64 



Broiujhton Qifford. 



through the meadows, between a double file of pollard withies, 

 reaches Broughton church in a course of about seven miles, and is 

 finally lost in the Avon near some fine elms at Monkton. About 

 six furlongs to the north of the church, it is joined by another and 

 smaller stream, which rises near Mr. Long's manor house at Wrax- 

 hall, also on the southern slope of Kingsdown, whence it struggles 

 on its way between hawthorns, withies, nuts, and now and then a 

 pollard oak, most "unwedgeable and gnarled with very knotty en- 

 trails" indeed, the eccentricities of whose growth would be remark- 

 able on a transverse section, till it mingles with its future associate, 

 a fine pollard standing sentinel at the point of junction. 



Climate. 



The climate of a district in this part of England chiefly depends 

 on its elevation above the sea level, its slope or the aspect which it 

 presents to the sun's rays, the prevalent winds, the nature of the 

 soil, the degree of agricultural improvement, the direction of the 

 mountain ranges, and the fall of rain. 



Our elevation is not considerable. The top of the church tower 

 is only 192 feet above the level of the sea. 1 The slope of the sur- 

 face is to the south. The prevalent winds are westerly. Kings- 

 down shelters us to the north. The temperature, as influenced by 

 all these causes, would be mild. The scenery is that of Somerset- 

 shire, and the climate, both in regard of heat and moisture, would 

 be the same, were it not extensively modified by the mountain 

 ranges, the character of the soil there, and the winds which come 

 thence, Marlborough downs and the high table land of the Plain, 

 both with a porous soil, and within ten miles, to the east and south. 

 The Cots wolds to the north are not more than fourteen, as the wind 

 travels, and their offsets come within three. The Subsoil of that 

 district near us is Cornbrash. These causes sharpen, as well as 

 purify our atmosphere. Neither do we have as much rain as might 

 be expected from our position on the map. Mountain ranges no 



1 This information is derived from the Ordnance Map Office, Southampton. 

 As they are not published, I give, on the same authority, some other heights in 

 this neighbourhood, Westbury down 752 feet, Monument on Farleigh down 

 (top) 733, Steeple Ashton church (top of pinnacles) 358, Bromham church, do. 

 437, Seend church (top of tower) 348, Trowbridge spire (top) 286: all above the 

 level of the sea. 



