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CiRC. 102. 



Mr. W. Tlorne, F.Cx.S., Rev. F. W. Stow, U.A., Mr. E. Chapman, Rev. G. 

 P. Harris, M.A., and otliers acquainted with the district will be present and assist 

 in the excursion. 



renni.sion for the invostiaation of their estates has been kindly granted by 

 Lord Bolton of Rolton Hall, 'and Mr. Thomas Bradley of Bear Park, but as this is 

 the nesting season, the permission for Lord Bolton's estate does not extend to the 

 moorlands. 



BOOKS AND MAPS.— The whole of the district for the day's investiga- 

 tion is comprised within the north-west corner of Sheet 51, formerly 97 S. E one- 

 inch ordnance map (which may be had geologically co oured> 1 he ^ Geology 1. 

 described by Phillips in his ' Geology of Vorkshire,' and his 'Mounams Rivers, 

 and Sea-Coast of Yorkshire ' ; Baker's ' North Yorkshire should also be referred to 

 for treoloLTical and botanical information, and the following pajxn-s and lists may be 

 consultccl: -Phe Flora of \Vensleyda]e/ by John Percival (INat May and Jrm^ 

 tSKS nn 12^;— 14-. and I SO) ; ' Conchological Field Notes from Wenslcydale, b> 

 WDe^nison^ Roebuck, F.LS. (Nat., Jafi., 1S83, pp. 81-87, with Additional 

 Records at pp. 125 and 15S of same volume) ,' an<l a note on Shells found at Ays- 

 -arth, by T. A. Lofthouse (Nat., Aug., 1889, P- 244) J 'List of Wensleydale 

 Birds,' by K. Chapman (Nat., June, 1886, pp. 183—188). 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.— ^Ir. J. G. Goodchild, 



K G S writes : The parts of WensleycUale around Aysgarth consist almoj^t exclu- 

 sively of Lower Carboniferous strata, which include the Mountain Limestone whose 

 highest members are seen at Redmire Fors, Aysgarth Fors, and the neighbouring 

 lowlands, and iheYoredale Rocks, here typically developed, which form the greater 

 part of the dale. On the summits of the hills, on both sides of the \ ore, the bpper 

 Carboniferous rocks are represented by outlying patches of the lowest membeis cA 

 the Millstone (Jrit. The strata are but little disturbed and he m a nearly horizontal 

 position over an area of many square miles around Aysgarth. The Yoredale Rocks 

 consist of a series of sheets of limestone, which are remarkable for retaining botu 

 their general character and their average thickness over many hundreds of square 

 miles of the country north of Craven. P:ach sheet of limestone lies upon a bed ol 

 sandstone, and is in turn capped by a bed of shale. Near the top of the \ oredale 

 Rocks occurs a very remarkable series of siliceous beds, which appear to have 

 .orif^inated mainly through the agency of sponges. Several mineral vems, chicily 

 of galena traverse the rocks, especially on the north side of the valley, and will be 

 .examined' in detail. The glacial drihs present several features of interest and 

 im[)ortance. 



CLIMATOLOGY AND METEOROLOGY.— The Rev. F. W. Stow, 

 MA F R.Met.S., Vicar of Aysgarth, who has kept meteorological reeords^for 

 niany'years, remarks: The climate of Wensleydale is remarkably bracing. 1 he 

 winter temperature does not on an average difier much from that of the Midland 

 .and Fastern counties. I or instance, Aysgarth was on an average of eight years, 

 18S1 88 less than^-dcg. Fahrenheit colder than Uppingham, and 6^ioths colder 

 than Ilillington in Norfolk. Extreme cold is rarer at Aysgarth than in lower-lying 

 situations Tiic summer is generally cool and breezy. Although the rain-fall is 

 considerable, about 38 inches, yet, owing to the rare occurrence of fogs, the air is 

 on an average drier than at almost any other station m the British Islands. Ihe 

 limestone rock, which does not retain standing water, and the gravel, ehiefty ot 

 Hacial origin, which forms the Ooor of the valleys, have a good deal to do with this 

 * result From the ' Blue Books ' issued by the Metorologieal Office, it appears that 

 in the seven years, ending 1887, only one station (Llandudno) was decidedly drier 

 than Aysgarth, and another (Leicester) slightly so. When Imometrical 'depres- 

 sions ' or"' cyclones ' are passing over the British Islands, and especially in autumn 

 or winter severe rain-storms are experienced in Wensleydale. These are worst 

 iicar the water-sheds of the Yore, the l^xlen, the Ribble, and other rivers, and often 

 cause heavy floods in those rivers when little rain has fallen lower down. I have 

 ■seen a flood come down the Yore in a wave more than a yard high, and it was by 

 ■such a wave that a son of the late Dean McNeile was drowned at Tanfield, lower 

 <lown the Yore. 



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