182 president's address. 



Before proceeding to give the customary account of our field 

 meetings during the past year I wish to express my obligations 

 to our courteous Secretaries, who have favoured me with copious 

 notes, which must have taken much time and trouble in their 

 preparation. 



First Field Meeting. — The destination of the members on 

 the occasion of the first meeting, on Monday, May 30th, was 

 Staward Peel. The party, consisting of about thirty members, 

 left the Central Station by the 10.15 a.m. train for Haydon 

 Bridge, where they arrived shortly after eleven o'clock, and 

 proceeded by road to Langley Castle, having passed upon the 

 wayside the granite cross erected by the owner, Mr. Cadwallader 

 Bates, to the memory of the unfortunate Earls of Derwentwater, 

 this being one of their forfeited estates. The inscription on the 

 cross informs the wayfarer that it stands there " In memory of 

 James and Charles, Yiscounts Langley, Earls of Derwentwater, 

 beheaded on Tower Hill, 21th February, 1716, and 8th Decem- 

 ber, 1746, for Loyalty to their lawful sovereign." 



Some time was pleasantly spent in examining the Castle, which 

 gave the name to one of the lesser Baronies of Northumberland, 

 and which appears to have been built by Sir Thomas de Lucy, 

 about the middle of the fourteenth century. By the marriage 

 of his daughter Maud with the first Earl of Northumberland it 

 passed into the possession of the Percy family. The position it 

 occupied was untenable after the introduction of artillery, and 

 it surrendered to the troops of Henry IV. in 1403 and 1405, 

 and to Lord Montagu after the Battle of Hexham in 1464. After 

 this it seems to have gradually fallen into decay, as in 1542 the 

 walls only were remaining. Hodgson says "the redness of the 

 inside walls of these apartments, down to the first boarded floor, 

 remains, in conyincing testimony that they perished by fire." 

 About three years ago the present owner, Mr. C. J. Bates, who 

 has very kindly given me some information in regard to his work, 

 placed a roof over the main building, and it is now possible to 

 examine the architectural features of the several floors which 

 were previously inaccessible. The arrangement for drawing up 



