A SURVEY OF THE I.OWER TF.ES MARSHF.S III 



The marsh on the bankside is dominated by jf^uncus glai/cns, 

 but it supports Rosaceous shrubs belonging to the genera 

 Crataegus, Rosa, Pninus and Riihiis. Of these, the Rosce will 

 yet provide material to add to my list of Durham roses*. In 

 addition, several rare and somewhat unusual plants appear of 

 which Allium vineale is the chief, Petasites vulgaris and Getwi 

 rivale being more of local importance. 



IV.— SALT HOLME MARSH. 



This comprehensive designation is intended to include all 

 the reclaimed saltmarsh lying without the earliest earth wall ; 

 it therefore covers all the tracts to which the names Saltholme, 

 Cowpen and Fore Marshes are applied in the Ordnance Maps, 

 as well as the roads crossing them. 



At all seasons it gives one the impression of a dull dreary 

 waste, relieved by nothing except the cattle grazing in the 

 distance, a few derelict sycamores, and a few mounds. Lying 

 buried within the last, in some instances, are the long 

 abandoned saltworks of the mediaeval period ; some of the 

 hillocks, however, enclosed within the bends of the fleets 

 described below, are just as certainly the work of the wind 

 and tides of centuries past. 



Near views dispel the lack of interest, especially in the 

 north-east, for before us spread out mighty "fleets," lakelike 

 in their appearance, particularly when Holme Fleet is the 

 object of one's gaze. In origin, these are deep cuttings, driven 

 through the soft boulder clay and alluvial soils by the tidal 

 scour, isolated by the erection of the earth wall, and subse- 

 quently filled to the brim with water. 



In order of importance these " fleets " are Holme Fleet, 

 .Swallow Fleet, Mucky Fleet and Todler's Fleet. As will be 

 seen from the map, they are linked up and provided with an 

 outlet in the form of a deep channel, running parallel to the 

 sea wall, which empties itself by locks into Greatham Creek. 

 As they degenerate they are likewise connected naturally by a 



* Hjvrrison "The Wild Roses of Durham," Naturalist, January, 1916. 



