REPORTS OF MEETINGS FOR 1911 247 



On leaving the Head a charming view was obtained of the bold 

 and rugged coast stretching Westward to Dowlaw, and attention 

 was drawn to the new "measured mile," approved by the Admir- 

 alty for testing the speed of vessels built on the Tyne. Leaving 

 Lloyd's station on the left, and descending to " The Ramparts," 

 a precipitous peninsula at the entrance to the Forth, the 

 members viewed the remains of a building, measuring 72ft. 

 in length by 2lft. in breadth, inseparably connected with the 



name of St. Ebba. It stands on the edge of 

 Church of the cliff, and though consisting of little more 

 St. Ebba. than foundations is distinctly traceable. The 



connection of the Saint with this building may 

 be doubtful ; but it is at least certain that about the middle of 

 the 7th century she presided as Abbess over a double convent in 

 the neighbourhood, consisting of separate communities of 

 men and women. ^ According to the Breviary of Aberdeen, 

 her oratory was rebuilt in 1188, and it is possible that 

 the existing remains belong to it. In his description of them, 

 Mr George Tate, Alnwick, remarks that there is a door in 

 the South-West cornei*, and there appears to have been a flight 

 of steps from the exterior into the church of about three feet in 

 height. Another door opened from the North about eleven 

 feet from the West end. The peculiarity of both churches 

 (including the one farther East, whose foundations may be traced 

 on the Kirk Hill) is the chancel, which was a small recess 

 of square form at the South-East corner, being about twelve 

 feet in breadth, or about half the width of the church, and 

 eight and a half feet long. This, he believed, was an unusual 

 arrangement. To the West of the church are obscure remains 

 of other buildings which had probably been the inhabited 

 portion of the convent. Few, if any, records throw light on 

 the history of these edifices.^ From an opening in the outcrop 

 of porphyry on which the church stood, a fine range of rock 

 is observable, fantastic portions of which rear themselves 

 abruptly from the sea, one on the West bounding a stupendous 



*Ber. Nat. Club, Vol. xiii., p. 105. 

 9Ber, Nat. Club, Vol. v., pp 129-130. 



