CHAP. VIIIJ 

 OF TJIEES AND PLANTS. 



IN the Briti/h, Roman, and Saxon times, Northumberland abounded 

 with forefts and groves of oak, and other timber ; many vil- 

 las taking their names from their woody fituation ; as Woodring- 

 ton, i. e. a town in a wood, encompaffed with it, as in a ring ; 

 Woden, i. e. the extremity or end of the wood ; Dru-ridge, i. e. a 

 grove of oaks ; the oak being called Dru by the Britons, from its 

 being a facred tree, their priefts or Druids performing their ido- 

 latrous rites under its made. The ocean, as if offended with 

 their impiety, has fwept away their grove at Druridge, the 

 flumps and roots frequently vifible in the mud after the retreat 

 of the tides, large and numerous, and fometimes branches and 

 trunks by their fides. Cheviot is upon record for its oaks and 

 brufhwood, in fuch abundance, that it was called the Great 

 Wood of Cheviot, by way of eminence (a). In the reign of King 

 Egfrid, the Chriflian Saxon, Hexham was furrounded with thick 

 woods (bj. In the reign of K. Henry VIII, Cheviot was in a man- 

 ner difrobed of its beautiful verdure ; fhrubs, and fome crooked 

 old trees being only to be feen. Glen-dale was much in the fame 

 flate ; as were Reed's-dale -, the vale of South Tyne, from Hexham to 

 Tynemouth ; the country between Neivcaftle and Morpeth, and Bam-- 



(a) Lei. Itin. Vol. 7. p. 63. 



(l>) Prior Richard. Inter x fcriptD:e 



broughJJjire, 



