A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Habenaria viridis, R. Br. Epipactis violacea, Bor. Gyrostachis autumnalis, Dumort Paris quadrifolia, L. Polygonatum multiflorum, All. [Ornithogalum nutans, L.] Allium vineale, L. Scirpus setaceus, L. Carex pendula, Huds. Catabrosa aquatica, Beauv. [Bromus secalinus, L.] Cystoptcris fragilis, Bernh. Extinct Asplenium Trichomanes, L. Equisetum sylvaticum, L. Osmunda regalis, L. Extinct Chara hispida, L. 6. Nene B. or Harpers Brook District occupies that part of the county which is bordered on the west by the Naseby or Nene A. district already described, from the Buckinghamshire border near Salcey Forest northwards to the Naseby watershed, when the Avon district bounds it for a short space to Sibbertoft. Then the Welland district limits it as far as Brampton Ash. From this point a nearly straight line across the county to Lutton on the Huntingdonshire border, separates it from the third division of the Nene district. This line passes by Pipewell, Great Oakley, Stanion and Benefield, and just west of Oundle. From Lutton southwards to Hargrave the county boundary of Huntingdon limits it, and from that place to Bozeat Wood Bedford county boundary acts in a similar manner. From Bozeat Wood to Laythick Copse near Salcey Forest Buckinghamshire is the boundary. Strictly speaking it is possible that some small portion of this district drains into the Ouse. The Nene B. district is drained by the main stream of the Nene between Northampton and Oundle, and has a considerable extent of alluvial meadows, which are especially repre- sented near Oundle, but the trough of the river is in the Upper Lias clay, while the eminences such as Great Billing and Great Houghton are capped with Northampton sands. In its course the Nene receives from the southern side some small brooks which come from Whiston, Castle Ashby and Wollaston, Yardley Chase being on the Great Oolite, which however in many cases has a thick deposit of drift clay with chalk. From Titchmarsh and Barnwell Wolds come in other brooks, and the latter, which was formerly so renowned as an entomological hunting-ground, is on the Oxford clay, which spreads out over the great part of the neighbouring county of Huntingdon. The drainage of the northern part of the district into the Nene is chiefly performed by two feeders — the Ise and the Harpers Brook. The Ise flows from near Desborough, Rushton and Geddington in a fairly straight line to that village, when it turns off at nearly right angles to Kettering and Wellingborough, where it joins the Nene. In its course it has cut down to the Upper Lias clay and received several small brooks from the western portion of the district, as from Loddington, Pytchley, Orlingbury and Wilby. Wellingborough was for- merly visited by Royalty for its ferrugineous water which rose from the Red Well. Near this well Goodyer a celebrated botanist, a friend of Johnson, who edited the second edition of Gerard's Herha//, discovered in 1626 Sag'ina nodosa as a British plant, which he thus describes : ^Alsine palustris foliis tenulssimis : she Sax'ifraga palustr'is alslne folia.' (See Gerard's Herball^ p. 568, 1634.) The Harpers Brook takes its rise from some springs north of Desborough, and pursues an easterly course nearly parallel with and not very distant from that of the Ise Brook, but the Harpers Brook keeps north of Geddington, so as to drain the greater part of Geddington Chase, which is on the Oxford clay, and passes by Brigstock, where Farming Woods are also on the same formation, into the Nene near Aldwinkle. There is a considerable extent of woodland in the district, and ' that regular and delightful Chase of Yardley,' as Morton describes it, which contains some fine oaks, of which Gog and Magog have been figured in the "Journal of the 'Northamptonshire Natural History Society. Here also the hornbeam {Carpinus Bctulus) is probably native. Among the other plants found in and about the Chase are the columbine [Jquilegia vulgaris), the dropwort {Spiraa Filipendula), the beam tree {Pyrus Aria), the mountain ash (P. Aucuparia), the hem- lock {Conium maculatum), the great burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella major), the Danewort [Sambucus Ehulus), the fly honeysuckle [Lonicera Xylostcum), the woodruff [Asperula odorata), the shepherd's rod {Dipsacus pilosus), the tansy [Tanacetum vulgare), the Canterbury bell {Campanula Trachelium), the yellow bird's-nest {Hypopitys Monotropa), the yellow-wort {Blackstonia or Chlora perfoliata), the periwinkle {Vinca minor), the henbane [Hyoscyamus niger), the speedwell {Veronica officinalis), the cow-wheat {Melampyrum pratense), the lousewort {Pedicularis sylvatica), the white-flowered bugle {Ajuga reptans f. alba), the gromwell {Lithospermum officinale), the 72
