121 

 TWO DAYS IN WENSLEYDALE. ^o^^.-rx^r-. vS^^. 



BY JOHN G, BAKEH, ESQ. 



The surface of the whole of the western third part of the nort^i^ing^6,^v 

 Yorkshire, embracing an area of about six hundred square miles, is nTTGTJniip 

 by a series of moorlands, composed of limestone and gritstone strata 

 deposited during the early part of the carboniferous epoch ; culminating 

 and continuous where, along the borders of Westmoreland and Cumberland, 

 Micklefell attains an elevation of 2600 feet above the level of the sea, and 

 several less considerable peaks exceed 2000 feet ; and sloping gradually in 

 an eastern direction. The district is intersected by innumerable dales and 

 ravines, converging towards the three nearly parallel principal dales of the 

 Tees, Swale, and Ure ; which, narrow at first, hemmed in by bleak moor- 

 lands and margined by ranges of precipitous cliffs, gradually widen and 

 expand, and assume a more highly populated and richly cultivated character, 

 in pi-oportion as the hills contract their dimensions, till at length they are 

 lost in the broad and fertile valley which fills up the whole of the central 

 portion of the county. 



Of these three dales, Teesdale has long been celebrated amongst botanists 

 as affording a favourable arena for their exertions ; so that its numerous 

 floral rarities and peculiarities are seldom doomed to bud and blossom 

 unseen ; Swaledale has been carefully exploi-ed by a diligent resident 

 observer, to whose labours the " New Botanists' Guide," the " Cybele Britan- 

 nica," the "Yorkshire Flora" and its "Supplement," and the " Salictum 

 Britannicum," bear testimony ; but, since the days of Curtis and Brunton, 

 during the last fifty years, the botanical productions of Wensleydale have 

 been comparatively unexamined and neglected. 



Until the present season, I had not enjoyed any opportunity of visiting 

 the district; and had therefore arranged with my relative, R. D. Carter, then 

 Resident at Darlington, to spend a day or two during the summer with some 

 of our friends who reside at Carperby, a village situated about half-way up 

 the dale. In accordance with our agreement, nine o'clock, on a morning 

 early in last eighth month, (August,) found me at Leeming Lane station, the 

 terminus of a branch of the late York, Newcastle, and Berwick railway; duly 

 equipped with a pocket ordnance map of the district, Professor Phillips' 

 " Railway Excursionists' Guide," and a vasculum of capacious dimensions. 

 From the station to Bedale, a distance of about three miles, an omnibus 

 runs. Bedale is a small market town, situated on Grimscar beck, a branch 

 of the Swale, just upon the western edge of the great central valley before 

 mentioned. But perhaps, before commencing opei-ations, it may bef/ie^ira- 

 ble to make a few general remarks, for the benefit of those who have not 

 devoted their attention to the study of the rudimentary principles of phyto- 

 geography. 



VOL. V. a 



