Amucersartj Address. 127 



Tlie first Presbyterian Minister after the Eo volution \mi8 Mr. 

 John Dysart ; he was forced on the unwilling parishioners, who 

 were chiefly staunch Episcopalians, by the military in 1694, their 

 own clergyman continuing to officiate in a barn. 



Leaving the Priory, the jjarty proceeded to St. Abb's Head and 

 Coldingham Loch, under the guidance of Mr. Heriot of Northfield, 

 who kindly accompanied them. The beauty and colou.ring 

 of this bold and picturesque coast, enhanced as it was by bril- 

 liant sunshine and a clear smooth sea, afforded such a series of 

 pictures as are not to be rivalled. The extraordinary contortions 

 of the Silurian strata which form part of these precipitous heights 

 have long attracted the attention, and supplied materials for spec- 

 xilation to some of our most eminent geologists. They extend 

 from Siccar Point to Burnmouth, on each side of the igneous 

 rocks which are intruded about St. Abb's Head. Per the follow- 

 ing valuable notes on this interesting sea wall, I am indebted to 

 Mr. Tate, who had set out from Coldingham at an early hour : — 



" Tempted by the fineness of the morning, I started very early, 

 under the guidance of Mr. Wilson of Coldingham, to ramble over 

 the neighbourhood, and more especially to examine the rocks and 

 antiquities of St. Abb's Head. Coldingham stands on porphjrry, 

 (a fire-formed rock), which ranges from the Eye water to the 

 north side of Coldingham sands. This rock is seen in the Eye, 

 and it forms cliffs in the narrow glen in which Cole Burn flows. 

 The bold headland of St. Abb's is also porphyry, which extends 

 from Coldingham sands northward about two miles to Petticowick 

 Cove, forming a promontory jutting into the sea ; and more effect- 

 ually resisting the wasting action of the German ocean, than the 

 softer greywacke rocks, which it has pierced through and uplifted. 

 The porphyry is usually of a reddish colour, having a claystone 

 base, through which are scattered a few crystals of felspar ; at the 

 north end it is amygdaloidal, and not unfrequently contains green 

 earth ; in the more southern parts amygdaloidal tufa occurs. This 

 promontory consists of four hills separated from each other by 

 what are here called " nicks" or high valleys. The same term is 

 used to designate similar valleys in the basaltic range in south 

 Northumberland, which is crested with the Eoman wall ; there 

 we have the " Nine Nicks of Thirl wall." The most southerly and 

 lowest of St. Abb's hills is the Castle Hill, named so from the 

 resemblance presented by the rocks to a ruined castle ; the Kirk 

 Hill follows, next is Harelaw, and the largest and boldest is the 

 Headland. Some parts of the rock are softer than others, especially 



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