Picture of Thomas Pennant

Thomas Pennant


places mentioned

June 26-July 3: Cheshire to the East Riding

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A

T O U R

I N

SCOTLAND,


MDCCLXIX.



ON Monday the 26th of June, take my departure from CHESTER, a city without parallel for the singular structure of the four principal streets, which are as if excavated out of the earth, and sunk many feet beneath the surface; the carriages drive far beneath the level of the kitchens, on a line with ranges of shops, over which on each side of the streets passengers walk from end to end, in galleries open in front, secure from wet or heat. The back courts of all these houses are level with the ground, but to go into any of these four streets, it is necessary to descend a flight of several steps.

The Cathedral is an antient structure, very ragged on the outside, from the nature of the red friable stone1 with which it is built: the tabernacle work in the choir is very neat; but the beauty and elegant simplicity of a very antique gothic chapter-house, is what merits a visit from every traveller.

The Hypocaust near the Feathers Inn, is one of the remains of the Romans ,2 it being well known that this place was a principal station. Among many antiquities found here, none is more singular than the rude sculpture of the Dea Armigcra Minerva , with her bird and her altar, on the face of a rock in a small field near the Welch end of the bridge.

The castle is a decaying pile. The walls of the city, the only complete specimens of antient fortifications, are kept in excellent order, being the principal walk of the inhabitants: the views from the several parts are very fine; the mountains of Flintshire , the hills of Broxton , and the insulated rock of Beeston , form the ruder part of the scenery; a rich flat forms the softer view, and the prospect up the river towards Boughton recalls in some degree the idea of the Thames and Richmond hill.

Passed through Tarvin , a small village; in the church-yard is an epitaph in memory of Mr. John Thomas , an excellent penman, but particularly famous for his exact and elegant imitation of the Greek character.

Delamere , which Leland calls a faire and large sorest, with plenty of redde deere and falow, is now a black and dreary waste; it feeds a few rabbets, and a few black Terns 3 skim over the splashes that water some part of it.

A few miles from this heath lies Northwich , a small town, long famous for its rock salt, and brine pits. Some years ago I visited one of the mines; the stratum of salt lies about forty yards deep; that which I saw was hollowed into the form of a temple. I descended thro' a dome, and found the roof supported by rows of pillars, about two yards thick, and several in height; the whole was illuminated with numbers of candles, and made a most magnificent and glittering appearance. Above the salt is a bed of whitish clay,4 used in making the Liverpool earthen-ware; and in the same place is also dug a good deal of the Gypsum , or plaister stone. The fossil salt is generally yellow, and semipellucid, sometimes debased with a dull greenish earth, and is often found, but in small quantities, quite clear and colorless.

The road from this place to Macclesfield is thro' a flat, rich, but unpleasant country. That town is in a very flourishing state; is possessed of a great manufacture of mohair and twist buttons; has between twenty and thirty silk mills, and a very considerable copper smelting house, and brass work.

Here lived in great hospitality, at his manor-house,5 Henry Stafford , Duke of Buckingham , a most powerful Peer, the sad instrument of the ambition of Richard III . He was at once rewarded by that monarch6 with a grant of fifty castles and manors; but struck with remorse at being accessary to so many crimes, fell from his allegiance, and by a just retribution, suffered on a scaffold by the mere fiat of his unfeeling master.

In the church is the sepulchral chapel, and the magnificent monuments of the family of the Savages . In this part of the church had been a chauntry of secular priests, founded about 1508 by Thomas Savage , archbishop of York ,7 who directed that his heart mould be deposited here. On a brass plate on the wall is this comfortable advertisement of the price of remission of fins in the other life: it was to be wished that the expence of obtaining so extensive a charter from his holiness in this world had likewise been added.

These are the words.

The Pdon for saying of 5 Pater nost and 5 aves and a creed is 26 thousand yeres and 26 dayes of Pardon.

In the chapel belonging to the Leghs of Lyme is another singular inscription and its history.

Here lyeth the body of Perkin a Legh
That for King Richard the death did die,
                        Betrayed for righteousness,
And the bones of Sir Peers his sonne
That with king Henrie the sist did wonne
                        in Paris .

This Perkin served king Edward the third and the black Prince his sonne in all their warres in France and was at the battel of Cressie and had Lyme given him for that service; and after their deathes served king Richard the second, and left him not in his troubles, but was taken with him, and beheaded at Chester by king Henrie the fourthe. and the sayd Sir Peers his sonne served king Henrie and was slaine at the battel of Agencourt.

In their memorie Sir Peter Legh of Lyme knight descended from them finding the sayd ould verses written upon a stone in this Chappel did reedifie this place Ano Dni 1620.

After leaving this town, the country almost instantly changes and becomes very mountanous and barren, at lest on the surface; but the bowels compensate for the external sterility, by yielding sufficient quantity of coal for the use of the neighboring parts of Cheshire , and for the burning of lime: vast quantity is made near Buxton , and being carried to all parts for the purposes of agriculture, is become a considerable article of commerce.

BUXTON.

The celebrated warm bath of Buxton 8 is seated in a bottom, amidst these hills, in a most cheerless spot, and would be little frequented, did not Hygeia often reside here, and dispense to her votaries the chief blessings of life, ease and health. With joy and gratitude I this moment reflect on the efficacious qualities of the waters; I recollect with rapture the return of spirits, the flight of pain, and re-animation of my long, long-crippled rheumatic limbs. But how unfortunate is it, that what Providence designed for the general good, should be rendered only a partial one, and denied to all, except the opulent; or I may say to the (comparatively) few that can get admittance into the house where these waters are imprisoned? There are other springs (Camden says nine) very near that in the Hall , and in all probability of equal virtue. I was informed that the late Duke of Devonshire , not long before his death, had ordered some of these to be inclosed and formed into baths. It is to be hoped that his successor will not fail adopting so useful and humane a plan; that he will form it on the most enlarged system, that they may open not solely to those whom misused wealth hath rendered invalids, but to the poor cripple, whom honest labor hath made a burden to himself and his country: and to the soldier and sailor, who by hard service have lost the use of those very limbs which once were active in our defence. The honor resulting from such a foundation would be as great, as the satisfaction arising from a consciousness of so benevolent a work would be unspeakable. The charms of dissipation would then lose their force; and every human luxury would appear to him insipid, who had it in his power thus to lay open these fountains of health, and to be able to exult in such pathetic and comfortable strains as these: When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me it gave witness to me ;

Because I had delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him .

The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to jing for joy .

I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame .

After leaving Buxton , passed thro' Middleton dale, a deep narrow chasm between two vast cliffs, which extend on each side, near a mile in length: this road is very singular, but the rocks are in general too naked to be beautiful. At the end is the small village of Stoney Middleton ; here the prospect opens, and at Barfly Bridge exhibits a pretty view of a small but fertile vale, watered by the Derwent , and terminated by Chatsworth and its plantations. Arrived and lay at Chesterfield ; an ugly town. In this place is a great manufacture of worsted stockings, and another of a brown earthen-ware, much of which is sent into Holland , the country which, within less than half a century ago, supplied not only these kingdoms but half of Europe with that commodity. The clay is found near the town, over the bass or cherty9 stratum, above the coal. The steeple of Chesterfield church is a spire covered with lead, but by a violent wind strangely bent, in which state it remains. In the church are some fine monuments of the Foljambes of Walton .

At this place may be said to have expired the war of the Barons in the reign of Henry III. After the battle of Evesham , Robert Earl Ferrers , and Baldwin Wake Baron of Chesterfield , attempted once more to make head against the royal power. They rendevoused here; but were suddenly surprized by the royalists; Ferrers was taken, and Wake fled. The estate of the first was forfeited; the fortunes of the last were restored, after certain mulcts. By the marriage of a sister of one of his descendants with Edmund of Woodstock , this place and Bakewell became the property of his daughter, the fair Maid of Kent , widow of the Black Prince, and were part of her jointure on his decease.

JUNE 27.

On the road side, about three miles from the town, are several pits of iron-stone about nine or ten feet deep, The stratum lies above the coal, and is two feet thick. I was informed that the adventurers pay ten pounds per annum to the lord of the foil, for liberty of raising it; that the laborers have six shillings per load for getting it: each load is about twenty strikes or bushels, which yields a tun of metal. Coal, in these parts is very cheap, a tun and a half being fold for five shillings.

Changed horses at Worksop and Tuxford . In the south aisle of the church at Tuxford , beneath a flowery arch, is a very rude relief of St. Laurence placed on the gridiron. By him is a fellow with a bellows blowing the fire; and the executioner going to turn him. The zealous Fox in his Martyrology has this very thought, and makes the martyr say in the midst of sufferings, This side is now roasted; turn me, O tyrant great! Crossed the Trent at Dunham-Ferry , where it is broad, but shallow: the spring tides flow here, and rife about two feet, but the common tides never reach this place. Dunham had been a manor belonging to Edward 10 the Confessor, and yielded him thirty pounds, and six sextaries of honey, valuable, when mead was the delicious beverage of the times. From hence pass along the Foss-Dike , or the canal opened by Henry I.11 to form a communication between the Trent and the Witham . It was opened12 in the year 1121, and extends from Lincoln to Torkesey ; its length is eleven miles three quarters, the breadth between dike and dike at the top is about sixty feet, at bottom twenty-two: vessels from fifteen to thirty-five tuns navigate this canal, and by its means a considerable trade in-coals, timber, corn and wool, is carried on. In former times, the persons who had landed property on either side were obliged to scower it whenever it was choaked up, and accordingly we find presentments were made by juries in several succeeding reigns for that purpose. Reach LINCOLN, an antient but ill-built city, much fallen away from its former extent. It lies partly on a plain, partly on a very steep hill, on whose summit are the cathedral and the ruins of the castle. The first is a vast pile of gothic architecture; within of matchless beauty and magnificence: the ornaments are excessively rich, and in the finest gothic taste; the pillars light, the centre lofty, and of a surprising grandeur. The windows at the N. and S. ends are very antient, but very elegant; one represents a leaf with its fibres, the other consists of a number of small circles. There are two other antient windows on each side the great isle: the others, as I recollect, are modern. This church was, till of late years, much out of repair, but has just been restored in a manner that does credit to the Chapter.

The prospect from this eminence is very extensive, but very barren of objects; a vast flat as far as the eye can reach, consisting of plains not the most fertile, or of fens13 and moors: the last are far less extensive than they were, many being drained, and will soon become the best land in the country; but much still remains to be done. The fens near Revesby Abby ,14 eight miles beyond Horncastle , are of vast extent; but serve for little other purpose than the rearing great numbers of geese, which are the wealth of the fenmen.

GEESE.

During the breeding season, these birds are lodged in the same houses with the inhabitants, and even in their very bed-chambers: in every apartment are three rows of coarse wicker pens placed one above another; each bird has its separate lodge divided from the other, which it keeps possession of during the time of fitting. A person, called a Gozzard ,15 attends the flock, and twice a day drives the whole to water; then brings them back to their habitations, helping those that live in the upper stories to their nests, without ever misplacing a single bird.

The geese are plucked five times in the year; the first plucking is at Lady-Day , for feathers and quills, and the same is renewed, for feathers only, four times more between that and Michaelmas . The old geese submit quietly to the operation, but the young ones are very noisy and unruly. I once saw this performed, and observed that goslings of six weeks old were not spared; for their tails were plucked, as I was told, to habituate them early to what they were to come to. If the season proves cold, numbers of geese die by this barbarous custom.16

Vast numbers are driven annually to London , to supply the markets; among them, all the superannuated geese and ganders (called here Cagmags ) which serve to fatigue the jaws of the good Citizens, who are so unfortunate as to meet with them.

FEN BIRDS.

The fen called the West Fen , is the place where the Ruffs and Reeves resort to in the greatest numbers;17 and many other sorts of water fowl, which do not require the shelter of reeds or rushes, migrate here to breed; for this fen is very bare, having been imperfectly drained by narrow canals, which intersect it for great numbers of miles. These the inhabitants navigate in most diminutive shallow boats; they are, in fact, the roads of the country.

The East Fen is quite in a state of nature, and gives a specimen of the country before the introduction of drainage: it is a vast tract of morass, intermixed with numbers of lakes from half a mile to two or three miles in circuit, communicating with each other by narrow reedy straits: they are very shallow, none are above four or five feet in depth; but abound with fish, such as Pike, Perch, Ruff, Bream, Tench, Rud, Dace, Roach, Burbot, Sticklebacks and Eels.

It is observable, that once in seven or eight years, immense shoals of Sticklebacks appear in the Welland below Spalding , and attempt coming up the river in form of a vast column. They are supposed to be the collected multitudes washed out of the fens by the floods of several years, and carried into some deep hole; when over-charged with numbers, they are obliged to attempt a change of place. They move up the river in such quantities as to enable a man, who was employed in taking them, to earn, for a considerable time, four shillings a day, by selling them at a halfpenny per bushel. They were used to manure land, and attempts have been made to get oil from them. The fen is covered with reeds, the harvest of the neighboring inhabitants, who mow them annually; for they prove a much better thatch than straw, and not only cottages, but many very good houses are covered with them. Stares, which during winter resort in myriads to roost in the reeds, are very destructive, by breaking them down, by the vast numbers that perch on them. The people are therefore very diligent in their attempts to drive them away, and are at great expence in powder to free themselves of these troublesome guests. I have seen a stock of reeds harvested and stacked worth two or three hundred pounds, which was the property of a single farmer.

The birds which inhabit the different fins are very numerous: I never met with a finer field for the Zoologist to range in. Besides the common Wild-duck, of which an account is given in another place,18 wild Geese, Garganies, Pochards, Shovelers, and Teals, breed here. I have seen in the East Fen a small flock of the tufted Ducks; but they seemed to make it only a baiting place. The Pewit Gulls and black Terns abound; the last in vast flocks almost deafen one with their clamors: a few of the great Terns, or Tickets, are seen among them. I saw several of the great crested Grebes on the East Fen , called there Gaunts , and met with one cf their floating nests with eggs in it. The lesser crested Grebe, the black and dusky Grebe, and the little Grebe, are also inhabitants of the fens; together with Coots, Water-hens, spotted Water-hens, Water-rails, Ruffs, Redshanks, Lapwings or Wipes, Red-breasted Godwits and Whimbrels. The Godwits breed near Washenbrough ; the Whimbrels only appear for about a fortnight in May near Spalding , and then quit the country. Opposite to Fossdyke Wash , during summer, are great numbers of Avosettas , called there Yelpers , from their cry: they hover over the sportsman's head like the Lapwing, and fly with their necks and legs extended.

Knots are taken in nets along the shores near Fossdyke in great numbers during winter; but they disappear in the spring.

The short-eared Owl, Br. Zool . I. No. 66. visits the neighborhood of Washenbrough along with the Woodcocks, and probably performs its migrations with those birds, for it is observed to quit the country at the same time: I have also received specimens of them from the Danish dominions, one of the retreats of the Woodcock. This owl is not observed in this country to perch on trees, but conceals itself in long old grass; if disturbed, takes a short flight, lights again, and keeps staring about, during which time its horns are very visible. The farmers are fond of the arrival of these birds, as they clear the fields of mice, and will even fly in search of prey during day, provided the weather is cloudy and misty.

HERONRY.

But the greatest curiosity in these parts is the vast Heronry at Cressi-Hall , six miles from Spalding . The Herons resort there in February to repair their nests, fettle there in the spring to breed, and quit the place during winter. They are numerous as Rooks, and their nests so crouded together, that myself, and the company that was with me, counted not less than eighty in one spreading oak. I here had opportunity of detecting my own mistake, and that of other Ornithologists, in making two species of herons; for I found that the crested Heron was only the male of the other: it made a most beautiful appearance with its snowy neck and long crest streaming with the wind. The family who owned this place was of the same name with these birds, which seems to be the principal inducement for preserving them.

In the time of Michael Drayton ,

Here stalked the stately crane, as though he march'd in war .

But at present this bird is quite unknown in our island; but every other species enumerated by that observant Poet still are found in this fenny tract, or its neighborhood.

JUNE 28. SPALDING.

Visited Spalding , a place very much resembling, in form, neatness, and situation, a Dutch town: the river Welland passes through one of the streets, a canal is cut through another, and trees are planted on each side. The church is large, and the steeple a spire. The churches in general, throughout this low tract, are very handsome; all are built of stone, which must have been brought from places very remote, along temporary canals; for, in many instances, the quarries lie at lest twenty miles distant. But the edifices were built in zealous ages, when the benedictions or maledictions of the church made the people conquer every difficulty that might obstruct these pious foundations. The abby of Crowland , seated in the midst of a shaking fen,19 is a curious monument of the insuperable zeal of the times it was erected in; as the beautiful tower of Boston church, visible from all parts, is a magnificent specimen of a fine gothic taste.


BURTON CONSTABLE.

JUNE 29. SWINESHEAD ABBY.

Passed near the site of Swineshead Abby , of which there are not the lest remains. In the walls of a farm-house, built out of the ruins, you are shown the figure of a Knight Templar, and told it was the monk who poisoned King John ; a fact denied by our best historians. This abby was founded in 1134, by Robert de Greslei , and filled with Cistertian monks.

Returned thro' Lincoln ; went out of town under the Newport-Gate , a curious Roman work; passed over part of the heath; changed horses at Spittle , and at Glanford Bridge ; dined at the ferry-house on the banks of the Humber ; and after a passage of about five miles, with a brisk gale, landed at Hull , and reached that night Burton-Constable , the seat of Mr. Constable , in that part of Yorkshire called Holderness ; a rich flat country, but excellent for producing large cattle, and a good breed of horses, whose prices are near doubled since the French have grown so fond of the English kind.

Made an excursion to Hornsea , a small town on the coast, remarkable only for its mere, a piece of water about two miles long, and one broad, famous for its pike and eels; it is divided from the sea by a very narrow bank, so is in much danger of being some time or other lost.

AMBER.

The cliffs on the coast of Holderness are high, and composed of clay, which falls down in vast fragments. Quantity of amber is washed out of it by the tides, which the country people pick up and sell: it is found sometimes in large masses, but I never saw any so pure and clear as that from the Baltic . It is usually of a pale yellow color within, and prettily clouded; the outside covered with a thin coarse coat.

JULY 2.

After riding some miles over a flat grazing country, passed through the village of Skipsey , once under the protection of a castle founded by Dragon or Drugan , a valiant Flandrian , who came over at the time of the conquest. The Conqueror gave him in marriage one of his near relations; and as a portion, made him Lord of Holderness . Drugon by some unlucky accident killed his spouse: but having his wits about him, hastened to the King, and informing his Majesty, that his Lady and he had a great desire to visit their native country, requested a sum of money for that purpose: the Conqueror immediately supplied the wants of Drugon ; who had scarcely embarked, when advice was brought from Skipsey of the death of the Lady: pursuit was instantly made, but in vain; the artful Flandrian evaded all attempts to bring him to justice.20

Near this village is a considerable camp; but I passed it too hastily to determine, of what nation.

A few miles farther is Burlington Quay , a small town close to the sea. There is a design of building a pier, for the protection of shipping; shipping; at present there is only a large wooden quay, which projects into the water, from which the place takes its name. In February 1642, Henrietta , the spirited consort of Charles I. landed here, with arms and ammunition, from Holland. Batten , a parlement admiral, had in vain tried to intercept her majesty; but coming soon after into the bay, brutally fired for two hours at the house where she lay, forcing her to take shelter, half-dressed, in the fields. Nor parlement nor admiral were ashamed of this unmanly deed; but their historian, the moderate Whitelock , seems to blush for both, by omitting all mention of the affair. From hence is a fine view of the white cliffs of Flamborough-Head , which extends far to the East, and forms one side of the Gabrantuicorum sinus portuosus of Ptolemy , a name derived from the British Gysr , on account of the number of goats found there, according to the conjecture of Camden . Perhaps, , the epithet which Ptolemy adds to the bay, is still preserved in Sureby , or Sure Bay ,21 a village a little north of Burlington Quay . That the Romans had a naval station here, is more strongly confirmed by the road called the Roman Ridge , and the dikes , which go by Malton to York , are visible in many places, and ended here.22

A mile from hence is the town of Burlington . The body of the church is large, but the steeple, by some accident, has been destroyed, near it is a large gateway, with a noble gothic arch, the remains of a priory of black canons, founded by Walter de Gant , in the beginning of the reign of Henry I. In that of Richard II, in the year 1388, the canons got liberty of inclosing their house with strong walls, to defend them from the attacks of pirates. I cannot help mentioning a proof of the manners of the clergy in early times, by relating a complaint of the prior to Innocent III. against the archdeacon of Richmond , who calling at this house with ninety-seven horses, twenty-one dogs, and three hawks, devoured in one hour, more provision than would have lasted the monks a long time. The grievance was redressed. William Wade , the last prior, was executed for rebellion in 1537. At that time, according to Speed , the revenue was 682l. 13s. 9d. according to Dugdale , 547 l. 6s. 1d.

This coast of the kingdom is very unfavorable to trees, for, except some woods in the neighborhood of Burton-Constable , there is a vast nakedness from the Humber , as far as the extremity of Cathness , with a very few exceptions, which shall be noted in their proper places.

JULY 3. FLAMBOROUGH HEAD.

Went to Flamborough-Head . This was the Fleamburg of the Saxons , possibly from the lights made on it to direct the landing of Ida , who, in 547, joined his countrymen in these parts with a large reinforcement from Germany ; and founded the kingdom of Northumberland . In the time of Edward the Confessor, Flamborough was one of the manors of Harold, 23 Earl of the West Saxons , afterwards King of England . On his death, the Conqueror gave it to Hugh Lupus , who, in perpetual alms, bestowed it on the monastery of Whitby .24

The town is on the north side; consists of about one hundred and fifty small houses, entirely inhabited by fishermen, few of whom, as is said, die in their beds, but meet their fate in the element they are so conversant in. Put myself under the direction of William Camidge, Cicerone of the place, who conducted me to a little creek at that time covered with fish, a fleet of cobles having just put in. Went in one of those little boats to view the Head , coasting it for upwards of two miles. The cliffs are of a tremendous height, and amazing grandeur; beneath are several vast caverns, some closed at the end, others are pervious, formed with a natural arch, giving a romantic passage to the boat, different from that we entered. In some places the rocks are insulated, are of a pyramidal figure, and soar up to a vast height: the bases of most are solid, but in some pierced through, and arched; the color of all these rocks is white, from the dung of the innumerable flocks of migratory birds, which quite cover the face of them, filling every little projection, every hole that will give them leave to rest; multitudes were swimming about, others swarmed in the air, and almost stunned us with the variety of their croaks and screams. I observed among them Corvorants, Shags in small flocks, Guillemots, a few Black Guillemots very shy and wild, Auks, Puffins, Kittiwakes,25 and Herring Gulls. Landed at the same place, but before our return to Flamborough , visited Robin Leith's hole, a vast cavern, to which there is a narrow passage from the land side; it suddenly rises to a great height; the roof is finely arched, and the bottom is for a considerable way, formed in broad steps, resembling a great but easy stair-case; the mouth opens to the sea, and gives light to the whole.

Lay at Hunmandby , a small village above Filey Bay , round which are some plantations that thrive tolerably well, and ought to be an encouragement to gentlemen to attempt covering these naked hills.

Filey Brig is a ledge of rocks running far into the sea, and often fatal to shipping. The bay is sandy, and affords vast quantities of fine fish, such as Turbot, Soles, &c. which during summer approach the shore, and are easily taken in a common seine or dragging-net.


1 Saxum arenarium friabile rubrum. Da Costa, Fossils . I. 139.

2 This city was the Deva and Devana of Antonine , and the station of the Legio vicesima victrix .

3 Br. Zool. II. 430.

4 Argilla cærula-cinerea. Da Costa, Fossils. I. No. 256. 48.

5 King's Vale Royal. 86.

6 Dugdale's Baronage. I. 168.

7 Tanner , 66.

8 The Romans , who were remarkably fond of warm baths, did not overlook these agreeable waters: they had a bath, inclosed with a brick wall, adjacent to the present St. Anne's well, which Dr. Short , in his Essay on Mineral Waters, says was razed in 1709.

9 Or flinty.

10 Thorolen's Nottinghamsh . 388.

11 Dugdale on embanking, 167.

12 I make use of this word, as Dr. Stukeley conjectures this canal to have been originally a Roman work; and that another of the same kind (called the Cars-dike) communicated with it, by means of the Witham , which began a little below Washenbro' three miles from Lincoln , and was continued through the fens as far as Peterborough . Stukeley's Carausius , 129. seq. ejusd. Account of Richard of Cirentester , 50.

13 The fens, naked as they now appear, were once well wooded. Oaks have been found buried in them, which were sixteen yards long, and five in circumference; fir trees from thirty to thirty-five yards long, and a foot or eighteen inches square. These trees had not the mark of the ax, but appeared as if burnt down by fire applied to their lower parts. Acorns and small nuts have also been found in great quantities in the same places. Dugdale on embanking, 141.

14 Revesby Abby was founded 1142, by W. de Romara , Earl of Lincoln , for Cistertian monks, and granted by H . VIII. an. 30. to Ch . Duke of Suffolk . The founder turning monk was buried here. Tanner , 263.

15 i. e. Goose-herd.

16 It was also practised by the ancients. Candidorum alterum vestigal: Velluntur quibusdam locii bis anno . Plinii lib. x. c. 22.

17 Br. Zool . II. No. 192.

18 Br. Zool . II. No. 279. In general, to avoid repetition, the reader is referred to the British Zoology, for a more particular account of animals mentioned in this Tour.

19 This monastery was founded by Ethelbald , king of Mercia , A. D. 716. The ground being too marshy to admit a weighty building of stone, he made a foundation, by driving into the ground vast piles of oak; and caused more compact earth to be brought in boats nine miles off to lay on them, and form a more sound foundation.

20 M. S. at Burton-Constable .

21 Camden , I. 899.

22 Dugdale, Baron . I. 20.

23 Dugdale, Monast . I. 73.

24 Drake's Hist. York . 34. Consult also his map of the Roman roads in Yorkshire .

25 Called here Petrels. Br. Zool . No. 150.

Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776)

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