REPORT OF MfiETtNGS FOR 1906 tA 



North end of Coxon's Lane. From this narrow tunnel the 

 ground-floor of the building is reached, where, after the 

 removal of upwards of three feet of soil and rubbish, the 

 ancient gun-platforms have been revealed, laid parallel to 

 the main line of fortifications for the purpose of enfilading or 

 raking the curtains in case of an attempted escalade. These 

 platforms appear unnecessarily strong for the size of the 

 guns then in use; but from the discovery of several 10 inch 

 mortar-shells, it is believed they were fitted for mortar- 

 batteries also. Opposite the embrasures was a covered 

 portion communicating by a well-preserved staircase with a 

 guard-chamber, whence a sentry could communicate with 

 the Flanker next to it. The masonry has suffered greatly 

 from neglect, but the face-stones that remain owe their 

 origin apparently to the ashlar-work of the old Edwardian 

 walls, limestone being the constituent of the more modern 

 Elizabethan work. It was explained that the system adopted 

 by the Italian engineers at first employed on the fortifi- 

 cations, was known as the "Bastion and Curtain" system, 

 that is, projecting angular batteries connected by long walls 

 called "Curtains." The first cities so defended were Lucca, 

 Verona, and Antwerp ; and with them Berwick may be 

 associated, as Queen Elizabeth engaged a force of foreign 

 workmen to bring that sea-port, then deemed of immense 

 strategical importance, into line with up-to-date fortifications 

 elsewhere. Nowhere else in the United Kingdom is this 

 method to be seen. The second Flanker visited is annexed 

 to the Brass Mount Casemate, where a similar arrange- 

 ment of gun-platforms survives, together with a two-storied 

 covered portion, in which an opening for the sentry's outlook 

 can be seen, as well as an immense beam which had 

 originally supported the floor of the second chamber. A 

 doorway leads out into the open, where a handsome tunnelled 

 way, leading through the width of the curtain-wall into the 

 burial-place of the Parish Church, supplies an enigma for 

 antiquarian solution. It is much wider and loftier than 

 those leading to the bastions, and suggests a means of 

 egress for troops from the garrison. Such an explanation 

 was hazarded on the ground that a covered way nearer the 

 sea still exists, which seems to have been used fur the 



