Peter Allan was born at Selkirk (?) in the year 1798. His parents were peasants, and Peter in early life became valet to Mr. Williamson, brother of Sir Hedworth Williamson. He afterwards became gamekeeper to the Marquis of Londonderry, and in that capacity acquired a reputation as an unerring shot, and a man of unusual physical strength and courage. He afterwards married, and became a publican at Whitburn, and in the course of few years purchased a little property, and occupied himself in the superintendence of dock works and stone quarries. In this latter capacity he acquired the skill in quarrying, on which his fame chiefly rests. Having a turn for a romantic life, he conceived the strange project of founding a colony at Marsden, a wild, rocky bay below the mouth of the Tyne, five miles from Sunderland, and three from South Shields. The spot chosen by Peter as his future home had been colonised some years before by one "Jack the Blaster," who had performed a series of excavations, and amongst them a huge round perforation from the high land above to the beach below, through which it is said many a cargo has passed ashore without being entered in the books of the excise. Here the cliff is formed of hard magnesian limestone, and rises perpendicularly from the beach more than a hundred feet. When Peter set to work, the only habitable portions were two wild caves opening to the sea, into which at high tide the breakers tumbled, and where during rough weather it was impossible to continue with safety. On the face of the rock Peter built a homestead of timber, and set up farm and tavern. In the rock itself he excavated fifteen rooms, to each of which he gave an appropriate name; the most interesting are the "Gaol Room," the "Devil's Chamber," the "Circular Room," the "Dining Room," and the "Ball Room." The height of the entire excavation is twenty feet, its breadth thirty, and its length, from the ball room to the cottage, one hundred and twenty. Several parts of the cave are lighted by windows hewn in the face of the rock, and these give the cave a picturesque appearance as viewed frown the beach below. In addition to these labours, Peter took possession of a huge table-rock, which stands some distance from the cliffs opposite to the grotto. By dint of extraordinary exertions he excavated a passage from the land side of this rock through its substance to the surface, and by placing scaling ladders against its face, made provision for ascent and descent at high water. The three-quarters of an acre of surface he colonised with rabbits, and built a shanty for himself and companions, where they dwelt for some time thinning the wild fowl with their deadly shots, and raising many an echo with their shouts of revelry.