Peacock : Lincolnshire Naturalists at Torksev. 



r 35 



advanced age and consequent rock-denudation, approach to 

 nearly the level of the land over which they flow — a ' pene- 

 plain,' as it is called — they lose the impetuosity of their youth 

 and wind slowly over the surface ; and then every little rise in 

 the ground, and any exposure of a harder rock than usual, turns 

 them from their course ; until we have, as the result, a broad 

 expanse of marsh and fertile soil like that of the present Trent 

 valley. 



The Trent abounds with instances of this kind. Its windings 

 are proverbial : and since the days of Shakespeare, they may 

 well be described as ' classical ' ; for did not Hotspur sav, when 

 dividing up the land : 



See, how this river comes me cranking- in, 

 And cuts me, from the best of all my land, 

 A huge half moon, a monstrous cantle out. 

 I'll have the current in this place damm'd up, 

 And here the smug- and silver Trent shall run, 

 In a new channel, fair and evenly : 

 It shall not wind with such a deep indent, 

 To rob me of so rich a bottom here. 



Near Newton the river until recently flowed in two separate 

 channels, forming an island, up to Dunham Bridg-e. One of 

 these, however, the one on the west -^still called the old Trent — 

 has been cut off" and partially filled up, and the whole force of 

 the stream is now directed towards the cliff" on the east. A little 

 further down, in the low area opposite Laneham, a small portion 

 of the land on the east of the river — as our vigilant organising 

 Secretary has pointed out — belongs to the county of Nottingham. 

 This may be due to a natural change in the river's course since 

 the county boundary was defined — for the movements of the 

 Trent are rapid in places — but it is more likely due to the river 

 having, at one time, had two channels here, as at Dunham, to 

 run in, one of which has been artificially stopped up ; and that 

 this is the more correct interpretation there are evidences in the 

 locality : for a bank which must once have bounded the river's 

 course can be traced running inland for a short distance, 

 enclosing a low swampy tract, where the Flowering-Rush 

 (Butomus umbellatus) and other aquatic plants are growing. 



Near Torksey a very remarkable bend of the river can be 

 seen, for there, while flowing due north, it is deflected by a 

 slight rise in the land, and actually turned due south again, 

 forming a narrow loop quite a mile in length, which, alter 

 approaching to within 250 yards of its own. bed, turns round 

 once more and continues its northern course. 



1902 April 1. 



