Report of Meetings for 1880, by James Hardy. 249 



There are several good old plants preserved by the sides of the 

 ■walks. On the west side of the house there was a wide-spread- 

 ing Portugal Laurel, notable for its height as well as its bulk ; 

 also a large Medlar bearing fruit. Finally the company eon- 

 fronted a tall upright Spanish chestnut, the pride of the place, 

 which close at the ground measured 13 feet 4 inches, at one foot 

 from the ground 12 feet ; and at six feet, 10 feet 6 inches. 

 There is an extensive rookery in the park. 



The party now left the park for the Crag, entering by the 

 private walk. There was an extensive display of the trap here 

 in a quarry, which the proprietor is obliged to keep open to 

 supply the roads with metal. The stone had also been applied 

 to building purposes, but was not very tractable. A very large 

 birch grows in the adjacent plantation. A white fox-glove 

 appeared on the bank. On the grassy platform of the Crag, the 

 foundations of the oblong chapel were first examined ; fragments 

 of lime and limpets from the mortar are extensively strewn 

 about. It has been fortified or enclosed by some high mounds, 

 but these may be more ancient. After a lower interval a British 

 camp occurs, with strong ramparts. Near it are several depres- 

 sions which a rainy season would readily convert into pools. 

 There is. an old sloping footpath from the north-west side, by 

 which access to the chapel could be obtained. The chapel may 

 have been connected with the neighbouring old hall. Previous 

 to the time when Mackenzie's History of Northumberland was 

 written (2iid edition, 1825, vol. i., p. 400), it was better worthy 

 of a visit. " Near this town on a rising ground, are the ruins of 

 an ancient chapel, which, being surrounded by several tall oak 

 trees, had a most romantic appearance ; but the trees are now 

 cut down and the stones removed. On the north-west side, by a 

 fine spring, stood the ancient mansion-house, behind which was 

 formerly a wood of large oaks, ha,lf-a-mile in length, which 

 stretched under a range of steep rocks of whinstone."* Accord- 

 ing to Mark's Survey, 1723, this chapel was dedicated to St. 

 Mary,f and called by her name ; the present parish church, it 

 may be remarked, appears to have borrowed the patron saint. 

 Whether "La ChapeUe Eode" of the Inquisition of 1399, 



* This is mentioned in somewhat similar terms in WalLis's older Hist, of 

 NortM., ii., pp. 415-6. 



t Contrib. to Hist. Northd., p. 72. 



