A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



found on the banks of the Beldon and Knucton Burns, such as Salix laurina, S. nigricans, 

 Narthecium ossifragum, Galium boreale, Saxifraga stellaris, and S. aizoldes. Vicia cracca and 

 Oxalis acetosella are common lowland plants ascending to 1,500 feet, nearly to the 

 source of the Knucton Burn. A little lower down, at Bay Bridge, Bolt's Burn joins the 

 main stream. At this height, for the distance of a mile along the side of the Derwent, 

 extends a narrow belt of pasture land and dense wood. A fine profusion of the mountain 

 pansy, Viola lutta, is again met with here. The high ground above Blanchland and 

 Edmondbyers provides some of the rarest plants in the district. 1 Vaccinmm Oxycoccus and 

 Rubus cbamatmorus occur, though not very plentifully, as well as Bartsia alpina, Apium 

 graveolens, Parnassia palustris, Anagallis tenella, and Malaxis paludosa. In the woods at 

 Roughside are Carduu$ beteropkyllus, Pyrola media, and Trientalis europ<ea. Among orchi- 

 daceous plants the butterfly orchis (Habenaria bifolia), H. albida, H. viridis, Orchis latifolia, 

 Gymnadenia conopsea, and Epipacth latifolia are all to be found in the locality. The next 

 important stream to be received is the Burnhope Burn, which, taking its rise in Bolt's 

 Law, drains Muggleswick Common and the valley between Edmondbyers and Muggles- 

 wick. The woods in this neighbourhood are a very profitable botanical hunting ground, 

 the seam of mountain limestone which appears here supporting plants favouring this 

 formation. Ligustrum vulgare, plentiful on the magnesian limestone of the coast and 

 indigenous only on calcareous ground, is to be found in these woods. Primula farinosa 

 grows in several localities hereabouts, and Listera cordata on the Muggleswick Moors. 

 Some little distance lower down, the Hyshope Burn and the Horsleyhope Burn, both 

 issuing from the fells above Muggleswick, unite to pour their waters into the main stream. 

 It is near this point that the main limestone appears in the bed of the Derwent. The 

 tortuous windings of the river here traverse the picturesquely wooded district of the Sneep, 

 where Neottia Nidus-avis may be found growing among the rich humus of the rotting 

 leaves. 



Turning north the stream now leaves the vast sweep of moorland behind and proceeds 

 for nearly the whole of its further course through a piece of country of great sylvan 

 beauty. On the high ground on the east bank the collieries and iron-works which have 

 sprung up have laid waste a considerable area, and the paper-mills, which pollute the stream 

 in the beautiful neighbourhood of Shotley Bridge, may have affected some plant stations. 

 The somewhat rare Dianthus de/toides, however, is still found in the hilly pastures near 

 Shotley Bridge [its only other locality in the district being a pasture field near Edmond- 

 byers (Featherstonhaugh)] and Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus grows wild in considerable quantity 

 at Allansford, as well as Aquilegia vulgaris. Orobancbe major is frequently found in this 

 neighbourhood parasitic upon the broom. The many species of ferns which grow so 

 luxuriantly in the shady woods of the Derwent are treated separately, and few of the numerous 

 woodland plants merit special mention. A deep rose-coloured variety of Anemone nemorosa, 

 the tint of which remains permanent under cultivation, is found in a wood near Shotley 

 (Featherstonhaugh). Some uncommon plants are met with in Gibside Woods. The lily 

 of the valley (Convallaria majalis) and Carduus heterophyllus may be mentioned as growing 

 here, the latter also to be found in several places on the banks of the Derwent. 



Considerable tracts of land in the district are occupied by flourishing plantations, fine 

 belts of fir trees predominating in the upper reaches of the valley. The most extensive 

 natural woods are those of Chopwell and Gibside. Axwell Park, approaching within a 

 mile of Derwenthaugh where the river flows into the Tyne, also contains some magnificent 

 beeches ; the white water-lily (Nymphaa alba) grows in a pond in the park, and Stachys 

 ambigua is a plant worth mentioning which finds a home there. A species of horsetail, 

 Equhetum byemale, rare in the county, may be found in the boggy woods on the banks of the 

 stream in its lower reaches. On the west side of the river, and parallel with it, a small 

 stream runs through a wooded dene to the Tyne at Blaydon. On the east side the 

 Team drains the coal country south of Newcastle, the finely timbered park at Ravens- 

 worth forming a pleasant feature on its banks. Many interesting plants were once known 

 in the vicinity of Gateshead, south of the Tyne Selaginella Se/aginoides, for example, on 

 Gateshead Fell but they are long since exterminated, the stations being built over or 

 destroyed by the smoky, deleterious atmosphere. All plant-life in close proximity to the 

 Tyne is now injuriously affected by the manufactories and chemical works on its banks. 



1 Most of the species here enumerated are recorded by the Rev. W. Featherstonhaugh. 

 Transactions of the Vale of Derwent Naturalists' field Club, iv. 



50 



