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SYLVAN VEGETATION OF FYLINGDALES, N.E. YORKS. 
J. W. BARRY. 
Fylingdales. 
IN this, as in other of the highland parts of Yorkshire, the 
natural woods are confined to the ravines and to the slopes 
of the hills. The summits of the ridges, or of the tableland, 
out of which the dales have been carved, is either moorland, 
or moorland reclaimed, and shows only a few artificial planta- 
tions. The landscape has therefore a double aspect. From 
some points of view the whole impression is of bareness. 
From others the succession of woodland scenes unending. 
Woods and Moors.—This subject will be dealt with 
in detail elsewhere. 
Woods and Ravines.—In our ravines woods play a most 
important part. They are the great safeguard against the 
slipping away of the sides; that is to say, in the glaciated 
part of the township, or in the main dale, as opposed to the 
basin of the Derwent. The ravines in the area thus indicated 
are largely filled with glacial deposits: clays, sands, and 
morainic debris, the wasting away of which is a great source of 
trouble. The fons et origo of most of the landscapes is the 
alternation of clays with bands of sand. With clay alone, or 
with sand alone, the question would be less serious ; but when 
beds of sand are sandwiched in between the clays, the intro- 
duction of the least amount of water (which is usually affected 
by nothing greater than a mole) may cause a catastrophe. 
The only hope lies in a constant covering of trees. When 
woods are felled the land goes. Thus, soon after succeeding 
to the property, I yielded to professional advice, and cut down 
an old wood in the ravine, within the boundary of the original 
park. Landslips followed at once, and to such an extent that 
in one place what had been a prominent ridge became a deep 
hollow. 
Natural Woods.—As regards natural wood, there are two 
or three patches in the Jugger Howe Gill (the upper ravine of 
the Derwent), which seem to be in a ‘virgin’ or ‘ primeval ’ 
condition. At the Peak again (though this is not within the 
bounds of Fylingdales parish) there is a considerable extent of 
wild vegetation in the cliffs and the ‘coombs.’ The latter 
is the old local and Celtic name for what the Hotel Company 
now call the ‘ Undercliff.’, This vegetation, more of a ‘macchia’ 
than a wood, has been but little interfered with. 
1907 December 1, 
