Yorkshire Xaturalists at Co-vothorpc. 197 



tree in bloom, or the green on the hedg-es, or the note of the 

 Cuckoo and the sig-ht of Swallows, it would have been difficult 

 for the members to have persuaded themselves that it ivas really 

 May and not February. 



But the Gowthorpe Oak, the main object of interest in the 

 district, had to be seen, and was ; but only after trudging- 

 throug^h Hensingore, walking-, or rather sliding-, down steep 

 lanes, wading^ throug^h pools, and crossing- fields sodden with 

 rain. In this way the irreg-ular surface of the morainic material 

 was forcibly noticeable, the clay-lined depressions being" occupied 

 by miniature lakes. 



The Oak, now a gig-antic wreck, a mere relic of a former 

 giant, was fully in keeping- with its surroundings — a picture of 

 misery ; hollowed, split, shrunken, its branches propped up by 

 numerous supports, fastened together by stout wire and nails, 

 the upper parts quite dead, the lower ones sending forth young- 

 shoots and new leaves, which as summer comes on may show 

 even more forcibly that there is life in the old tree yet. It was 

 niost obvious, however, that its days were numbered, and the 

 members felt grateful to Mr. John Clayton, who had planted 

 a sapling close by, reared from an acorn from the large tree. 



According to Mr. Clayton's measurements made in 1899, 

 the girth of the tree on the ground is 54 ft. 3 in., and its height 

 37 ft. Formerly the dimensions were much greater. 



The members adjourned to the Walshford Bridge Inn, where 

 the tea and meeting's were held. The President, Mr. W. Denison 

 Roebuck, occupied the chair. From the reports given by Rev. 

 E. P. Blackburn, Messrs. R. Fortune, T. A. Lofthouse, E. 

 Hawkesworth, J. Farrah, W. Ingham, H. Ostheide, and the 

 President, it appeared that but little had been accomplished in 

 the way of records. The President produced a fine Morell, 

 which was destined for the table of the Union's first president 

 on the following- day. 



Tea earlier than usual, for once there was ample time for 

 the meeting. At this Mr. Roebuck presided, and after thanking 

 the members for his election, referred to the circumstance 

 that the first field meeting- under the change of secretary- 

 ship was held under the shadow of the Cowthorpe Oak — 

 precisely where, in 1877, the first Jield meeting of the Union 

 was held, when Mr. Roebuck commenced his secretarial duties. 

 Cowthorpe was planned to be the opening excursion of 1877, 

 but was altered and became the second. Pontefract actually 

 was the first place, but as the kindness of the local clergymen 



1903 June I. 



