 1 in 7 or 8 feet. Before the present dip workings commenced, which was in 1830, the workings were above the level of the pit-bottom, reaching to the south of the pit about 900 yards, where the coal gets below the Irongath hills, in a direction nearly straight south, dipping to the north in some places at the rate of 1 in 3. But it became so mixed with stone and troubled with dikes, which were generally up to the south, that the working of it was discontinued. The quality of this seam of coal is highly

esteemed.

In 1833, the Burn pit was sunk from the main to the smithy coal, a seam lying 12 fathoms deeper, and about 2 feet 7 inches thick.

Fishery.-A stake-net for taking salmon was erected several years ago in the Frith, on the property of Captain Hope of Carriden, having three pockets or chambers; and the fishing has occasionally been pretty successful.

Produce. The following is given as an approximation to the gross amount of produce :

Manufactures. There were six salt-pans working in the village of Grange-pans in 1834, which made about 23,000 bushels of salt annually; now there are only four at work. In the same village, in 1832 and 1833, and the two following years respectively, 713, 312, and 552 quarters of barley were malted. At Brickfield, near Blackness, a valuable field of clay, averaging 12 feet deep, has been wrought for some years past, which, in 1834, gave employment to twelve men, and then yielded at an average yearly 150,000 bricks, 200,000 roofing tiles, and 200,000 draining tiles. Since then, the demand for the latter has been greatly on the increase. Some years ago, there was at Blackness a chemical work in operation, for the manufacture of soda, Barilla ash, and Roman cement;