ST ALDHELM'S HEAD 87 



Cathedral likewise, and Romsey Abbey, and the 

 Temple Church in London, and many another stately 

 shrine. Indeed, as Sir Frederick Treves truly says : 

 " There can hardly be a cathedral in the south of 

 England, or a self-respecting church, castle, or manor 

 house, that owes not some beauty in mason's work to 

 ' Purbeck marble ' shipped from Swanage." Many, 

 too, of the mediaeval marble effigies, which add so 

 much to the beauty and interest of our churches, were 

 executed in marble from the Isle of Purbeck. So with 

 the coarser strata. The stone was used abundantly in 

 the rebuilding of London after the fire of 1666, especi- 

 ally in the erection of St Paul's Cathedral, and until 

 quite recent years was largely employed in paving 

 streets and courtyards. 



In olden times the lonely line of cliffs between 

 Durlston Head and St Aldhelm's was the haunt of many 

 a rare bird now, alas ! extinct, or almost so, in the 

 south of England. Among these must be reckoned the 

 raven, the chough and the peregrine falcon. Forty 

 years ago the raven was not an uncommon bird in the 

 Isle of Purbeck. It built regularly on the white chalk 

 cliffs above Studland and on the magnificent headland 

 of St Aldhelm's. For centuries, too, it had bred at 

 Corfe Castle. In an old manuscript diary, under date 

 1638, when the stronghold stood in all its glory, we find 

 the following entry : " Raven bred in Corfe Castell at 

 Christmas and did kill yonge lambs to feed 5 younge 

 ones w'h he had ; W. Brown ye keeper did kill yose 5 

 younge Ravenes." As late as 1857 the ravens con- 

 tinued to haunt the ruins, in which year they brought 

 off their young in the " ivy-tower," and some seasons 

 later they nested in safety at St Aldhelm's Head. 



