Carham

Coordinates: 55°38′24″N 2°19′37″W / 55.640°N 2.327°W / 55.640; -2.327

Carham or Carham On Tweed is a village in Northumberland, England. The village lies on the south side of the River Tweed about 3 miles (5 km) west of Coldstream.

Etymology

Carham has generally been etymologised as an Old English place-name. The first syllable would be from carr 'rock', and the second either a dative plural ending (the whole name having been carrum '(at the) rocks') or the word hām ('homestead'). However, the twelfth-century chronicler Richard of Hexham appears not to have considered the name an English one, so it may actually come from Cumbric *kair 'fortification'.

History

Near to Carham are the extensive remains of Early British camps and a bronze sword, now in the British Museum, discovered in the nearby Tweed.

Carham on the Tweed, where a stream divides Northumberland from Scotland, was the scene of two battles in Anglo-Saxon times.

In 833 the Danes fought the English, and the English were routed. Leland tells us that