353 



YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS AT BOWES. 



O Brij^nal's banks are wild and fair 



And Greta's woods are green, 

 And you mav gather garlands there 



Would grace a summer queen. 



Bowes, the place chosen for the Aug"ust Bank Holiday week- 

 end meeting" of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, has not always 

 been the small, quiet villag-e that it is to-day. It has a history 

 of particular interest. The Romans had a camp there, on the 

 side of a road which is still the main road in the district. A fine 

 Roman bath, in a field near the church, was visited by the 

 members. As an example of the regard paid to antiquities by 

 the averag^e villag'er, it should be stated that at the present time 

 the bath is used as a quarry from which ready-hewn stones are 

 obtained for building- walls with ! A Saxon font in the church 

 {though supported on a Roman altar) is evidence of a settlement 

 of Saxons. The Normans, too, had a stronghold at Bowes, the 

 thick-walled keep and moats being still in fair preservation, 

 though the former has suffered at the hands of nineteenth 

 century vandals in search of cheap building material. In more 

 madern times the village had some name on account of the four 

 boarding schools there kept ; one of these was the Dotheboys 

 Hall, kept by Squeers, referred to in 'Nicholas Nickleby.' The 

 inhabitants of Bowes, however, do not seem to possess that 

 regard for Dickens which the average person does. Sir Walter 

 Scott, also, in his ' Rokeby,' has added further interest to the 

 ■district. The very Inn at which the members stayed was an old 

 coaching house, and is but little altered since the days when the 

 coaches swung round the corner into the courtyard. There are 

 certainly more stables and out-houses than are now required, 

 ,some of which appear neglected, but the Inn itself is but little 

 changed. 



In such a district, with fine weather and jovial companions, 

 it is only natural that the Yorkshire naturalists had a very 

 pleasant time on their 174th excursion. Most of the members 

 assembled on Friday evening, and in such numbers as to cause 

 considerable anxiety to the landlord as to bedroom accommoda- 

 tion, notwithstanding the fact that an additional house had been 

 .secured for the party. By the following evening every available 

 bed in the village appeared to have been secured, although the 

 party only numbered about thirty. 



On Saturday the members started from Lartington Station, 

 and taking Deepdale at the viaduct, followed it up past Nab 



« J90.5 September i. Y 



