5? 



LINCOLNSHIRE NATURALISTS AT HORNCASTLE. 



Rev. EDWARD ADRIAN WOODRUFFE-PEACOCK, L.Th., F.L.S., F.G.S., 

 Vicar of Cadney; Organising- and Botanical Secretary, Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union. 



On Wednesday, 13th June 1900, the 25th meeting of the Lincoln- 

 shire Naturalists' Union was held at Horncastle. Wednesday 

 is a bad day for Lincolnshire men, and the weather was un- 

 certain and showery too, so a small attendance was the result. 

 Starting from the station, within a few moments of their arrival 

 the Rev. J. Conway Walter, the President of the Union, took 

 Mr. F. M. Burton, F.G.S., to the Art School to view an interesting 

 collection of local fossils, which Miss Foster, the head teacher, 

 has brought together. Then starting in carriages, a pause was 

 made at the foot of Thimbleby Hill, where the site of a Roman 

 grave, constructed of rude slabs of Spilsby sandstone, was 

 pointed out. It contained human bones, a sword and spear 

 head, and the bones of a dog, and was the resting place, no 

 doubt, of some mighty hunter of the past who loved his hound. 

 At the village of Thimbleby another pause was made close by 

 the church to look at three large ice-borne boulders of 

 Neocomian limestone. A further drive of 200 yards brought 

 the party to Hollgarth, where there is a field with an avenue of 

 very fine old trees called 'The Butts.' Here, no doubt, in the 

 spacious times of Queen Elizabeth, 



Village archers of old, 

 Robin Hoods true and bold, 



Unerring- in hand and in eye, 

 Showed their skill in their craft, 

 When with yew bow and shaft, 



They aimed at, and hit, the bulls-eye. 



Passing through Wispington, where the vicar, the Rev. J. 

 A. Penny, exhibited a number of local antiquities, a three mile 

 drive brought the members to Hungram Gorse. This is an 

 unreclaimed waste of twelve acres, which takes its name from 

 the Danish chief Hungar (Latin, Hungarum), who, with his 

 brother Hubba (there is a Hubbard's or Hubba's Bridge between 

 Spalding and Bourne) ravaged the whole country, A. D. 875, in 

 revenge for the murder of his father. Two brickyard pits, near 

 Wragby, were then visited. The workmen there have recently 

 discovered the value of the fossils, and where the guide only 

 three weeks before had found them in abundance, none were 



1901 February i. 



