There is a
library in the castle, to which Dr. Sharp, one of the trustees, bequeathed,
in 1792, the whole of his own collection, valued at more than 800_l_.; the
books are lent gratuitously to any householder, of good report, residing
within twenty miles of Bamborough, and to any clergyman, Roman Catholic
priest, or dissenting minister within the said distance. There is an
infirmary also in the castle, of which the average annual number of
in-patients is about thirty-five--of out-patients above one thousand. There
is an ample granary, from whence, in time of scarcity, the poor are
supplied on low terms. Twice a week the poor are supplied with meal, at
reduced prices, and with groceries at prime cost; and the average number
of persons who partake this benefit is about one thousand three hundred in
ordinary times, in years of scarcity very many more. To sailors on that
perilous coast Bamborough Castle is what the Convent of St. Bernard is to
travellers in the Alps. Thirty beds are kept for shipwrecked sailors; a
patrol for above eight miles (being the length of the manor) is kept along
the coast every stormy night; signals are made; a life-boat is in
readiness at Holy Island, and apparatus of every kind is ready for
assisting seamen in distress;--wrecked goods are secured and stored, the
survivors are relieved, the bodies that are cast on shore are decently
interred.
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