494 president's address. 



the worthy landlord had provided for their well sharpened appe- 

 tites. The members left Allendale Town a little before seven 

 o'clock. The evening was most charming, and as the train 

 rolled onwards along the beautiful valley of the Tyne, and from 

 time to time a boat was seen putting off from the shore and the 

 salmon net was shot from it in and out across the water, the 

 thoughts of some of us were carried back to days long past, 

 and to the story of the connection of our river with that best 

 of fishes — the salmon. Every one knows the stories which 

 have been afloat long enough as to the superabundance of the 

 salmon in that mythical period, "the good old times" — days 

 which, like the ignis-fatuus, always recede further away the 

 nearer they seem to be to one's grasp. 



Probably every member of the Club is aware that the right of 

 His Grace the Duke of Northumberland to the Salmon Fishery, 

 at the mouth of the Tyne, has been recently called in question. 

 The trial, which resulted in the most complete establishment 

 of the duke's claim, was the means of bringing to light many 

 facts of great interest in the history of the fishery, and on the 

 question of the former productiveness of the river. 



The Priory or Monastery at Tynemouth dates back the com- 

 mencement of its existence to the times of the Saxons. Early 

 in the reign of William Rufus it was endowed by Robert de 

 Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, subject to and dependent 

 as a cell on the great abbey of St. Albans, in Hertfordshire. 

 We next find that King Henry II. made a most extensive grant 

 of land, tithes, and other tenures to this monastery. "He 

 willed and firmly commanded that the church aforesaid and the 

 monks should have and hold all the things above said well and in 

 peace, freely and quietly, wholly and honourably, with all their 

 appurtenances in wood and plain, in meadows and feedings, in 

 ways and paths, in waters and mills, and fisheries and x>ools 

 within borough and without, in all things and places, with thol 

 and theam, and soc and sac, and infangenthef and wreck, quit 

 and discharged from all geld and scot and assistance, and from 

 all customs and works, and aids and plaints." 



In the reign of Richard I. a charter of confirmation, date 10th 



