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dun near Wilfrey well was ever Wtlfara^s, it gains in the 
resemblance between Catar acton and Catterton), — the proximity 
of these places to CoUingham is certainly in its favour. 
Possibly old deeds may have preserved the peculiar names 
of the Castle-hills near Spofforth and Bardsey ; they may 
even live yet in local tradition. 
It is now fifteen years since I was led to visit Bingley, by 
information, supplied by the late Mr. Ainley, of that town, that 
its church contained a font with an inscription in what he 
supposed to be Runic characters. I found that they were, 
indeed, runes, but so much defaced, that patient study, and 
more time than I could command, were needed to read the 
inscription on the spot. Six characters, however, I could 
distinctly read; at the beginning of the first line, a cross 
and the rune ear; at the end of the second, the runes nyd, yr, 
and sigil; and at the beginning of the third, os. I took a 
squeeze in gutta percha, but, owing to the difficulty of mani- 
pulating so large a surface in the open air on a cold January 
day, this was very imperfect, and the only satisfaction I 
derived on my return home was the being able to read at 
the end of the second line and the beginning of the third, 
NYSODE ONGEN, "visited again," which strongly 
excited my curiosity, showing me, as it did, that this in- 
scription was not an ordinary memorial formula, but must 
either be a passage from Holy Scripture, (I thought of St. 
Luke i. 68), or a historical record. "With this, however, I 
was obliged to be satisfied at the time. 
Having undertaken a journey to Ruthwell, in 1863, for 
the purpose of taking casts of the inscriptions on its cross, 
by way of contribution to my friend Professor Stephens' 
work on our " Old Northern Runic Monuments," I visited 
Bingley again, and took good casts in plaster, which I 
forwarded to Copenhagen, along with those from Ruthwell 
and Irton. The Ruthwell casts reached their destination 
15 
