flows intermittently along the
fertile bottom. The afternoon sunshine floods the pleasant landscape
with a genial glow, and throws long blue shadows under the trees of the
park surrounding Boynton Hall, the seat of the Stricklands. The family
has been connected with the village for several centuries, and some of
their richly-painted and gilded monuments can be seen in the church.
One of these is to Sir William Strickland, Bart., and another to Lady
Strickland, his wife, who was a sister of Sir Hugh Cholmley, the
gallant but unfortunate defender of Scarborough Castle during the Civil
War. In his memoirs Sir Hugh often refers to visits paid him by "my
sister Strickland."

After passing Thorpe Hall the road goes up to the breezy spot,
commanding wide views, where the little church of Rudstone stands
conspicuously by the side of an enormous monolith. Although the church
tower is Norman, it would appear to be a recent arrival on the scene in
comparison with the stone. Antiquaries are in fairly general agreement
that huge standing stones of this type belong to some very remote
period, and also that they are "associated with sepulchral purposes";
and the fact that they are usually found in churchyards would suggest
that they were regarded with a traditional veneration.

The road past the church drops steeply down into the pretty village,
and, turning northwards, takes us to the bend of the valley, where
North Burton lies, which we passed earlier in the day; so we go to the
left, and find ourselves at Kilham, a fair-sized village on the edge of
the chalk hills. Like Rudstone and a dozen places in its neighbourhood,
Kilham is situated in a district of extraordinary interest to the
archaeologist, the prehistoric discoveries being exceedingly numerous.
Chariot burials of the Early Iron Age have been discovered here, as
well as large numbers of Neolithic implements. There is a beautiful
Norman doorway in the nave of the church, ornamented with chevron
mouldings in a lavish fashion. Far more interesting than this, however,
are the fonts in the two villages of Cottam and Cowlam, lying close
together, although separated by a thinly-wooded hollow, about five
miles to the west. Cottam Church and the farm adjoining it are all that
now exists of what must once have been an extensive village. In the
church is a Norman font of cylindrical form, covered with the
wonderfully crude carvings of that period. There are six subjects, the
most r