Horace B. Woodward — A Ramble Across the Mendips. 487 



and one or two chimneys of lead-mines are seen in the distance. A 

 barren country it is, covered with short dry grass, few trees, and 

 with the rocks cropping out here and there at the surface. 



The Mendips are largely devoted to sheep-walks. Billingsley 

 speaks of the breed as a sort that will thrive on the poorest soil, and 

 fatten on such land as will scarcely keep other sorts alive. 



Turning towards East Harptree we come to Noah's Ark, or rather 

 an old house so called. Above this point are some more lead works, 

 and here, among the old refuse heaps, we found, besides bits of 

 galena, some interesting old pipes, some of the earliest forms (17th 

 century), with small bowls, and the initials of the maker stamped 

 on the nob projecting from beneath the bowl. We follow the stream 

 from Noah's Ark along a narrow rocky gorge called Haydon's 

 Gully, wooded on its summits. The rock here is the Dolomitic 

 Conglomerate, a pebbly deposit, in fact an old sea-beach cemented 

 together with iron and lime and magnesia. 



Eeaching West Harptree and taking the road which skirts the 

 Mendip Hills, which are here thickly planted with trees, we pass 

 through the little villages of Compton Martin, Ubley, and Blagdon ; 

 thence we plunge down-hill between wooded heights to Burrington. 



Burrington Combe, which runs up the Mountain Limestone south 

 of the village, is a romantic walk : the steep craggy cliffs among 

 which the road winds give a wild appearance to the scene. There 

 is a cavern here which has yielded many remains of the old animals 

 which have elsewhere been found in the gravels, and which formerly 

 inhabited the country. 



Leaving Burrington, we push on to Churchill, where a rare 

 mineral called Mendipite (an oxy-chloride of lead) has been found : 

 we were not so fortimate as to obtain any specimens of it. Above 

 this is Dolberry, another old camp. Mr. Ussher and myself found 

 a few flint flakes there, and our friend Mr. A. Gillett has found some 

 flint arrow-heads. He showed us some also from the hill above 

 Bathford. 



I well remember a journey I took from Bristol to Cheddar 

 before the railway was made, when I passed along this road by 

 Dolberry. I tried the carrier. The distance by the road is not 

 quite twenty miles ; we started at one o'clock in the afternoon, and 

 reached our destination a little after nine. It would have been a 

 delightful ride, its very slowness would have enabled one to enjoy 

 the beautiful scenery, had not the scenes where we dwelt longest 

 been the little road-side beer-houses. After crossing the table-land 

 of Broadfield Down, with the famous Cleeve and Brockley Combes 

 to the right, and the fine old church of Wrington at the foot of the 

 hill, we crossed the vale of red marl, and then entered the Mendip 

 Hills at a gap between Dolberry Camp and Sandford Hill. The 

 road winds up a stiff hill with the high ground on either side, and a 

 ravine on one side separating it from Dolberry. The wind then, it 

 was towards the end of November, swept with great force down 

 this gorge. 



A few miles to the right is Banwell, celebrated for its caves — 



