p dingle in the midst of a large field
about which there has been a law-suit for some years past; the nearest
town five miles distant, and only a few huts and hedge public-houses in
the neighbourhood;' {0w} and Borrow speaks of it as 'a deep hollow in the
midst of a wide field; the shelving sides overgrown with trees and
bushes, a belt of sallows surrounding it on the top, and a steep winding
path leading down into the depths.' {0x} It was surrounded by a copse of
thorn bushes, {0y} and the mouth of the dingle fronted the east, {0z}
while the highroad lay too far distant for the noise of traffic to reach
Borrow's ears. {0z1}

Professor Knapp has located the dingle in Monmer Lane, Willenhall, and a
visit to the locality and references to old and new ordnance surveys
support this view. Willenhall lies in the coal measures of
Staffordshire, and the modern development of its coal and iron industries
has transformed the 'few huts and hedge public-houses' into a thriving
town of about 17,000 inhabitants. The name of 'Mumpers' Dingle' did not
seem to be locally recognised, and, indeed, was scornfully repudiated by
the oldest inhabitant; but this may have been merely his revenge for my
intrusion just about his dinner hour. But Monmer Lane, still pronounced
and in the older ordnance surveys written 'Mumber Lane,' is known to all.
At the top of this lane on the east side of the bridge lies the 'Monmer
Lane Ironworks,' which Professor Knapp, a little carelessly, assumes to
have been the site of the dingle; {0z2} and to the west a large flat,
bare, uncultivated piece of land, Borrow's 'plain,' cut in two by the
Bentley Canal, which runs through it east and west. A walk of 500 yards
along the tow-path brings us to a small bridge crossing the canal. This
is known as 'Dingle Bridge,' the little hawthorn-girt lane leading to it
is called 'Dingle Lane,' and a field opposite bears the name of 'Dingle
Piece.' The dingle itself has disappeared, possibly as a consequence of
levelling operations in the construction of the canal, and must not be
hastily identified by the pilgrim with the adjoining marl-pit, which has
been excavated still more recently. But we can hardly doubt that
somewhere hereabouts is the historic spot where Borrow fought and
vanquished the Flaming Tinman, that here he lived with Miss Berners 'in
an uncertificated manner,' that under an adjoining thorn-bush he held his
astounding conversation with Ursula, and that f