REPORT OF FIELD MEETINGS I5I 



exterminated all other classes of vegetable existence. Beneath 

 the boughs of crowded beeches the surface soil is covered and 

 embrowned with a thick stratum of successive annual deposits 

 of the fallen and decayed leaves of these trees. The Beech 

 grows so naturally and so well in our local valleys, that I am 

 sure, had Julius Caesar ever visited this part of wild and 

 ancient Britain, he would certainly have found and included 

 it in his list of British trees. 



Daisies, Primroses, Violets, Cowslips, and here and there an 

 early Orchis were noticed in traversing this part of the park. 

 On leaving Axwell by the Hagg Hill gate, the party pro- 

 ceeded westward by the turnpike-road between woods of young 

 trees, consisting chiefly of Oaks, Elms, Ashes, and Larches ; 

 then between pasture fields to Winlaton Mill — a hamlet of old 

 dingy, tumbling down, unsanitary looking dwellings on the 

 margin of the Derwent, historically famous locally for its busy 

 iron-works under the old noted firm of Crowley, Middleton 

 and Co. of the early part of the last century. 



The party were next guided to the Scar Banks, an eminence 

 lying to the west of this village. A prolonged halt was made 

 on this elevated spot, to view the delightful panorama of 

 scenery of wood and water. Below, and to the west, there is 

 a fine flat haugh of some half-dozen fields of tillage land, con- 

 sisting of deep alluvial soil, encircled on three sides by the 

 river ; and beyond on the south and west, we have a very fine 

 view of the woods and farms of the Gibside estate. On the 

 north side of the river there is the steep scar of sand and 

 gravel above boulder clay, overgrown by young trees, and ex- 

 tending in a semi -circular fashion to Lockhaugh Railway 

 Bridge. 



The Scar immediately beneath our feet is a steep, almost 

 perpendicular cliff of great height and prominence, consisting 

 of a thick deposit of sand and gravel, over-lying a great depth 

 of boulder clay, in which are embedded boulders of sand- 

 stones and shales. The cliffs at this point are receding 

 owing to the denudating forces of nature, causing landslips 

 during the winter months. Here the merry Sand Martins 



