Catalogue of Works on Gardening, <$-c. 31 



The Peasantry of the Border. An Appeal in their Behalf. " Give them good 

 Cottages, and help them to educate their Children." By the Rev. Dr. 

 Gilly, Canon of Durham. Pamph. 8vo, 5 plates. 1841.] 



Dr. Gilly is the incumbent of the parish of Norham, situated in North 

 Northumberland, and the present appeal in behalf of the poor under his spi- 

 ritual care is greatly to his honour as a man and a Christian. We sincerely 

 hope that it will have the desired effect on the proprietors of that part of the 

 country, which, as we lately saw, exhibits a combination of wealth in the pro- 

 prietors, and of famine and of misery among the farm labourers, not to be met 

 with, we believe, in any other country except Britain. The following notice 

 of this pamphlet, in the Times newspaper, is evidently written by some person 

 who is feelingly alive to the importance of the subject. This is " an appeal 

 on behalf of the peasantry of the Border, in regard to the extremely wretched 

 condition of the cottages in which, for the most part, this class of men and 

 their families are compelled to reside. Dr. Gilly's pamphlet is illustrated with 

 wood-engravings, and a series of statistical tables. His statements respecting 

 the habitations of the peasantry relate chiefly to the parish of Norham, which 

 consists of 14,268 acres, and extends for about seven miles along the southern 

 bank of the Tweed. The population amounts to 2,934, and consists of agri- 

 culturists, pitmen, and fishermen, Out of 174 cottages in Norham, which are 

 occupied by the peasantry, 83, according to a statistical table given by Dr. 

 Gilly, or nearly one half, have changed inmates within the last two years ; 145 

 within the last seven years, and 156 within the last ten years. Of the above 

 83 tenements which have changed inhabitants within the last two years, 54 are 

 described to be buildings deficient in all that is necessary to convenience and 

 cleanliness ; and yet the greater part are occupied by families who have done 

 all they can do to give them a decent and comfortable appearance. ' Some 

 of them,' says he, ' are mere hovels, absolutely unfit for the peasantry of a 

 civilised country, and threatening to tumble down about their ears. In many, 

 human beings and cows are littered together under the same roof.' Of the 

 whole number, 174, there are but 27 which have each two rooms. Dr. Gilly 

 describes the general character of the best of the old-fashioned hinds' cottages 

 to be bad at the best, having no byre for their cows, no sties for their pigs, no 

 pumps or wells ; nothing, in a word, to promote cleanliness or comfort. 

 Their average size is about 24 ft. by 16 ft., and they are dark and unwhole- 

 some. The windows do not open, and many of them are not larger than 20 in. 

 by 16 in. ; and into this space are crowded eight, ten, and even twelve per- 

 sons. ' How they lie down to rest, how they sleep, how they can preserve 

 common decency, how unutterable horrors are avoided, is beyond all concep- 

 tion. The case is aggravated when there is a young woman to be lodged in 

 this confined space, who is not a member of the family, but is hired to do the 

 field work, for which every hind is bound to provide a female. It shocks 

 every feeling of propriety to think that in a room, and within such a space as 

 I have been describing, civilised beings should be herding together without a 

 decent separation of age and sex.' Happily, however, there are man}' ex- 

 ceptions to this description of the hinds' cottages in North Northumberland 

 given by Dr. Gilly. He speaks very favourably of a group of six cottages re- 

 cently built by the trustees of Lord Crewe's Institution, on their property at 

 Thornton Park ; of the Marquess of Waterford's cottages at Ford; and of those 

 of Mr. Baker Cresswell, on his property at Cresswell and Berwick ; but of the 

 cottages at the village of Etall, in the parish of Ford, the residence of Lord 

 Frederick and Lady Augusta Fitzclarence, he speaks in enthusiastic terms. 

 *. To see,' says he, ' what a village in our northern regions may be, and ought 

 to be, go to Etall. There you will find flower-gardens in perfection, with the 

 village-green as smooth as a lawn in the best kept pleasure-ground, and the 

 rustic benches under the spreading branches of elm and sycamore. One fine 

 tree, with a seat around its trunk, is conspicuous, with an inscription which 

 shows the considerate kindness of the noble family now residing in the man- 



