Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club.

THIRD FIELD MEETING (LADIES DAY), THURSDAY, JULY 26th, 1894.

ON the occasion of this, their sixth, visit to Church Stretton on Thursday in last week, the Woolhope Club was fortunately favoured, not only with fine weather, but with a cloudy morning which rendered the ascent of the Longmynd Hills more agreeable. It was the ladies' lady, and the party mustered more than one hundred in number. They were met at Church Stretton by Mr. E. S. Cobbold, Honorary Secretary of the Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club, without whose untiring physical exertions and ready helping hands in case of need, we may safely say that some of the party would have abandoned in despair all hope of ever reaching the summit. The entire route, as drawn out in the programme, was long, and covered seven miles. Some few, familiar with the ordinary beaten track, were found collected and cool at the place of bivouac on the summit, when the van of the party who had made the longer détour of ascent by the Ashes Valley, in accordance with the programme, arrived there.

Upon arrival at Church Stretton, the Church of St. Lawrence in the centre of the town was first visited. A few carriages were ordered, these, however, did not arrive until too late, as was afterwards discovered, for, by the time the horses were harnessed, the party was well advanced towards "The World's End," on its route to the site of Brockhurst Castle. Permission to visit the elevated Knoll, which was formerly occupied by this ancient castle, had been kindly given by the proprietor, and loth as the members were to pass through mowing grass they formed single file and rigidly adhered to one single path. The contour of the little encampment, its inner court separated by a ditch from its outer court, and the long covered way of its north western side, were all distinctly visible to those who followed Mr. Cobbold's demonstration.

From Brockhurst Castle the walk was continued to the village of Little Stretton, from which a lane on the right conducted to "Ashes Valley," a valley which, perhaps a century ago, was filled with numerous common, not mountain, ash trees, of which only one patriarch now remains. Judging from the large number of heavy cylindrical shot in the brook at the bottom of the valley, this would evidently be a dangerous spot when the artillery are practising from the Artillery Camp above Church Stretton.

Leaving the heights of Ashlet and Yearlet upon the right hand, the latter having in the Ordnance Map a contour marked 1,500 feet near its summit, and the Round Hill, very closely of a similar attitude upon the left, the ascent was made up the contracted valley, taking care always to keep the brooklet upon the left hand it was continued for a total distance from Little Stretton village of about

two miles, the latter half being by a path along the southern and western slopes of the Long Synalds, until at about half-past one o'clock the place of bivouac, the main road near a spring of water, was reached by the most active members of the party. Mr. Cobbold-here, there, and everywhere-having assured himself that the vanguard of the party were safely on the proper beaten pathway, ran back to bring up the rear guard whom he conducted by a more direct and shorter, although steeper, route over the mountain slopes.

Mr. Cobbold pointed out certain geological features on the way-such as the unconformable overlap of Llandovery Rocks, shortly after leaving Little Stretton, seen by a short deviation to the right; the locality in the slates of Long Synalds for the annelide markings sometimes to be found there; and how the Conglomerate Beds of the Upper or Grit Series, grouped by Dr. Callaway under the general term, Longmyndian, were to be seen on the western side of the Pole Bank.

The place of bivouac was well selected, being favourably near what was apparently a perpetual spring of water close to the main road from Church Stretton, about half-a-mile before reaching the Ordnance Survey Pole on the highest elevation of the Longmynds. In Transactions, 1880, page 246, this is given as 1,674 feet, but the Ordnance Map, No. 166, dated 1889, of the New Series on the scale of one inch to a mile represents an elevation of 1,696 feet.

After luncheon the business of the day was transacted. Three members were elected, and four gentlemen were proposed for election.

Some of the party walked along the main road half a mile westwards, crossing the ancient Portway, thence for a few hundred yards over the heather to The Pole. A walk southwards along the range would bring the pedestrian to Plowden, where he would find a railway station to the junction at Craven Arms; or he might walk from Plowden by road (six miles) to Craven Arms. In clear weather the extensive view from The Pole embraces the Malvern Hills, the Sugar Loaf at Abergavenny, the Black Mountains, parts of the South Wales coal fields, Clun Forest, the Breconshire Beacons, the Breidden Hills on the border of Montgomeryshire, the hills of Central and of North Wales, and upon the east the nearer Shropshire hills-such as the whale-back Wrekin, the undulated ridge of Lawley, the Archæan and Pre-Cambrian rocks of Caradoc, Ragleth, Hazlar, and Hope Bowdler, and the basaltic Titterstone Clee. It is reported that, in a very clear atmosphere, Arran Fowddy, The Arenigs, Cader Idris, and Snowdon can be distinguished by those to whom the outlines of these heights on the skyline are known. This view embraces all the older rocks from the carboniferous downwards.

The geology may be rougly called that of the Longmyndian rocks with occasional fossil markings, no true fossils having hitherto been discovered. There are dykes intrusive in the slates. In the Transactions the geology is treated of in 1870, pages 121 to 128; 1880, pages 246, 247; and 1888, page 241. The Rev. J. D. La Touche writes:-"I have little or nothing to add to the observations made in my paper of 1870 on the geology of the Longmynd Hills. Their exact position in the geological series is still a problem difficult of determination. At

the time that paper was written it was generally supposed that they belonged to the Cambrian formation. The recent discovery of Cambrian fossils in a section at Comley to the north-east of Caradoc, has thrown doubt on this assumption, and it is thought safer to call them simply Longmyndian, at least provisionally. They have been the subject of a lively discussion between Professor Blake and Dr. Callaway, the former endeavouring to show that they form part of a system which he calls Monian, as chiefly developed in Anglesea."

The Geologists' Association are at the present time assembling at Shrewsbury as their temporary headquarters, and purpose visiting this district on Tuesday, July 31st. The report of these proceedings must be looked for in their Journal, when published.*

The ancient Portway traverses longitudinally the ridge of the Longmynds from north to south, and numerous tumuli exist on both sides of it. One tumulus was within a stone's throw of the place of bivouac of the Club. There are stone circles at Bodbury Ring and at Castle Ring. The small British encampment on Bodbury Ring follows the contour of the top of the hill in the form of the letter D; where the approach is more easy, namely, on the north and east sides, a ditch and mound can be easily traced, and on the south, south-east, and west sides there is a rampart twelve feet in width. The situation is half a mile north of the Carding Mill, being the hill on the left as you descend the valley from the Light Spout. There are other encampments in the neighbourhood, as, for instance, at Castle Ring, two miles further north, and at Robury Ring, two miles south-west of The Pole.

At three o'clock, the party broke up for their homeward descent. Some preferred to keep to the main road over the hills leading to Church Stretton, certainly a charming walk on a clear day. Others more active walked direct over the moorland, except where their course was interrupted by treacherous bogs, to the summit of the Light Spout Waterfall, about one mile distant. The descent to its base was down a steep declivity which was very trying to the nerves of some of the party. Here a photograph was taken of the members grouped promiscuously in the foreground of the pleasing cascade. From this spot the pathway is good and fairly broad, and conducts down Carding Mill Glen to a road at the Carding Mill. On the way Mr. Cobbold pointed out some ripple marks on the right of the pathway, and informed us that we were traversing the principal division of the Lower or Slate Series of the Longmynds, generally considered as of pre-Cambrian age.

The Carding Mill may be considered a half-way house between the Light Spout Waterfall and the railway station at Church Stretton, being about a mile and a half distant from each. The information gathered that refreshments can be obtained there may prove useful to any of us when projecting a future visit to this locality.

The botany of this district is a hill flora, which used to comprise more rarities before their habitats got too well-known, and they were exterminated by visitors.

*The Geology of South Shropshire, by C. Lapworth and W. W. Watts, with two plates, maps, and numerous other illustrations, has been since published. It occupies pages 297 to 355 of the Geologists' Association Reports for July, 1894.-ÉDIT.