418 Rev. J. W. Dunn on the Ancient Vill of Warkworth. 



some of his neighbours assert that the earth was a moveable 

 body. He was an in-kneed sort of character, and fond of 

 deciding questions for himself. And so, without making 

 much ado about his unbelief, he went, under the shadow of 

 night, to the church gates, and in front of them he planted 

 his walking stick deep in mother earth. This was to be his 

 crucial test. He returned early the next morning, and, find- 

 ing the stick just as he had left it the night before, he de- 

 cided finally and for ever against Galileo of old, and declared 

 in the face of all opponents that the earth was as much a fix- 

 ture as the everlasting hills. 



In the churchyard may be seen three stone coffins, two of 

 which were found during the extensive church repairs of 

 1860. One of these was lying about four feet below the sur- 

 face, on the north side of the church, and contained nothing 

 but earth, with the exception of an amorphous fragment of 

 red tile covering the usual perforation in the centre of such 

 coffins. The other was found resting on the flagged base of 

 the chancel when the accumulated soil about the outside wall 

 on the south front was removed. It had no cover, and was 

 consequently filled with soil, amongst which there lay ex- 

 tended a perfect skeleton, which crumbled to dust almost 

 before those who stood around it had time to take notice of 

 its presence. For some time I was unable to make out how 

 it could be that an interment so ancient should have been 

 made on what to all appearance must have been at so early a 

 period the exposed surface level. I now believe that its 

 original location was the interior of the chancel, and that the 

 coffin must have been removed to the place where it was 

 found to make room for another burial. 



The Parish of Warkworth is very extensive, and contains 

 many Townships, of which not the least noteworthy is that 

 of Acklington, now a separate ecclesiastical district. Many 

 years ago, certainly before the fairies of Northumberland were 

 lulled in eternal sleep beneath the moss-grown walls of Brenk- 

 burn, and, as I quite believe, long afterwards, all the old 

 wives of Acklington were regarded by the rest of the parish 

 of Warkworth as witches, and no person who had occasion to 

 visit that hamlet would have considered it prudent to enter 

 its dangerous borders without the protection of a sprig of 

 rowan tree in the hand. My informant, — alas ! no longer 

 surviving to verify my words, — well remembered as a child 

 having used this wise precaution. In addition to the rowan 

 twig, it was considered necessary, in order to ensure complete 



