176 Report of Meetings for 1888. By J. Hardy. 



to the west of Glanton. This was reckoned by the historian to 

 be "twoo myles from the felde.'' King John and William the 

 Lion met at Bolton in 1209. 



Anchusa sempervirens grows near the road, and the Sweet-scented 

 Violet and Geranium pratense occur in the churchyard ; there is 

 much DoronicumPardaHanches in thepolicy of Bolton-house. There 

 are also there some stones with carvings on them, not yet examined. 

 Notes on the history and owners of Broompark, Bolton, and 

 Shawdon, have to be withheld for the present. 



The term "the Guards" is I find not confined to the green 

 field surrounded by marshes on which stood the Leper Hospital, 

 but extends along the level track traversed by the Brandy or 

 Shawdon burn, which some conjecture to have been an ancient 

 bed of the Breamish, as far up as Shawdon Hall. That a 

 Roman camp ever existed on the much broken surface of the 

 Hospital ground is very problematical. The name may have 

 arisen from its swampy condition rendering it impervious to an 

 enemy, or from some circumstance not known now, during the 

 period of the Border Watches. In 1551-2, the watchmen 

 traversed, as already noticed, the space from Learchild to Bolton, 

 and then the country from ''Bowton to Tetlington" was 

 ' ' watched with 2 men nightly, and thereto is appointed Bowton, 

 Aberwyke, and the Woddhall." (Nicolson's Border Laws, p. 

 193.) The main passage of the Aln here was then at Aberwick 

 ford. 



The fine grounds of Shawdon Hall were then entered. The 

 dark Austrian pines by the approach have a peculiar effect. The 

 young spruce fir plantations here in the spring mornings are 

 tenanted by a full-voiced choir of birds. The gardens and 

 pleasure ground were gone over with great pleasure and interest. 

 Ketinisporas, Arbor-vittes, and the Juniper section of the 

 Coniferse prosper here. Round the Hall and in various other 

 directions of the surrounding park, are some grand patriarchal 

 trees — Oaks, Elms, A shes, Sycamores, and Limes. The Hanging 

 Tree still survives, although it has lost a limb. There is also a 

 remarkable line of old Hollies, the one side of an avenue to the 

 former mansion-house, which partly consisted of a peel-tower, of 

 which some of the vaults still exist behind the stables. Some of 

 the company were surprised to see Rooks building in the tops of 

 these hollies. This rookery is a detachment from the great 

 stronghold of the rooks in the centre of Shawdon Wood, which 



