president's addkess. 



arrow-head shape. A knot hole had been patched, by rivetting 

 on a flat plate of oak with wooden pegs. 



Similar oaken coffins have been found, thongh rarely, both 

 in England and Scotland, but there seems no close agreement 

 amongst antiquaries as to their age.*' It is interesting to ob- 

 serve in connection with this locality, that it lies within two 

 hundred yards of the South Tyne, that the level of the inter- 

 ments is below that of the river, and that the soil is a sandy river 

 silt. Further, there can be little doubt that at no very remote 

 period this boggy ground must have formed an outspread reach 

 of the river and have been continually under water. It is also 

 known to have been part of what was called, in a deed dated 

 A.D. 1223, "the Temple Land," and it is somewhat remarkable 

 that a charge of nineteen shillings per annum was payable to the 

 Dean and Chapter of Carlisle in respect to this very field, being, 

 it is said, the only property of the kind in the county of North- 

 umberland possessed by that body. Upon this charge being re- 

 deemed a year or two ago there was no title to show for it other 

 than prescription. 



There remained but a short walk by the river side to Feather- 

 stone Castle, when the party were courteously received by its 

 owner, Hope "Wallace, Esq. The building is an ancient keep to 

 which a modern castellated mansion has been added. It is pret- 

 tily situated in a sheltered spot near the South Tyne, and its 

 quaint walled-in garden and shady walks were a pleasant resting 

 place in the mid-day sun. Thence by the woods to Burnfoot, 

 and by the high road overlooking the valley of the Tyne to Eel- 

 lister Castle, and so to Haltwhistle. 



There is but little to record in respect of botanical or other 

 spoils. I have memoranda of a few plants gathered on the walk 

 none of them rare, viz. : — EpipacUs latifolia, Parnassia palustris, 

 Arenaria verna, Armeria maritima, Sempervivum tectorum, Cam- 

 panula latifolia, Lysimachia nemortim, and the white flowered 



* Mr. Snaggc (loc. cit.) mentions amongst other evidences bearing on the question of 

 age, the discovery of similar remains at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, which Mr. 

 Wright has* ssigncd to a period not earlier than two or three centuries before, nor later 

 than the first century of our era. 



