Bamburgh Parish Church, by the Rev. W. Darnell. 325 



Sparrow-hawk, however, was called a musket, from moschetto 

 or musquito, a small stinging fly or gnat; and on the 

 introduction of fire-arms, the term was transferred to the 

 weapon which replaced the pike in the hands of the common 

 soldier, which he now calls — or did call, before the days of 

 of the Enfield and Snyder — Brown Bess. The rapid flight 

 of the noble birds, also caused the transfer of their names to 

 the earlier descriptions of ordnance guns ; so that the first 

 5-pounders were called sakers, and the 3-pounders falcons, 

 from which the Impounder was termed a falconet. 



The Ancient Parish Church at Bamburgh. By the Rev. 

 William Darnell, M.A., Vicar. (Read at the Club's 

 Meeting in July, 1872.) 



Tt would be impossible, if I was even able, to give any- 

 thing like a history of this famous Church establishment, or 

 to note its progress from the foundation to the present day, 

 — especially in the pages of the Proceedings of a Club which 

 professes not to enter so deeply into such matters. 



It has often been stated, in various parts of these Proceed- 

 ings, that it would be more in accordance with the duties of 

 the members to note down facts from time to time, which 

 may be useful to future historians ; and this is my motive 

 on the present occasion for troubling the Club with a slight 

 account of this Church. 



In the first place, I may note that the Parish is co-exten- 

 sive with the Shire of Bamburgh, comprising all the Town- 

 ships and Chapelries of this extensive Parish, including that 

 of Belford, now a parish by reputation. The Chapelries 

 were Beadnell, Tuggal, Lucker, and Warenton. I refer to 

 the Histories of the County by Wallis, Hutchinson, Mac- 

 kenzie, Hodgson, Raine, and the late Mr Sidney Gibson ; 

 and also to the paper read by Mr Dickson, one of our 

 members, at this meeting, which will be published in our 

 Proceedings. See also the account of the " Churches of 

 Lindisfarne," by Mr F. R. Wilson. 



The original Church of Bamburgh dates from a very early 

 period. It is dedicated to St. Aidan, first a monk of Iona, 

 who, at the request of Oswald, King of Northumberland, 



