OS1/29/16/2

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 2 Parish of Hobkirk County of Roxburgh

in 1777 has a mean appearance - there is also one Parish School. Population at the last census 720.

A small portion of the Catrail or Picts Work Ditch has been traced at the southern extremity
of the Parish. The Gazetteer of Scotland in describing this antiquity as a remarkable trenched fortification says that it may
be traced from near the junction of the Gala and Tweed to the mountains of Cumberland. It is known in the country [says]
Chalmers in his Caledonia by the several names of the Catrail and of the Picts Work Ditch. Catrail in the ancient British signifying
the dividing fence or the partition of defence - was originally a dividing fence between the Romanized Britons of the Cumbrian
Kingdom and their Saxon invaders on the East. Numerous Forts and Roman Camps occur throughout the district
of which those on Bonchester Hill are the most important.