Yorkshire Natural History 200 Years Ago. 31 1 
now Part affords good Pasture and arable Land, and the other 
parts are dug for Turf, and so made of very great Use to the 
Inhabitants ; and that the Air is not esteemed less wholesome 
than other Places of this Riding, may appear plainly from the 
Multitude of Villages situate on the Borders of it, and Thorn, 
a well inhabited Market-Town in it. But as harmless as the 
Air is there, surely ’tis much more healthy and wholesome in 
the upland Parts of this Riding, especially in Craven, which is 
not only hilly, but is higher than the other Parts, as is beyond 
Contradiction evident from this, that all or most of the Rivers of 
this Riding, which are some of them very large, have their Rise 
among the Mountains there, and pour their Waters down into 
all Parts of it ; and so pass into the Humber, or other Counties. 
2. The Earth, or Soil of this Riding, as well as of the other 
Two, as to its Fruitfulness, is of a mix’d Kind. If in one 
Place it be of a stony, sandy, or barren Nature, in another ’tis 
pregnant and fruitful ; and so if it be naked and exposed in 
■one Part, it is clothed and sheltered with great store of Wood 
in another, being thereby made beautiful by that Variety. The 
hilly Parts are barren, and lower Vallies fruitful ; so many 
Rivers, and some of them large, can’t but produce much 
meadowing and good pasture Ground ; and both by the 
Improvement of the Inhabitants are rendered very profitable 
in breeding Oxen and Sheep of the largest Size, sufficient to 
stock many Parts of England with Cattle for fatning. Nor is 
their Soil in many Places unfit for Ploughing, though the 
Product is not so plentiful for Wheat and Barley, as Oats ; 
nor do they want Dairies equal to other Counties, some few 
excepted, as Cheshire, Warwickshire, &c. Besides the Trees 
of common Growth in all Parts of England, here are some not 
usually found in other Counties, as Firs, Yews, and Chesnuts. 
Nor doth this Riding only afford Plenty of Necessaries, but 
much for Pleasures, as Parks and Chases, which are very 
frequent here. But there are other Things remarkable in the 
Soil of this County, which are not found in others ; as in this 
Riding, Mines of Lime-stone, which is plentifully dug up in 
Elmet, and near Tadcaster, which being burnt at Brotherton 
and Knottingley , is at certain Seasons conveyed in great Quan- 
tities for Sale to Wakefield, Sandal, and Standbridge, from 
whence it is sold into these western parts, which are naturally 
■cold and mountainous, to improve their Land, and for other 
Uses. At Huddleston, near Shirburn, also is a noble Ouarry, 
out of which when the stone is first cut, it is very soft ; but 
lying in the Air a-while, it presently consolidates and hardens. 
There is also another Quarry within half a Mile of Aldmonbury, 
which is built of Stones dug out of it in a great part. The Edges 
of the Stones are black, which appearing in the houses so 
built, the Inhabitants will have that Blackness to be a Proof 
1914 Oct. 1 . 
