TERRACED SLOPES IN NORTH TYNEDALE. 33 



When we meet with these parallel shelves or gradations in the 

 alluvial covering of hills on the scale of magnitude of the cele- 

 brated " Parallel Koads of Glen Roy," near the foot of Ben 

 Nevis, in the Western Highlands, which retain a perfect hori- 

 zontality and parallelism along the steep sides of the mountains 

 for nearly twenty miles from east to west, and twelve miles from 

 north to south, there can be no doubt left in any mind that the 

 mighty forces of nature alone have been operative in producing 

 them, and that the supposition of man's handiwork is entirely 

 put out of court. But much less conclusive must be the argu- 

 ment for a natural origin, so as to set aside any theory of their 

 artificial character, when we descend to such minor examples of 

 terraced slopes as we find in North Tynedale, and other valleys 

 of Northumberland. Even these, however, are seen to cover an 

 area of sufiicient extent to render them a prominent and very 

 noteworthy feature in many landscapes. Sometimes they form 

 a succession of broad ledges or steps, rising one above the other 

 to a considerable altitude, even, it is said, to the height of a 

 thousand feet above the sea, near Heathpool, on the CoUedge 

 Burn, on the north-east flank of the Cheviots.* They are, there- 

 fore, conspicuous enough to attract the attention of an observer 

 from a distance. Two or three miles westward across the valley, 

 from the higher ground above the village of Wark, I have no- 

 ticed the Birtley terrace-lines, and been able to distinguish their 

 number and comparative dimensions. 



The terraced-slopes of North Tynedale are not only striking 

 in appearance, and generally well defined, but they are of more 

 frequent occurrence in this district within a limited compass than 

 in, perhaps, almost any other part of the county, nor have they 

 hitherto been described. The Rev. John Hodgson, the distin- 

 guished historian of Northumberland, indeed, refers to examples 

 situated, the one near to Falstone, and the other to Ryal, in his 

 "Minutes of a Journey -to Mounces, 1814. "f And our learned 



*" Proceedings of the Benvlcksliire Naturalists' Cliil)," 18C2, Vol. IV., p. 448. Also com- 

 pare Ibid, p. 160, and Vol. V., pp. G and 190, and sonic remarks on a few of the North Tjaic- 

 <lale examples in a Memoir by the writer on "Ancient British Remains, near Birtley and 

 Barrasford," — Archxologia ^liana, Vol. VII. 



t" Memoir by Dr. Rninc, Vul. I., pp. 142 and l-W-l." 



C 



