An Account of Lesbury Parish, by Geo. Tate, F.G.S. 253 



have been cruciform ; and the structure to have been plain and 

 with little ornament ; the windows were narrow and round- 

 headed ; a door too with a round head is seen in the north corner 

 of the west gable, attached to which is a small low building, 

 which, however, may not be part of the original structure ; 

 though similar appendages are seen in the old chapels of Ebb's 

 Nook and the Earne. This chapel may therefore be of an early 

 Norman age. Wanton spoliation hastened its destruction ; John 

 Carr, gentleman, Ralph Carr, gentleman, and Edward Shepherd 

 were presented at the Archdeacon's Court in 1662, for taking 

 away the leads, the bells, and stones from Alnmouth Church ; 

 and Maria Moore, for taking down all the lead of the chancel 

 and other ornaments of the church. The principal bell was re- 

 moved from Alnmouth to Shawdon, about 1714, by Mr Brown, 

 who was owner of Shawdon ; and the principal owner of property 

 in Alnmouth ; it was used as the dinner bell at Shawdon ; but 

 when that house was destroyed by fire on May 27th, 1849, the 

 bell was melted.* 



After this, the chapel, uncared for and unprotected by man, 

 was left to its fate, the sport of winds and waves ; it stood a soli- 

 tary roofless ruin, near the edge of a cliff against which high 

 tides and stormy waves broke with ruthless violence, which de- 

 tached and carried away portions, time after time, till the worn 

 and wasted walls, tottering on the brink, were blown down by a 

 great gale on the Christmas day of 1806. 



The Church-yard was used as a burial place for the inhabitants 



of Alnmouth till the beginning of the present century. Yery few 



tomb-stones remain ; the oldest inscriptions are the following : — 



Here lieth the body of Eobert Long, who departed this 



life the 2d of March, 1726, aged 44 years. 



Here lieth the body of Eobert Eichardson, the son of 



Eobert Eichardson, mariner, who departed this life in October 



the 24 day, aged 22 years, 1747. 



Here lieth the Body of Thomas Eichardson, son of Eobert 



Eichardson, who departed this life the month February 



the 11 day, aged 34 years, 1748. 



[According to Mr Dickson's MS. in my copy of the History of 



[ * It is called " the bell of the turret clock." — Latimer's Local Records, 

 p. 261.] 



