Ashurst. 237 



down the wood, after rain often so much swollen as to 

 drown the path beside, when we may take an upper one, 

 every bit as enjoyable, especially in autumn, since it gives 

 a charming view of the trees below, among which there 

 is unusual plenty of the kinds that bear red berries. 

 Ferns and mosses grow in equal abundance; wild- 

 flowers also, and flowering shrubs. The Gueldres-rose is 

 especially abundant, and upon one occasion October 

 loth, 1868 the ground was strewed in certain spots with 

 the fallen fruit of the wild apple. In the upper part of 

 the wood there are some curious varieties of the common 

 oak, the leaves so small that they might be thought to 

 belong to a different species. Emerging near the green 

 lane, the homeward path lies first through Up-Holland, 

 then either by the lanes to Wigan four miles distant 

 or more speedily to Orrel station on the Bolton and 

 Liverpool line. 



Appley Bridge, the station succeeding Gathurst, is the 

 nearest for that glorious eminence, Ashurst Hill, the 

 prospect from which is once again all that heart can 

 desire, let only the day be fair. Now, too, we have some- 

 thing quite different, the great flat, looking southwards, 

 being that which reaches to the estuary of the Mersey, 

 the eye resting upon the distant trees of Knowsley Park, 

 and detecting even Liverpool; while to the west, almost 

 underneath, is Lathom, Ormskirk beyond, and exquisitely 

 upon the horizon, the lucid sea, and the mountains that 

 talk quietly of the Vale of Llangollen. A similar view 

 is obtainable from the summit of Billinge, half-way 



