Report oe^ meetings i'or 19oi 6^ 



Later on, the hills to the right hand, very bare of trees, 

 were seen to be of the soft rounded outline that suggests 

 former glaciation, the " roche moutonnee " form, upon a large 

 scale. Turning our backs on them, we faced the more 

 scarped line of heights to the south of us, the road now 

 crossing an undulating plateau, with green rushes growing 

 in its hollows. 



At a quarter past eleven we went downhill through 

 Sharperton (built of grey stone), with one house in ruins, 

 past a field of hay just cut, and having crossed the Coquet, 

 which here runs over a pebbly bed in a wide, pretty valley, 

 we arrived at Holystone. After a visit to the Holystone 

 Well [Plate XI.], surrounded by shady trees, with the clear 

 water showing each pebble distinct upon its floor, we turned 

 into a meadow, where the Rothbury contingent joined us, 

 and seated on the grass we examined some very good 

 specimens of flint implements, gathered in Coquetdale (between 

 Rothbury and Holystone, mostly within sight of the latter), 

 which Mr Dixon had brought with him, and explained to us. 

 [Plates XII., XIII., and XIV.] We saw from this point 

 the Beacon Hill, the Tosson Hills (looking south-eastward), 

 and Rothbury on the north side of them, the Wreigh Hill 

 with its trees and winding road to Farnham, and its asso- 

 ciations with the " Wof ul Wednesday," the day when it 

 was harried by the Scots, May 25th 1412. 



The "camp" on the hill to the west of us was too far to 

 visit, and we turned to examine Holystone Church. Thence, 

 with a beautiful view, partly sylvan, before us, we descended 

 towards Harbottle, whose ruined and fragmentary Castle, 

 standing in a grand situation, leaves more scope for the 

 imagination than for any very detailed description. It was 

 one of four castles built, according to Hartshorne, at almost 

 precisely the same date, the others being Prudhoe, Northampton 

 Castle, and Peverel's Castle in the Peak, Harbottle being 

 the latest of the four, erected at the very beginning of 

 Henry II.'s reign, about 1155; both Harbottle and Prudhoe, 

 structurally akin to each other, having been for a long 

 period in possession of the Umfravilles. 



A very full account of Harbottle Castle has been given 

 by Mr George Tate in the Proceedings, Vol. v., pp. 427-437 ; 



