254 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1908 



engineers, she superseded the Edwardian with the new system 

 of Bastion and Curtain fortification, which had already been 

 established at Antwerp, Lucca, and Verona, at the same time 

 reducing considerably the area of circumvallation. From Meg's 

 Mount to King's Mount, that is on the sea side, the walls were 

 constructed of rubble, in great measure from the old Edwardian 

 Wall, faced with large and well-laid blocks of hewn limestone 

 from the adjacent coast, backed with earth. Outside was a 

 moat, wide and deep, containing a secondary ditch which was 

 supplied with water from the Tapee Loch, upon the site of 

 which the North British Railway engine sheds and coal 

 depot now stand. To understand one important feature of 

 the military value of a Bastion, it must be explained that 

 the line of wall between its shoulder and the wall which 

 connects two Bastions (the Curtain) is called the Flank, and 

 when that Flank is recessed next the Curtain, a Retired 

 Flank is formed, or Flanker — a very old, indeed the original, 

 designation, though except at Berwick, where its survival is 

 an interesting link with ancient times, it has become obsolete. 

 The use of a Flanker, in which guns were mounted, was 

 to rake or enfilade the space between it and the adjoining 

 Bastion, so as to prevent an escalade of the Curtain by an 

 enemy. The importance of Flankers in the scheme of forti- 

 fication was clearly very great, when we consider the thorough, 

 elaborate, and expensive manner of their construction, entrance 

 into them being obtained from the town side by long tunnels 

 of stone and brick. The internal arrangements are of a 

 uniform pattern : platforms and embrasures for two guns, 

 various arched recesses, and an elevated sentry box or guard 

 station, reached by a spiral stone staircase. No doubt, in 

 the event of action, an officer would occupy these "coigns 

 of vantage" in order to direct the fire of the guns. All 

 the Bastions are lined with ashlar work (smooth facing 

 sandstones) from the old Edwardian Wall, the difference 

 between them and the contiguous Elizabethan limestone being 

 at once apparent. Until the Berwick Historic Monuments' 

 Committee was constituted these Flankers were filled up with 

 3 or 4 feet of earth, and used as kitchen gardens. The 

 best preserved and most complete example is the Cumberland 

 Flauljjer East, which must be of very considerable interest 



