94 A NEW FLOEA OF 



undulated sweeps of the ordinary kind of heathery gritstone fell. 

 We have given already a list of the plants noted in the Upper 

 zone on Kilhope Law. As tested either by number of species or 

 individuals the boreal element of the Flora is considerably smaller 

 than in Weardale, and still more so than in Teesdale. The prin- 

 cipal interest of the district, from a botanical point of view, arises 

 from the extent and perseverance with which agricultural and 

 horticultural cultivation has been carried on at, for Britain, an un- 

 precedentedly high altitude ; but as full details have been given 

 in the chapter on climate, both as to species and the heights to 

 which they are grown, we need not say more about the subject 

 here. At the head of "West Allendale there is a village of perhaps 

 thirty houses, called Coal Cleugh, at a height of from 1600 to 

 1700 feet* above sea-level. Above Allenheads the slopes are 

 everywhere clothed with extensive plantations of Scotch fir and 

 other Coniferee, and at the bottom of the hollow stands Mr. Beau- 

 mont's hall in the midst of its well-ordered grounds, and in front 

 down the river extends a village half a mile in length, with a 

 church and school-house, and a large number of cottages and 

 gardens, and in the centre the mining office and entrance to the 

 great shaft, a model mining village for order and cleanliness, at a 

 height above sea-level of from 1350 to 1450 feet. The town of 

 AUenton is 9 miles below Allenheads, near the point where the 

 East and West Allen unite. From Whitfield all the way down 

 to the Tyne the banks of the Allen are bordered with woods, and 

 in some places, as for instance about the old castle or Peel of 

 Staward, which stands out towards the river on a rounded rocky 

 promontory, with a steep wooded bank on the opposite side and 

 a high heathery moor in the back ground, they rise for 100 feet 

 above it with much abruptness. At Gratton the watershed be- 

 tween the Allen and the stream on the east has sunk to 1000 

 feet, but there is still a well-marked ridge in the direction of 

 Hexham with a gradual slope of cultivated country towards 



* Wo may remark in passing, tiiat an idea which we found generally diffused, even 

 amongst educated people, that the little inn at the top of Kii'kstone Pass is the highest in- 

 habited house in England, is quite incorrect. The height of this is 1473 feet, and there are 

 dozens of houses higher through the east side of the North of England. 



