262 president's address. 



Thf Fifth Meeting was fixed, on the invitation of one 

 of our members, Mr. F. W. Rich, for Holystone and Hepple, 

 on the 25th September, 1902. For those living at some 

 distance from the railway station early rising was a necessity. 

 The first look outside revealed a spotlessly blue sky with a 

 disappearing moon. A south-west wind, with the growing 

 power of the sun, was gradually melting the hoar-frost which 

 during the night had lain on the housetops and the grass. 

 Nine members assembled in the Central Station in one of the 

 very few bright mornings of an exceptionally summerless year. 

 Punctually at 8.30 a.m. our train started, and after leaving 

 Heaton we passed into a dark belt of fog and smoke ; but 

 this was soon left behind, and members congratulated them- 

 selves upon having selected a day the weather conditions 

 of which were congenial to their pursuits. Rothbury was 

 reached at 10.35 a.m., and members marvelled that in these 

 days of progression so short a railway journey should occupy 

 so long a time, and that the train service should allow of so 

 short a stay in so beautiful, romantic, and historical a district. 

 Our secretaries had arranged for a conveyance to be in 

 waiting for us, and glancing at Cragside and the Simonside 

 hills, we proceeded through the pretty little village of Thropton, 

 and thence through Flotterton and Sharperton to Holystone. 

 Here our kindly host met us and assumed the guidance of the 

 party. After inspecting such remains of the Benedictine 

 Priory as now exist, we proceeded to "Our Lady's Well," 

 which lies in a small grove of firs not far from the junction of 

 two Roman ways. The large quadrangular basin, 39 feet by 

 24 feet, is filled with water of the most crystalline purity. 

 Through a bed of fine sand and gravel the spring rises, 

 discharging about 16 gallons a minute. The sides of the 

 basin are lined with a wall of ashlar work. In the centre 

 stands a comparatively modern stone cross with an inscription 

 upon it as follows : — 



" In this place Paulinus the Bishop 

 baptised 3000 Northumbrians, 

 Easter D.C. XXVII." 



