Page:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1867).djvu/124

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106
A NEW FLORA OF

flows sluggishly with many windings through the level country past Bradbury and Darlington to Blackwell. Still further east there is a stream similar in character but shorter and smaller, which from Sedgefield runs south-eastward to Norton and Billingham. Between Hartlepool and Sedgefield the level scarcely anywhere exceeds 100 feet, and southward it falls still lower. The streams and ponds of this level low-lying tract furnish the best stations for water-plants which there are in the two counties, as for instance, Morden Carrs, through which the railway runs between Bradbury and Aycliffe Stations, and the streams and ditches about Norton and Billingham. From the Tees mouth at Seaton Carew northward to Hartlepool there is very little cliff along the shore, but from this latter point northward the Magnesian Limestone borders it with fine cliffs in several places, especially at the Black Hall Rocks, and from Horden Dene northward the rocky wall is carried forward almost without interruption. We have regarded the denes of the Magnesian Limestone from Hawthorn Dene southward as comprised in this drainage tract. The most considerable of these is Castle Eden Dene, a thickly-wooded picturesque craggy ravine which extends from the shore midway between Hartlepool and Sunderland for a distance of five miles due west into the heart of the Magnesian Limestone range. The hills round the upper part are from 400 to 500 feet above sea-level. Hesleden Dene, a similar glen a short distance to the south, is about the same length but narrower. Hawthorn and Horden Denes, nearer Sunderland, are both much smaller and shorter. The area of the district is about 300 square miles.

ALTITUDES.

FEET. FEET.
Highfield, above Grasshill 2322* Langdon Bridge 1255
Fendrich Hill 2284* High Force Fall 942-1005
Monk's Moor, above Middleton 1954* High Force Inn 1050
Raven Seat 1927* Winch Bridge 856*
James's Hill, Newbiggin 2215* Middleton Bridge over Tees 729*
Outberry Plain 2142* Middleton Bridge Middleton Beck 765
Widdy Bank Fell 1660 Junction of Middleton and Hamsterley with Barnard Castle Road 1025
Widdy Bank Farm-house 1286
Caldron Snout 1430-1530