32 REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1903 



the North, the usual skew in such cases being toward the 

 South. la the entrance porch, added in the Perpendicular 

 Period, are arranged several grave-covers ornamented with 

 elaborate crosses. Four of these have a sword in addition to 

 the cross, indicative of a man's burying-place, and one has 

 the shears or scissors, suggestive of a woman's. After a cordial 

 acknowledgment of the Vicar's kindness, the members made 

 a minute examination of the building, and thereafter repaired 

 to the Vicarage to view that portion of it which is fortified 

 after the manner of those of Witton and Elsdon in the same 

 county, for the purpose of defence against the inroads of the 

 Scots. 



A distance of about two miles separates Embleton village 



from the historic ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle. 

 Route to The road from the North lies along a pleasant 

 Dunstan^ lane by the side of Embleton Burn and past 

 burgh. the farm of Danstan Steads, the tenant of which, 



Mr J. S. Fawcus, along with Dr Waterson, 

 Embleton, afforded the party every opportunity of becoming 

 acquainted with the local objects of interest. On the way 

 to the Castle a stretch of links, on which the Burnetleaved 

 Rose (Rosa spinosissima) and the Bloody Cranesbill (Geranium 

 sanguineum) flourish abundantly, has to be traversed, and 

 along its varied surface were discovered Parsley Water Drop- 

 wort (CEnanthe Lachenalii) and common Pepper Saxifrage 

 (Silaus pratensis), together with a number of the more 

 common plants of the locality. 



As the examination of the fortress and the basaltic rock 



on which it stands would occupy a considerable 

 Saddle space of time, and tax the endurance of many 



Rock. who had made an early start from home, a halt 



was called on the shore at an outcrop of lime- 

 stone (so strangely shaped as to present the appearance of an 

 enormous saddle), for the twofold purpose of listening to a 

 descriptive account of its origin and formation by Mr Goodchild, 

 and of partaking of lunch, as each had made provision. The 

 theory commonly advanced regarding it is, that in a remote 

 age two molten streams of rock collided with each other, and 

 in the collision occasioned this peculiar upheaval, whose ridge 

 has suggested the name by which it is familiarly known. 



