228 Memoir of the late John Towlerton Leather. 



the birds and their nests, and was so pleased to hear the cuckoo 

 this time last year. He was very fond of the rooks, and we 

 had' two rookeries at Leventhorpe; it is a curious fact that from 

 one they are now deserting, and have gone to a neighbours at 

 Swillington, and also into the N.W. corner of the churchyard, 

 within view of his last resting place. 



"My father belonged to the Society of Antiquaries, and was 

 deeply interested in all relics, etc., found ou the estate, or in 

 Northumberland." 



Mr Leather will be long remembered in Northumberland, for 

 the beneficial improvements on his exteusive estate, whereby 

 he in a manner changed the aspect of the country, and conferred 

 a lasting benefit on posterit}'. To a local correspondent I owe a 

 minute account of the thorough- going changes carried out within 

 his demesnes ; and a characteristic instance of his compassion 

 for one of the unjustly proscribed innocuous wild denizens of 

 nature. 



J. H. 



Briefly stated, his many and extensive improvements may be summed 

 up as follows : — Since 18U0, forty-eight entirely new cottages were built, 

 together with about as many more thoroughly renovated, enlarged, and 

 improved as to be made as good as new ; eight entirely new farm-houses, 

 and several others largely improved ; seven entire new farm-steadings, all 

 on a complete and substantial scale, and several others completely over- 

 hauled and thoroughly repaired, not to speak of the Hall, which he greatly 

 enlarged and made almost completely new, lodge entrance and school 

 house which is a model of its kind. Miles upon miles of stone walls were 

 erected as fences on various parts of the estate, aud its extensive 

 boundaries were encompassed by a fence of the same kind. Miles upon 

 miles, too, of quick-set fences, were planted on the various farms. Sixty 

 acres of moorland were planted with trees on Cockenheugh moor, and 7<> 

 more on Holburn moss, chiefly with the view of providing shelter in that 

 bleak region. What is now known as " Koby's Wood," containing about 

 1UU acres, was planted aud added to Detchant %vood, making a park of 

 over 200 acres in extent, Some 40 or 50 acres of moor were also planted 

 at Laverock Law, with the object of sheltering the fields in that locality. 

 Swinhoe pond, which was formerly a deep pool or old quarry hole, covered 

 with rushes and water weeds, he converted into two ornamental lakes. 

 I he one containing about ten acres of water, and the other three. Of this 

 part it is no exaggeration to say that he really found it a wilderness and 

 made it a paradise. He took a deep and lasting interest in the water 

 supply, and every farm-house, cottage, and farm-steading on his estate, 

 was provided with an ample supply of spring water, brought in some cases 

 from a great distance to the doors of the cottages, and into the farm- 



