ALLERSTON. 
REV. W. C. HEY, M.A., M.C.S., 
Vice-President of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, West Ayton, near Scarborough. 
At the foot of the moorland hills that reach from Seamer to 
Pickering lies a string of villages. The sheltered situation and the 
abundance of pure water rushing in sparkling becks from the moors 
above, were doubtless the attractions that induced so many early 
Settlers to place their abode here—mostly Saxons—Ayzon, Rus/on, 
Bromp/on, Snainfon, Ebbers¢on, Allers¢on, Wilton, Thornéon. Just 
once in Wykeham we get a Scandinavian word. Some of these 
villages extend parallel into the hill above, others run at right angles 
to it, and these last, from the irregularity of the ground on which 
they stand, and from the fact that the omnipresent beck runs 
dancing and chattering right down the street side, crossed here and 
there by little rude bridges, are naturally the more picturesque. To 
this class belong Ebberston, with its noble hanging woods and its 
tradition of King Alfred’s hiding-place, and Allerston with its tall 
church tower and beautiful glade above. Brilliant were the cottage 
gardens in July as I rode up the climbing street—brilliant with 
masses of the scarlet Turk’s Cap Lily (Zi/ium chalcedonicum), and 
joyously danced the stream, full yet clear, and a source of endless: 
pleasure to ducks and dabbling children. The pleasant little inn 
Stands at the top of the village, and its yard opens immediately on 
wild ground—marsh and rock, and fern and flowers. After the 
heavy rains of the fortnight past, all was infinitely fresh and beautiful 
in the breezy sunshine. A steep slope was so carpeted with Wild 
Thyme, amid which the crimson Betony reared a thousand glowing 
spikes that I felt sure this must have been the very sight the poet 
Keats had in his mind when he sang its 
Hill hedgiets running w : 
In pink and purple bis 
But there was no meer in this natural mosaic. Next to the 
crimson came a stretch of blue, Harebells and Scadiosa columbaria, 
and its darker sister, the Devil’s Bit Scabious. Among the Scadzosa 
columbaria was one plant which bore pure white flowers. The 
Mouse Ear Chickweed, and Pimpinella saxifraga added pale gold 
and white to this rich pavement, and tw ature’s trimmest 
flowers, Erythrea centaurium and Fiypericum pulchrum displayed 
their delicate beauty. 
| Sept. 1895. 
