REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1907 139 



noteworthy also that in the year 1174j on the occasion of 

 the invasion of England by William the Lion of Scotland, 

 a division of the army under Earl Duncan burnt Warkworth, 

 and put to death a multitude of men, women, and children, 

 who had taken refuge within this church of St. Lawrence. 

 Corroboration of this merciless slaughter may be found, as 

 suggested by Rev. J. W. Dunn in his valuable contribution 

 to the Proceedings entitled : — " Warkworth — its Castle, Her- 

 mitage, and Church,"*' in the fact that in the course of the 

 alterations made during his incumbency an unusual number 

 of human bones in an advanced state of decay were unearthed 

 within the building. 



Before leaving the church the vicar called attention to a 

 number of objects of interest which he had laid out to view 

 in the vestry, and was cordially thanked, on the motion of 

 Mr Boyd, for the interest he had manifested in the visit 

 of the Club, and the fulness of the information afforded 

 regarding the history of this venerable building. Proceeding 

 along the main street of the town, which on account of its 

 steep and hollow character is bordered with high and irregular 

 pavements such as are noticeable in the Lawnmarket, Edin- 

 burgh, the members faced the rising ground whereon stands the 

 artistically perfect keep of the Castle of Warkworth. Passing 

 below it by the public road to Amble, from which a fine view 

 of the curtain-wall, and especially of the semi-octagonal tower, 

 with its five cross-loops — adapted for the use of the cross-bow — 



known in 1609 as the Grey Mare's Tail, was 

 Warkworth obtained, they crossed the surrounding pasture 

 Castle. and entered by the great gate-house tower on 



the South, where Mr J. C. Hodgson, F.S.A., 

 Alnwick, received them at noon. In spite of existing traces 

 of warlike days which distinguish this imposing gateway, such 

 as the corbels on its front face supporting machicolations 

 which threatened the approach of strangers, and arrow-slits on 

 the walls within, cunningly devised to arrest their further 

 progress, a peaceful welcome was extended to the party as 

 they gained entrance to the courtyard, where by means of 

 diagrams the plan of the Castle and the precise purpose of 



* Ber. Nat, Club, Vol. v., pp. 42-57, 



