Page:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1867).djvu/91

Rh at Learmouth, and a swamp in the level country, which yields Lastrea thelypteris, Cladium mariscus, Cicuta virosa, and Carex limosa. Along the whole course of the main stream, on the southern side, the elevation is under 300 feet, and the country well-cultivated and fertile. The Till in its lower part is about midway between the sea and the western border, and nearly parallel with both, a sluggish stream of considerable size, winding lazily amongst the meadows and corn-fields, overhung by willows and alders, with neighbouring swamps full of Equisetum limosum, Sparganium, Iris, and Carex vesicaria. This is the character of the stream for nearly 20 miles. From this cultivated flat on the west the Cheviot mass rises up abruptly, and on the east the sandstone range rises up, also with considerable abruptness, to shelter it from the sea breezes, moor-like above and the flank wooded past Eglingham, Bewick, and Chillingham, but becoming lower and greener at Doddington and Lowick, and, still further northward, becoming gradually almost lost in the level country as it nears the Tweed. Titlington Pike, the highest point of this range above Eglingham, is 765 feet in elevation; Ross Castle, the highest peak of the whole range, a heather-clad height above the pleasant park of Chillingham, which stands out conspicuously in all the Cheviot views, is 1036 feet. Black Heddon, a few miles further north, is 646 feet; but the stream from the west side of this runs down into the sea direct, not into the Till. The village of Lowick, which is just upon the watershed midway between Wooler and Berwick, is not more than 400 feet in elevation. The multiplicity of names for the streams in this region puzzles a stranger. The Bremish is only another name for the main Till stream before it emerges from the hills. This main branch rises in the very heart of the Cheviot mass, close upon the county boundary. The upper part is shut in between two huge masses of hill, Cheviot itself rising to a height of 2676 feet upon the north, and Weather Cairn and Cushat Law on the south to 1836 feet and 2019 feet. From the hanging stone at the south-east corner of Cheviot, a spur of high hill runs nearly 10 miles due east parallel with the Breamish over Hartside and Reveley. The principal farm-houses of the upper