INTRODUCTION. 8 



whole parish. The soil consists of chalk on White- 

 down, greensand under and around the chalk ; 

 limestone in the Cowleaze and Hartleaze ; and blue 

 clay in the rest of the parish. The hedgerows are in 

 general thickly planted with oak and elm. The oak 

 in particular thrives in Newland, as it does in most 

 of the deep clay lands which lie at the foot of the hills 

 forming the southern boundary of the vale. The 

 most important of the woods, copses, &c., are as 

 follows : Broad Alders, Wootton Wood, Sandhills 

 Copse, Haywood, and Whitedown Copse in Wootton ; 

 Fernyknap, Mulletts Copse, Mead Copse, Birch Copse, 

 Pelles, Cockroad, Waterly Lane Withybed, Babbitts, 

 Buttons, and the Common Plantation in Newland. 

 The arable lands are mostly on Whitedown and New- 

 land Common, which latter place, until a few years 

 ago, was covered with furze and heath. A little furze 

 still crops up, but the heath has entirely disappeared. 

 The places on the Common where charcoal used to be 

 burnt can still be discerned. On each side of the 

 road leading to Holwell are a couple of very ancient 

 oaks, called Gog and Magog, formerly denizens of the 

 forest; and also several birches, Wyche elms, and 

 Turkey oaks, planted by my father. Opposite the 

 manor-house at Wootton is a fine grove of tall elms 

 (in which the rooks delight to build their nests), 

 planted by Mr. Henley about 150 years ago. Another 

 very ancient oak stands in the middle of Dursels. 

 A stream called the Caundle, one of the numerous 



