THE NATURAL HISTORY OF GOOLE MOOR. 3 
was found forty yards long, four yards in diameter at the large 
end, and two yards at the smaller, and that £20 was offered for 
it. In 1829 there were men living who stated they had split up 
more than 1,000 pales, four feet long, for park fencing, from a 
single tree. In 1861 a tree was uncovered which yielded 2,000. 
Some of the firs have been split into ceiling laths. I may state 
that there were men who gained a living by pricking in the peat 
with long iron rods for tree trunks.* A question arose some 
fifteen or more years ago whether these forest trees could have 
been blown down, On one occasion when on the moor with 
Dr. Parsons and Mr. Birks, we walked some distance along the 
bottom of a new warping drain cut into the peat. The bottom 
was almost covered with tree trunks and roots, some 
stacked for removal, others merely uncovered. We particularly 
noticed the position and direction of the trunks, but could 
find no proof of their having been blown down. I have seen 
several trunks which have evidently been burnt, but only on the 
outside. It is interesting to note that the same kinds of trees are 
now growing on the moor as are buried twelve or more feet 
below. While the oak is still hard and firm, and the Scotch fir 
sometimes so, the birch has decayed, only the silvery bark being 
left, and that as bright as if still growing. The ash always 
crumbles on being exposed to the air. 
It may be interesting to refer to a few historical facts relating 
to the Moors. In Domesday Book we read that William de 
Warren was Lord of the Manor of Thorne, though it must at some 
time have been taken from his descendants, for Charles I. sold it to 
Vermuyden, who with Sir James Cutts parted with it to John 
Gibbons. A singular fact is recorded of one of the Warrens, 
viz., that he paid tithes of all eels taken at Hatfield, Thorne and 
Fishlake to the Monks of Lewes. Considering the distance and 
the state of the roads, it is to be hoped the eels were salted. No 
' doubt at the proper season large numbers were caught. A few 
years ago a pond of less than half an acre at Goole was being - 
partly filled up with spent shale from the Alum Works. In about 
two hours two of us caught with a landing net 200 eels. A 
fortniglit later, when some more shaie was tipped, we filled a 
* peggy-tub ” one afternoon, and sent them away to be placed in 
othe: ponds. 
Charles I. passed the Level of Hatfield Chase twice—once 
from Rossington Bridge to Armthorp, Hatfield and Thorne. He 
was conducted by an officer of the Chase “ Over a wild tract of 
* In a precisely similar manner to that in which the antlers of the 
so-called Irish Elk are searched for at the present day in the peat bogs 
of Ireland. 
