. r >4 RIVERS. 



and the Tees, lately described by Mr. Maclauchlan, are in the 

 lower and fertile parts of Richmondshire. 



The keep of Richmond Castle, though not the oldest part of 

 this great fortress, is by far the most interesting. Earl Alan 

 received his great estates immediately after the expulsion of 

 Edwin, and built the oldest part of the castle. The keep was 

 erected in 1146, by Earl Conan. It rises 99 feet above the rock, 

 and that stands 100 feet above the river. Of other mediseval 

 structures in Richmond, little of importance remains, except an 

 elegant little tower of the Grey Friars' Monastery (13th century), 

 and the chapel of the Holy Trinity. 



At Easby, only a mile from Richmond, lower down the river, 

 is the extensive and very interesting ruin of St. Agatha (12th 

 century), richly varied with ivy. 



Swaledale ceases below Richmond, and falls into the great 

 Vale of York and Mowbray at Brough and Catterick. Here, 

 at Thornborough, on the south side of Swale, is the place of the 

 Roman station of Cataractonium. Thorn (Thurn, Thurm,Turris, 

 a tower or fortified place) is a common adjunct to old military 

 posts over all the Saxon parts of the island. To this place the 

 old Roman road led straight from Isurium (Aldborough) ; it is 

 now called Leeming Lane, a name supposed to be of Celtic origin, 

 and to mean ' stony/ North of Cataractonium the road divided 

 into two branches, one proceeding north-westward by Stainmoor 

 to Carlisle, the other northward by Pierse Bridge to Binchester 

 and Rocester. 



The station at Cataractonium was a walled camp like that at 

 York, with sides of 240 and ] 75 yards, including an area of 

 about nine acres. By its position in connexion with the earth 

 mounds, and marks of old residence which are so great a feature 

 in the neighbouring country, it was evidently a post of import- 

 ance. Its name indeed declares this, and at the same time 

 shows that> as in so many other cases, the Roman camp was 

 posted near an earlier British stronghold ; for Cathair-righ, in 



