Following on from Wilson's notes about the ruins, published in the Mercury in 1860, a correspondent from Canada sent a letter to the editor of the newspaper:
"Mount Healy, Canada West, 31 October 1860
Sir, I was surprised when Mr Wilson's paper on the ruins of Chibburn met my eye in this month's number of the Mercury. I have known the place since 1809, it was then known as Low Chibburn, and farmed by John Brown. I went there to harvest in 1815, it was then farmed by Robert Latimer and his son James. I mind the place well. The farm house was a low, long, two story building, with two doors in front, and covered with large grey slates, each held on by a sheep's shank bone.
The beams of the house were of large black oak, which we thought had not come far, as there were stumps to be seen at low water abut due east from the place. There was a ditch from the sea to a very near stable, with water in it at all times, being kept up by a rivulet that passed the place.
The stable was what had been the chapel. Not knowing of the hospitallers, and seeing its Gothic doors and windows, with no indication of its ever having a steeple, we had strange conjectures what it could have been used for, but thanks to the Mercury for making all plain."
JOHN DONALDSON
|