190 



Hollingworth Lake. 



most interesting plant of the wood is Rubus saxat'ilis, 

 found in abundance near Coal-bank bridge, but rarely 

 flowering. On the dry slopes is often to be seen the 

 betony, the leaves of which yield to none in the elegant 

 design of their margin. The blue Ja- 

 sione,and many ferns and graceful grasses 

 are to be found here; in fact, all the 

 sylvan vegetation of the district is repre- 

 sented in one part or another of the 

 dells. 



Going on to Littleborough, we ap- 

 proach HOLLINGWORTH LAKE, the 

 extensive and beautiful sheet of water 

 which of late years has become so popu- 

 lar a resort. A lake, in the proper sense 

 of the word, it is not, but like the water 

 at Rudyard and Lymm, an immense reservoir. It 

 was constructed about sixty years ago, to supply, in 

 part, the Manchester and Rochdale Canal, receiving 

 its clear waters in the first instance from the moors 

 above. The circumference, which is very irregular, ex- 

 ceeds two miles. So completely removed is the water 

 from the highways and the sight of buildings, that no one 

 coming upon it from the countryside could suppose he 

 was quite close to a great manufacturing district, nor is 

 this perceived without mounting the hills. The ground 

 rises high upon every side, and in the distance are moun- 

 tains that forcibly bring to mind the scenery of the lake 



FIG. 29. 

 Leaf of Betony. 



