m 



i 



110 Mr. Tate on the Geology and Archceology of Beadnell. 



tempest-beaten Fame had its cell and chapel ; and tradition 

 says, that St. Ebba and St. Helen built churches on lofty 

 headlands on the Berwickshire coast — the one on St. Abbs 

 Head and the other near to Siccar Point ; but of these early 

 structures there are no remains. Indeed, with very rare ex- 

 ceptions, the Saxon erections have perished. Many of them 

 were of wood, and consequently soon decayed ; those, which 

 were of stone, fell beneath the corroding power of time, or were 

 swept away by the ruthless hand of war, which repeatedly 

 ravaged Northumberland. The remains of the chapel on 

 Ebbs Nook possess no distinctive mark of a Saxon building ; 

 doubtless it is small and rude in structure, but these charac- 

 ters belong to all periods. When I first visited it, I saw a 

 portion of the head of the north door, which has however 

 since then disappeared ; and I considered, that the curve in it 

 was a part not of a rounded but of a pointed arch. While 

 therefore it is probable, that in Saxon times a chapel stood 

 here, it may be, to attract especially the devotions, vows, and 

 offerings of seamen, that first structure has entirely disappear- 

 ed, and the remains now on Ebbs Nook belong to an edifice, 

 which had been erected not earlier than the thirteenth century. 



Catalogue of the Land and Fresh-water MoUusca found in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of Alnwick, in Northum- 

 berland. By Geo. Ralph Tate, M.D., Royal Artillery. 



The following catalogue of land and fresh-water mollusca 

 is the result of observations made, in the neighbourhood of 

 Alnwick, during the months of August, September, and 

 October 1857. From the short space of time devoted to this 

 interesting branch of natural history, many species have 

 doubtless escaped observation, and especially those inhabiting 

 our rivers, ponds, and ditches which have been but slightly 

 .examined. The genera zonites and helix have been more 

 particularly studied, and have in consequence yielded pro- 

 portionately a large number of species. 



Of planorbis, lin^a, and other fresh^water forms, there 

 are fewer in the district than in most parts of England ; this 

 is partly owing to the comparative absence of slow running 

 streams and low lying ponds. 



From the varied character of the country, the district is, on 

 the whole, favourable to the production of land shells. Large 

 traces of wood, watered by swift flowing streams, and present- 

 ing a beautiful alternation of hill and vale, afford a congenial 

 habitat for the shelter loving species. 



