CARHAM, a parish in the western division of
GLENDALE ward, county of NORTHUMBERLAND, 31
miles (W. S. W.) from Coldstream,. comprising the townships
of Carham with Shidlaw, Downham, Hagg, New
Learmouth, West Learmouth, East Mindrim, West
Mindrim, Moneylaws, Preston, Tythehill, Wark, and
Wark Common, and containing 1370 inhabitants. The
living is a perpetual curacy,inthe archdeaconry of Northumberland,
and diocese of Durham, and in the patronage
of A. Compton, Esq. The church is dedicated
to St. Cuthbert. According to Leland, a battle was
fought here between the Saxons and the Danes, in which
eleven bishops and two English counts were slain! In
1018, it was the scene of a sanguinary contest between
the English and the Scotch, in which the latter were victorious;
the loss of the English was extremely great,
and the event, according to some authors, is stated to'
have produced such an impression on Aldun, Bishop of
Durham, that he died of a broken heart. Another
contest occurred in 1370, between the same people,'respectively
under the command of Sir John Lelburn and
Sir John Gordon, in which the Scots, after a severe and
arduous conflict, were again victorious, the English
general, Sir John Lelburn, and his brother, having been
made prisoners. An abbey of Black canons, founded
at an unknown period, as a cell to the priory of Kirkham,
in Yorkshire, was burnt in the 24th of Edward I.,
by the Scots under Wallace, whose encampment in a
neighbouring field has bestowed on it the name' of Camp?
field. The village is pleasantly situated on the south
bank of the Tweed, and is surrounded by several plantations
of young forest trees: there is a beautiful and
extensive prospect into Scotland from a hamlet situated
on a hill, called Shidlaw, on the south side.