CARTER-FELL, one of the Cheviots, on the boundary of Northumberland with Scotland; 16 miles NW of Otterburn. Its height is 1,602 feet. A depression on its NE shoulder, called Carter-Bar, is traversed by Watling-street, a principal inland route to Scotland; and was always a noted pass in the times of the Border forays. A smart skirmish took place, in the vicinity of the pass, on the Red Swire, in 1575, at a judicial meeting for redressing Border wrongs; and nearly kindled national hostilities between the Scottish king and Elizabeth. The skirmish is commemorated in a fine old ballad, given in the "Border Minstrelsy."

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