1908-1909.] 



>5« 



DUNDRUM. 



An interesting and delightful afternoon was spent on the 

 29th August, the place selected for the ramble being Dundrum 

 and the picturesque district lying between it and Newcastle. The 

 party which numbered thirty-two members and friends, travelled 

 by the twelve o'clock Newcastle express. Mr. \V. H. Gall way, 

 the vice-president, acted as conductor, and immediately on arrival 

 at Dundrum led the way to the well-known Castle. The ruins as 

 they exist to-day consist of a great circular tower, about 46 feet 

 high, and surrounded by the remains of other towers and 

 outworks, and enclosed by a massive wall. The rock now 

 occupied by the ruins was a military position from a remote 

 period 



Dundrum is a happy hunting-ground for the botanist, the old 

 walls about the town and castle being noted as the habitats of 

 some rare species of plants, such as the very rare Rock Cress, 

 Arabis hirsuta, on walls about the old Castle tower the Wall 

 Pellitory, Parietaria officinalis ; other rare species found during 

 the afternoon being Thalidrum dunense, Erodium moschatum, 

 Echium vulgare, Polygonum Rati, Euphorbia paralias, the Horned 

 Poppy, Papaver glaucum, the Saltwort, Salsola kali, and Filago 

 minima. The best find of the evening, however, was getting that 

 doubtful native, the Oyster Plant, Mertensia marilima, growing on 

 the shore about midway between Murlough and Newcastle. One 

 specimen of the Sea Holly, Eryngium maritimum, was noted as 

 growing in the same locality. 



Having given ample time for lunch, examination of the ruins, 

 and collecting botanical rarities, the conductor's whistle gathered 

 the party together for the walk to Slidderyford, via the county 

 road, to examine its very perfect cromleac, standing in a potato 

 field at the side of the road. A move was next made on to the 

 sand dunes. Working slowly in the direction of Newcastle a 

 sharp lookout was kept, as besides flint implements, the extensive 



