64 Report of the Meetings for 1894. 



coal there. They did work sea coal, " Carbonem Maris," (see 

 Proceedings T'er. Nat. Club for 1880, p. 259), in more than 

 one place. They had a grant from Robert of Bothal to 

 pasture cows in his pasture of " Kottingwood," westward from 

 Holburn, (Chart. De Novo Monasterio, p. 41.) They had also 

 a grant of land from Roger De Merlai the Third to make a 

 road from the Newgate of Morpeth eastward ; that led to the 

 Holburn, where they had a right to quarry stone, (Chart, ib., 

 pp. 5 and 6.) These facts do not establish all that tradition 

 says about the Monks and the old coal drift in the Holborn, 

 but they prove that they had not only a hold but a footing 

 there, and all history testifies that they were never inclined 

 to relax or give place. 



By this time it was seen that the day was to be one of 

 sunshine and brightness, and it never for a moment belied 

 the promise that it gave. The party therefore entered the 

 Lady Chapel Wood in high spirits, feeling, many of them, that 

 they were about to reap some compensation for the drenchings 

 and disappointments they had experienced at last meeting. 



From Morpeth to Bothal by the bee line is only two miles ; 

 by the banks of the Wansbeck it is four. The scenery, made 

 up of wood and water — is not Morpeth's motto, "inter sylvas 

 et flumina habitans "? — was so peculiarly enchanting, and the 

 })oint8 of interest so many and varied, that no one thought or 

 felt he was doing a stretch of quite four miles. The footpath 

 has been made, and it has not ; it seems to be kept, and 

 yet it is not. If not at places very passable, it is on that 

 very account all the more natural. There is nothing of the 

 artificial pleasure ground or city park about it, and therefore, 

 to all lovers of nature, the more attractive and enjoyable. 

 Some years ago an attempt was made, by the representatives 

 of the late Duke of Portland, to close the path by building 

 up the stile in the wall and locking the gate. The public 

 made short work of the obstructions. It is a deep and 

 rugged ravine which the river has cut out for itself in the 

 Carboniferous strata ; at places, traces of shale and their seams 

 of coal are seen lying above a great thickness of sandstone, 

 which lies in beds that are nearly horizontal. It is only here 

 and there that the face of the rock is seen, for both sides of 

 the glen are wooded. Nowhere is the ravine very wide; at 

 one or two points the opposite rocks are near to each other. 



