1 88 MR. c. e. robson's report of 



beyond the streets to the outskirts of Haughton-le-Skerne : as 

 we crossed the bridge which leads to the village the yellow 

 water-lilies were seen flowering in the backwaters. 



Our first objective was the church, which was kindly shown 

 by the Rector, Rev. J. C. Fellows. The west and south doors 

 are good examples of Norman architecture. The pillars 

 which supported the arch of the western door have been 

 placed in the nave : their front surfaces are seriously worn 

 into longitudinal concave depressions, said to be due to the 

 sharpening of swords by the cavaliers as they passed in and 

 out. A fine sample of Frosterly coral marble, probably the 

 coping stone of a tomb, was shown in the churchyard. Inside 

 the church are a characteristic arch-upon-arch between 

 chancel and nave, and two hagioscopes or squints. Chancel 

 and choir stalls are beautifully panelled in oak : on one panel 

 is the roughly scratched outline of a bird, underneath which 

 is the date 1642. 



Leaving the church, we proceeded to the hall, the residence 

 of Mr. F. Storey, which, facing south, has a gentle old-world 

 garden sloping to the river. Beyond the cultivated grounds 

 a newly-cut hayfield, through the middle of which a boggy 

 ditch faltered, offered a happy hunting-ground to botanists; 

 here were found the beautiful flowering rush, marsh cinque- 

 foil, spotted and amphibious persicaria, and many other plants 

 favouring a damp habitat. Yellow and white water-lilies 

 were growing freely in the Skerne hereabouts. Our party 

 divided here, some pushing on to Sadburghe to view the old 

 village and church, while the majority wended their way 

 through Haughton, admiring its wide road, grass borders and 

 avenues of old trees, as far as Barmton, where the Skerne was 

 again met with. Along the road most of the summer wayside 

 plants were seen, but most noteworthy was the white bryony 

 festooned in the hedgerows, the female plant in fruit and 

 flower clinging by its ingenious spirals to one side of the road ; 

 while the male plant, also in flower, was on the opposite side. 

 The water violet, which is found in the neighbourhood — to 



