PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



The First Field Meeting of the year 185-i, was held at Dil- 

 ston and Devilswater, on Friday, the 19th May, when the follow- 

 ing members were present : — Rev. W. T. Shields ; Messrs Charles 

 Adamson, G. C. Atkinson, J. B. Browning, Gainsford Bruce, 

 Thomas Burnet, R. Y. Green, R. Howse, jun., J. Stevenson, 

 Joseph Swan, John Thompson, and George Wailes. 



I regret that I was unable to be present at the excursion to 

 this romantic locality, the picturesque attractions of which 

 amply repay a visit. Historical associations of great interest 

 are presented by the ruins of Dilston Castle, which occupy a 

 position alike prominent as regards scenery and antiquity; and 

 as our Society embraces Archoeological study as one of its objects, 

 it could scarcely have selected a more j&tting place for the First 

 Field Day of the year. I have not been favoured with notes of 

 any observations made by the Members who were present; but I 

 may allude to a well illustrated description of the scenery and 

 historical events by W. S. Gibson, Esq., as conveying clear and 

 extensive information connected with this locality. 



In a Geological point of view, this part of the country possesses 

 considerable interest, lying as it does midway between the coal 

 fields of the eastern part of Northumberland and Durham, and 

 the carboniferous or mountain limestone districts of the central 

 part of the North of England. Some of the lower seams of the 

 Newcastle coal fi,eld, crop out in the valley of the Tyne, a few 

 miles eastward of Dilston ; but by the rise of considerable hills 

 and by successive downcasts or dislocations of the strata, these 

 seams are found not only in the adjacent hills, but also con- 

 siderably to the west. This is shown in a model, which I have 

 prepared, not only to exhibit the general results of this condition 

 of the strata, but as an example of a class of models easily con- 

 structed, and which might, I consider, be usefully employed in 

 local museums and in schools. To this, as a means of illus- 

 trating the Geological departments of Natural History, I shall 

 hereafter further advert. I may observe that Dilston and the 

 Devilswater form as it were an entrance to moorland and highly 

 picturesque regions, which I am convinced would afford rich 

 materials for enjoyment as well as instruction whenever the field 

 excursions of this Society extend in that direction. 



