CHEVIOT HILLS, a group of hills and mountains on the mutual border of Northumberland and Scotland. Cheviot proper, the highest summit of the group, is situated 7 miles SW of Wooler, and has an altitude of 2, 658 feet above the level of the sea. The other summits, exclusive of offsets, lie within a circuit of 60 miles, and belong to the parishes of Wooler, Kirknewton, Ilderton, Ingram, Alnham, Alwinton, and Elsdon in Northumberland, and to six parishes in Scotland. The hills have generally a dome-shaped or sugar-loaf outline, and are grouped skirt to skirt, or shoulder to shoulder, like clustering cones. The prevailing rock is porphyritic trap; and the soil, over great part of the surface, bears a rich sward, excellent for sheep pasture. The highest portions are heath; and considerable tracts are bog. The golden eagle is sometimes seen; grouse are found; and the famous breed of sheep, known as the Cheviots, is extensively depastured. The line of watershed is nearly identical with the boundary line between Northumberland and Scotland; and the chief streams on the English side are the Wooler, the Breamish, the Coquet, and the Reed. Mrs. Sigourney, apostrophising the flocks of sheep, and alluding to the Border raids, says-

Graze on, graze on, -there comes no sound
Of Border warfare near;
No slogan-cry of gathering clan,
No battle-axe, no spear.
There's many a wandering stream that flows
From Cheviot's terraced side,
Yet not one drop of warrior's gore
Distains its crystal tide.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))