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formed by barricading the outlets of two small streams 

 the Dene and the Sankey which previously occupied 

 little independent valleys of their own, so that the out- 

 line of the "lake" so called, is most agreeably irregular. 

 In parts it is abundantly flowered with water-lilies, 

 so easy is it for good taste to confer a pure and lasting 

 ornament. On the southern side of the line the 

 specialty consists in the very ancient and interesting 

 village of Winwick, with its celebrated church and in- 

 numerable antiquities, including a runic cross in the 

 graveyard. Thence, by permission, there is a charming 

 walk towards Warrington, first along the old lane in front 

 of the church, then through the grounds and shrubberies 

 attached to Winwick Hall, after leaving which the path 

 becomes public. The rhododendrons at Winwick Hall 

 are probably the oldest, as they are certainly the largest 

 and finest in the district. They give one a perfect idea of 

 the stalwart vitality of this inestimable flowering shrub, 

 and place it before us, in all likelihood, just as developed 

 in its native valleys upon the borders of the Euxine, all 

 these very large and venerable rhododendrons, wherever 

 seen, being the original Ponticum. While the original 

 "anemone" was the flower we now call the cistus, the 

 original "rhododendron" was after all, not our universal 

 garden favourite so named, but a totally different thing 

 the shrub, originally from Palestine, cherished in green- 

 houses as the "oleander." Such, at least, was the 

 application of the name in the times immediately pre- 

 ceding those when Pliny wrote. 



