io5' president's address. 



House, over Hunter Hill, with its fine prospect and the 

 beautiful demesne of woodlands, the trail of the Roman water- 

 course was picked up in never-broken ground and followed 

 both ways for many hundred yards. In one direction it led 

 to the high earth mound which was thrown across a small 

 valley to dam back the waters till a sufficient head rose to the 

 level of the watercourse. The only stonework noted was very 

 rough, and consisted of a conduit bringing water from a spring 

 further west of this reservoir. Close by this spot Mr. Balleny 

 found a Roman Altar now at his house, but which un- 

 fortunately is too weathered to allow any detail to be made 

 out. 



Finally the Gill with its friendly shelter was reached as well 

 by them as by the other members, including myself, who had 

 proceeded by a walk of about two miles from Blackhill 

 Station. 



Geologically speaking it has the appearance of an old river 

 valley in times prior to the glacial epoch. Possibly it is the 

 old bed of the river Derwent which at some remote period 

 flowed in this direction, being then a feeder of the Wear. 

 The very great depth of the Gill, whose nearly vertical sides 

 in several places showed outcrops of well marked beds facing 

 each other, the massive character of some of these beds and 

 their indurated condition, the widening flat expanses of bog 

 and pasture here and there, all spoke eloquently of fluviatile 

 denudation through a very prolonged period, and were eagerly 

 watched by the party. Just before the viaduct the magnitude 

 of the river work was greatly emphasized when the curious 

 and intricate caves were entered and somewhat fearfully 

 explored. From these caves, which are quarries horizontally 

 driven into the solid rock, most of the stone for the Consett 

 public buildings was obtained. The whole evidence was so 

 cumulative that all felt no doubt that their day's walk had 

 ended in a stroll up an ancient river course. But the tall 

 slender viaduct with its returning arches for foundation re- 

 minded us of the engineering difficulties encountered by the 

 builders of the Consett and Crook Railway, through the 



