466 Report of Meetings for 1881. By Jas. Hardy. 



position, the front projecting a little from the wall. The head 

 had been of a very large size ; for though somewhat wasted, the 

 skull still measures 21-^ inches. It may be seen with Mr Boyd, 

 Veterinary iSurgeon, at Melrose. Some coins of David I., David 

 II., and Edward I., having been found near the foundation, is 

 some proof of the antiquity of the building. 



The Eev. J. F. Bigge read from the notes of Mr James Ellis, 

 written on the margin of Hutchinson's History of Northumber- 

 land, which copy Mr Bigge possesses, notices of Mote Hills, 

 and on " Eobin of Eisingham," an effigy cut on sandstone on a 

 hill-side atParkhead, south-west of Woodburn, to which allusion 

 is made in Sir Walter Scott's " Eokeby." Mr Bigge also made 

 some remarks on the ballad of " Chevy-chase," and alluded to its 

 trumpet tones that thrilled Sir Philip Sidney's chivalrous spirit, 

 and to the approving criticism of the modern version by Addison. 

 Mr James Thomson's specimens of jasper obtained in Eamshope 

 were exhibited. They, were accompanied by a paper on the 

 Eamshope jasper. The Eedewater Minstrel (E. Eoxby), refers 

 to the picking out the jasper, "that shines in the dark, mossy 

 Eede." The colours were good — yellow, red, and a bluish white 

 chalcedony spotted with red, but the stone, although it takes a 

 good polish is much traversed by cracks. Mr Hugh Miller men- 

 tioned that he had detected old iron scoriae in a variety of situa- 

 tions in the district. The name Snarisdelf indicates one of the 

 iron-mining stations in Elsdon parish. Delfs are pits out of 

 which iron has been dug : Snaris 1 take for a local modification 

 of a Norse personal name Snorro, although Mr Hodgson favours 

 another interpretation, suggesting the Danish snerra, a battle. 

 The name is old. In Testa de Nevil, Plesencia de Aslakeby, a 

 ward of Eoger Bertram, held Snarisdelf by the 20th part of a 

 knight's fee. 



There were various plans of camps on the table, as well as 

 beautiful drawings of stone and bronze weapons found in the 

 vicinity, due to the assiduity and skill of Mr Arkle. Mr Arkle 

 exhibited a peculiar Eoman half- globular vase or cup of bronze, 

 with ornaments and a round aperture on the sides, and two pro- 

 tuberances, the one opposite the other, below the rim, as if for 

 suspension. He also shewed a fine bronze spear head. Mr HaU 

 of Dunns Houses, handed round a very perfect felstone celt, 

 ploughed up in 1877, at Troughend, on some hitherto unbroken 

 heath land. It had not a scratch upon it. It is of a rather 



