gb0551ms-36-2-90

Transcription

[Page] 90
[Continued from page 88]

ridge at the North Western extremity of Coldingham
Common. It is encircled by a single rampart of
earth and stone supplemented on the S. [South] side where the
ground is level, by a ditch. It measures from
crest to crest internally 145 ft x 102 ft. [145 feet x 102 feet]. The ditch is
20 ft. [feet] across and the rampart low except at
one point at the N.W. [North West] where abutting on an out:
:crop of rock it is about 4 ft. [feet] high. The whole
is covered with a thick growth of heather. The
position of the entrance is not quite evident.
Driving on to Dowlaw farm we walked thence to

Fast Castle
Fast Castle. To the description (Notes p. [page] 41) there is
nothing really to add. The remains of masonry which
must have encircled the edge of the promontory are
still visible for a few feet in height at the top of
the precipitous cliffs on the W. [West] side. This is
one of the most picturesque places I have visited.
The steep banks that slope up from the
top of the cliffs that here margin the ocean are
just now purple with heather and the cornfields
behind them are golden, almost ripe for harvest.
Against the blue sea on the summit of a promon:
:tory, so lofty & narrow that a false step might at
any moment launch you into eternity, stand up
the few crumbling remnants of Fast Castle.

25th Augt.
The weather has broken down and as I
do not yet feel strong enough to do a good

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