Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/36

 [ 24 ]

by Penda, the king of Mercia whose powers of de- struction were able to wrap the former in ruin, but were baffled by the rocky strength of thelatter. From being the residence of the Northumbrian kings, it became a chief fortress of the earls of that county; but was forced from them in 1095, by William Rufus, who formally besieged, and after much dif- ficulty took the place. In the crown it continued till the reign of James I. who granted it to John Forster. The bill of attainder that dispossessed his descendant Thomas of his property in 17 15, again vested Bamborough-Ca3tIe in the Crown, from whence it was purchased by Thomas's ma- tcrnal uncle, Nathaniel Crewe Bishop of Durham. This was the crra when the true dignity of our for- tress commenced; when bidding adieu to every purpose connected with war and defiance, it opened its portals to the children of distress, and offered itself for a refuge from the storms of heaven, and the horrors o^ the deep. The sunken rocks and shifting sands of this coast had been a terror to the mariner for ages, and every successive w liter be- held a long 1st of victims to their widely-spreading, but concealed m'schief. Nathaniel Baron Crewe, who w:^ made Bishop of Durham in 1674, and appe : 'to have been raised by Providence to the high d'gniry for the diffusion of happiness amongst

�� �