Report of Meetings for 1880, by James Hardy. 263 



grew as a wall- plant ; and tlie sweet-scented Violet ( Viola 

 odorata) and tlie marjoram {Origanum vulgare) in different parts 

 of the ruins. Looking to the southern side of the river, the 

 withered condition of the furze shewed the fatal incidence of last 

 December's frost ; and the like had been witnessed opposite 

 Newminster. 



Mitford Castle has been liable to repeated sieges and other 

 casualties. It was seized by the Flemish troops of King John, 

 1215. In 1216 it was blockaded by Alexander II. of Scotland. 

 In 1316-17 it was held by Sir Gilbert de Middleton and a com- 

 pany of bandits, from whom it was wrenched by Ealph Lord 

 Greystock. In 1318 it was captured by Alexander III. of Scot- 

 land, and dismantled. In 1323, it was dilapidated, having been 

 destroyed by the Scots. The Eev. John Hodgson has given 

 eloquent expression to the reflections which its past and present 

 states suggest. " When I suffer imagination, only for a little 

 time, to lift up the curtain of history, and think I see from the 

 opposite bank to the south the armies of Scotland investing the 

 moated plain upon which the fortress stands ; when I see showers 

 of arrows or javelins flying round its bulwarks, the neighbouring 

 hamlets and villages wrapped in flames, and hear the clashing of 

 arms and the shouting of the besiegers and the besieged — how 

 grateful is it to gaze again, and see the peaceful scene as it now 

 is — the ruined keep, and its semi-circular wall that flanks it on 

 the south overgrown with trees and weeds ; the massive rampart 

 that incased it on the north ' split with the winter's frost ;' the 

 rude walls and towers that environed the hill, rising in shattered 

 masses among elder trees and thorns, or shadowed with groups 

 of gigantic ash-trees ; the moated and entrenched plain covered 

 with cattle ; and away beyond the beautiful white walls of the 

 new manor house, the hoary remains of the old one, and the 

 venerable church, backed with orchards and gardens, and river 

 banks — all how lovely and luxuriant !"* 



To resume Mr Thomson's statement : — 



" The church and vicarage are on our right hand. The vicar- 

 age is very plain, and the only notable feature was a nice young 

 Ficea nohilis. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, was a 

 very ancient erection in Norman and early English styles. By 

 the munificence of Colonel Osbaldiston Mitford, it has been 

 * Hodgson's Hist, of Northumberland, Part ii., vol. ii,, p. 56. 



