370 
LUCAS : VESTIGES OF ANCIENT FOREST. 
Deep Gill—M.. Ash; 1255. All the above are in the Colsterdale 
basin, or the basin of the River Burn. The extreme points are 
found in Nidderdale. Before giving these, and proceeding- to a 
comparison of the highest elevations at which these several trees 
now grow, with the height at which their remains lie buried in 
the peat, it is desirable to premise that the highest six miles of 
Nidderdale runs due east from Great Whernside, and that the 
northern edge rises 400 feet above the Nidd, being distant from 
the river three-quarters of a mile. This slope has a northerly 
curve, the greatest convexity towards the north being at Lodge 
and Woo Gill. Lodge owes its existence, as a farm, to this fact ; 
and the fields of Lodge Farm are the highest anywhere in the 
district, their upper edge reaching 1500 feet above sea level. In 
this grand southerly concave slope, Woo Gill runs as a deep cleft 
to the north. The shelter from the north and east winds, and 
the sheltered exposure to the full warmth of the southern sun, 
has preserved in Woo Gill several relics of the ancient forest at 
higher elevations than they are found anywhere else in the dis- 
trict. Thus— Birch, 1275; Hazel, 1350; Salix, 1375; M. Ash, 
1600, highest living tree. Gill gets out on to moor. 
I will now present the elevation of the highest stragglers of 
each kind of tree, up the various moorland gills and becks, in- 
cluding the district east of Nidderdale. 
BIRCH— Nidderdale— Arna Knab Wood, 1000; High 
Scar (Backstone Gill), 1100; Woogill, 1375. COLSTERDALE — 
Long Gill, 1175. East of Nidderdale— Foul Sike, 875, with 
M. Ash, Alder, a few feet below ; Cot Gill, 850, open ling 
covered moor, 24 feet below are two Thorns and a Hollin ; Carles- 
moor Beck, 800; Far Beck, 900. 
MOUNTAIN ASH— Nidderdale— Woo Gill, 1600. Col- 
sterdale — Scale Gill, 1175; Backstone Gill, Long Gill, 1350. 
East of Nidderdale— Skell Beck. 900; Carlesmoor Beck, 875; 
Foul Sike, 875 ; Trib. of Wandley Gill, 975. 
