REPOR,T OF THE MEETINGS FOE 1899 71 



improved by Lord Delaval, wlio cut a passage through the 

 solid rock 900 feet long, 54 feet deep, and 30 feet wide.* 

 Up to about the end of the last century considerable 

 quantities of coal and bottles were exported. But the place 

 has long since fallen into decay, owing to the improvements 

 and increased facilities afforded by the adjoining ports of 

 the Tyne and Blyth. It is stated that Sir Walter Scott 

 borrowed his description of the port of Ellangowan, in 

 " Guy Mannering," from the port of Seaton.f Sir Walter 

 also alludes to the hall in " JMarmion,"! 



And now the vessel skirts the strand 

 Of mountainoQS Northaraberland. 



They marked amidst her trees the hall 

 Of lofty Seaton Delaval— 



although the hall had not replaced the ancient castle at the 

 period at which " Marmion," is laid. 



The Monk's Stone, near to Tynemouth, is nothing more 

 than the remains of an ancient cross, upon the pedestal 

 of which was this idle inscription : — " Horror to Kill a 

 man for a Piges Head." This motto Mr Grose, with con- 

 siderable hesitation, attributes to a liquorish monk of the 

 cell of Tynemouth, who, strolling to Seaton Delaval, cut 

 off a pig's head from the spit, and made the best of his 

 way homeward with it. " Mr Delaval, on his return from 



I * cf. Arch. Ml., Vol. xii., pp. 221 and 227. 



t " They .... found a very small harboor, partly formed by nature, 

 partly by the indefatigable labour of the ancient inhabitants of the 

 castle, who .... had found it essential for the protection of their 

 boats and small craft, though it could not receive vessels of any 

 burden. The two points of rock, which formed the access, approached 



each other so nearly that only one vessel could enter at a time 



A ledge of rock had, by the assistance of the chisel and pickaxe, 

 been formed into a sort of quay. The rock was of extremely hard 



consistence, and the task so difficult, that a labourer who 



wrought at the work mij^ht in the evening have carried home in 

 his bonnet all the shivers which he had struck from the mass in 

 the course of the day." — Scott, Guy Mannering, cap. 40. 

 X Marmion, canto ii., T[ viii. 



