290 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1912 



a memorial), and Principal Constable. Other interesting objects in the 

 Chapel were some William Morris glass in the upper part of the east window, 

 presented by Sir Arthur Church, and also the stone and wood carving by 

 Florentine workmen. 



The party then visited the Meteorological Station, an item of interest 

 being the set of soil-thermometers. In the Botanical Gardens some time was 

 spent, where the Members were shown some English and Chilian dodder, 

 sown with clovers, the former being the most robust, while the latter was 

 more vigorous with American than with English clovers. There are several 

 plots of Soya bean, the most vigorous being from uncleaned seeds imported 

 from Manchuria. In this case the necessary bacteria for forming root nodules 

 no doubt were present in the adherent earth. Other interesting specimens 

 were Chinese lucerne, and plots planted up with cleanings from seeds to show 

 the nature of the impurities. 



The Club also visited the Model Dairy, poultry runs, experimental 

 orchard and the arable plots. 



A vote of thanks was passed to Principal Ainsworth-Davis for his hos- 

 pitality and the interest which he and members of his staff had imparted to 

 the visit. 



EXCURSION TO BRECON 



Tuesday, July 4th to Thursday July 6th 



Director : L. Rich.\rdson 



(Report by L. Richardson) 



This year the long Excursion was to Brecon, and three days were spent 

 exploring the country around Llangorse Lake, the far-famed Beacons and 

 Brecon town. Arriving at Brecon early on Tuesday afternoon, the party drove 

 to Llangorse Lake, and en route, obtained fine views of the Brecon Beacons. 

 The lake (502 feet above ordnance-datum) is the largest sheet of water in South 

 Wales, being 350 acres in area and over five miles round. Owing to its being 

 situated in the midst of a rather flat stretch of ground and its shores being 

 covered with reeds, it is not possible to obtain (from this place) a true idea 

 of its size. " Gors " means a swamp, and the surrounding low ground is in 

 places quite soft, and suggests that the lake was once much more extensive. 

 On the island on the lake have been discovered the remains nf pre-historic 

 lake-dwellings, which circumstance no doubt gave rise to the local legend 

 that a city lay buried beneath its waters. The River Llyfni flows in at the 

 south end and out at the north-west, and there is a tradition that the fish of 

 the river do not mix with those of the lake — doubtless because they prefer 

 to remain in the fresh-running stream-water. 



In the churchyard of Llangorse Church has been discovered a rude 

 sepulchral slab, bearing the inscription, supposed to be Saxon, " Hie facet 

 Sigfred filiiis ulrna." 



After tea at the Hotel, the drive was continued I'ia Cathedine to Bwlch. 

 " Bwlch " means a gap or a defile, and here a deep cutting allows the Aber- 

 gavenny road to pass through the ridge. The Members went through the 

 cutting and saw the Valley of the Usk with the Sugar Loaf Mountain (a mass 

 of Old Red Sandstone, 1955 feet high) in the distance, and the outcrop of 

 the Carboniferous Limestone on the north-western rim of the great South 

 Wales Coalfield. Leaving Bwlch, a place was verj^ shortly reached where 

 the road was carried over a small valley by an embankment with stone 



