1822.] Mr. Winch on the Gedlogy of Lindisfarn. 427 
feet at high water during spring tides, and is defended by a small 
castle* built upon a lofty basaltic rock. 
The part of the island, as coloured (Pl. XVIII), covered witl 
diluvium, is ina state of cultivation ; and though the soil be ligh: 
and much encumbered with stones, affords a good rent, the sea 
throwing up manure in abundance, and the demand for land tc 
grow potatoes being considerable. The uncultivated portion of 
the island consists of a range of sand hills, or links, slightly held 
together by the creeping rods of the sea lyme-grass, sea mat- 
grass, rushy wheat-grass, and sea carex, and is occupied as a 
rabbit warren. 
The ruins of the Abbey seem to be nearly in the same condi- 
tion as when drawn for the print in Grose’s Antiquities, vol. iv, 
. 117, and are secured in some degree from future dilapidation 
by buttresses having been recently erected to support the outer 
walls. ‘The masonry appears rude, yet the building has with- 
stood the frosts and tempests of many centuries. The sides of 
the walls alone are constructed with hewn stone; the inside is 
filled by fragments mixed with mortar: im the former instance, 
fine-grained red sandstone, with a few courses near the top of 
white sandstone, has been the material used; in the latter, 
basalt, limestone, sandstone, or whatever else could be collected 
from the sea beach. With the exception of the chancel, which 
is Gothic, this Abbey is of Saxon architecture, and appears to 
have served as a copy for the more magnificent cathedral at 
Durham. Its dimensions are: length, 138 feet; length of cross 
aisle, 70 feet; breadth of the body of the abbey, 18 feet ; breadtn 
of the two side aisles, 9 feet each. 
The monastery has been nearly demolished to afford mate- 
rials for the erection of the present church, though some idea 
may be formed of its size and figure from the ruins still left. 
In a geological point of view, Holy Island partakes of the 
nature of the neighbouring district, or is included in the encrinal 
limestone formation, which traverses England from the vicinity 
of the Tweed te Derbyshire. The rocky beds, associated with 
the limestone, consist of shale or slate clay, and red and white 
sandstones: their dip is south-east. Basalt in an unconforma- 
ble position also occurs, and these are in part covered with dilu- 
vium, and in part with sand drifted from the shoals lying to the 
north (see Plate). That the latter forms but a superficial cover- 
ing to the peninsula called the Snook is evinced by a pit having 
been sunk through it in search for coal; to what depth the miners 
penetrated I could not learn, but fragments of bituminous shale 
scattered about served to prove the nature of the substratum. 
While on the subject of alluvium, it may be right to notice, that 
the long shoal stretching from Goswick towards the north of the 
* Latitude of the castle, 55? 40-20’ N. ; longitude, 1° 46-38’ W. 
