290 pkesident's address. 



martial scene in those stormy times. Later it became a Royal 

 castle and was governed by an officer appointed by the Crown, 

 until, in the reign of James I., it was granted to Claudius Forster, 

 and remained in the possession of the family until the political 

 disturbances of 1715, when, on account of the part General For- 

 ster took, it was forfeited. It was afterwards purchased of the 

 Government Commissioners for forfeited estates (together with 

 the rest of the estates of the Forsters) by Lord Crewe, Bishop of 

 Durham, whose wife was aunt to the General. The Bishop died 

 on the 18th of September, 1722, without children, and left his 

 large property in the hands of trustees for certain pious and cha- 

 ritable uses which he specified, and directed that the surplus 

 should be applied to such charitable purposes as the trustees 

 should from time to time direct. In the exercise of this power, 

 besides the sums applied in different parts of the country to 

 church and educational uses, there is a large sum applied in the 

 neighbourhood of Bambro' itself, in affording to the poor, under 

 judicious regulations, education, clothing, food, medical attend- 

 ance, coals, &c., in giving warning, by various means, to ships 

 in bad weather, enabling them often to avoid the risks of this 

 dangerous neighbourhood, and in succouring those who have been 

 wrecked ; and, notwithstanding the outcry which in the fashion 

 of the day has been raised against the trustees, they appear on 

 the whole to have fulfilled their trust well and to have carried 

 out satisfactorily what it may be presumed would have been in 

 harmony with the wishes of the benevolent founder of this noble 

 charity. 



Until recently certain apartments of the castle were occupied 

 as a residence during part of the year by the trustees in turn ; 

 the means of partly keeping in repair and restoring the building 

 were provided by Dr. Sharp (an early trustee), who for this pur- 

 pose invested a certain sum out of his private property. There 

 are various objects of interest in the castle, some portraits, a 

 valuable library, a collection of arms, formerly used by the re- 

 tainers, and a curious well one hundred and fifty feet deep, passing 

 through the basaltic rock and into the sandstone below. The 

 view from the roof of the keep is magnificent in its extent and 



