DUEHAM. . 289 



of lead pencils. The Bovvder Stone — a huge erratic block, weighing 2,000 tons — 

 lies at the entrance to this valley. 



The Derwent, below Keswick, flows through Bassenthwaite Water, and then 

 enters the manufacturing town of Cockennouth, prettily situated at its confluence 

 with the Cocker. There are cotton, woollen, and paper mills. The ruins of 

 the castle, dismantled in 1648, are very extensive. Cockermoulh was the birthplace 

 of Wordsworth. 



The only towns which remain to be noticed are Wigton, 10 miles to the south 

 of Carlisle, which has a Quakers' Academy, and Alston, in the extreme east of the 

 county, on the Southern Tyne, which belongs geographically to Northumber- 

 land, and is known for its lead mines, the property of Greenwich Hospital. 



Durham, bounded on the south by the Tees, and on the north by the Tyne and 

 its tributary Derwent, is traversed in its centre by the Wear. It is occupied to 

 a large extent by heathy moorlands, but the valleys and the south-eastern portion 

 of the county are fertile. This deficiency of cultivable land is, however, amph^ 

 compensated for by the mineral treasures buried in the soil. The western moun- 

 tainous part of the county is rich in lead, whilst its centre is occupied by a 

 broad band of coal measures extending from the Lower Tyne to the Tees. Agri- 

 culture is carried on with much spirit. The Teeswater variety of short-horned 

 cattle is one of the best in the kingdom, and the native sheep are large, and 

 produce fine combing fleeces. The manufactures are various, but every other 

 branch of industry is dwarfed by huge iron works, busy machine factories, and 

 noisy ship-yards for the construction of iron vessels. 



The Tees rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell, the giant of the Pennine 

 Mountains, and some of its upper valleys are deservedly renowned for picturesque 

 scenery. Soon after entering Durham the river expands into a narrow lake, 

 bordered by sterile moorlands, and then rushes down in a series of wild cataracts, 

 known as the Caldron Spout. A few miles lower it forms the High Force (50 feet), 

 the finest waterfall in Eastern England. It passes Middkton-in-Teesdak, near 

 which are lead-mills, and then washes the foot of the declivity upon Avhich stands 

 the ancient city of Barnard Castle. The castle, now in ruins, was built 1112-32 

 by Bernard Baliol, and was at one time a stronghold of considerable imi^ortance. 

 Close to it rise the modern museum and picture gallery, the contents of which are 

 for the most part the gift of the owner of the neighbouring Streathara Castle. 

 The town has a few manufactures, but it is only when we reach Darlington and 

 Stockton, on the Lower Tees, that we enter one of the great industrial districts of 

 Northern England. Darlington, on the Skerne, a few miles above its confluence 

 with the Tees, is one of the principal seats of the Quakers, whose influence there 

 is considerable. The town lies in a fertile country, and is one of the busiest 

 manufacturing centres of the north. There are factories for building locomotives, 

 blast furnaces, and rolling-mills — Durham supplying the coal; the Cleveland Hills, 

 on the Yorkshire side of the Tees, the iron and iron ore. The railroad which joins 

 Darlington to Stockton-on-Tees is the oldest in the world, having been opened in 

 1825, or four years before railway communication was established between Liverpool 



