54 Report of the Meetings for 1894. 



to Bamburgh. Several members had visited tbe Camps in the 

 vicinity, on the evening before this meeting, and they reported 

 that the Easington, Chesterhill, and Spindlestone Camps are 

 situated on low hills, with steeper side and rocks towards 

 the W. or S.W. They are oval in form, occupying about 

 an acre of ground, and were probably occupied by the 

 Romans as well as the Britons. 



On passing Budle sands, a courteous member recalled their 

 association with the local legend of the Laidley or Loathly 

 Worm, said to have been thrown into a poetic form by 

 Duncan Frasier, (1320), the Cheviot Bard; but wliich Mr 

 Cadwallader J. Bates pronounces "a stupid fabrication of last 

 century."* Before leaving Budle, we wished good luck to 

 our fellow-member, Major Browne, in his enterprising 

 experiment of Oyster culture there. 



At Waren Mouth, attention was drawn to the Port which 

 once existed, and of which the New County History says that 

 "the very recollection of its existence has now vanished from 

 the inhabitants of the district." Mr Hindmarsh, from the 

 results of personal enquiry, assures me that this statement is 

 incorrect. The Port of Waren seems to have been used 

 up to 1881. From information afforded by Mr Short, (the 

 present tenant of the Mills), Mr Philip Nairn, (the occupier 

 from 1822 to 1856), employed six vessels trading to and 

 from the port, and kept a steam tug to tow them in and out. 

 He imported wheat and other Baltic produce, and also brought 

 the former from other parts of the coast. Large quantities of 

 flour, barley, and oats were sent out in these vessels; and no 

 doubt before the construction of railways the position of Waren 

 Mills possessed great natural advantages. From 1858 shipping 

 was carried on — but to a less extent — in both wheat and oil 

 seeds, and the Flora drawing 10 feet of water, and with a 

 cargo of 700 quarters direct from Dantzic in December 1881, 

 was the last vessel to enter the port. 



It was not long before we entered Bamburgh by the Pilgrim 

 Road. The sanctity of the shrine at Holy Island, Lindisfarne, 

 invited troops of pilgrims in former days, and the annoyances 

 and perils of the pilgrimage were reduced here to a minimum by 

 local piety, which maintained an excellent road. 



* Dr Hardy's description in Proceedings, Vol. vi., p. 297. 



