i>eesident's address. 187 



ADDEESS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TYKESIDE 

 NATURALISTS' EIELD CLIJB, 



READ BY THE PRESIDENT, THE REV. R. E. HOOPPELL, M.A., LL.D., F.R.A.S.. 

 AT THE THIRTY-SECOND ANNIVERSARY MEETING, HELD IN THE 

 MUSEUM OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, NEWCASTLE-UPON- 

 TYNE, ON THURSDAY, MAY 2nd, 1878. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — Permit me to take this, the first oppor- 

 tunity which presents itself, in the ordinary course of things, to 

 thank you for the honour you did me at the last Annual Meeting 

 of the Club, in electing me your President for the year now 

 ending. 



As such, it is my allotted task to give you a resume of the 

 Meetings held, and the work accomplished, during the past year. 

 It was not my good fortune to be able to be present at all the 

 Field Meetings, but kind friends, upon whom I can rely, have 

 supplied me with information respecting those from which I was 

 unavoidably absent. 



The First Field Meeting was held at Middleton-one-Pow, on 

 the Tees, on "Whitsun Monday, May 2 1st. The morning was 

 somewhat dull and bleak, but a goodly number of members and 

 their friends assembled at Croft Station a few minutes before 

 eleven a.m. From Croft they proceeded by road to Hurworth, 

 where, under the guidance of the Rev. J. Irwin, the Rector, and 

 the Rev. G. H. Ross-Lewin, the Curate, they inspected the 

 Church, which has within the past few years been admirably 

 restored by the munificence of the Patron and former Rector, 

 the Rev. R. H. "Williamson. The Church is beautifully situated 

 on the summit of a cliff overhanging the Tecs ; and it contains 

 several objects of interest, particularly two cfiigics of Knights 

 Templars from Ncasham Abbey, one supposed to be Robert de 

 Ros, whose body was interred in the Temple Church, London, 

 and the other Raron de Greystock of Cumberland, a connection 

 of the Lawson family. There arc also the mural tablets of several 

 successive Rectors, from which it appears that from the time of 

 the Commonwealth to the institution of the Rev. R. H. Williamson 

 in 1865, u period of two hundred and fourteen years, there had 



