Anniversary Address. 47 



Continuing the drive to Dunstanburgh, and alighting at 

 the foot of the rocky eminence on which it stands, the party 

 proceeded to explore the ruins of the fortress, and then seating 

 themselves on the broken fragments or reclining on the green 

 sward in the great court under the shade of the lofty gate- 

 house, listened to a memoir read by Mr. Geo. Tate, descriptive 

 of the building and its fortunes from its foundation in 1313, 

 and of the barony of Embleton to which it was attached, 

 together with notices of the geology of its site, and of an old 

 legend connected with it, which has been celebrated by a 

 local poet, James Service, of Chatton. 



Having completed their survey of this interesting remnant 

 of feudal times, the party walked along the rocky shore to 

 Ho wick, examining the instructive geological section presented 

 by it, the distinctive features of which were pointed out by 

 Mr. Tate. 



" Dunstanburgh stands on the Basaltic whin sill, which 

 ranges northward by Embleton, Newton, Bamburgh, and 

 Belford, to Kyloe, and southward by Craster to Cullernose, 

 where it leaves the coast and pursues a south-westward 

 course, by Howick hall, Ratcheugh, and Greensfield, to the 

 extremity of the county at Glenwhelt. This basalt rises in 

 rude columns in some parts, as at Cullernose, 100 feet in 

 height ; its relation to the stratified rocks is seen at Dunstan- 

 burgh, where it overlies sandstones, shales, limestones, and 

 coal of the Mountain Limestone formation ; and patches of 

 metamorphosed shales and sandstones also appear above it. 

 A singular mass of limestone is in the Rumble-churn partly 

 enveloped in the basalt, and converted into white crystalline 

 marble. Great displacements of strata at Cullernose evidence 

 the mechanical effect of this basaltic eruption. From Culler- 

 nose southward there is a good section of the characteristic 

 beds of the calcareous division of the Mountain Limestone. 

 Among the numerous fossils are curious marine worms in 

 sandstone, which were examined with much interest, and 

 trilobites, which have been described by Mr. Tate * A small 



• Proc. of Ber. Nat. Club., Vol. III. 234, Vol, IV. 163-107. 



