ous ash-tree that
grows from the parapet. It has been there for many years, and I am told
that the roots have penetrated for a very great distance among the stones,
and may even be drawing their sustenance from the ground. In order to
prevent the undue growth of the tree, it is periodically cut down to one
branch, but even with this wholesale lopping the tree has forced many of
the stones from their original positions.

The interior of the church is a melancholy spectacle of churchwarden
methods, but probably Lockton will before many years receive that careful
restoration that has taken place at Ellerburne and Sinnington. The font is
one of those unadorned, circular basins which generally date from the
thirteenth century. One of the village inns is known as "The Durham Ox,"
and bears a sign adorned with a huge beast whose pensive but intelligent
eye looks down upon all passers-by. The village stocks that used to stand
outside the churchyard wall on the east side, near the present
schoolhouse, are remembered by the older inhabitants. They were taken away
about forty years ago. The few thatched cottages that remain in the
village are unfortunately being allowed to fall into disrepair, but this
is the case in most of the villages.

Newton, or, as its full name should be given, Newton-upon-Rawcliff, stands
on the verge of Newton Dale. Its small modern church has no interest for
the antiquary, but the broad roadway between the houses and the
whitewashed cottages thrown up against the strip of grass on either side
is picturesque enough.

Northwards from Newton lies the minute moorland hamlet of Stape, its
houses and its inn, "The Hare and Hounds," being perched indiscriminately
on the heather. Some miles beyond lies Goathland, that formerly belonged
to the parish of Pickering. The present church was built in 1895, but it
is here that the fine pre-Reformation chalice that originally belonged to
Pickering is still in use. The village has a large green overlooked here
and there by pretty cottages, and the proximity of the richly coloured
moorland scenery that lies spread out in every direction makes the place
particularly fascinating. The railway in the valley has brought a few new
houses to the village, but there seems little chance of any great
accretions of this nature, although the existence of the railway station
is a permanent menace to the rural character of the place.

Middleton, the hamlet immediately to the west of