92 ' A NEW FLOKA OF 



7. SOUTH TYNE AND ALLEN DISTRICT. 



This district occupies the south-western corner of the county, 

 and contains a greater extent of moor that rises into the Middle 

 zone than any of the others except the first. Eor 12 miles on 

 the west the Irthing forms the county boundary, with small 

 branches that penetrate the moors on the Northumbrian side. 

 The gritstone edge (Muckle Samuel's Crags) of the watershed 

 between its head and the North Tyne is 1108 feet in elevation, 

 and Whitehill, rather lower down, is 943 feet. Above Wardrew 

 it is a mere moorland stream, but there is a waterfall called 

 Cromel Linn, and lower down to Gilsland the banks are wooded, 

 yielding Saxifraga aizoides, ^quisetum variegatum, Galium lo- 

 reale, and other plants scarcely to be expected at an altitude of 

 between 300 and 400 feet. The pass over which the railway 

 crosses, between the South Tyne and Irthing valleys, is little 

 over 400 feet in elevation, and is the lowest point of the Pennine 

 watershed, which divides the streams of the west from those of 

 the east coast between the Cheviots and the Trent. A moorish 

 swamp called Baron House Bog borders the railway here, and 

 yields Lysimachia vulgaris^ Ranunculus lingua., Carex limosa and 

 filiformis, and abundance of Vaccinium uUginosum. Here the 

 Irthing leaves the county to fall into the Eden above Carlisle. 

 The main branch of the South Tyne rises in Cumberland not far 

 from the head of the Tees. At Alston it is 900 feet in elevation, 

 and in the 12 miles that it flows due north it declines on the 

 average 45 feet per mile. Between Knaresdale and Allendale is 

 a ridge of high moor, which reaches 1645 feet on Whitfield Com- 

 mon, and 975 feet over Plainmeller, 2 miles south of the railway. 

 Below the castle and park of Featherstone the Tipple Burn, a con- 

 siderable stream from the moors on the north, breaks through the 

 basaltic ridge and fiowing past the ruined castles of Blenkinsop 

 and Thirl wall, joins the main stream, which turns suddenly due 

 east and flows in that direction 50 miles before it falls into the 

 sea. Between Haltwhistle and Hexham we have what is usually 

 called South Tynedale, a hollow 15 miles in length, with the 

 lulls rising from it gradually on both sides. On the north the 



