Journal of the British Archaeological Association Volume 9 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...to the castle he was writing about. This is made clear by Gibson, in the additions to Camden, in the second edition of his translation, where he thus describes Dunstanburgh:2 1 Lib. iv, p. 80. 2 Vol. iii, p. 258, Ed. 1789. The original edition by Camden is not dated. " Dunstaneborough, two miles beyond Howick hard on the sea shore, stands on a high stone rock. The Castle is more than half a mile in compass, and there hath been great building in it Leland, vii, 76. It covers an eminence of four or five acres sloping to the sea, and within its area is said to have produced 240 Winchester bushels of corn besides several loads of hay. A kind of spar is found here called Dunstan-hurgh diamonds, said to rival that of St. Vincent's Rock, near Bristol." And Mr. Wallis, in his History of the Antiquities of Northumberland, adds to this description: " That it stands on an eminence edged to the north and north-west with precipices in the form of a crescent, by the western termination of which are three natural stone pyramids of a considerable height, and by the eastern one an opening in the rocks made by the sea, under a frightful precipice called Rumble Churn, from the breaking of the waves in tempestuous weather and high seas. Above this is the main entrance, and by it the ruins of the chapel: at the south-west corner is the draw-well, partly filled up. It is built with whin and rag-stone." The Castle, with the manor, was the seat and estate of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, a younger son of King Henry III. From him it devolved to his son and heir, Thomas, who in the 9th Edward II obtained a licence from the King to crenelate or fortify his manor house; and accordingly about that time built this Castle. This Earl Thomas, by the union of the four...