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THE

OLD MANORIAL HALLS

OF

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND.

TTbe

(©16 Manorial Iballe

OF

Mestmotlanb Si Cumbetlanb,

BY

MICHAEL WAISTELL TAYLOR, M.D.,

F.S.A., (London and Scotland).

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND
ANTIQUARIAN AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

KENDAL :

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY T. WILSON.
CARLISLE: CHARLES THURNAM & SONS.

1892.

Aj

£erlanti unit Mcstmorlanlr ;Xn)iquacian snti

Founded iS66.

President S- Editor :

K FaBOUSON, I

E. U. W. Ualmb, Esq.

The Rioht Rev. the Uishop ok

Barkow-im-Fuhukss.
Th a Eakl up BEtrnvK.
W. Bllow^E, Esq.
The Right Rev. the Loki> Bishop

orCARLiSLe.
The Very Rev. the Dean of

Carlisle.

The EARLorC.\EHSLE.
Jaues Cropper, Esq.

H. F. CUHWEN, Esq.

RoBT. Ferguson, Eiq. F.S.A.

G.J. Johnson. Esq.

Rev. T. Lees, M.A., F.S.A,

Hon. W. Lowther.

H. P. Senhouse, Esq.

M. W. Taylor, Esq. M.D.. F.S.A.

Elected Members of Council:
W. a. Arklson. Fjq.. Penrith.
Rev. R. Bower, M.A., Carlisle.
Pev.W. S. CALVERLEr, F.S.A.. Aipalrii

[.F.CR0STHWAlTE,E5q..F.S. A., Keswick
H. SwAlNsoN CowPER. Esg., F.S.A,

Hawkshcad.
C, J, Ferguson. Esq., F.S.A. , Carlisle.

T. H. HoDGSOK, Esq., Newby Grange.
Rev.Canon MATKEws,M.A.,Appleby
E. T. Tyson, Esq., Maryport.
Rev. H. Whitehead, M.A., Uncrcnsl
Robert J. Whitwell, Esq., Kendal.*
Rev. James Wjlson, M.A., Dalston.

A iidilors :
James G. Gandv, Esg., Heaves. | Frank Wilson, Esq., Kendal.

Treasurer :

BTANFDRD UNIV^Wfe^V^""^^*''' ^- "«''■"= '-*8^' '^'■'"•'^'

ROARIFS

STACKS

SEP 211967

Secretary :

t'lLSON, Esq., Aynam LodEi-, Kendal,

f^ublirations of tij^ (tumbManb anb tSK^stmorlanb

ELEYEH YOLTTHES OF TRAHSACTIOHS,

T. Wilson, Highgate, Kendal.

EXTRA SERIES.

VOL. I.— BISHOP NICOLSONS VISITATION AND SURVEY
OF THE DIOCESE OF CARLISLE IN 1703-4. Edited by
Chancellor F'erouson, F.S.A. Price 12/6.

VOL. II.—MEMOIRS OF THE GILPIN FAMILY OF SCALEBY
CASTLE, by the late Rev. William Gilpin, Vicar of Boldre, with
the Autobiography of the Author. Edited with Notes and Pedigree
by W. Jackson, F.S.A. Price 10/6.

VOL. III.— THE OLD CHURCH PLATE IN THE DIOCESE
OF CARLISLE. Edited by Chancellor Ferguson, F.S.A.
Price 15/6.

VOL. IV.— SOME MUNICIPAL RFXORDS OF THE CITY OF
CARLISLE. Edited by Chancellor Ferguson, F.S.A.; and
\V. Nanson, B.A., F.S.A. Price 15/-.

VOLS. V. and VI.— PAPERS AND PEDIGREES mainly relat-
rng to Cumberland and Westmorland, by the late Wm. Jackson,
F.S.A. Edited by Mrs. Jackson. Price 15/-.

VOL. VII. THE " BOKE OFF RECORDE " OF THE BURGH
OF KIRKBIE KENDALL. Edited by Chancellor Ferguson,
F.S.A. Price 15/.

VOL. VIII.— THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WEST-
MORLAND AND CUMBERLAND. By Michael Waistell
Taylor, M.D., F.S.A. Price 21/-.

EXTRA SEBIES : WOEKS IN PEEPAEATIOH.

THE WILLS IN THE PRE-REFORMATION EPISCOPAL
REGISTERS OF CARLISLE. By the President.

DISHOP NICOLSON'S DIARIES. By Mrs. Ware.

THE REGISTER OF WETHERAL PRIORY. By J. E. Pres-
coTT, D.D., Archdeacon of Carlisle.

(vi)

TRACT SERIES.

No. I. FLEMING'S DESCRIPTION OF WESTMORLAND
Edited by Sir George Duckett, F.S.A. Price i/-.

NO. II. DENTON'S ACCOUNT OF CUMBERLAND. Edited
by Chancellor Ferguson, F.S.A. Price 3/6.

NO. III. FLEMINGS DESCRIPTION OF CUMBERLAND.
Price I/..

NO. IV. SANDFORD'S HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND.
Price 1/6.

NO. V. TODD'S CITY AND DIOCESE OF CARLISLE.
Price 1/6.

NO. VI. TODD'S CATHEDRAL OF CARLISLE AND PRIORY
OF WRTHRRAf. Prir^i i/fi.

PREFACE.

THE object which I have in presenting this work to the
public is to preserve, in a permanent form, descriptions of
the existing condition of the Pele Towers, Old Manorial
Halls, and Domestic Structures, of which so many remark-
able specimens still survive in the two counties of Westmor-
land and Cumberland. Many of these ancient remains are
passing away as years roll on, either from the effects of
natural decay, from neglect, or from wilful demolition, aris-
ing from the instinct of the present age for alteration and
improvement, which renders it desirable for general historic
interest to retain some record of their characteristic features
at the present time.

This account of the Early Domestic Architecture of the
land of Cumbria will embrace the period from the beginning
of the fourteenth century to the Restoration. It has not been
considered necessary to include within the scope of this work
the great Norman military Castles of the country, so as not
to unduly extend the bulk of the volume, especially as most
of these castles have been already treated of by Mr. Geo. T.
Clark in his great work, ** Mediaeval Military Architecture in
England," and in various monographs by Chancellor Ferguson
of Carlisle, the Rev. Canon Knowles, W. Jackson, F.S.A.,
and Charles J. Ferguson, F.S.A,, and other writers in the
Transactions of thf Cumberland and Westmorland A ntiquarian and
Arckaological Society,

Hence the book is to be devoted to untouched ground, and
to the results of original research ; and the design of it is to

trace the historical sequence of styles which have occurred at
(JifTerent epochs in the construction of the old manor-houses
and in the domestic life and customs which have prevailed
in these centuries. Yet the stages of progress arc generally
so mixed up in the same edifice, that a chronological order
could not be followed with advantage in the arrangement of
the contents. Hence the various subjects are treated in
accordance with their district and topographical relation to
each other, so that, in the county of Westmorland especially,
every parish will follow in consecutive order, in the history
and description of all the most remarkable old manor-houses
contained within it.

This work has engaged leisure hours, seized from profes-
sional avocations, during a period of twenty-five years,
principally in association with meetings of the Cumberland
and Westnioriand Archa'ological Society held at the various
places at which these descriptions have been given, and
which have from time to time appeared in the Traitsaclions of
that Society, Besides what has appeared in print there and
elsewhere, there is a great amount of new material and of
illustrations prepared expressily for the present work.

It is my duty to express my acknowledgment to ray
Archfeological friends for the assistance and support I have
derived from them, to the Reverend Dr. Simpson of Kirkby
Stephen, the late president of the Society ; to the Worship-
ful Chancellor Ferguson, his successor in the chair, for the
frequent suggestions and supervision ot these pages through
the press ; to the Rev. Thomas Lees, M.A., F.S.A., Vicar of
Wreay, for correction of proofs ; for professional assistance
and the execution of several plans and drawings, which are
acknowedged in their proper places, to Charles J. Ferguson,
F.S.A., architect, Carlisle; Mr. Hippolyte Ulanc, architect,
Edinburgh ; and Mr. John F. Curwen, architect, Kendal.

My thanks are due to the various proprietors for access to
these Manorial Halls, especially to the last three representa-

PRE PACK. 1\

tives of the noble house of Lowther ; to the late Sir George
and Sir Richard Musgrave ; to Henry Howard, Esq., Lord of
the Greystoke Barony; to the trustees of the Wilson family of
Dallam Tower ; to C. W. Wilson, Esq., of Rigmaden ; to W.
C. Strickland, Esq., of Sizergh ; Montagu Crackenthorpe,
Esq., Newbiggin Hall ; and many others for their liberality
and civility in affording facilities for inspecting their houses
and residences.

Lastly, my thanks are due to Major Arnison, Beaumont,
Penrith, for compiling the excellent index.

It is expected that the interest in the history of these
edifices will be much enhanced by the numerous pictures of
them, with which the work is illustrated. These views have
been taken by myself and photographer friends, and re-
produced b}' photo gravure, and though not aiming at any
exceptional artistic effect, yet being produced by the camera,
have the merit of being substantially accurate and useful.
The ground plans are for the most part lithographed from my
own surveys.

1892. M.W.T.

CONTENTS.

PART FIRST.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory.

Romans in Britain. Their Domestic Architecture.
The Colonisation of the Angles. The Danish Inva-
sions. The ** Motte'* or ** Burh." The Norman
Settlement in the North. . . - - i — 16

CHAPTER II.

The Lords of the Barony of Westmorland.

The Meschines. The Engaynes. The Morvilles.

The Veteriponts. The Cliffords. - - - 17 — 24

CHAPTER III.

The Norman Castles of the Barony
OF Westmorland.

Appleby Castle. Brough Castle. Pendragon Castle.
Brougham Castle. . . - - . 25 — 37

CHAPTER IV.
The Mediaeval Pele Tower. - - - 38—48

CHAPTER V.

The West Ward of Westmorland.

Barton Parish. Yanwath Hall. Sockbridge Hall.
Barton Kirk. Hartsop Hall. Winder Hall. Kirk-
harrow Hall. Eamont Bridge. Clifton Hall. Hornby
Hall. Askham Hall. Lowther Castle. Hackthorpe
Hall. Melkinthorpe Hall. Little Strickland Hall.
Ntwby Hall. Cliburn Hall. Meaburn Hall. Crosby
Ravensworth Hall. Reagill Grange. Thrimby Hall.

Xll CONTENTS.

Shap and Bampton. RosgilL Knipc. Thorn-
thwaite. Bewley Castle. - - - - 49 — 122

CHAPTER VI.

The East Ward of Westmorland.

The Appleby Parishes : — Colby. Barwise. Hilton.
Murton. Crackenthorpe Hall. — Orton and Asby
Parishes : — Orton Old Hall. Asby Rectory. Great
Asby Hall. Kirkbythore Hall. Howgill Castle.
Newbiggin Hall. ----- 123 — 155

CHAPTER VII.

The Honour of Brough-under-Stanemoor ; and

KiRKBY Stephen.

Hellbeck. Warcop. Sandford. Kaber. Soulby.
Musgrave. Hartley Castle. Smardale Hall. Whar-
ton Hall. -----. 136 — 172

CHAPTER VIII.
The Barony of Kendal.

Kendal Castle. Burneside Hall. Sizergh Castle.
Levens Hall. Nether, or Low Levens. Heversham
Hall. Beetham Hall. Hazelslack Tower. Arnside
Tower. Kentmere Hall. Cunswick Hall. Skcls-
niergh Hall. Selside Hall. Blcaze Hall. Middleton
Hall. Killington Hall. - - . - - 173—240

PART SECOND,
The Old Manorial Halls of Cumberland.

CHAPTER IX.
The Honour of Penrith.

The Castle of Penrith. The Mesne Manors.
Hutton Hall. The Two Lions' Inn, or Gerard
Lowther's House. Dockray Hall. - 241 — 261

CONTENTS. Xlll

CHAPTER X.
Leath Ward.
Kirkoswald Castle. Catterlen Hall. Dacre Castle 262 — 286

CHAPTER XI.

The Barony of Greystoke.

Greystoke Castle. Blencow Hall. Johnby Hall.
Greenthwaite Hall. Mid Farm, Greystoke. Thwaite
Hall. Hutton John. . - . . 287 — 317

CHAPTER Xn.
The Vale of Derwent.

Millbeck. Wythop. Crakeplace. Huthwaite. Isell.
Ribton. Cockermouth Castle. - - - 318 — 338

CHAPTER Xin.

Inglewood Forest.

Hutton - i'th' - Forest. Highhead Castle. — Minor

Halls. — Rose Castle. Dalston Hall. - - 339 — 341

CHAPTER XIV.
Eskdale and Cumberland Wards.

Scaleby Castle. Linstock Castle. Drawdykes.
Bewcastle. Tryermain. Askerton. Shank Castle.
Kirkandrews-on-Esk. Drumburgh. Wulsty. - 342 — 352

CHAPTER XV.
Legends and Inscriptions over Doorways - - 353 — 367

Index --.... 369—375

List of Subscribers .... 377—383

(xiv)

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portrait of M. \V. Taylor, M.D., F.S.A. - Frontispiece.

Page.

Carved Tablet. Brougham Castle

''XLh^s maB& IRooer." ... 38

The Shouldered Lintel or Carnaknon Arch - 44

Yanwath Hall • - - - - 53

Barton Kirke, Plaster Ceiling - - - 72

Clifton Hall ---.-- 77

Askham Hall ----- . 88

Arms over the Gateway, Askham Hall - - 90

Shield of Musgrave Arms, Melkinthorpe Hall - 98

Entrance Doorway in Courtyard, Little Strick-
land Hall . . . . . 100

Plaster Ceiling in the Lord's Parlour, Little -

Strickland Hall .... 102

Newby Hall ------ 104

Shield over Door, Clihurn Hall - - - 109

Tablet over Door, Orton Old Hall - - 133

Arms of Musgrave, Great Asby Hall - - 137

KiRKBY Thore Hall . - . . . 140

Wharton Hall - - - 165

Sizergh Castle ..... 182

„ Panelling in Drawing Room - 189

Panelling in Dining Room - 190

Panelling of Inlaid Chamber - 192

Panelling in the Boynton Room - 196

Lyvj^NS Hai.l (Copy of Weston's Drawing) - i()9

Tvc OiARiHNs at Lkvens .... 204

\>- ''>i^ Lvxrxs Ham.— West Side - 205

X v^ o? :«i- Dais, Low Lmvens Hall- - 2uy

- -. ^>.».v\ H\:i. Kntrance to Dinim; Room - 210

t»

•*

«t

list of illustrations. xv

Beetham Hall ..... 213

Hazelslack Tower - - - - - 215

Arnside Tower ..... 217

Kentmere Tower - - - . - - 219

Kentmere Hall ..... 221

Skelsmergh Hall . . - . . 224

Wall and Gatehouse, Middleton Hall - - 234

The Dining Hall, Middleton Hall - - 235

Penrith Castle . - - . . 244

Plaster Ceiling, Two Lions' Inn, Penrith - 256

Catterlen Hall . . . . . 271

The Arms over the Gateway, Catterlen Hall - 272

Escutcheon, Catterlen Hall - - - 275

Dacre Castle- ..... 278

Hlencow Hall ..... 288

John BY Hall .---.- 295

Head of the Newel Stair, Johnby Hall- - 298

Greenthwaite Hall - . . - . 305

View of Hutton John .... 312

Sculptured Stone, Hutton John Tower - - 315

Doorway, Millbeck Hall .... 321

Doorway, Crakeplace Hall .... 326

Isell Hall ...... 328

Doorway, Huthwaite Hall - - -331

Staircase Window, Huthwaite Hall - - 333

RiBTON Hall .--..- 334

ScAf.EBY Castle Gateway ... - 344

LIST OF PLANS., &c.

Plan of Brough Castle - - - - 31

Hkough Keep ------ 33

Brougham Castle ----- 37

Vanwath Hall ..... 36

XVI LIST OF PLANS.

SOCKBRIDGE HaLL ----- 64

Clifton Hall- ----- 79

AsKHAM Hall ------ 91

Cliburn Hall ..... 108

HowGiLL Castle ..... 142

Newbiggin Hall . . . . . 1^2

Hartley Castle - - - - - 160

Wharton Hall - - - - - 168

1-Jurneside Hall (Machell*s Plan) - - 180

„ (Modern Plan) - - - 181

Sizergh Castle ..... 184

Levens Hall .---.- 200

Hazelslack Tower - - - - - 216

Arnside Tower - - - - - 216

Kentmere Hall ..... 220

MiDDLETON Hall . - - . - 233

Penrith Castle ..... 246

Genealogical Sketch .... 255

Two Lions' Inn, Penrith .... 254

Dacre Castle ..... 280

Blencow Hall ..... 290

JoHNBY Hall -.-... 296

Greenthwaite Hall - - . . . 304

3n ^emottam*

THIS volume possesses a melancholy interest, from the fact
that its author died on the 24th November, 1892, while
the final sheets of the index were passing through the press.
Prior to sending the manuscript to the printer. Dr. Taylor
asked the writer of these lines to promise to complete the
work of correcting the proofs, if he was himself unable to do
so. The writer readily gave the promise, in the sincere hope
that no such sad necessity would arise ; but about three
weeks before his death. Dr. Taylor found himself unequal to
further work, and it devolved upon the writer to fulfil his
promise. This he did ; he found the manuscript of the book,
including title page, preface, contents, and index complete
with exception of the latter parts of chapters xiii. and xiv.,
which were merely in outline ; these the writer completed.
Chapter xv. was complete. The proofs up to the end of
chapter xii. had all been revised by the author himself, and
very little remained to be done in the way of revision ; that
the writer did, with the exception of the index, which Major
Arnison kindly undertook.

The late Michael Waistell Taylor, son of Mr. Michael
Taylor, an Edinburgh merchant, was born at Portobello,
January 29, 1824. Educated at Edinburgh and Portsmouth, he
matriculated at the former place in 1840, and took a diploma
at the Edinburgh College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1844.
At the time of his graduation, just before the completion of
his twenty-first year, he obtained a medal for the best thesis
of the year, his subject being the pathology of the urinary
excretion, and the presence of urea in the blood ; and it was
from this disease, medically known as uraemia, but commonly
called Bright's disease, that he died. Having made a special
study of botany he acted, whilst in Edinburgh, as class

Xvm OBITI'ARY NOTICE,

assistant to Professor J. H. Balfour, and re-arranged and
classified the Herbarium at the Botanical Gardens, Edin-
burgh, afterwards becoming a member of the Botanical
Society of that city. He was also one of the originators and
early presidents of the Hunterian Medical Society. In 1844
he left Edinburgh for Paris, where he studied under the most
eminent surgeons of the French capital, and became a
member of the Medical Society of Paris. After leaving Paris,
where he remained nine months, he visited various foreign
cities, and it was during this tour that he collected many
valuable botanical specimens, the bulk of which lie after-
wards presented to the Museum at Penrith, of which he was
one of the founders. In 1845 he went to Penrith as locum
Itneiis to Dr. John Taylor {to whom, it may be mentioned, he
was not in any way related); in 1846 he was taken into part-
nership, and a few months afterwards, on the death of Dr.
John Taylor, Dr. Michael Taylor succeeded to the practice,
which, on his retirement from it thirty-nine years later, in'
1884, was the largest and most lucrative in the district.
About twelve years after settling down at Penrith he achieved
distinction by the discovery, towards the end of 1858, that
scarlet fever might be caused by the contamination of the
milk supply— a discovery which has been acknowledged hy
the medical profession to have been of great service in the
prevention of disease. He was also the author of many
treatises on medical subjects, and in 1881 he wrote an
important article on the fungoid origin of diphtheria, a
subject which he subsequently ventilated before the Epidemi-
logical Society of London, a member of whose council he
afterwards became. Ever anxious to promote the interests of
the profession of which he had become so worthy a represen-
tative, he was one of the founders in 1868 of the Border
Counties' Branch of the British Medical Association, of
which he was the second president, in succession to the late
Dr. Barnes, of Bunker's Hill, Carlisle. From its formation
until he retired from practice, Dr. Taylor took an active part
in its proceedings, he was seldom absent from its meetings,
and for several years he was the representative of the Branch
on the Parliamentary Bills Committee of the Association, in

OBITUARY NOTICE. XIX

which capacity he did much useful work. The esteem in
which he was held by the members was manifested on the
occasion of his retirement sixteen years later, when he was
presented with an address at one of the largest gatherings of
the medical profession ever held in Carlisle, where the
presentation was made, at the end of February, 1884. The
address was presented by Dr. Mc.Dougall, the then president
of the Society, and in it allusion was made to the various
subjects of original inquiry which had engaged Dr. Taylor's
attention, and had led to important additions to the previous
knowledge of the profession. Amongst the subjects referred
to were his essay, already mentioned, on the pathology of the
urinary excretion, his discovery of urea in the blood of
patients suffering from typhus fever, and his subsequent in-
vestigations into the mode, origin, and propagation of epi-
demic fevers.

But it was not as a physician alone that Dr. Taylor
attained distinction in the neighbourhood. Though the prac-
tice of his profession made great demands upon his time, he
not only found opportunities to pursue the studies to which
brief reference has been made, but ardently devoted himself
to the study of archaeology and other kindred subjects, his
knowledge in this direction securing for him as much distinc-
tion as his skill as a physician. He joined the Cumberland
and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society
soon after its formation in 1866, and in 1870 was elected a
member of the Council, and at the annual excursions (to
which he was generally accompanied by Mrs. Taylor) his
was always a familiar figure, where his genial manners and
unfailing courtesy made him a most popular favourite. A
first-rate organiser of archaeological excursions, no society
ever enjoyed the services of a more painstaking or a clearer
guide on these occasions. To prehistoric research he devoted
much time — and with great success, having made many im-
portant local discoveries, particularly of the Vestiges of Celtic
Occupation on Ullswater, the star-fish cairns of Moor Divock,
the prehistoric remains at Clifton, the great cup-marked stone
found at Redhills, Penrith, the Croglin moulds for casting
spear-heads in bronze, &c. But his own subject was that

XX OBITUARY NOTICE.

dealt with in this book — the Castles and Manorial Halls of
Cumberland and Westmorland, particularly the latter, with
whose architecture and domestic arrangements he was
thoroughly familiar ; he could and did make them live to his
audience with a rare flow of language, highly technical indeed
in its nomenclature, but yet clear as possible to all. To the
last he was loyal to the Society, and long after he had left
the north, he would, at the President's summons, come up
to act as the Society's showman over some or other of his
favorite manorial halls. He was a Fellow of the Society
of Antiquaries of London ; of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland ; and a Member of the Council of the Royal
Archaeological Institute, whose annual meetings he fre-
quently attended, and to whose proceedings, and those of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland he contributed papers.
He was also a vice-president of the Cumberland and West-
morland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.

Always deeply interested in educational matters, he was
elected on the Penrith School Board in 1878, and continued
to be a member during the remainder of his residence in the
town, which is indebted to him, acting in conjunction with
one or two others, for its Free Library and the Museum
which exists in connection with it. These institutions were
opened about ten years ago, and it was through the instru-
mentality of Dr. Taylor that a valuable collection of
minerals, formerly the property of Admiral Wauchope, of
Dacre Lodge, was given to the Museum. About the same
time the Literary and Scientific Society was formed at Pen-
rith, and during the first two years of its existence. Dr.
Taylor — who might almost be called its father — was the
honoured president. The Volunteer movement also found
in the late Doctor a warm supporter. He was amongst
the gentlemen whose efforts led to the formation of the Pen-
rith Companies of Rifle Volunteers, and subsequently he
became surgeon-major of the Cumberland Battalion, a posi-
tion which he held until he left the district. Nor was he
unknown in the hunting field. He assisted to form the
Swimming Club at Penrith, and for many years he was an
active director of the Ullswater Steam Navigation Company.

OBITUARY NOTICE. XXI

In 1884 (the year in which he retired from practice), he
attended as a delegate from Cumberland, along with Dr.
Mc.Dougall, of Carlisle, the international meeting of the
British Association in America ; and in February, 1885, read
an interesting account of his visit, to the members of the
Literary and Scientific Society at Penrith. The presentation
made to him on his retirement by the members of the Border
Counties' Branch of the British Medical Association has
already been mentioned ; and in November, 1884, the in-
habitants of Penrith also showed their appreciation of his
valuable public services and many personal kindnesses by
presenting him, on the eve of his departure for London,
where the last eight years of his life have been spent, .with a
service of silver plate and an illuminated address. The years
of his retirement were given up to his favourite studies of
geology, botany, and archaeology. Since his retirement he
twice visited India (once in 1886 and again in 1890), and on
the last occasion he was greatly interested in some prehistoric
remains which he discovered at Wynaad, on Southern India.
He spent a winter in Italy, and also a summer in the Ork-
neys, with a view of studying the prehistoric remains there.

Both at Hutton Hall (his quaint old residence in Penrith)
and at Earl's Court Road, in London, Dr. and Mrs. Taylor
were the kindest of hosts, and many delightful little parties
of archaeologists enjoyed their open-handed hospitality.

Dr. Taylor, who was married in 1858 to Miss Mary W.
Rayner, a daughter of the late Mr. J. H. Rayner, of Liver-
pool, leaves a widow and six children — three sons and three
daughters — and his remains were interred at Penrith, in
Christ Church burial ground.

The writer of this notice is indebted for much of his
information to the Carlisle Jountal of November 29th, 1892. —

R.S.F.

PART I.

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS

OF
WESTMORLAND.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

rilH E territory constituting the modern county of Westmor-
l land was under the Norman Kings, separated in two
divisions, namely, one comprehending the barony of Kendal,
and the other that which was emphatically called the barony
of Westmorland. The barony of Kendal, which was the older
grant, comprised the southern part of the county, including
the watershed of the rivers running south to Morecambe Bay.
William the Conqueror obtained early possession of this por-
tion, so it was included in the Domesday survey,* and con-
joined with the promontories of Cartmell and Furness, and
that portion of Lancashire which lies north of the Ribble,
along with the wapentake of Ewecross in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, was inscribed in the survey as being what was
called the land of Amoundernesse. f In point of fact it was
considered a portion of Lancashire.

The northern part of the county, which comprehends the
watershed of the river Eden and its tributaries, flowing north
to the estuary of the Solway, was really during the reign of
the Conqueror, not a part of the kingdom of England at all,
but was regarded as a piece of Cumbria, or " the land of
Carlisle *' ; all of which was then under the dominance of
Malcolm, King of Scotland. The Red King marched with a
lar^e army to the north in the year 1092, and took possession
of Carlisle, and it was not until that date that the dismember-
ment of the *' land of Carlisle'* from Scotland took place, and
that the portion of it in Westmorland territory came under the

• Nearer the «licle of this district is recorded in Domesday, as beings in the
f^.-WHac^'cf lc-s«i, Farl of NorthomberlaiMJ.

* Iht (jerrratkyfl of this word as ^iven by Dr. Whitaker is probably cr>rrect ;
«'-i s tie S€jrkt M^Bifyini^ a cape or promontory ; Atmond beini;^ another form
i^ EagriWj which mkh the old genitive ** er/' instead of **es/' f;ive<» the
xao^ Is the lafloe «ay the word Furness is derived from the proper per>onal

- /"a^i^r,** — Hi'iorjf tf R\ckmund$hire.

2 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

English Crown.* This part was then constituted the barony
of Westmorland, or Applebyshire, as it was sometimes called,
consisting of the seigniories of Appleby and Burgh. This
portion continued to ba spoken of afterwards as the bottom of
Westmorland, now the East and West Wards of that county.
By reason therefore of these counties being outside the
frontier of England during the lifetime of the Conqueror, they
did not come within the work of the commissioners and jurors
of the survey, in consequence of which exclusion, topographers
have been denied that sourco of information which elsewhere
is found so valuable ; and thus an insight into the manorial
divisions and ownership of lands, and the local agricultural
conditions at the time of the Norman settlement, is hidden
from us.

The hundreds in this county are distinguished by the name
of Wards, and are four in number ; these having been the
districts of a like number of High Constables, who presided
over the Wards to be sustained at certain fords and other
places, for rcpclHng plundering parties out of Scotland. Two
of these Wards arc in the barony of Kendal, to wit, Kendal
and Lonsdale Wards, and two in the bottom called East and
West Wards. ** There was anciently a Middle Ward
between these two last, but since watching and warding
ceased, that hath fallen into and been absorbed by the other
two.'M

Before entering on the consideration of the progress of
domestic Architecture as it prevailed in these northern
CDunties after the incoming of the Normans, it may be well to
review shortly the general, social, and domestic conditions of
the country as they existed at earlier periods.

After the campaigns of Agricola, in about the year 80 of our
era, the Roman strength became permanently fixed over the
ancient haunts of the Brigantes, throughout the territory of
Cumberland and Westmorland. A tighter grip over the con-
quered province was retained by the erection, about forty
yjars after the time of Agricola, of the stupendous works of

• Sei* Chancellor Ferguson's "History of Cumberland." Mr. Ifodjjson-
llindc **0n the Karly History of Cumberland." Archnolof^. Joiini. /o/. xvi.,
p. 217.

t Burn and Nicolson. liislory of ffesimortand, vol. i p, 13.

CHAPTEfl r. — INTRODUCTORY. 3

Hadrian, across the Northumberland isthmus, and by the
extension of a network of military roads, and camps all over
the face of the country.

At that time York had become the great military head-
quarters for the north. Probably no part of Britain
presented a busier thoroughfare than the great causewayed
avenue leading from Eboracum to Hadrian's wall. This road
is clearly identical with Iter II. and Iter K., as given in the road
book, or ** Itinerary" of Antoninus Pius. Its pavement would
resound with the clatter of the bustling traffic batween station
and station, — with the march of the soldiery, — with the
passage of commisariat teams, and of mihtary wains and
carriages to and from the towns, and crowded garrison camps
situated on the western half of the mural barrier. This high-
way coursed from north to south from one end of Westmor-
land to the other, and for the most part through the valley of
the river Eden.

Along this road there were several more or less considerable
towns connected with the camps of Brough-under-Stanemore,
Kirkby Thore, Brougham, and in Cumberland, Vorcda, or
Old Penrith, and greater than the rest the Municipium of
Luguballium or Carlisle. In these northern regions the
Romans were not accustomed to disperse their residences
much beyond the precincts of their towns — we fmd traces of
none of those country villas and rural mansions in isolated
retirement, in which the richer classes took delight, which are
so numerous in the south and west of England. There might
have been various reasons for their absence here. Neverthe-
k-ss we may be assured from th? evidence afforded by the
remains of their town dwellings at the stations, that they
pursued the identical practice and principles of construction,
which they brought with them from Italy and Gaul. Along
the lines of narrow streets were the low one-storied houses
and little shops presenting their fronts to these lanes ; with
well-constructed walls of squared stones, and bonding courses
of tile ; now and then might be met with a larger house,
possibly having had two stories, with a pillared portico, and a
spacious airiitm, with its tesselated pavjmcnt, and numerous
small chambers, all heated with flues and hypocausts. Nor

4 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

were there wanting the baths, — a fountain or two, — a temple, —
some statues, and various samples of Roman art in metal,
pottery, and glass, imported from Italy. Not only within the
closely-packed interior of the fortified camp, but in the suburbs
and vicus of the station, was represented the stirring town life
of Roman civilization : — the haughty soldiery, and the auxili-
aries of the cohort, their wives and families, — merchants,
shopkeepers, and artizans, crouching slaves, and menials, as
well as the native Welshmen, calling with guttural accent in
the market-place, their home-made wares, and their farming
produce.

We cannot doubt, that under the stimulus of Roman
precepts, agriculture progressed apace, — that much waste was
cleared of scrub, bramble, and whins, — the marshland re-
claimed, drained, and protected by banks and dykes from the
reach of the flood, — that all favourable corn land was brought
under the plough, and yielded abundance of cereals, and pulse,
alternating with a fallow-year, — and that orchards were set
out for the culture of the apple, the cherry, the plum, and the
smaller fruits. It was requisite that fences should be drawn
round the meadows, devoted to the growth of hay, which along
with the oat -sheaves, would be the main support of the breeding
stock in winter; whilst in the summer season there would be
abundant pasturage, in the river holmes, and the glades of the
forest, for the herds of oxen, the cheese producing cows, the
swine, and horses, which were required for the necessities of
the colonists.

To what an extent the cultivated area in question fell back
into a condition of waste, after the extinction of the Roman
government of the country, it is impossible to predict. Such
an obscure cloud hangs over this period as to make conjecture
hazardous. The Brigantes of the ancient stock renowned for
their manly character, their passion for independence, and
enduring valour, first crushed by the cruel sword of their
Roman masters, degraded by servitude, and conscription into
the legions for foreign service, became finally dwarfed, and
enervated under the corrupting influence of the civilization of
a decaying empire. Harried on all sides by ruthless enemies,
both by land, and from the open seaboard, during the dismal

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. 5

period which followed the departure of the legions, we can
conceive that the soil of Cumbria became desolate, and how
it fell under the sway of the Saxon rovers.

The tribes from the shores of the Elbe, and the Baltic, had
sympathy neither with the language nor civilization of Rome,
nor with their practice of domestic architecture. Roman
towns and villas had been despoiled, and laid in ruins b}'
the ravages and burnings of the Caledonians, and so they
remained ; the new invaders never sought to repair these
domiciles, nor did they care to acquire the art of Roman con-
struction in solid material, — with squared-stone, concrete, and
tile. The Angles brought with them, and preserved in their
new country, their own language, their own gods, their own
customs, and the rude style of habitations of their fatherland.
Nor can we wonder at the efFacement and eventual ex-
tinction of the Roman style of ordinary domestic buildings.
The plan and arrangement of the apartments in a Roman
house, though suitable to the sunny south, was not adapted
for the rigorous and wet climate of the north ; the method of
construction was expensive, and beyond the resources of the
clans of poor settlers, who came over to seek their fortunes on
these shores ; besides the Angles were tillers of the soil, and
despised and avoided the modes and customs of town life.

Over the beginnings of Anglo-Saxon settlement in the lands
of Cumbria history only affords uncertain glimmerings, derived
from indistinct traditions, embodied in somewhat ambiguous
Saxon chronicles. When did the Angles invade this country,
and by what route did they come, are questions the full dis-
cussion of which is hardly relevant in this place. But it may
be stated briefly, that the evidence points to an incoming
proceeding from Northumberland, sometime after its forma-
tion as a Saxon kingdom. This would appear to have been
about the time when Ecgfrith reigned over Northumberland,
from 670 to 685.

The advancing power of the Angles had inflicted a crushing
blow on the Strathclyde Britons at the battle of Heavensfield
near Hexham, and the native tribes retired across the barrier
of the Pennine Range. Some time after that period, streams
of Angles advancing by the Roman wall, via Brampton and

6 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Walton, poured down into the Forest of Inglewood and the
plains of Cumberland. At some time or another a descent of
invaders using the low Dutch language seems to have been
made at Ulverston and Dalton-in-Furness, and from thence
they advanced and occupied the country about Kendal, and
some of them may have found their way to tho upp2r waters
of the Eden. But there appears to me to b3 a strong proba-
bility, from the distribution of their test names, and from other
considerations, that the chief descent into the Westmorland
portion of the Eden Valley was by an oblique course from
Hexham and Tynedale, over the mountain of Crossfell. A
ready made means of approach was afforded to them by the
Maiden Way, the established Roman road leading from the
stations of Corbridge, and of Magna or Carvoran in the
middle third of the isthmus barrier, coursing by Whitley
Castle and Alston Moor, and so over the otherwise trackless
wilds of the Pennine Range. At the egress of this branch
highway into the vale of the Eden near Kirkby Thore, and all
over the country lying between the river and the fells, we find
the Anglo-Saxons have left the mark of their home-centres in
the place-names of quite a large cluster of villages having
distinctive Angle derivations.

As colonists these English folk gathered in village commu-
nities, containing many families and their dependants ; each
of these ** /mws" or ** tuns*' was girt about by a hedge, which
constituted the *'mark" or "bounder," and with a belt of
common land, or of forest, which parted it from the lands of the
adjoining vills. All the individuals of the community were
united by the *' blood-bond " ; each freeman or " ceorl" was a
land holder, and a land tiller, and had a right to sit at the folk-
mote, and ** witan" ; the chiefest among them, the ** earlder-
man," the hereditary noble, who lived in the largest house,
was the overlord and ruler. The village lands were held in
common by the cultivators, but the house, homestead, and
garths were private property. These villages were the
centres for the administration of law and justice, and the
ordering of local business.

By and bye, when Christianity spread through the land,
near the spot where possibly stood the sculptured cross, mark-

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. 7

ing the station, where the wandering missionary had first
preached to them the gospel, there rose the simple Httlc
church reared on forked timbers or **/wyr<r," with roof of
thatch, or wooden shingles, and mud and wattle-woven sides,
now under charge of a resident priest. The rehgious estab-
lishment begat tithes ; it entailed the necessity of a union of
several townships ; hence followed the organisation of the
parish system. So that we may discern in the social working
of these Saxon folk, the formation of our parish boundaries,
the location of the church, and of ** God's acre," and the rudi-
ments, and often indeed the position of the manorial hall.

The Angles as the first comers enjoyed the pick of the land ;
on the most favoured spots they planted their own townships
and village communities, and the names given to these places
were mostly derived from some general or local relations, or
from some reference to the physiography, or often to some
attribute or quality in the soil. Hence we have such words
frequently occurring as : —

Clifton

Dalston

Hilton

Stainton

Morton

Morland

Langdale

Carlton

Middleton

Overton

Aldston

Newton

Hutton

Sandford

Sandwath

Stainmore

Grisedale

Swindale

Boredale

Seberham

Stirk-land

Natland

Preston

Kirkland

In other instances, however, Saxon settlements derived their
names from clans or tribes whose offshoots may have fixed
themselves in such a locaHty, in which case there is often the
introduction of the collective kinship appellative of ** ings," or
"iif^as," joined to the proper name, before the affix to the end
of the word, such as : —

Aiding Disting Hevering Irthing Helsing

Killing Kipling Penning Whitting PVising

Thus did the Saxons exist in the land of Cumbria, along with
the Brythons of Strathclyde, for a period of over three hundred
years, not themselves as an independent state, but tributary,
and under the protection of the kingdom of Northumbria, so
long as the power of that State endured.

But at the end of the ninth century was the incoming of the
Danes, followed by a continuance of inroads and ravages by

8 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

the Norwegian Vikings. These later marauders, there is
reason to believe, approached from seaward by the west, by
way of Morecamba Bay, and thus found an entrance into the
heart of Westmorland. We can trace their progress by their
settlements all the way up the valley of the Lune. For a
hundred years or more it was a troublous time, full of anarchy
and bloodshed. But at last the Danish dynasty bscame
supreme.

The Scandinavian was a pushing, energetic settler, more
reliant on his own personal powers than the Saxon ; an active
woodsman, expert with the axe, and fond of the soil, he cleared
of their forest thickets the more elevated and less productive
grounds ; these were the ** thwaites.'' The Norseman pushed
his way through the Saxons, into unoccupied tracts, he fixed
a dwelling for himself, set up huts for his followers, who had
come with him in the same keel, — round about were gathered
sheds, byres, and stabling for his stock, this was his home-
stead, and he called it his by or byr, and gave to it his own
surname.

The Danes coming into the country, found villages already
formed, and called by names, which they readily understood,
and therefore they did not change them. To what extent, or
in what numbers, or if at all, the Saxon was ousted from these
localities by the Northmen, our imperfect knowledge of the
movements of the Danes in Cumbria, makes it difficult to
determine. It is curious to note however, in the part of the
country with which we are now concerned, that though mostly
all the names of the head-centre villages are undoubtedly
Saxon, yet when we examine into the nomenclature of the
smaller hamlets, and individual homesteads, lying in what we
may assume to be, the intervening spaces, and outside the
** marks " of the ** /w«s," it shall be found, that there is a very
great proportion of Scandinavian names.

It is very certain that before the arrival of the Norsemen,
notwithstanding the long period of Anglian colonization,
putting aside the great mountain ranges of Lakeland, there
was an immense area within the two counties totally in forest
and waste.

The wild moorlands embracing the watershed of Upper

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. 9

Lune were as yet untrodden by the Angles ; the valley of
of Ravenstonedale was a flooded swamp ; and the pastoral
hills and dales of Stanemore were covered with primeval
forest. Between the bridge at Temple Sowerby, at the
boundary of the county, and that at Crosby-on-Eden near
Carlisle, there is a wide expanse nearly thirty miles in length,
containing within it many tracts of poorish sandy soil, lying
on the New Red Sandstone of the Permian basin, which were
untouched by the Angles, and over which there are still rem-
nants of the ling, scrub, and forest, which covered it in ancient
times. All these tracts are almost monopolised by Scandina-
vian nomenclature.

In an etymological exercise of this kind, it will not do to
take for granted too hastily, that all names with the suffix of
"^y," or of ** thwaitif'' or *^ thorpCy'' and so forth, point
exclusively to Danish origin, for it is possible that the other
part of the word may be Anglo-Saxon, as for example in
many cases of Kirkbys, Crosbys, etc. There may be mixed
names, formed by additions or remodelling from the later
dialect, and having no connection with the origin of the place.
Hence in all cases we are bound to consider the adjunct — one
guiding distinction is to be found in the custom which pre-
vailed amongst the Scandinavians, of calling their homesteads
from their own patronymic or family name. This is one in
most cases capable of identification. This statement will
receive ample confirmation, as we proceed in future pages.

When the country came within the grip of the conquering
Momian, we may well conclude, that the Brython of the
ancient blood of the Brigantes, and his feeble-handed offshoot,
the Romano-Celt, remained only as a meagre and abased factor
amongst the inhabitants; if indeed any tribe retaining in-
dependence existed at all. The Cumbrian Britons suffered
more from the ravages of the Danes, and from the succession
of ruthless wars with which Cumbria was afterwards devas-
tated, than they did from the Saxons after the retirement of
the Roman legions. Hemmed in by enemies on the land side,
and cut off from the Welsh frontier by the occupation of
Lancashire, they had only the open seatoard, and the estuary
of the Solway for escape to enable them to join their kindred

B

in Upper Strathclyde, or in Wales. Doubtless many mipratecl.
The only refuge for the remainder was in the mountain fast-
nesses of the Lake-Sand ; but that area was too limited to
afford them a continued foothold, for the Northmen's axe was
busy hewing openings through the tangled thickets and forests
of that region.

Towards the end of the eleventh century when the Norman
knngs undertook in earnest the appropriation of the land of
Cumbria, the distinctions i>etween the kindred races of the
Teuton and the Dane were well nigh effaced : these two had
so commingled as to become one people, alike in character
and sympathies: who had established iheir own rules of law
and order, who had attained a capacity for self-government,
who had settled their civil and ecclesiastical organization, as
well as the division of the land, and ordering of their rural
boundaries.

In regard to the state of ordinary Domestic Architecture at
the period of the advent of the Normans, all the information
we have is derived from drawings contained in old manu-
scripts, and from descriptions in the Saxon chronicles, in the
Sagas, and in metrical romances. From these sources it may
be inferred, that even the " hall '' and mansion of the chief,
was extremely simple and rude, and on a very small scale.
The Saxons are reputed to have attained but little proficiency
in constructive masonry, and most of their domestic buildings
are said to have been wooden structures. How far this was
an universal rule holding good in the north of England during
the tenth and eleventh centuries, is open lo doubt. There
were men amongst them who were accustomed to the moving
of stones, and the use ol the hammer and axe,— who could
quarry out immense blocks of freestone, and fashion them for
sockets, shafts, and heads of crosses, elegant in form, and of
nohle proportions.

There were also artists who could design an infinite variety
of beautiful patterns, with the interlacing band, the knot, and
the plait-work, — who could delineate and carve on the stone
a multitude of figures, and symijols derived from the pagan
mythology of their fatherland, and set them forth to ehicidate
some religious thought, and to exemplify Christian verities.

I

CHAPTER I.- -INTRODUCTORY. II

Such Saxon and Scandinavian sculptured church-yard crosses,
and carved sepulchral hog-backed stones abound in Cumbria.
Amongst the more noteworthy are the crosses of Gosforth,
Beckermet, Penrith, RockcHfF, Bewcastle, Dearham, and the
fragments of crosses and sepulchral slabs at Brighain, Cross
Canonby, Lowther, St. Bees, Aspatria, Kirkby Stephen, and
many other places. "•

In Southern England and in East Anglia, where stone was
not easily procurable, and in towns where haulage would b2
exp3nsive, nearly all the houses were built of timber, and clay
lump, as they continued to be for centuries onwards. But in
the north, stone could anywhere be easily obtained, either
from the open quarries left by the Romans, or from the
boulders of every size and variety left in the drift of the great
Ice sheet, which nearly everywhere covered the surface. It is
quite reasonable to presume that the system of building walls
with undressed stones without mortar, or ** dry walling," as it
is termed, which has been the common usage for centuries,
and still prevails, may be referred back to pre- Norman times.
The oldest remains we have of thj cottages of the peasantry,
and of old farm buildings in the dales, present thick hollow
walls, constructed of *' cobble stones" and mud-clay. Timber
houses of any class are rarely met with in these counties, and
do not appear to have been ever at all habitual in the rural
districts. Hence the residence of the Thane which is
(generally represented as a timber erection, may have been
here in many places a structure in part with stone walls, which
could have been raised at a cost not exceeding that involved in
hewing, splitting, or preparing the timber for the putting up of
a wooden house.

In Saxon and early Norman times, within the hedge
boundary of every " /(?//," or ** haim, " stood the domicile of the
overlord, the ** aula,'' as it was termed in the Latinized form
in Domesday survey ; in Anglo-Saxon it was the '* heall,''
from which form of spelling the word continued to be pro-

• A thorou;jh investigation of these sculptured relics has been conducted with
;'cat earnestness by the Kev. W. S. Calverlcy, F.S.A., Vicar of Aspatria, who
^a> >uccreJcd by great research in interpreting these symbols and alle;;ories.
S« miny papers by that Author in the Transactions of Cumberland and West-
in'>rUnd Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. — VoU. vi.. viii.. ix.

12 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

nounced in the middle English vernacular. In type and style
these halls seem to have been in all cases much alike, differ-
ing only in dimensions. They were generally square in plan,
or sometimes in the form of a parellelogram, containing only
two apartments ; the principal common room, and a small
bedchamber for the use of the lord. Usuall}' both rooms
were on the ground floor, and adjoined each other ; at other
times the lord's chamber was on an upper floor, and it was
then called the ** solar/' The common hall was used as a
living room, where the owner was wont to take his meals,
along with his ** huscarles," or domestics, and his ** hearth-
men," as they were termed. The custom was for these
retainers to draw together round the hearth where the fire
burned in the middle of the hall, the smoke escaping through
an opening in the roof. At night they slept on the floor. At
one time the cooking was done in the hall, but later on there
was a separate kitchen hut erected in the courtyard, and out-
buildings, convenient for stores, and cellars. The roof was
either thatched with reeds, or covered with wooden shingles,
or sometimes with oval-shaped stone shingles or tiles fastened
by wooden pegs, as may be seen in drawings in early manu-
scripts. The courtyard was inclosed by a defence of wooden
stakes. Within the court adjoining the hall was a separate
building, set aside for the women's apartments.

Such probably would continue to be the external appear-
ance of the manor house, until the time arrived when
improved knowledge in building design, and construction, and
skill in masonry, and carpentry had been acquired by native
artificers, under the teaching of the Normans. No doubt
owing to decay and accidental causes, and the ambition for
improved dwellings, the old Saxon halls gradually disap-
peared, and gave place to a better class of building, during
the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But even
of these houses, all have disappeared — we have not a vestige
left in this part of the country of any domestic architecture
apart from that contained in military castles, and the old
abbeys, of an earlier date than the end of the thirteenth
century. This we shall see when we come to treat of the
pele towers of the fourteenth century.

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. 1 3

THE *' MOTTE," OR ** BURH."

In connection with the enquiry concerning the domestic
habitations of our forefathers during the period immediately
preceding the Norman appropriation of Cumbria, we are con-
strained to refer, though of necessity by the way of a sketch
only, to some works which partake partly of a military and
partly of a domestic character. These are the earthworks
which are known to us as ** mottes " or moated mounds, or
" burksr

Distinguished alike from the defensive inclosures situated
on the heights and on the hill sides, which were the work of
the Welsh-speaking early people, as well as from the special
rectangular castrametation of the Romans, these mounds
possess respective features of their own, and without doubt
belong to the English period. It would seem that they were
erected some time before and during the ninth century, but
most numerously during the tenth century, at the time of the
struggles between the Saxons and the Danes ; and moreover
that similar strongholds were ** wrought '' alike by both of the
conflicting folk. The remains of these mounds are very
numerous throughout Great Britain — they were the ** mota *'
of the chronicles, and the names of the founders and the date
of the construction of many of them are on record.

In his great work on the old castles of England, Mr. G. T.
Clark- has made these **burhs^' the subject of personal re-
search, he has traced their distribution, noted their distinctive
features, and above all elucidated their history, and shown to
what an extent these mounds became afterwards adopted as
the sites of Norman castles.

The burh was sometimes situated on a natural eminence,
a bluff or headland, often scarped by art, or the mound was
altogether artificial erected on some gently rising ground ;

•Medbcval Military Architecture, vol. i., Chap. ii.

In the hilly districts of the soulh-west of Scotland, the remains of these mottes
and earthern forts abound, but they have not until recently received due attention
from archaeolo}(ists. I'he exploration of them is now bein.jc carried on in earnest
U' members of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 1 hose of Dumfrie^hire
fca»in>f been investigated systematically by Dr. David Christison, and those of the
iitenartry of Kirkcudbright and Galloway by Mr. Fredeiick Coles. See papers
m the Proceeding's of the above Society, vol. 1S90-91.

14 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

the earth from a wide and deep circumscribing ditch was
thrown up into the centre, so as to form a cone with a table-
top — the plan was always curvilinear, and the altitude varied
from twelve to fifty feet. Appended to the central mound and
its encircling ditch, there was usually a second rounded moat,
inclosing an oval or horse-shoe-shaped area ; this was the
base-court, and it was often further strengthened by a bank
along the scarp of the ditch. In his remarks on the burhs,
Mr. Clarke says: — ** In viewing one of these moated mounds
we have only to imagine a central timber-house on the top of
the mound, built of half trunks of trees set upright between
two waling pieces at the top and bottom, with a close paling
round it along the edge of the table-top, perhaps a second
line at the base, and a third along the outer edge of the ditch,
and others not so strong upon the edges of the outer courts,
with bridges of planks across the ditches, and huts of ** wattle
and dab " or of timber within the inclosures, and we shall
have a very fair idea of a fortified dwelling of a thane or
franklin in England, or of the corresponding classes in
Normandy from the eighth or ninth centuries down to the
date of the Norman Conquest."

The motte doubtless often constituted the ^^ caput'' or
** maisou seigneurale '* of the manor, and the extensive base-
court within the out-works contained ** shielings " for the
** huscarles*' ; and afforded a refuge in times of disturbance
for the freemen — commoners, and their cattle. These burhs
have an interest in respect to our subject in so far that some
of those standing on natural eminences where the foundations
have been good enough, have been chosen as sites for Norman
castles and pele towers.

Examples of the existence of these fortified earthworks are
not unfrcquent in our northern counties ; for instances maybe
enumerated the moated mounts of Melling, Hornby, Black
Burton, Ilalton, in the vale of the Lune, Kendal Castle Hill,
and the neighbouring earthwork of Castlthowe, also the
fort called Castlchowe near Tebay, Aldingham Moat in Cart-
mcU ; the castle hills of Pendragon, Brough, and Ai)pleby,
Askham Tower, the castle hills of Penrith, Carlisle, and
Egremont, Irthington Moathill, remains at Denton Hall, and

CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. I5

at Down Hall near Aikton, Liddel Moat in Liddlesdale, and
imperfect traces in other places.

During the course of the eleventh century an entire trans-
formation ensued in the method of fortification amongst the
Normans. Instead of trusting to the obstacles presented by
a wide circuit of ditches and palisading, these outworks were
done away with, and the circumambient moat was restricted
to the base of the walls of the keep. Instead of the wooden
tower there was substituted a massive rectangular building
in stone and mortar, with walls of great thickness, witli no
openings on the ground floor, except narrow slits for air and
light, unassailable by fire ; a strong impenetrable box in which
a few resolute defenders might shut themselves up, and resist
attack so long as their provisions lasted. During the reign
of Duke William this parmanent form of fortress in solid
masonry was being adopted in Normandy, and William, after
the conquest, proceeded to carry out in England this same
important improvement. At Dover, London, York, Lincoln,
Newcastle, and some scores of other places over the kingdom,
castles were ordered to be built.

In referenence to this topic, Mr. G. T. Clark says : —
'* William and his barons evidently employed two classes of
castles, — one alwa3'S in masonry, and one ver}' often in
timber. Where a castle was built in a new position, as in
London, or where there was no mound, natural or artificial,
they employed masonry, and chose as a rule for the keep the
rectangular form — a type said to have been introduced from
Maine, and seen at Argues, at Caen, and at Falaisc; but
where the site was old and there was a mound, as at
Lincoln, Huntingdon, Rockingham, Wallingford, or York,
they seem to have been content to repair the existing works,
usually of timber only, and to have postponed the replacing
thtm with a regular shell till a more convenient season, which
in many cases did not occur for a century."'- This qualifi-
cation requires to be borne in mind when castles are referred
to as having been established by the Normans in the eleventh
century, because oftentimes these may have been pre-existing

•Medieval Military Architecture, vol. i, p. 41.

l6 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Enfjlish strongholds, and the keeps which we see so fre-
quently standing on such sites may really not have been
erected until the twelfth century. Of the Norman castles of
Westmorland we shall treat in a subsequent chapter.

(17)

CHAPTER II.

THE LORDS OF THE BARONY
OF WESTMORLAND.

After the unavailing effort to resist the Norman invasion at
the battle of Hastings, there was an end to Saxon power in
England, which had lasted over five hundred years. But
as has been already mentioned, it was not until several years
afterwards, that the effects of the conquest penetrated
materially into these two northern counties. Cumberland
and the northern part of Westmorland were still possessed by
Scotland, and ruled over by- Malcolm Caenmore.

About the year 1070 it would appear that Gospatrick,
Earl of Northumberland, wrested this district from the
Scottish King, and set up his son Dolphin as overlord of the
country. Although there is much uncertainty about the con-
dition of Cumbria during this period, and respecting the date
of its transference from Scotland to England, yet when
William Rufus came to Carlisle in 1092, he found Dolphin
seated there.

There has been much blundering in the older county
histories concerning the dates and details of the Norman
settlement of Cumbria, which confusion originated from the
very doubtful authority of a brief MS. formerly preserved in
the Monastery of Wetheral, and printed in Dugdale's
Monasticon under the title of the **Chronicum Cumbriai."
These errors have been cleared up in recent years principally
by researches in the Pipe Rolls and other original sources, by
Mr. Hodgson- Hinde. •'• We may stand assured that William
the Conqueror was never in Cumberland at all. In the year
1069 there was a formidable insurrection amongst the English

•"On the Early History of Cumberland." Archctological Journal, vol. xvi.,
p. 217. The Pipe Rolls of Cumberland, published by the Soc. of Anti(fuaries
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1847. Sec also Chancellor Ferguson's " History of
CumbeTland, 1890."

C

l8 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

to expel the Normans, of which York was the rallying point.
William collected a large army of mercenary troops, and led
it in person to the north, vowing with his usual oath that he
would not leave a soul alive. The Conqueror reduced to a
desert the whole country between the H umber and the Tees,
he advanced as far as Hexham, from which place he with-
drew somewhat suddenly to Chester, not taking the route
through our two counties, but across the wild moorlands of
Durham and Yorkshire.

It was not until twenty-six years after the Conquest, that
the subjugation of the ** land of Carlisle,'* and of course with
it the bottom of Westmorland was undertaken, and that this
district was added to the Monarchy. The Red King marched
north and took possession of Carlisle in 1092 ; he found it in
ruins, — a desolated old Roman city, almost depopulated ; he
upset Dolphin, the English overlord, from his bulwark on the
Castle hill ; he summoned a great number of Saxon folk from
the south of England,'*' bringing with them their implements
and cattle to settle there, and till the land. Moreover he
ordered the defences of the city to be repaired, and a very
strong tower to be erected there. Whether the design of
Rufus for building the stone fortress at Carlisle was carried
out during his lifetime, or by his successor we have no certain
means of knowing. Henry I. succeeded in the year iioo, and
it would seem most likely that it must have been after his
accession that the keeps of Carlisle and of the Westmorland
castles were erected. The southern part of Westmorland
known as the barony of Kendal, being in Amoundernesse,
was in the lifetime of the Conqueror a portion of the realm,
and had been granted to Ivo de Tailbois. Ivo was an
Angevin who married an Englishwoman, Lucia, who was
heiress of Thorold, Lord of Spalding, in Lincolnshire.

But the new country conquered by Rufus was constituted
into an earldom, and was granted by him to Ranulph de
Meschines. About the date 1220 Ranulph de Meschines
succeeded to the great earldom of Chester, and on his

* It has been sug^gcstcd that these Saxon folk were broup^ht from the district of
the New Forest.

CHAPTER II. — THE LORDS OF THE BARONY. I9

removal to take up the guardianship of the marches of Wales,

his Westmorland barony, and that of Burgh-on-Sands in

Cumberland, devolved on his sister, who was married to

another Norman, Robert d'Estrivers or Trevers. Their

daughter and heiress, Ibria Trevers, married Ranulf

Engayne, by whose granddaughter, Ada Engayne, the

barony passed to Simon de Morville, who was also of Norman

extraction. Then followed Roger de Morville, who had a son

and heir, Hugh, and a daughter, Maud, who was married to

a William de Veteripont.

This introduces us to the name of the Veteriponts- who
were associated with the barony for three generations. They

were descended from a family in Normandy (de Veteriponte),
lords of Curcaville. The issue of Maud Morville and William
de Veteripont was the son Robert, who eventually succeeded
to the lordship. Hugh de Morvillef was the brother of Maud
and for some time Lord of Westmorland and Knaresburgh :
he was one of the Barons of the Bedchamber to King Henry
II., and was the knight who kept the door while his com-
panions slew Thomas-a-Becket in his cathedral at Canter-
bury. By reason of this act, liis estates and the castles of
.\ppleby and Burgh were seized into the King's hands, and so
continued until the time of King John, when there was a re-
grant of the same to the issue of the heiress of the de
Morvilles.

During this interval Henry II. granted the custody of
Appleby Castle to one Gospatrick, the son of Orme, an old
Englishman still retaining considerable possessions in the
country, and possibly having his ** aula '* and caput at Ormes-
head near Appleby. J In the meanwhile William the Lion of
Scotland makes his invasion, and tries to take possession of
the castles of the north, generally without much avail.

* The name still exists in the district oF Alston in Cumberland, in tlie cun-
'.ncted form of Vipont.

'Ihere has been a blunder amnnjrst his'orians respecting the particular Husfh
<ie Morville, who was concerned in the murder. The correction was made by
Mr. Hiidt!5on-Hinde in his paper in Arch(Polopicnt Journal, vol. xvi. See also
" Ih'iurtf of (^uwirrlauil.** By R. S. I'erguson, F.S.A.

• IlKmias M*n of this Gospatiick, son of Orme, was the founder of Shap Abbey,
•brb leceived sundry benefaction^ from succeeding; barons.

20 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Appleby Castle however jdelds, being inadequately defended.*
For this submission to the enemy old Gospatrick and the
knights who were joined with him in the defence get into
serious trouble, and are heavily mulcted in fines.! The castle
was taken and the town was burnt. After this contretemps
the barony was seized into the king's hands.

By a charter of 1204, which is extant, King John confirmed
to Robert de Veteripont the inheritance of his mother Maud
Morville,* i.e., the castles of Appleby and Burgh, with all their
appendages ; the chases of Whinfell and Mallerstang, — the
assize of bread and ale, and of** wefts'* and measures, and
such like, — the wardships and advowsons, — the hereditary
sheriffwick, and all the ordinary rents and services appertain-
ing to the barony. This Robert de Veteripont was one of the
most powerful nobles in the early part of the thirteenth
century, with large possessions in England, and the custodian-
ship of many castles ; lie was employed in state offices of great
trust, and was for twenty-four years sheriff of Westmorland.
It was probably by him that the Norman keep ai Brougham
Castle was built. He achieved a crusade to the Holy Land,
he was a great benefactor to the abbey at Shap, he died in the
year 1228, and was buried in the Temple Church in London.
His son and successor John had the lordship only about
fourteen years ; he died in the 26th of Henry HL, leaving an
heir Robert, a minor. This Robert was a ward of the king,
and was placed under the custody of the Prior of Carlisle.
We are told by the inquisition at his majority, that during
this custodianship, great waste was allowed to take place in
the estates ; the castle of Appleby fell out of repair, the
timbers at Brough tower had rotted, and here the first mention
occurs of Brougham Castle, ** the walls and roof of which had
gone to decay for want of repairing the gutters, etc." Besides

•Jordan Fantosmc, in his metrical account cf the expedition by Henry II
against William the Lion, which he accompanied, makes mention of this siege.

t Gospatrick was fined 500 marks; Ralph de Caudale 40 marks; Odard de
Burgham 20 marks ; John de Morville ^'10 ; Gilbert de Kngayne^s J and others
various sums. These appear amongst the fines in the exchequer in the 22nd
of Henry II.

* Maulds Meaburn in Westmorland (Mtl-uru Matildn) was so named from
Maud Morville, as being a portion of her own inheritance, indistinction from the
adjoining King's Meaburn {Mclurn Regis), which was in the hands of the crown.

CHAPTER II. — THE LORDS OF THE BARONY. 21

this the forest of Mallerstang had suffered trespass, it had
been swept by poaching gangs of expert bowmen who killed
the deer.

This Robert when he arrived at manhood sided with the
malcontent barons, under Simon de Montfort against Henry
III., and died of wounds received at the battle of Lewes.
The lands were forfeited to the king, but by the intercession
of Prince Edward, they were restored in 1266 to the two
surviving daughters. These girls Isabella and Idonea were
mere children at the time of their father's death, and as wards
of the king were committed to the custody of two knights,
Roger de Clifford of Clifford Castle on the W^'e, and Roger
de Leybourne of the county of Kent. These two Rogers
secured the usual matrimonial coup, by disposing of their
wards in due time in marriage to their own respective sons and
heirs. The younger Idonea, the wife of Leybourne, died
without issue, so that eventually the whole Veteripont in-
heritance became vested in the heirs of Isabella, the elder
sister, by her husband Roger de Clifford.

The line of the Cliffords extended to thirteen generations
from father to son, with two or three exceptions wlien brothers
succeeded, until the last lord died in 1605, leaving an only
daughter Anne born at Skipton Castle in 1591. This lady
became successively Countess of Dorset and of Pembroke.-

The Cliffords were for the most part a tough fighting race,
always astir when there was work to do in warfare, hence we
find most of them died before their time on the battlefield
either abroad or at home, and as a consequence it often
happened that an heir was left with a long minority.

Robert, the first of the Cliffords in Westmorland, who
married Isabella Vipont, is credited with making the great
additions of the gateway buildings at the castle of Brougham,
and of placing over the inner door, the tablet with the in-

•This remarkable woman took a jjrcat interest in the history of her family ;
«Hr caused a dilipcnl search to be made in all public deposit tries for all documents
frUtin-'' to the Cliffords, and such other information as could be 'gathered lespt-ct-
in? the barony, which she caused t«i be copied intd her memoirs in manu-ciipt,
which have been preserved at Appleby Castle. The^e records have Ihjcii freely
ttvrd by Dr. Burn in his excellent history of Westmorland, where may be found
iofull the descents and the genealogy of the Clifford family.

22 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

scription ** This maydc Roger'' He was slain at the age of
forty at Anpjlesea, in the king's service against the Welsh.

Robert his son, who was left a minor, became one of the
foremost men of the day as a warrior ; he was admiral of
England ; he was commander of the marches along the
Scottish border, and was among the slain on that fatal Sun-
day for English chivalry, in June, 13 14, on the field of
Bannockburn. It was during the time of this lord that the
honour of Skipton Castle in Craven in Yorkshire, was added
to the range of castles belonging to the barony, so that from
this period the lordship of the Cliffords extended from Skipton
to the verge of the county of Cumberland, at Brougham
Castle, a domain which embraced, except a ten miles break,
a distance of seventy miles.

In the fourth generation there was another Roger who
greatly distinguished himself in the reign of Edward III., in
wars both in France and Scotland, but was fortunate to die
in peace at home. He was a lover of building and repaired
his ancient castles ; it was he who built the outer gateway at
Brougham Castle, and the domestic range of the hall, and
chapel, and those portions which exhibit the style of the
Decorated period.

Thomas, in the fifth generation, was slain in a crusade ;
the next John, was killed by a cross-bow bolt, at the siege of
Meaux, aged 32. The next Thomas was a chief commander
in the protracted French war, and took an active part in the
civil commotions at home. He sided with King Henry VI.
against Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, but in the first
hostile action which initiated the Wars of the Roses, he was
slain in the High Street of St. Albans while defending the
king.

His son John was the famous Lancastrian leader ; he con-
tributed with his forces to the success of the cause at the
battle of Wakefield, in 1460, in which the Duke of York was
killed. Clifford however stained his reputation by an act of
savagery and revenge, when he smote with his dagger his
prisoner, the defenceless boy, the Earl of Rutland, York's
second son. But three months after, the Black Clifford
himself fell early in the battle on the ghastly field of Towton,

CHAPTER II. — THE LORDS OF THE BARONY. 23

where the slaughter of Lancastrians was so deadly, that
hardly a manor in Westmorland had not to bewail the loss of
the head or a scion of their house.*

After the ascendency of the Yorkists, the Cliffords fell
under a ban, on account of the blood feud, and of their in-
flexible allegiance to the cause of the Red Rose. The estates
of course were forfeited. The episodes in the life of the
attainted child-heir of the Black Clifford, called Henry the
Shepherd Lord, sound like a romantic drama. Concealed by
his mother, who married for her second husband Sir Lancelot
Threlkeld of Threlkeld and Yanwath, and brought up in
obscurity and ignorance by foster-parents as a common
shepherd-boy on the northern fells, for a space of twenty-four
years, we find him at last restored to his titles and possessions
on the accession of Henry VH. He lived for thirty-seven
years afterwards fulfilling wisely and well the duties of his
position. This Henry applied himself to the repair of his
houses which had fallen somewhat to waste during these
many turbulent years ; and he seems to have done a good
deal for the domestic range of buildings at Brough Castle.
We are told a high Christmas feast and revel was held there
in the year 1519. A short time afterwards there occurred a
great fire, which burnt the place down to the bare walls, and
so it remained in waste until the time of the Countess of
Pembroke.

The son and heir of the Shepherd Earl was a very eminent
man and in great favour with Henry VHL ; he was created
Earl of Cumberland, and had the gift of the Order of the
Garter ; he was Lord Warden of the Marches several times.
Moreover the King bestowed his niece, Eleanor Brandon,
daughter of his youngest sister, the Duchess of Suffolk, in
marriage with the eldest son of this Lord' Clifford.

There followed in all five Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland,

until the male line became extinct ; and Lady Anne Clifford,

daughter of George, the third earl, eventually, after a good

deal of litigation, succeeded to the estates.

Lady Anne was married first to the Earl of Dorset, who

• All the Bottom of Westmorland was Lancastrian.

24 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

died in 1684, and six years after had for her second husband,
Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Her daughter Margaret,
b}' her first husband, remained sole heiress of the Clifford
family.

Anne, Countess of Pembroke, was a remarkable person in
her time, and her memory is much associated with Westmor-
land, in which she passed a great portion of the latter part of
her life. Possessed of great natural gifts, and a good educa-
tion, she was a woman of spirit and firm character in vindi-
cating her rights, shrewd in business, and exact in accounts,
she applied herself with great ability to the administration of
her property, to the repair of churches, and to the establish-
ment of charities. At vast expense she renovated and made
habitableher decayed castles of Skipton, Appleb)', Brougham,
and Brongh, and also Pendragon ; in these places she year by
year alternately resided. It was her usual practice to set up
over the gateway of the castle an inscription setting forth her
titles, and the date of the completion of the restoration, along
with some pious sentence or text of scripture. This good
lady died in the year 1675, well advanced in years ; and the
ancient Clifford inheritance was carried by the marriage of
her daughter Margaret to the Tuftons, Earls of Thanet, in
which line it continues.

(25)

CHAPTER III.

THE NORMAN CASTLES OF THE BARONY

OF WESTMORLAND.

After this cursory review of the successions and descents of
the lords paramount of the Barony, it is incumbent for the
right understanding of the social history of the old manorial
halls, of their distribution, and of the details of their domestic
architecture, that some general view should be given of the
castles of the barony from which the lands were held by
feudal tenures.

It is not advisable to enter at too great length, or too par-
ticularly into the history and constructive features of these
mediaeval military structures, as such a task would carry us
beyond the legitimate scope of this work, which is more
especially confined to the subjects of manorial houses. More-
cner the descriptions already published by most competent
authorities, of all appertaining to these castles, and their
history, are so adequate and exhaustive, embracing as they
<lo ground-plans, measurements, and architectural details,
that indeed all has been said relating to them, that is worth
telling.

A short description of the principal architectural features
of Brougham Castle was given by Mr. J. H. Parker in 1853,
in his excellent work.* The late Canon Simpson, Vicar of
Kirkby Stephen, than whom there was no more able master
of all relating to the antiquities of the county, furnished two
excellent monographs on Appleby and Brougham Castles, f
In his great work, Mr. George T. Clark has included minute
and accurate descriptions of the Castles of Brougham and
Brough. :J Chancellor Ferguson, of Carlisle, in a paper in

• Ihtme^tic Architecture oj' Knglantl, vol. ii.

^Transactions of the Cumierland and ff'estworland Anti(juarian Sociefi/y
»ol. i.

XMrtiittral Military Architecture, vol. i.

D

26 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

the Transactions of the Society, of which he is the dis-
tinguished President, has completed the account of Appleby
Castle,'' and drawn special attention to its early earth-
works. So that it would be in a supreme degree superfluous
to give more than such a general outline of the principal
features of these castles, as may serve to exemplify the types,
and progress of style in domestic dwellings, in this part of the
country.

When the Red King had completed the conquest of the land
of Carlisle, it became necessary to' defend his frontier from
aggressive inroads from the north. There is good authority
for the statement that Rufus left orders for the erection of a
^^ turns fortissima '' on the headland on which Carlisle Castle
stands, and that Flemish masons were sent for to construct
it. Still it is questionable whether the veritable keep which
we now see is of so early a date, as the character of the
building points with greater probability to some period of the
twelfth century.

The only direct practicable passage at that time, from
Carlisle into the heart of England, was through the forest o^
Englewood by way of Penrith, and by the ascent of the valley
of the Eden, and from thence over the pass of Stanemore, in
fact along the line of the great Roman military way, which
continued for ages to be the great thoroughfare between
Carlisle and the plain of York. For this reason the defence
of this road became of supreme strategical importance.
Under the barons to whom the country was granted, first by
Henry I., castles of the type of the Norman period, were
planted in strong positions, generally within touch of the
Roman highway. So that there came to be a chain of these
fortresses up the course of the Eden valley, into Durham and
Yorkshire.

The first of these strongholds is Brougham Castle situated
on the Roman road within the camp of Brocavum, at the
confluence of the rivers Lowther and Eamont, commanding
the ford for the passage of wheels across the conjoined

• Transacliini.s o/' thr Cumlrrlantl and Wcstmorlnnd Archtvoloffical and
Antiffitarian Socifh/f vol. viii.

THE NORMAN CASTLES OF THE BARONY. 27

stream ; ten miles higher up is Appleby Castle, in a strong
position, protected b}' the deep waters of the Eden ; again ten
miles further up the vale is Brough Castle, on the site of the
Roman camp of Verterae, to guard the pass over Stanemore,
beyond which are Barnard's Castle, and also the castle at
Bowes on the site of the camp of Lavatrae. The pass through
Malierstang valley, on the way to Skipton, was protected by
Pendragon Castle.

The Eden Valley was in these times, as it is at present, the
pride of Westmorland, both for its fertility and the attractions
of the landscape ; everywhere it had been colonized by
Teutonic and Scandinavian settlements. Later on, under
the safeguard of these sheltering fortresses, the whole country,
when skill in masonry extended, became studded with the pele
towers and halls of the mesne manorial lords.

Of the castles of Edenside, that of which we have the
earliest mention, is Appleby Castle, which continued to be
regarded as the head-centre or caput of the barony ; hence it
will naturally be the first to come under notice.

APPLEBY CASTLE.

The town of Appleby lies within an extensive basin-shaped
hollow, which has been eroded by the action of the Eden, by
which il is encompassed on three sides. At the entrance of
the gorge through which the stream has cut its way from the
south, there is a bold headland, the sides of which for the
roost part are steep, and even precipitous where they over-
hang the river, whilst from the north side a narrow ridge
slopes gently down to the level of the river basin. On this
slope the town has been built. The low meadow-land looped
within the circuitous course of the Eden is subject to inun-
dation, and at an early period, say in the time of the Romans,
was probably a marsh or impassable swamp. The site of the
castle is on the summit of the bluff, so that it held a very
favourable defensive position.

The top of this hill contains remains representing ditches
aod ramps of vast magnitude, some of them being forty feet

28 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

(Jeep, and eighty feet from crest to crest, certainly on a far
more gigantic plan than was practised by the Normans.
Chancellor Ferguson, in the year 1886, carefully plotted and
examined these earthworks, and in the paper giving the
results of his survey, he has shown undoubtedly that in these
earthworks we have the production not of the British pre-
Roman people, but that of the Saxon or Danish predecessor
of the Norman. " These moats are some of them single, and
others are double, and inclose three wards, an outer, a
middle and an inner ward, which are so disposed as to be
covered one by the other.

Chancellor Ferguson says : ** Where the keep now stands,
would b2 a central tmiber-house, built of half trunks of trees,
set upright between two waling pieces at the top and bottom,
with a close paling around it at the edge of the mound ; the
various ditches would be crossed by bridges of planks, and
defended by oak palisades, as would ba the top of the bluff to
the east over the river, and within the inclosures would be
the huts of " wattle and dab," or of timber, for the retainers.
The date would be sometime between the eight or ninth
century, and the Norman conquest of the district by the Red
King."

Such would be the aspect of the so called Castle of Appleby
when the place was first granted to Ranulph de Meschine,
and it is probabhi that it was not until the entry of the twelfth
century, in the time of Henry I., that any substantial work in
masonry was undertaken. It would be about that date that
the prcseut keep, which continued to be spoken of under the
name of Ca*sar's tower, was first erected.

The keep stands on the highest part of the inner ward, in a
detached position, in reference to the walls of cnciente. It
presents the usual features of Norman construction. It is a
rectangular tower, about 46 feet scjuare, with the usual broad
Hat flanking pilasters, of slight i)rojection, meeting so as to
cover each angle ; it presents no plinth nor set-off, but only a
string course marking the level of the second Hoor ; the walls

* l*!arth\V()rks and keep of Appleby Castle, by K. S. Ferguson, F.S.A. Tran-
< ctioHs nf fhf (^Htnl-rrltiml mnl iVtslmitrlnml ArclKvnhttricnl anil Anti.fHtirian
Socirti/^ vol. viii., p. v'^J.

APPLEBY CASTLE. 29

are of rubble work and open jointed, and do not batter
externally in any appreciable degree. The exterior is ex-
tremely plain, and the whole structure hardly comes up to
that standard of strength and solidity which is generally
observable in Norman work of this period. The wails are
only six feet thick, so that they give no room for passages in
the thickness of the wall, and the only mural recejocs are two
L shaped closets in the north-eastern angle : all those cautious
contrivances for munition and defence which we usually meet
with, are absent. It would almost seem, that the tower had
been constructed in haste, perhaps under the hand of a
moderate military architect, and by indifferently skilled
masons.

The basement was at about the ground level, and as in
many Norman castles of this type, could have served for
stores only, and like that at Brough Castle, had no outside
door, but had a descent by steps from the first floor : it was
not vaulted, but had a timber roof above it. The lighting
and airing apertures were originally four narrow splayed
round-headed loops. Within this cellar is a deep well for the
supply of water, so essential in a siege, of however short
duration.

The original entrance to the keep was on the first floor, on
the east side, and access would be obtained in the usual way
by movable wooden steps. In the upper floors some of the
original Norman round-headed windows remain, and the
sides of the wide window recesses in the wall, are furnished
with the usual stone seats. There were originally three
stories, but the internal arrangements have been altered at
various times ; the height has been raised a stage, and the
present plain battlemented parapet, and angle turrets have
k-en inserted. This keep has often been in a ruined con-
dition, it suffered considerably when the town of Appleby
was taken and burnt by William the Lion of Scotland, in the
year 1173 ; it was nmch defaced and broken down during the
Scots wars, and it remained roofless from 1569 to 1651, when
it was set in repair by the Countess of Pembroke, who so
restored it, as to convert it into a habitable residence for her
own use. It was under her directions that the central cross-

30 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

wall was built from the foundations up the middle of the
tower, dividing it into two compartments.

Up to the time of King John there do not appear to have
been any other buildings of consequence here, except the
tower. Whether the Veteriponts, who then received the
grant, took much interest in the place, we have no certain
means of knowing. We find it recorded that it had been
allowed to fall into decay, during the period of John, the last
of the Vipont race in the time of Henry III. But after the
estates were carried by his daughter Isabella to the Clifford
family all the castles received important additions. During
the fourteenth century imposing domestic buildings were ex-
tended in the quadrangle, the baron*s chamber, the hall, and
dining-room ; the gatehouse which is supposed to have been
erected in 141 8 by John Lord Clifford, whose arms and those
of his wife were carved upon it. Thomas de Clifford, the son
of the last, set up other buildings, and a chapel also, as it is
recorded in the Countess' diary, that in the bottom of the
window was written —

^s QLIjappb hias built bg S^bontns
%ord ®Uffor2r ^nno Domni (Bnt ^Iforxzanb 400-54.

** which was the year before himself was slain.'' The windows
of this chapel contained ** set up in the glass, the arms of
the Viponds and Cliffords, and also the arms of the Dacres,
which was the wife's arms joined with the Cliffords." The
windows in the hall also contained coats-of-arms in painted
glass.

After the time of the Countess of Pembroke, Thomas, Earl
of Thanet, in 1688, made many alterations in Appleby Castle,
and transformed it into a modern house. An excellent
critical and historical account of this Castle**' was given in
1 87 1, by Canon Simpson.

• Applel'if Castle. By the Kev. Dr. Simpson, Vicar of Kirkby Sicphen. Traw
xactions of the Cumivrlaud and frestmorland Archa-olopical and Anti.fuarian
Socictf/., vol. L, p. 242.

(31)

BROUGH CASTLE.

Brough came to be the important centre of this part of the
country, as the Normans, for the purpose of consolidating
their sway, and as a defence of the pass over Stainmoor
against invasion from the north, erected a massive fortress
on the strong defensive eminence nigh Brough, on the site
where the Romans long ago had planted their camp of
Verterae. It is quite possible that in pre-Norman times the
English themselves may have had one of their * mottes," or
strongholds, on this same spot, as they had undoubtedly on
the Castle hills of Appleby, Carlisle, Egremont, and sundry
other places.

Rf\oU6H G^57Lc

A.— Norman Keep.

K. — Medi.cval Huildinf<f.

C. — Ditches ol Castle.

J>. — Area of Roman Camp.

The first Robert de Veteripont, to whom King John in 1204
granted Appleby and Burgh, is regarded as the founder of the
castle, though the late Dr. Simpson urged the view that it
was built half-a-century earlier, by one of the Morville family
hefore they suffered forfeiture of their estates.

32 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

The knoll on which Brough Castle stands rises about sixty
feet above the stream of the Hellebeck, which flows along its
northern side. The summit is occupied by the rectangular
Roman camp, the fosse of which is, for the most part, well
represented, and the platform within the ditch covers 134
yards by 90 yards. It may be seen by reference to the
preceding plan, that the northern half of this area was cut off
in a slanting direction by a very deep cross-ditch, 23 yards
broad, by the Norman engineer, on which to rear the works
of his castle. These have consisted of a gateway and adjoin-
ing buildings, the curtain wall and the keep at the north-west
angle, thus inclosing a ward of a triangular shape*. The
original walls of the kec^p still remain, though in a shattered
condition, and, as will be seen by the following details, they
exhibit the characteristic features of Norman construction :

The plan of the building is rectangular, and measures over
the walls 51 feet by 41 feet ; it presents a plinth and two sets-
off, and on each f-ice there is a flat pilaster capping the
angles. It has contained a basement, without stone vaulting
however, and three floors, and had originally a pitched roof,
with the ridge running east and west ; around the top was a
parapet and rampart walk. The height without the parapet
was 60 feet. The main door was on the level with the first
floor, about 12 feet from the ground, with access doubtless by
an outside wooden siair or ladder. The basement was
closed in and could have been used for stores only, and
communicated with tht first floor by a hatchway and steps
within in like manner to Appleby Castle. The different
apartments above were reached by a mural passage and a
straight flight of steps in the thickness of the wall, and above
the second floor by a well-stair in the north-east angle. The
walls at the base are 10 feet thick and batter considerably,
being six feet thick at the top ; the masonry is, for the most
part, in blocks of uncoursed rubble. The original openings
were small and round-headed, but must have been enlarged
and altered at various times during the Decorated, Tudor,
and Stuart periods. There is one opening in the basement
deserving notice, of a rather rare and peculiar type. It con-
sists of two loops in the interior standing two feet apart,

UROIICH CASTLE.

which converge in a slanting direction, (as sbewn in this
pkui), so as to give but one single loop to the exterior,

tVc see, therefore, in this castle keep the prototype cf the
:ure which was perpetuated for a period of over three

kodred years, commonly and universally in the north of

igland and in Scotland, as the ordinary manorial domestic

relling-place.

I couch upon the history of Brough Castle only in a dis-
cufsvc manner, and will not pursue further details, as these
bate already been most adequately given by Mr. G. T. Clark
in his exhaustive work on the Mediaeval Military Castles of
Hngland.

PENDRAGON CASTLE.

The Vale of Mailerstang lies a few miles south of Kirkby

Stephen, and stretches up to the lofty mountain range on the

OOafiacs of Yorkshire, from which spring on the one hand the

mrccs oi the river Eden, and on the other the head-waters

34 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

of the Swale. The vale is deep and narrow, bounded by
steep sides, partly grassy slopes partly precipices of fells
reaching to the height of 2,000 feet. This wild tract was
anciently a vast open forest which harboured the red deer,
wild boar, and the wolf, and in mediaeval times was reserved
as one of the hunting grounds of the lords of the barony.
From the legends and traditions attached to this wild and
secluded region, interwoven as they are in Arthurian lore with
Utcr l*eiulragon, the reputed father of the renowned cham-
pion, it may possibly have been one of the last retreats of the
Strathclyde Hritons in their struggles against the Saxons.

In the centre of the vale close bv the river on its eastern
bank, there is a rounded moraine-like eminence bearing the
ruins of a fortress, the site of which doubtless had been occu-
pied as a defensive place in very early times. Traces of
trenches and moats around it are visible. These are the
ruins of Pendragon Castle, but the remains are so scanty that
no comprehensible description of its plan and arrangement
can be safely given. The main building has evidently con-
sist(?(l of a strong square keep of moderate size, and of the
early Norman type. The walls are in rubble of large blocks,
and are of great strength, being as much as 12 feet thick.
Pennant visited this place in his tour in 1773, ^^^^ ^" engrav-
ing is given of it in his book. <" In this the castle is repre-
sented as a rectangular keep of three stories, battlemented
with angular turrets, and narrow, round-headed openings.
The plate shows tlie front of the castle with a wide, circular-
headed entrance in the centre on the ground floor, and large
window openings above it, which were, no doubt, insertions
during the various alterations it had undergone.

It seems probable that this castle was erected during the
period of the earlier Norman barons, it might be by one of
the Engaynes or Morvilles. As has already been stated, the
building was found to be in decay from neglect during the
wardship of Robert de Veteripont in the reign of Henry III. ;
it was apparently repaired by his heiress Idonea, who married
the first Roger de Clifford, for in the Countess of Pembroke's

• T*ttirJ'roin Downing tn Alston Moor. \\d. I So I.

PEN DRAGON CASTLE. 35

memoirs we are told that Idonea resided a good deal here,
and died at this place in 1334. The Scots burnt down the
castle in 1341, but it was subsequently restored. Again it
was laid in ruins in 1541 , but the Countess of Pembroke took
it in hands in 1660, and made it thoroughly habitable, and set
up over the entrance gate the following inscription : —

**This Pendragon Castle was repayred by the lady Anne Clifford,
coantesse dowager of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomerie, baronesse
Clifford, Westmorland, and Vescie, high sheriffesse by inheritance of
the County of Westmorland, and lady of the honour of Skipton in
Craven in the year 1660; so as she came to lie in it herself for a
fittle while in October, 1661, after it had layen ruinous without timber
or any covering, ever since the year 1541. Isaiah, chap. Iviii. v. 12.*

•• God's name be praised. "

The place was dismantled when it came into possession of
the Earls of Thanet, and has fallen into a shapeless ruin.

BROUGHAM CASTLE.

The last of the Norman Castles of the Barony which comes
ander our notice is that of Brougham. This place during the
periods of the Cliffords afforded a larger extent of domestic
accommodation than the other castles, and became their most
important and favourite residence.

The situation and its amenities were eminently agreeable,
and at the same time the position presented considerable
defensive advantages. The site is close to the river Eamont,
just within the margin of the county, and about one-and-a-
half miles from the town of Penrith. The castle stands on
the plateau of a flat promontory lying within the angle of

• Thrt was her favourite text, the words are : — '* And they that shall be of thee
akin boild the old waste places ; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
fenermtions; aud thou shalt be called the repairer of^thc breach, the restorer of
lotks to dwell in.''

99

36 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

junction of the two rivers, the Lowther and the Eamont,
about 30 feet above the level of the streams, and partly
within the verge of the camp of Brocavum. Besides the
defences afforded by the streams, the place as a mediaeval
castle was fortified by deep and wide moats on three sides,
over which a drawbridge crossed to the inner works. The
inclosure was defended by the various buildings of the castle,
and by a curtain wall and mural towers, and contained one
large courtyard or bailey. The ruins are on a grand scale,
and fairly well preser\'ed ; and in them may be well remarked
the various styles of architecture, which have been embraced
in successive additions to the original Norman keep. It is
curious to note that whilst in the grant of King John in 1205
to Robert, the first Veteripont, the lands and forest chaces of
Brougham are specified, yet there is no mention made of a
castle there ; from which it may be inferred that this keep did
not then exist. An examination of the constructive details of
the tower render this conjecture extremely probable, as the
features presented by it, though thoroughly Norman, are of a
distinctly latish type. So that we are justified in the belief
that it was only on the advent to the barony of the first
Robert de Vipont, early in the thirteenth century, that the
great donjon was first erected. At this period, it is certain,
that the three castles of Appleby, Burgh, and Pendragon had
already been reared in solid masonry, and we may take it that
the object of erecting another castle at this place was to
occupy this strategic point, so as to carry out the policy of the
Normans of making castles support and protect one another,
in such parts of the country as were liable to be vexed by
disturbance.

This keep presents Norman work of good character. As
usual it is of the rectangular form about 44 feet square ; walls
1 1 feet thick of well-laid masonry, strengthened by shallow flat
pilasters meeting at the angles carried up to the summit, and
bearing originally four square turrets, and with a battle-
mented parapet. Most of the usual attributes of Norman
military structures are exemplified ; — the well stairs, — the
mural passages, chambers, and garderobes in the thickness
of the wall, — the widely-splayed arrow-slits and cruciform

BROUGHAM CASTLE. 37

loops in various parts of the building. There is also to be
seen on the upper floors some circular window openings of
considerable proportions, with splayed vaulted recesses, on the
angles of the rear-arches of which there is that moulding which
is so characteristic of Norman work — the bead set within a
hollow. The interior, however, became much recast with
Early English work in the time of Edward I. Over the base-
ment there was thrown a vaulted and ribbed roof in stone,
springing from brackets on the wails, and resting on a central
pier ; the walls of the great apartment on the first floor were
ornamented by a graceful arcade of pointed trefoiled arches
carried on slender shafts ; the tower was heightened by an
additional story, in which there is exposed to view almost
unaltered a remarkable fire-place with an arch of joggled
stones; in the south-east angle is a charming little oratory in
the thickness of the wall, and partly borne out by corbelling,
with a piscina and groined roof, and elegant-pointed and
moulded window, with shafts and bell-shaped capitals. A
fore-building was erected against the east face of the keep
to give the main external entrance to the great apartment.
All this was the work of the first Roger de Clifford.

But the second Roger who lived in the period of Edward
III., and of Richard II., was the great builder at Brougham,
and gave to the castle the lines which it now presents, and
converted it into a grand domestic residence. At this time
were erected the great blocks of buildings abutting on the keep
on the face next to the river ; these contained an outer and an
inner gatehouse, each furnished with its own system of port-
cullis, and gates, to guard the finely-groined and vaulted
passage of entry. The shouldered lintels of the doorways, and
the lighting of the apartments on the upper floors with pointed
mullioned and transomed windows, with trefoiled heads and
quatrefoils, indicate sufficiently the date of the Decorated
period. When Roger finished his work he set up over the
inner gateway this memorial : — •'

•The tablet has been moved frcm its original place, and is now placed over the
outer gateway.

3^^

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

C^n the south wall of the courtyard were the domestic build-
ings -the great chapel on the first floor with pointed windows,
trefoil headi\l seililia and piscina ; the hall and the kitchen.
All this U^longs to the same period.

either domestic ajxirtments were erected ranging along the
east side of the courtyard during the Tudor period ; and lastly
may Ih> seiMi the Jacobean work of the Countess of Pem-
broke. ^

* \\w hihtorv and architrctural ilrtaiU of thin castle has been ^^en elsewhere
I'j • ^t^ fiui, liy Air. (i. 1'. (Maik, by Kev. Dr. Simpson, and by Mr. J. H. Parker.

\lnhm\ii .Wi/j/4iiv Aii'hitfiturft vol. i.» p. nyh,

hunutstiuHi uj' iKf i'umifrlaHti timi tf rstmoriand Archttttlogical and Anli'
.^i..iii<4U .S\ti4i'/y, vol. i.

/»,nMr\/ii AtikUtwhiif »/ fhr Muiifif .•l/r^^ vol. li., p. 230.

(39)

CHAPTER IV.

MEDIAEVAL PELE TOWERS.

The land of Cumbria during the twelfth century, after the
time of Henry I., lapsed into a very unsettled state, in con-
sequence of the contentions arising from the Scottish claims
to the sovereignty, and by frequent wars and raids the country
was wasted far and wide. During the turbulent reign of
Stephen, David of Scotland had possession of Cumbria, and
held Carlisle. Henry II. repaired much of this mischief, and
in 1157 regained Cumberland south of the Sol way. Then
came the invasions of William the Lion in the years 1173 ^^^
1 174, in which the castles of Appleby, Burgh, and Liddel
were taken, but which ended in the capture of the Scottish
king before the walls of Alnwick. And so these contentions
went on, and it was not until the reign of Henry III., that
these troublesome Scottish claims were finally disposed of.
This was effected by an arrangement made at a conference at
York held in the year 1242, under Otho the Papal Legate, and
a compromise was come to, in pursuance of which, Cumber-
land became mutually recognized as an English county. The
Scottish king was compensated for his claims by the grant of
certain manors in the Forest of Inglewood, namely Penrith,
Sowerby, Langwathby, Salkeld, and other places, for which
he had to do homage, and to render yearly for them a goshawk
to the captain of Carlisle Castle.

Peaceful relations between the two kingdoms were main-
tained until the death of Alexander III., in the year 1286,
when the question arose in regard to the succession to the
Scottish crown. Disputes ensued between Baliol and Edward
I. and border raids and ravaging of the district recommenced,
accompanied with great atrocities. War broke out between
the two kingdoms in 1296, which lasted off and on up to the
second half of the fourteenth century.

40 THE OLU MANORIAL HAI.LS O

During all this dismal period both sides of the border
suffered from perpetual strife. Both before and after Ban-
nockburn Cumbria was overrun by regular organized expedi-
tions under Bruce, harried and swept by fire and sword, and
mulcted in large sums of money for the ransom of prisoners.
The inhabitants were reduced by poverty and famine, and
wasted by pestilence, for the plague of ihe Black Death was
upon the land.

For the above-named reasons, it need bs no matter of
surprise, that we should find a gap in the style of domestic
architecture, and so few examples existing in Cumbria, which
show the characteristics of the thirteenth century. This was
the period in which the native Early English style of art was
being developed, — in which the Norman semicircular-headed
arch with its peculiar mouldings became superseded by
the pointed arch with mouldings of a different character.
Numerous existing remains of good Early English work in
domestic structures are found in the Midlands and South of
England, as at Winchester, Stokes Say Castle, Shropshire;
Cottesford, Oxfordshire; and many other manor houses. But
in Cumbria the specimens showing Early EngUsh work are
very few. Bewley Castle, near Appleby, is an exception, and ,
possibly Dacre Castle, near Penrith ; both of which may have
been erected during the latter part of the thirteenth century.
Aydon Castle, near Hexham, in Northumberland, presents
lancet-headed windows, moulded shafts, and fireplaces of
Early English character, and is referred to by Mr. J. H.
Parker*' as the oldest manor house in the north ; it was built
in 1280.

What was the class of habitation of the minor lords during
this disturbed and impoverished condition of the land, we
have no certain means of knowing ; probably these were of
stone, and of the simplest form, and most likely after the
model of the Norman tower, but they almost all seem to have
been burnt or destroyed. Of the military castles built during
the Norman period many suffered, and were laid waste, but
were afterwards repaired, and received additional defences.

MEDIiEVAL PELE ToWEftS. 4I

and had habitable buildings raised within the enciente^ giving
to them the court-yard plan.

The fourteenth century is the earliest epoch to which we
can refer the existing remains of any of the border peles with
which we are familiar. But it was not until the second half
of the fourteenth century that the oldest of those with which
we have to deal came to ba erected. No doubt at this period
a great building era set in. The country knights and gentry
had learnt that fire was the great scourge of the desultory
warfare they had experienced, and when they set about
building new houses, they sought the strength and fire-resist-
ing capabilities of the stone arch and of massive walls of stone
and lime, pierced only with narrow apertures, to render the
structure less vulnerable. In fact, they adopted as their
model the quadrilateral or oblong Norman keep with which
they had been long familiar.

Castles and towers of this type were reared towards the
close of the fourteenth century, in great numbers, not only on
the English side of the border throughout Northumberland,
Cumberland, and Westmorland, but also on the Scottish side
and throughout the whole of Scotland. This became the
universal type of the country dwelling-house in the fifteenth
century, the pattern undergoing sundry modifications, such as
the addition of projecting turrets at the angles, bartizans
built out, or a small wing added to a corner, so as to give the
plan the shape of the letter L. The principles of the simple
rectangular keep continued to prevail during the sixteenth
and even as late as the seventeenth century, until mansions
dropped their castellated character.

These pele towers are specially numerous and close
together throughout the Northumberland border, and along
the valley of the Tyne, amongst which there are some very
fine examples, such as Belsay, Prudhoe, Wark, and Langley
Castles.

In Cumberland and Westmorland the peles are extensively
and evenly distributed throughout the country, and every
parish, in olden times, had sometimes several of these towers
as the residences of its chief landowners.

The dimensions of these peles vary considerably ; the form

F

42 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMOP.LAKD.

is generally oblong, the longer measurement usually running
east and west. It may be interesting to give at a view th'j
measurements of some of the most typical of these towers, as
follows : —

Ft. In. Ft. In.

Askham Hall 78 o by 34 o

Dacre Castle 65 o ,, 45 o

Howgill Castle 64 o ,, 33 o

Sizsrgh Castle 60 o „ 39 6

Arnside Tower 50 o ,, 45 o

Cliburn Hall 45 o „ 29 6

Newbiggin Hall 45 o „ 30 o

Isell Hall 43 o „ 27 o

Burneside Hall 45 o ,, 30 o

Drawdykes Tower 42 o ,, 27 o

Hutton John 38 o „ 30 o

Linstock Castle 35 o ,, 27 o

Yanwath Hall 38 o ,, 30 o

Skelsmergh Hall 39 o „ 19 o

Clifton Hall 33 6 „ 26 6

Asby Rectory 36 o „ 24 o

Dalston Hall 31 o „ 25 6

Kentmerc Hall 31 o „ 23 o

Catterlen Hall 30 6 ,, 19 6

Rose Castle, Stricklandtower 29 o ,, 29 o

Hazclslack Tower 29 9 ,, 24 o

Hutton Hall, Penrith 28 o „ 24 o

The pele tower was always an oblong rectangular building,
and almost invariably contained three stories, having a
vaulted basement ; above this was the principal apartment,
or the ** solar ; " on the second floor was the special sleeping
place, and over this was the roof and battlements. The walls
of these keeps are always massive, sound, and durable ;
sometimes, especially in the limestone districts, they are
constructed in rough rubble masonry, with abundance of

MBDIiEVAL PELE TOWERS. 43

excellent mortar, but where freestone was procurable, they
are generally built in regular courses of square, dressed
stone, and in some cases, as at Penrith, Newbiggin, Askham,
Yanwath, they present excellent ashlar work. The thickness
varies from three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half feet to six
feet, and even to ten feet, as at Howgill Castle. Most
usually the walls spring directly from a foundation of pon-
derous blocks ; sometimes there is a chamfered plinth, as at
Dacre, and Burneside, or one with an ogee moulding, as at
Yanwath. In the more finished examples, there are one or
more ssts-off which mark the different stages of the tower,
and commonly a string-course, or coved projection, or corbel -
tabling, under the parapet. In no instances in the ordinary
pele towers, do we find the flat side-buttresses, or pilasters
capping the angles, which are distinguishing features in the
Norman keeps.

The basement is invariably arched in stone, except in later
examples of the sixteenth century, such as the towers of Arn-
side, Clifton, and Hutton Hall, Penrith ; where it has been
covered by a timber flooring. The vault usually assumes the
form of the barrel or waggon-shaped arch, but occasionally it
is slightly pointed, as at Linstock, Dalston, and Burneside. In
the smaller towers the vaulted cellar forms one apartment,
but in those of larger size, there is a thick cross-wall dividing
it into two ; this cross-wall is pierced with a doorway, and
very seldom rises beyond the first floor of the building : the
space is lighted with narrow loops, or small square windows,
very widely splayed within, and sometimes stepped up to in
the interior, as at Dacre, Howgill, and other cases.

It is not probable that these slits formed any material part
of the elements for the defence of the tower ; the width of
range in front of the loops offered but limited scope for shoot-
ing, and the space within was rather cramped for the effective
use of the longbow. The summit of the tower was the real
fighting deck for the discharge of missiles. The apertures in
the basement were chiefly for the necessary purposes of light
and ventilation.

Again some fallacious conceptions prevail in respect to the
uses to which the vaulted cellar was put. It is supposed that

44

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

it served as a place of security for horses and cattle, which
might be driven into it in time of danger. The most valuable
animals amongst the stock of the manorial lord or the knight,
were the ** destrier," or war-horse, and the plough oxen; but
it would barely ba possible to get these larger quadrupeds
through the low and narrow passage into the cellars. This
conjecture is hardly tenable. These animals were housed
outside within the inclosure of the barmkin, and within close
bow-shot of the keep. In point of fact, the vaulted sub-
structure was the ordinary store-house for provisions to
supply the wants of the household. For use during the
winter months, it was necessary to lay up a store. At the
end of autumn oxen, sheep, and pigs were slaughtered, and
the flesh was preserved in tubs of brine, or salted and hung,
or potted and covered with lard, hence the name of larder,
the place where provisions were kept. Besides which there
would be stored the salted fish, the requisite quantity of oat-
meal and pulse, the firkins of butter and lard, a supply of
comestibles, and the barrels of beer for winter use.

THK SHOULDERED MNTEL OR CARNARVON ARCH.

The entrance to these vaulted compartments was on the
ground level, by a doorway near one corner of the building,
through a narrow passage in the thickness of the wall, on
one side of which was also the entrance into the well of the
newel stair, which led to the upper floors. In the earlier
examples these doorways always had the pointed arch. There
were also frequently small doorways in the interior, having

MEDIEVAL PELE TOWERS. 45

a Straight top, with th3 lintel shouldered at each end on a
CDrb2l, thus presenting the so-calbd Carnarvon arch, as
shown above, a form originally of th2 Early English style,
but -which continued to be perpetuated for long afterwards in
the northern parts of the kingdom.

In the later pales of the Tudor period the four-centred
elliptic arch came more into vogue, and supplanted the
pointed style.

In many of the same class of towers in Scotland there is no
stone stair descending to the basement, but merely a hatch
through the vault, with a ladder or movable steps, as at
Liberton tower near Edinburgh. In these instances the main
entrance was on the first floor level by an outside stair or by
'v^'ooden steps. This arrangement is not very usual in the
peles on the English side of the border, but it is found at Lin-
stock, Kentmere, Skelsmergh, and a few places. Frequently
in Scotland stone vaulting was used over the upper rooms
above the basement, even to the top of the tower, but I know
of no instance of such vaulting in ordinary keeps on the south
side of the border. The upper floors are always of oaken
planks borne on strong baulks of timber, which are either
carried on corbels, or rest on a ledge, or in put-log holes in the
walls.

The newel stair is either contained wholly within the thick-
ness of the wall, or in the smaller towers only partially so,
one-half of the well encroaching in the interior in one corner
of the room.

The first floor is always occupied by the principal apart-
ment, the dining place or the solar. As typical of the arrange-
ment usually exhibited in this and the upper floors of the pele,
the plans of the different stories in the tower of Yanwath,
given further on, may be referred to. These rooms are always
provided with fireplaces, and contain recessed closets, lockers,
and aumbries, sometimes mural passages, or a straight flight
of steps ascending in the thickness of the wall, as at Dacre,
Howgill, Arnside, Linstock. In many instances in place of
the early window lights, there have been afterwards substi-
tuted larger muUioned openings of the Tudor or later periods ;
but very often some of the original windows remain. These

46 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

are either of the Decorated or Perpendicolar periods, with
cusps and trefoils either pointed, or with an ogee arch. Good
examples of such are seen at the towers of Kentmere, Skels-
mergh, Sizergh, Hazelslack, Selside, Catterlen, Yanwath,
Dacre, etc.

The summit of these keeps is always surmounted by a
crenellated parapet, about four-and-a-half feet high, generally
with a slight projection from the walls ; at each of the angles,
or at one or more of them rise battlemented watch turrets for
the warders, either as open bartizans, or roofed in as at Yan-
wath and Askham. In some cases the roof is flat, or with a
very slight cant in it, and has been covered with lead as is
seen at Yanwath, or there is a low-ridged roof as at Dacre
and Clifton ; but contrary to the usage in Scotland the
gable seldom rises above the level of the parapet. An alure
runs round within the battlements, giN'ing space for the de-
fenders, and there are gutters and projecting gurgoyles for
the overflow water. These drain spouts are always of stone
bedded in the wall, and are generally ornamented, and some-
times as at Kirkandrews-on-Esk, and Newbiggin Hall, are
made to resemble cannon.

Newbiggin hall, which is of late construction, is the only
pele in which I have noticed any provision for the firing of
small ordnance ; there is a gun-port in one of the merlons of
the parapet for that purpose. In Scotland these gim -holes
are very commonly seen in the strongholds of the fifteenth
century, and later, being found under the sills of the windows,
and flanking the gatewa}'.

Although these pele towers relied for security chiefly in the
passive strength of the structure, to resist the assault of a
border raid, yet other means of defence were not neglected.
There is evidence that they were prepared, in some cases, to
make use of the contrivance called the hrHasche^ for the pro-
tection of the tower. This device consisted of a wooden
gallery or hoardsy which was pushed out, so as to overhang
the face of the wall, from which the archers of the besieged
could discharge their arrows with more freedom against the
assailants. This pent -house or hoarding rested on stone
corbels high on the face of the wall, so as to be out of the

MEDIAEVAL PELE TOWERS. 47

reach of ladders. A row of corbels to sustain the bretasche
still exists at Penrith Castle, as we shall find when we come
to treat of that example. Corbels set apparently for the same
purpose are found also on the faces of the towers of Catterlen,
and of Clifton, and in a few other places.

As we proceed to examine the details of the different towers,
we shall recognise the nature of the external defences, — the
curtain wall of the courtyard, — the gateway,T-and the outer
entrenchments.

In the fourteenth century the simple four-sided tower con-
stituted the entire habitation of the ordinary manorial lord.
Though possessing the elements of strength, and passive
resistance against assault, this grim pile must have been a
cramped, dark, and sometimes an uncomfortably crowded
dwelling-place. But at the end of the fourteenth and
banning of the fifteenth centur\% sundry important modifi-
cations were sought for the purpose of affording more ac-
commodation and space. The first improvement was the
addition of a separate building, annexed against one of the
faces of the tower, to serve as the common hall or dining-
place, in lieu of the lord's solar which hitherto had been used
for that purpose. At this period the hall was a building of
one story only, with a high-pitched open timber roof, with
an independent entrance from the courtyard, at the ground
level, as at Yanwath, Beetham, and Hazelslack ; or by the
ascent of a few steps, in which case there were vaulted cellars
underneath for offices and stores, as at the castles of Wharton
and Sizergh and at Levens.

The institution of the separate dining-hall was a great de-
velopment, and formed the most distinguished feature of the
domestic architecture of the fifteenth century, as we shall see
when we come to the descriptions of the examples of mediaeval
houses of the country. With this advance in refinement
came the establishment of a permanent kitchen, furnished
with all the necessary requirements for culinary operations.
Before this time the preparation of food was performed in the
solar, at the fire-place, screened off from the board at which
the lord and his retainers sat, or in an out-building in the
courtyard. Now at this period a kitchen was built at that

48 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

end of the hall, opposite the dais, which was known as the
** Screens.*' The best example we have of a kitchen of this
period is at Wharton Castle, but others are to be seen at
Yanwath, Beetham, Middleton, and other places.

In new manor houses built during the fifteenth century, the
main building still followed the type of the Norman keep, but
for the purpose of giving extra space, a projecting turret was
built out at one corner, so as to give to the plan the form of
the letter L T^^ entrance was usually at the re-entering
angle, and the turret included the cork-screw stair, and often
an extra small room or two, as at Sizergh, Hazelslack, Arn-
side, Blencow. In many instances during the fifteenth
century, the building of the wing containing the hall was
contemporaneous with the erection of the tower, as at Hazel -
slack and Kentmere.

During the sixteenth century more extensive modifications
of the keep plan were adopted, and residences began to assume
the form of ranges of buildings fronting a courtyard, as at
Sizergh, Levcns, Wharton, Askham, Yanwath, Isell, Scaleby,
Hutton John. In some cases, whilst the old keep and dining-
hall were retained, another tower in symmetry with the
original one w*as added to the opposite end of the block, so as
to give the form of the letter H, This was the case at the
old ha!l at Lowther, at Sizergh and Levens, and at the halls
of Blencow and Newbiggin late in the century.

In the Jacobean period, country mansions in this part of
the kingdom had nearly lost their defensive and castellated
character, and under the inspiration of the Renaissance the
Italian frontage and classic details came into vogue.

(49)

CHAPTER V.

THE DIVISIONS OF THE BARONY
OF WESTMORLAND.

The barony of Westmorland has been divided into two
Wards, the West and East Wards, which have been so
assigned for judicial and administrative purposes. Althouffh
the present boundaries of these wards do not entirely coincide
with the marches of the two baronies of Westmorland and
Kenda(, as they existed in feudal times, yet it will be most
convenient to adopt these divisions in the arrangement of our
subjects in the following pages.

In treating of the various old manorial halls which offer
features worthy of notice, we shall endeavour to follow as
near as possible the different parishes in the order of their
contiguity or topographical relation with each other. These
parishes, including their townships and chapelries, are in —

The West Ward.

Barton Parish. — Yanwath,
Sockbridge, Winder, Ea-
mont, Patterdale, Hart-
sop, Martindale.

Brougham.

Clifton.

AsKHAM. — Helton.

Lo w T H E R. — Hackthorpe,
Melkinthorpe, Whale.

CunuRN.

M o R L A N D. — King's Mea-
burn, Newby, Sleagill.

Bolton.

Great Strickland. — Little
Strickland, Thrimby.

Crosby Ravensworth. —
Mauld's Meaburn, Rea-
gill, Birkbeck Fells.

Shap. — Hardendale, Swin-
dale, Wetsleddale, Ros-
gill, Mardale.

Bampton. — Knipe, Butter-
wick, Bomby, Measand
Mardale.

G

50

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

The East Ward.

Newbiggin.

MiLBOURNE.

Temple Sowerby.

KiRKBY ThORE.

Long Marton. — Brampton
Knock.

ASBY.

Appleby. — Burrels, Colby,
Drybeck, Hoff, Scatter-
gate.

BoNGATE. — Crackenthorpe.

Hilton and Murton.

DUFTON.

Brough. — Hillbeck, Sower-
by, Stanemore.

KiRKBY Stephen. --Hartley,
Winton, Kaber, Nateby,
S mar dale, Wait by,
Wharton, Mallerstang.

Ormside.

Crosby Garret. — Little
Musgrave.

Great Musgrave.

Soulby.

Warcop. — Sandford, Blea-
tarn, Burton.

Ravenstonedale.

ORTON.-Bretherdale, Lang-
dale, Raisebeck, Tebay,
Birkbeck.

THE WEST WARD.

The lake of Ullswater and the river Eamont form the
dividing boundary of the West Ward of Westmorland from
the county of Cumberland.

The Eamont forms the channel for the outpour of the lake,
and after a short course of nine miles it is received into the
Eden. Camden called it the Ticinus of the two counties,
comparing its course to that of the Ticino flowing out of
Lago Maggiore to join the Po.

The verdant and attractive vale, throiigli which flow the
clear and rapid waters of this beautiful stream, has always
been a favourite resort, and has been extensively occupied
from the earliest times. The Kelt has left the impress of his
early possession, in the appellations in the strong terse
language of the Gael, which still cling to the chief features of
the landscape, and the vestiges of his occupancy, in the
earthworks and barrows, sepulchral monuments, and cairns
containing the cremated ashes of his race ; the Angle and the
Dane, first as plunderers, and then as abiding colonists, have
marked their dominion in the place-names of the neighbour-

THE DIVISIONS OF^THE BARONY OF WESTMORLAND. 5I

hood ; and the fortified houses of the Jords to whom the
valley was apportioned in Norman times, still remain, many
of them in tolerable preservation. Descending on the right
bank are the manorial halls of Barton, Sockbridge, Yanwath,
Brougham, and Hornby. On the left, Dacre Castle, Dale-
main, Carleton Hall, and Eden Hall.

The river Eamont formed an impediment, which lay across
the great natural line of way and thoroughfare which has
existed from the earliest ages between England and Scotland.
The main Roman way from over Stanemore to Luguvallium,
or Carlisle, traversed the river at the camp of Brocavum, or
Brougham ; and the Roman road from Ambleside over High
Street and Barton Fell trended to the river, in the direction
of the fords of Yanwath and Stockbridge ; whilst the paths
from the ancient British settlements at Woodhouse, Lowther,
and Askham, probably sought the passage of the stream also
at these points. I question whether the Romans ever threw
a stone bridge across this river. In feudal times the stream
was traversed by but one stone bridge, at the village of
Eamont, which hamlet is by distinction, still known in
common parlance as ** The Brigg." This is the bridge now
standing which was built in the year 1425, in the reign of
King Henry VI.-

There is no part so rich in examples of old manorial houses
as is this district of Westmorland. Almost every village pre-
sents to the observation of the curious, its old **hair' once the
residence oi a manorial lord who held his land by fealty and
knight's service, either from the sovereign or from his baronial
superior the Clifford of Appleby, or the Lancaster of Kendal.
Or otherwise it might have been the home of some inferior
tenant holding by homage, or under the ancient and peculiar
tenures of cornage and drengage. These old halls are now
occupied for the most part as farm houses, and have in-

• Thomas I-anglcy, Bishop of Durham, who was also the Pope's legate, con-
ceded an indulgence t)f 40 days to all such inhabitants as might contribute or
as54st in the buildinjf c»l ihis bridjrc. The brief is extant. The bridge is curious
from its antiquity and s^yle. There are three arches of moderate pitch springing
from ti»o massive piers in the strram ; each vault has four massive ribs following
the course of the arch, projecting very boldly, but plain and square, without
mouldings.

52 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS Of WESTMORLAND.

variably attached to them the best farms. The presence of
good old land and of an ample supply of good water have in-
fluenced the choice of a site, in some cases even beyond the
consideration of a defensive position.

BARTON PARISH.

The parish of Barton which forms the northern boundary
of the county lies on the south side of the Eamont and of the
lake of Ullswater, and embraces vast tracts of forest and fell
in Martindale and Patterdale, including the mountain ranges
of High Street, Place Fell, and the slopes of Helvellyn : it
extends over seventeen miles as the crow flies from Eamont
Bridge to Kirkstone Top.

Barton parish includes many manors, which in ancient
times were held under the barons of Kendal, and not under
the barony of Appleby. There are preserved some old
manorial houses which are worthy of notice.

YANWATH HALL.

Yanwath Hall stands on the right bank of the Eamont
about two miles from Penrith, and presents as good an
example of a fourteenth century north of England manor
house as can be found in the district. Altogether it is a most
interesting place.

The pele of Yanwath, like all the border towers of the same
epoch, was built for defence, and as a place of refuge for men
and cattle from the incursions of Scottish marauders. It
occupies a commanding position on the south bank of the
stream, as all these border peles do ; so as to interpose the
river between the fortalice and the enemy. The situation was
chosen so that it might guard the ford over the river Eamont,
which is withm half a bow-shot ; the line of position for the
defence of which, seems to me, by the traces still visible, to
have been strengthened by scarping and stockading a natural
bank running out into the adjoining river holme.

THE WEST WARD. — BARTON PARISH. 53

Before the period of stone bridges, the ford at Yanwath, I
conceive to have been the most important of all the passages
across the Eamont. For I find, what 1 believe to be the line
of a British stone avenue leading to it from the south, from
the encampment called Castle Steads, in Lowther Woods,
and a British village at Woodhouse (both in this manor),
Hiih a continuation of the same on the other side of the
stream, to Sewborrens, and the British occupation at Newton
Reigny. In the time of the Romans, the road over High
Street and Helton and Askham fells, would natural^ fall by
this wath, as giving the nearest access to old Penrith or
Voreda^ and the Roman road leading from that station to
Keswick, and the west. This ford would, from the more
shallow expansion of the stream, afford facilities for the
passage of horsemen and waders, at times when the more
formidable waters at Eamont and Brougham were not prac-
ticable.

In my search through Machel's MSS., now preserved in
^he Dean and Chapter Library at Carlisle, I find he makes
^ curious suggestion as to the derivation of the word, as
follows: — ** Yanewath and Bridge, so called from their several
passages over Emote ; of which there are four in the compass
of this parish. — Sc. Yean Stanke^ Yam Stock-bridgey Yanewath,
^nd Yean Stane brigg ; i.e., one Stanke, one Stockbridge, one
W'ath, and one Stonebridge; whence those several towns Rd.
several names ; Sc. Pooley Stanke ; Stockbridge or Sock-
bridge ; Yanewath or Yanwath ; and Brigg or Bridge ; which
is so called because it is the most Eminent passage over this
river ; for which reason it is called The Bridge/^ Equally
fanciful is the derivation I have heard proposed for it, from
wain (or waggon,) wath '•' The old spelling of the word is
various — Yanewath, Yevenwith, Eanwath, Yanwath. In my
opinion it is clear that the name of the place is derived from

•James Clarke says: — *M have often thought that this place had i
Vunwath, /p.i/., one-wath from its being the only uiilh or ford nractic
carnages at that time. That it was so is evident from the bank at Kamon. ....w^^^
which was then too strep for any loaded waggon to ascend and thus the name of
H'athuainralh, in which the utiin or waggon is particularly expressed, further
signifies." — Clarke* s Survey of the Lakes, 1787.

its name
racticabic for
amont Bridge

54 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

the river. The old pronunciation of Eamont, and that still
used in the vernacular is Eamot, or Yammon (evidently de-
rived from the Saxon, Ea^ water, and inown, hill); this allows
by that ellipsis of one syllable by which we often seek to evade
a roughness of sound, of easy conversion into Yamonwath or
Yanwath.

The history of the manor and the genealogies of the different
possessors may be found in the county histories. It may be
stated shortly, that from the time of Edward I. to the time of
Henry VIII., it was in the possession of the Threlkelds, from
whom it went by marriage to the family of the Dudleys ; the
fifth of whom in succession, Christopher Dudley, sold it in
1654 to Sir John Lowther. The manor included the hamlets
of Yanwath and Eamote Bridge, and the fine tract of land on
the left bank of the river Lowther, extending as far as the
present Lowgardens Bridge in Lowther Park. At this point it
abutted on the manors of Lowther and Ascam, and con-
tiguous to it on the west lay the manor of Sockbridge. Within
the memory of many now living, there extended to the south
an uninclosed common, the Yanwath and Tirril moors, which
were taken up by Act of Parliament, in 1814. The gate to
the common stood near the present public-house, which
bears the name of the ** Gate " on its signboard, and the well-
known and unequivocal rhyming couplet —

" The gate hangs well, and hinders nc nc,
Refresh, and pay, and travel on."

The Courtyard.

The inclosure is in the form of a quadrangle, of which three
sides now remain, and contains the inner bailey, or barm-kin,
as it was called. I do not think the side now open was ever
occupied by buildings, but probably by a high wall and
postern gateway, leadmg out into the palisaded meadow. The
inclosed court is not a perfect paralellogram, for whilst its
breadth at the east end is 64 ft., at the west side it is only 57
ft. across, an inequality produced by the sloping inwards of
its northern wing. The necessity of the ground, the precipi-
tous bank on the edge of which this wing is founded, accounts
for this irregularity. The south side of the quadrangle is

THE WEST WARD. — YANWATH HALL. 55

occupied by the tower, the hall, and the kitchen. The east
and north sides consist of original buildings of the same date
as the hall. They were occupied principally as offices, and
by the domestics. In those days all the necessaries of life
were produced, or kept in store on the premises. Hence the
necessity for granary, barns, dairy, bakehouse, brewhouse,
and. storehouse for provisions, besides the usual accommoda-
tion for stock, in the barton, or farm buildings.

The present gatewa}'^ into the courtyard is altogether
modern, and did not exist in Machel's time, 200 years ago,
for in the little sketchy plan of the buildings, which he gives
in his MSS. this part is closed, and he objects to the incon-
venience of the roadway from the wath to the ancient gate,
and suggests that it should be carried along the unoccupied
side of the quadrangle. But the inconvenience of this narrow
path up the side of the cliff, constituted the strongest defence
of the position of the gate from sudden attack by assailants.
The ancient gate was at the north-east angle, and beside it
are the porter's lodge, and guard chambers, one of them with
a square window, retaining its original iron gratings. There
is a watch turret here with walls very thick at the top, which
allow a walk for a warder, about twelve paces long and four
feet wide. It is surmounted with a crenellated parapet,
which at the east end is borne out from the face of the
wall by three bold corbel stones, so as to leave two open
spaces or holes between the back of the parapet and front of
the wall ; thus forming what are called true machicolations,
through which the defenders might pour down destructive
missiles on the enemy below. When no such open intervals
are left between the corbels, the machicolations are then
termed false.

Machel says : ** There is an old chapel over the gate, to
which you ascend by a pair of stairs, in which they have not
observed to place the altar eastwards, but rather contrary."
He marks the site of it in his little sketch, but I cannot find
any trace of a place which could have been built originally
for a chapel. There is nothing worthy of note in the other
offices, except several fine examples of the ancient grilles and
iron gratings.

56 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

The principal entrance to the dwelling-house from the

courtyard is through an arched doorway, deeply recessed,

and with a suite of round and hollow mouldings. It has an

arched dripstone over it, which contrasts with the square

labels of the windows; it presents the characteristics of the

Decorated period, although it may have been built in the

succeeding century, when we presume, the hall was altered.

The wooden door itself belongs to the Tudor period, which

can be discerned in the foldeii-linen pattern of the panelling,

and the tracery at the upper part of it. It is a very fine

door. There is over the doorway a stone pierced witli a

curious cruciform loop, terminating in four round holes, or

oiUiis. Behind the door still remains a square, heavy, oaken

draw-bar, running in a tunnel in the wall.

The Pele Tower.

At the west end of the courtyard stands the massive square
Pele Tower, surmounted by its battlements and its watch-
turrets at each angle, which impart to it the character of a
fortalice, as indeed it was, and presents to us a standing
memorial of those troublous times, when watch and ward and
beacon lights were the safeguards craved for the protection of
the western marches. This undoubtedly is the oldest part of
Yanwath, and may have been built at the middle of the
fourteenth century. There is one very interesting original
window belonging to this period on the third story, looking
west, consisting of a single light, ogee-headed with foliation
and characteristic mouldings. The tower measures 3S feet
by 30 feet at the base over the walls, and the height from
the pampet of the highest turret to the ground is 55 feet.
The entrance is on the basement at the north east angle by a
narrow, pointed, arched doorway at the foot of a mural
spiral stair of very small dimensions, which lead to the rooms
above. The system of doorways to the narrow passage in
the thickness of the wall, and at the foot of the newel, were
the usual defensive provisions against forcible ingress in these
border peles. The basement is vaulted in stone, with a plain
barrel or tunnel arch, and was lighted by narrow windows

A. P*»SA4E or CNTHV

B ScuECN*, & Mut'c G«Li.E«v above.

C. Fmcrirtci.

D, OuTiMOT WiMDO«v or Dl^lS.

FFf: Offices. -

SS. SUARD HOUSt ft HlRTCRii LOD»C.

H Watch Towcr Ch^mbcr, SCmapei. rtat

SRouND Plan.

YANWATH HALL.

Plan ottmc &ccono Srom- or rvit Towcn.
YANWATH HALL.

THE WEST WARD. — YANWATH HALL. 57

widely splayed ; it is now the dairy. The walls are six feet
thick, of strong and massive masonry, made to resist fire
and attack; they rest on an ogee-moulded plinth. The tower
consists of three stories, with a battlemented parapet
projected slightly on a moulded cornice, above which rises at
each of the angles a graceful watch-turret.

It is evident from constructive appearances that the pele
tower for some time stood isolated as the residence of the early
Threlkelds. But as further accommodation became desirable
towards the end of the fourteenth century, great additions of
of a domestic character were erected. A long range of build-
ings was raised against the east side of the tower facing south :
these consisted of a large dining-hall, a passage of entry, and
kitchen, along with other buildings closing in the quadrangle
of the courtyard.

The Dining HalL — In its original state this must have been
a noble apartment, 42 feet long from the tower to the screens,
and 24 feet wide. Considerable alterations must have been
made in the fifteenth century. The present high pitched
timber roof was then put on, and the present foliated windows
under square heads were inserted. The flight of steps now
running up from the dais end of the hall to the first floor of
the tower has been of later introduction, and its fair propor-
tions have been still further invaded, by the modern partition
which cuts it in two, and by the plaster ceiling which conceals
a really fine old timber roof of four braced and well moulded
arches, ornamented with cusps, and a boldly carved cornice.
The height of the hall from the floor to the corbels which
support the roof arching, is 15 feet 3 inches. It is lighted by
three windows, all of the same character. In them you mark
the work of the fifteenth century. They show the stage of
transition from the graceful foliated tracery of the Decorated
to the straight lines which characterise the next period of
architecture, the Perpendicular. Observe the blending of
the two periods in the oriel with its six lights, trefoiled,
cusped, with hollow mouldings, in the Gothic style, at the
same time with the straight mullions, and transom and square
head of the succeeding ages. The two other windows are in
the same style but with two lights. The wide open fireplace,

H

58 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

with its flat segmental arch spreading to 13 feet between the
jambs is in good preservation, and highly characteristic. At
that end of the hall is the passage leading to the outer doors,
and kitchen, and butteries. This is the part which was always
known as the screens.

A very interesting discovery was made just before the first
visit of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological
Society to this place in 1867. '•' We know that in manor halls
of the fourteenth century it was usual to have opposite the
dais and over the screens the minstrel or music gallery. This
was sometimes of stone, more often it was a wooden loft. The
situation it should occupy in this hall is the space directly
over the doorway of the screens next to the fireplace arch.
It was evident on examining from above that there was a
space here which could not consist of solid wall ; by the
permission of Lord Lonsdale, and under the direction of his
architect Mr. Mawson, the space was opened out and cleared,
and we found the small chamber of the minstrel gallery. The
loft had a plain square window (then blocked up) looking into
the hall, and on the floor was discovered the trap-door by
which access was obtained to it by a ladder from the passage
of entry, or the " Screens.''

Dining in **Ye Hall'* in the Fourteenth

Century.

Let our fancy carr}' us back to some of the scenes which
may have been enacted here. At the far end of the hall,
opposite the screens, was the dais, or raised platform of two
steps, with its high table, or ** hie-borde," for the lord and
his principal guests ; down the hall in two rows were ranged
the table-boards on trestles, and the benches for retainers
and those of inferior degree. No carpet covered the floor,
but it was strewn with sweet rush, lavender, and fragrant
plants. The lower part of the walls was somewhat roughly
cased with wooden boards (as framed panelling was not yet
much in vogue) whilst the upper part was covered with crim-

* It was on that occasion that this memoir on Vanwath Hall was read at that
place, and it has been reproduced here much as it was there f^iven.

THE WEST WARD. — YANWATH HALL. 59

son-dyed cloth or canvas. From the stag antlers on the walls
hung the furniture of war — shields and targets, lances and
pennons, broad sword and battle axe, sheaves of arrows, and
the long-bow and cross-bow — together with the engines and
trophies of the chase. Here hung also the beautiful burnished
armour (which at this period had attained its zenith of
perfection), which might be donned hastily any night, on
the alarm note of the warder's bugle on the tower signalling
the firing of the Beacon of Penrith. Under the benches laid
some old dosing but quick-scented bloodhounds, kept and
provided by the lord, both for the chase and if need were, for
the pursuit with hot trod of the red hand moss-trooper over the
border.* Over the chimney-piece, on heraldic escutcheons,
were blazoned the armorial bearings of the Threlkelds, and
the quarterings of their alliances. On the wall behind the
dais there was a hanging of arras tapestry, representing
within its embroidered border some famous incident in
chivalry, the work of the fair ladies of the house, an art but
lately introduced into England.

The period, let us say, was at the end of the long reign of
Edward III., or the close of the fourteenth century, the most
glorious in the annals of English architecture, and the most
brilliant for prowess in the whole history of England. The
great North of England barons, Roger de Clifford, of
Appleby, and Ranulph de Dacre, commissioners on the
Border marches, and all gentlemen of inferior array, were
ordered by royal mandate to repair to their northern estates,
and there keep residence, and arm their followers to defend
the country against the Scots. The lord of the beautiful
domain of Yanwath of that day was William de Threlkeld.
Let us people the hall with his immediate friends and neigh-
bours. There were Thomas de Lancaster, of Sockbridge,
and his kinsman, Sir William de Lancaster, of Howgill,
knight, both branches of the family of the powerful barons of

* 1 he pursuit of hot trod was a power given by the Border laws to the
Wardens of either kingdom in following malefactors or cattle lifters, by which it
was lawful to pursue the chase in hot trod with hound and horn, with hue and
cry, across the Marches into the oppcsite realm, where the fugitive might be
apprehended.

6o THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Kendal. There was William de Wybergh, of St. Bees, who
had just succeeded to the manor of Clifton Hall, by his
marriage with Eleanor, the only daughter of the last of the
D'Engaynes of Clifton, besides John de Carleton of Carle-
ton, Edmund Sandford of Askhani, de Rosgill, de Helbeck,
de Crackenthorpe, and many others ; and lastly came the
Knight of the Shire, Sir Hugh de Lowther, whose office it
was to marshal the array of vassals and men-at-arms, who
might presently be wanted for the Scottish Border, and to
swell the lordly possessions of whose successors it was
destined the manors of many of those present were to pass.
Nor was the Church unrepresented, for the white and black
garb of the monk and the cleric rustled softly amid the clang
of the half-mailed knights ; and the grace was said by the
abbot of the neighbouring monastery of Heppe, and after the
feast the pax was offered, and the alms dish presented by my
lord's "aumon^re" or private chaplain.

The hour is half- past ten ; on the upper table the white
cloth is spread, and the trumpet has sounded the call to
dinner — for our forefathers of the fourteenth century rose at
five. The pages bring in the ponderous dishes for the banquet,
a bountiful and varied fare. Salmon from the Poke Dub, the
pool in the river below, served sodden, and with sauce of
verjuice; the great grey lake trout from Ullswater*; eels
from the Stanke at Pooley, baked in crust ; the head of a wild
boar speared in Grisdale ; venison from a ** stag of ten,"
shot by the bowman in Martindale, or from a noble stag,
a veritable "hart o' grease," run by the "sleuth dogges"
from the park of Whinfell, in the manor of Oglebird, and
gralloched at Tarn Wadlyn, in the forest of Inglewood. Nor
do the men-at-arms below the salt fail to pull their knives
from their girdles and help themselves with their fingers (for
there were no forks in those days) to slices of beef from the
baron of one of the knowted kine, a reprisal in an ontrode against
the Elliots of Liddlesdale, or on the braes of Annandale. Nor

*Garkc writing one hundred years ago speaks of the ^reat Grey Trout as
being common in the lake, and ranging to thirty or forty pounds weight.—
darkens Survey of the Lakes,

THE WEST WARD. — YANWATH HALL. 6l

does the " high table " Jack in the more refined samples of
culinary art ; the highly-flavoured pastries, and the poignant
ragouts, mortrew3 and stews, hotly seasoned with spicery,
and coloured with saffron ; for our ancestors were bon vivants
and epicures in their way. The mead and sack, the Malm-
sey and Rhenish, — and the flagons of high-spiced claret-cup,
and ippocrasse — and the wassail and the mazer bowl pass
freely from hand to hand ; and the ^^ceUrarius " with his black-
jack stoup', makes many a trip to the buttery hatch, for the
nut-brown ale, to fill up the horns of the thirsty comrades at
the lower tables.

And, 'twas merry in the hall
And the beards wagged. all.

And during the while, the fool in his motley cracks his widest
jokes, and the band of jongleurs or wandering minstrels in the
music gallery, in their fanciful dresses, strum their merriest
airs to divert the company, and sing their ballads and roun-
delays, or narrate in their jingling rhymes how the Scots fell
at Halidon Hill, or how some border knight won his spurs on
the fields of Cressy or Poictiers.

To return to the description of the upper stories of the pele.

THE SOLAR.

The chamber forms the first floor of the tower, and was
formerly approached by the newel staircase, now disused. A
straight staircase was subsequently made from the hall at the
head of which there is a squint or peep-hole through the wall,
by which may be seen what is passing in the hall. It is the
solar, or lord's chamber, whither the lord and his more
honoured guests retired from the clatter of the hall. It is a
single room with closet attached, and measures independent
of the deep window bays, 25 feet 6 inches by 18 feet 6 inches.
It retains no early work about it, and it is thoroughly Eliza-
bethan. In Machel's time, there were three coats of arms of
the Threlkelds and Dudleys over the ceiling, with the date
1586 ; so that it is probable that some of the decorations and
alterations were completed then by Edmund the son of the
Richard Dudley, who was named by Queen Elizabeth as one

62 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

of the first pfovernors of her Penrith Grammar School, founded
in the sixth year of her reign. Machel figures the coats of
arms* that existed in his day over the **hall outshot window."
They were: i, Threlkeld ; 2, CHfford quartering Vescy ; 3, Clif-
ford. The only armorial bearings now in the house are those
over the mantel in this ro'jm. They are the royal arms of
Queen Elizabeth — the three lions passant quartered with
three fleurs-de-lys, with lion rampant and red dragon for sup-
porters, encircled with the present motto, and surmounted with
her monogram. The Elizabethan style is seen in the square-
headed mullion, and transomed windows of five lights ; in
the plaster ceiling ornamented with the tooth work ; and in
the ordinary oak wainscoting of the period. The little room
off the solar, was the lord's bedchamber ; an old Elizabethan
bedstead stood there until lately : it is four-posted, four feet
six inches wide ; the head-board is worked in deeply sunken
panels, and it is inlaid and ornamented with the small black
and white chequer-work common to the time. The bedstead
is now at Lowther Castle.

THE ladies' chamber.

Ascending to the next story of the tower by the still
spirally winding staircase, we find it also to consist of one
chamber. It is the ladies' chamber, or, to give it the genuine
English name, the **bowere," and though bereft now of the
attributes and surroundings of its fair tenants, and almost
ruinous, presents still to the eye of the curious many points
of interest. It retains more of its original character than
any other room in the building. It is lighted on each of its
four sides by windows ; that on the west side is the most
ancient, and is of the Decorated period, with a foliated
arch, with an ogee-head : the others are square with seg-
mental heads, and mullions of a later date. The wide
recesses in the sills of two of the windows are futnished

•The arms are — Threlkeld; argent, a manche gules. 2, Clifford; auaitering
with Baroness of Vescy. 3, Cliffoid ; «)r and azure, cheeky a fesse gules.

In addition to these ** In plaster wk over ye ceiling" were 1-ord Dudley's
arms; argent, a lion rampant with caud rcflexed, lingued, membred, and
armed gules.

THE WEST WARD. — YANWATH HALL. 63

with stone seats placed opposite to each other, — cosy nooks,
especially adapted for quiet work, or it may be, confidential
and important conversation. These benches or bartisan
seats, are the usual domestic arrangements in the ladies'
chamber of the fourteenth century. The windows are placed
a few steps above the floor : glass was then unknown, at least
for ordinary glazing ; the windows were closed with canvas at
the upper part, and with wooden shutters below, for the
crooks of which are seen the holes in the stone work of the
jambs. They were protected outside by iron gratings or
grilles, of which there are several very perfect examples in
various parts of the building. At the two opposing corners,
the south-east and north-west, there is a small closet, formed
in the thickness of the wall, each lighted by small windows.
The first, I think, may have been used as an oratory ; in the
latter there is a guarde-robe and an oblique projecting drain-
spout, or gurgoyle.

Notice the walls. The three square openings planted in
them are for lockers. The practice of adorning the walls
with paintings in mediaeval times dates from before the
thirteenth century. It was afterwards superseded by the in-
troduction of tapestry ; in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
by wooden panelled wainscoting ; and later, by hangings of
velvet and silk, and printed linen. Here the walls have been
cemented, and you can still observe the scraps of the fresco
painting which covered them in the fifteenth century. The
figures seem to have been of large size, and possibly repre-
sented some historical subject ; the painting was surrounded
with a border, and an inscription underneath. The roof and
flooring of this chamber may be a hundred years older than
the fittings in the room below.

Notice the flooring. The thick oaken boards are rebated
into the joists, which are tenoned and trenailed into four mas-
sive tiebeams putlogged into the walls, and united in the
centre. The roof is a fine example of a mediaeval wooden
ceiling, of the fifteenth century. It has a very slight pitch in
it, and takes the bearing of the leaden roof outside ; it has
ornamented tiebeams, and it is framed and panelled, the
mouldings being profusely carved with the tooth ornament.

64 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

In consequence of the battering, or sloping inwards of the
walls from the base, this apartment is a foot longer in each
direction than the lower chamber, 5^ feet being the thickness
of the walls in this part of the tower.

We ascend by the newel to the roof. The parapet is
battlemented. At each corner there is a watch tower, each
with a flight of steps, and a small room for the warder below.
In each of them the plan differs slightly from the others; that
at the north-west corner is the largest and highest. This
building was meant to be a place of strength and defence, as
this parapet, with its merlons and embrasures testifies ; but
its architect, whoever he was, must have had a fine sense of
the beautiful, and been imbued with the true and simple
spirit of art, in raising for the use of a chimney, this elegant
lantern, with its slight and graceful octagonal shaft.

The view of the picturesque country on every side is
attractive, with the river Eamont flowing in its short but
rapid course from the lake to the river Eden ; directly under
the tower is the ancient ford through which many hosts have
passed in hostile array, the wild hordes of the ancient
Brigantes, and the proud phalanx of Rome, the Pict and the
Celt, the Dane and Angle, the Norman Knight, in the pride
of panoply, and the wily moss-trooper on his midnight foray,
— now disused and well nigh forgotten — while within a few
yards of it the modern highway, the iron road, spans the
river, carrying its hosts on their divers errands.

And so we leave the old walls of this remnant of mediaeval
times, a place which, in the words of Machei, "Hath a deli-
cate prospect when you are at it, and hath the grace of a
little castle when you depart from it. "

SOCKBRIDGE HALL.

Higher up the river Eamont, and about a mile distant
from Yanwath, there was probably a plank or wooden bridge
in Saxon times. For this bridge of timl)er, this Stock or
Stockenbridge has given its name to the manor, as in a

SOCKBRIDGE HALL. 65

similar way the passage at the ford gave the nani2 to the ad-
joining manor of Yamonwath or Yanwath.

All the extensive parish of Barton, with the exception of
the domain of Yanwath which was held under the Cliffords,
was included in the great barony of Kendal, which along
with other large grants, was bes;.owed by the Conqueror on
his Norman chief and follower, Ivo de Talebois. William de
Talebois, the fifth in succession, by license of Henry II., took
the name of de Lancastre. On the ninth succession, in the
reign of Henry III., the male line failed in another William
de Lancastre, and the inheritance descended to two sisters,
Helwise and Alice, and was divided between them ; one of
them received for her share what was aftewards called the
Richmond Fee ; and the other what was afterwards called the
Marquis and Lumley Fee.

With this partition of the inheritance, fell the name and
pre-eminent dominion of the Lancasters as barons of Kendal,
and from thenceforward rose the power and influence of the
able and gallant race of the Veteriponts and Cliffords of
Appleby, barons of the other division of Westmorland. But
the family of the Lancasters long continued to flourish in the
county, at Rydal, Sockbridge, Howgill Castle, and other
places, and by intermarriage with many of the considerable
families, acquired other possessions and consequence.

The foundation of the Sockbridge branch occurred in this
wise : — William de Lancastre, the last of the name in the
direct line, gave to a relation or half-brother, Roger de Lan-
castre, the manor of Barton and Patterdale, and other lands
in Westmorland. To John, the grandson of this Roger, fell
the inheritance of Howgill Castle, and of Milburn, a manor
at the foot of Crossfell ; and to the second brother, Christopher,
went the manor of Barton. His branch of the family settled
at Sockbridge, and continued there for many generations in
the direct male line, till the reign of James I., and then
l)ecame extinct in daughters. The manor was then acquired
by marriage by the house of Lowther.

Sockbridge Hall is situated on the south bank of the

Eamont, within a bow-shot of the river, closely adjacent to

the two villages of Tirril and Sockbridge, and on the edge of

I

66 THE OLD 3<AXO&:aL H\ri.> OF WESTMORLAND.

what was 70 years ago the uriencloscvi waste of Tirril and
Yanwath icoors, stretching towards Askham and Lowther.
The site is low. and not adapted for defensive occupation ; in
fact the premises present now as little pretence to fortification
as to ornamental embellishment. But ori^nnallv. on one side
of the quadrangular court inclosed by the buildings, there
stood a defensive Pele Tower, similar to but smaller than
that at Yanwath Hall : and I think there is some e\-idence of
the residence having been partially moated.

Sockbndge Hall does not present any exceptional archi-
tectural pecuHarities, but it manifests the mode and fashion in
which families of consequence, as were the Lancasters, lived
and lodged in those times. In the plan of its domestic
arrangements, it affords a good t\'pe of a fifteenth century
manor house of small dimensions. You have the outer door-
way opening directly into the hall, and the passage out of the
hall to the buttery, and to the kitchen ; the chapel adjoin-
ing the hall, and entered ft-om it ; all this is the usual arrange-
ment. The central and older part of the building, which
contains these apartments, has a frontage of 67 feet. The
doorway, with a square-headed moulded architrave, gives
entrance into a hall of 27 feet by iJS feet, which has one wide
window divided into three lights, with mullions and transoms,
and surmounted with the usual square drip-stone. The
chimney is deserving of notice, consisting of a wide flat seg-
mental arch of 13 feet span. Doubtless originally the hall
possessed a high open timlxired roof, springing ft'om corbels ;
one of these corbels still may be seen in the passage.

The doorway leading out of the hall to the buttery and
kitchen, is massive, with a shouldered lintel or Carnarvon
arch. In the thickness of the wall, on the inner side, there is
a square aperture and tunnel for the passage of the oaken
beam or draw-bar, such as may be seen at Yanwath Hall, and
other houses of that class.

The kitchen is about 18 feet square, and presents nothing
remarkable. Nor is there anything worthy of note in the
upper story, except that here you have examples of the
manner in which sleeping chambers were sometimes divided,
by oaken panelled screens or brattice work, not extending

SOCKBRIDGE HALL. 67

quite to the ceiling, but surmounted by an open carved
railing at the top, which at all events would be conducive if
not to privacy, at least to the ventilation of these small sleep-
ing boxes.

Frqm the hall there is direct access to an apartment now
used as the dairy. This has been a later addition to the
central building. It is lighted on the east by three small
windows, each of one light, with a pointed arch, and the
edges plainly chamfered. This I take to have been con-
structed and used as a chapel by the last generations of the
Lancasters.

In the central part of the building the walls are three feet
thick at least ; well-built, of dressed ashlar, and every stone
facing the courtyard bears its mason's mark. The principal
windows are of three lights, square headed, with mouldings.
The gable to the south has some interest, in being surmounted
with corbie steps, which give it a picturesque appearance.
This was a fashion very common in Scottish houses of this
period, but very rarely followed on this side of the Border.
There is a very good stone octagonal chimney, with a battle-
mented top, though far inferior to the beautiful chimney shaft
at Yanwath. The date of this part of the building is probably
about the end of the fifteenth century.

The wing which forms the south side of the quadrangle is
in date a century later. It is set on, but not bonded to the
inner angle of the central range. It is about 50 feet long, and
about 21 feet broad. The basement is pierced in the centre
by an archway and covered passage, giving entrance to the
courtyard. A square tunnel has existed in the thickness of
the wall for the usual draw-bar behind the door. Two
equally-sized and well-lighted chambers occupy the ground
floor on each side of the passage of entrance. The upper
story consists of one large apartment, which has been the new
dining room, or guest chamber. It is approached by an
external flight of steps at the western gable. It is 46} feet
long and i5i feet wide. The whole character of the room is
Elizabethan ; it has an oak wainscot of excellent workman-
ship, in plain panels, with moulded rails and styles, rising to
the height of 7 feet 9 inches ; the space above, 16 inches to

68 . THIS OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

the ceiling, is in plaster. It was common to have this space
in some houses highly decorated by hangings or by colour-
ing. On the ceiling, in plaster work, in Machel's time, were
the arms of Lancaster quartering Hartsop (three harts' heads
caboshed) and impaling Tankard, viz., a chevron charged
with three annulets between three escalops; and another
coat, viz., a chevron charged with three fleur-de-lis,
Latmcelot Lancaster married a Tankard from Yorkshire in
the early part of the reign of James L, to which date we may
reasonably assign the building of this wing. The character
of the stonework is altogether inferior. The walls are only
20 inches thick, of rubble, with dressed quoins. The
principal windows are of the Elizabethan form, divided by
mullions and with ssgni3ntal arched lights.

Macliel, in his MSS., gives a short account of Sockbridge
Hall, and figures and describes the various coats of arms
which existed in his day, in various parts of the building,
Moreover, he notices the existence of " a little tower opposite
the old entrance where you go into the halle. It fronts south,
a iillle dechning, with three descents into the court." Now
this tower was the original Pele Tower, the nucleus which
determined the occupancy of the site, and the erection of the
subsequent domestic buildings. This tower was taken down
about sixty years ago, and a gatehouse in Lowther Park
(Huckham Lodge) was built with the masonry. I have been
enabled from information received from old people to repre-
sent on the plan the position of this tower which stood on the
north side of the quadrangle. ~

*Mr. C. J. Ferguson, F.S.A., Carlisle, made the rolloming; remarks upon an
interesting leature of Sockbridge Hall.— " Bebreleavinglhiainlcresting building,
may t call your attention more particularly to the vcy beautiful woodwork con-
tained in it. For 1 see, to my regret, that portions of (he beautiful Jacobean
tafialUng of the hall have been lemaved, and used as a screen from the weather.
I is almoit impossible to reproduce such panelling, because you can hardly get
such qualities of home grown oak timber lo make it out of, and It is the advantage
of the visit of such a Society as this that it may call attention to the great value
of such panelling and be instrumental in preserving iL The panelling of the hall
wc arc now in is not only valuable by being authentic and in its place, but will
.amination. I^ie delicacy of the mouldings, and the simplicity of

- commend it as a model for modern work, for it may all be worked

by machinery, and its variety is shnnnhy the fact, that where the panelling acts
as a screen, the work is different on each >iile. *t he remains exist not only of
scricns and wall panelling, as Dr. Taylor has so ably pointed out, but what is

bear close

BARTON KIRKE. 69

BARTON KIRKE.

The manor of Barton was a separate manor in this parish,
— originally a possession of the Lancasters of Kendal, but
which afterwards went out of that name to the Multons of
Gilsland, and passed along with the neighbouring manor and
castle of Dacre to the line of Dacres, in which family it
descended to the time of Charles II.

The old parish church of St. Michael has a foundation from
the thirteenth century, and is situated in the vale of Eamont,
about two miles below Ullswater. In the low ground in close
proximity to the church, there is an old hall, now a farm
house, possessing considerable interest.

I do not find that this old mansion house and the estate
attached to it has ever been known imder any other name
than Barton Kirke. It was formerly possessed by a family
of the name of Dawes, by whom most of the buildings now
existing were erected, and their descendants lived here up to
the first quarter of the eighteenth century, after which the
estate passed into the possession of the respected family of
the Hasells of Dalemain. The best known member of the
Dawes family was Dr. Lancelot Dawes, who was born here.
He was a Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and was insti-
tuted vicar of this parish in 1608. It was he who built the
old vicarage house, a little low building just outside the court-
yard, as may be seen by the inscribed stone still remaining.
Bishop Nicolson, * in his visitation, refers as follows to this
circumstance : — ** Over the door of the Vicarage House stands

L D

NON MIH SED

SUCCESSORIBUS

1637:

much more rare, of the complete panelling of a window, — now unfortunately
blocked up — and also of traces of tne panelled chimneypiece over the fireplace.
The oak staircase and charminjifly turned balusters still remain, and the screens,
pointed out by Dr. Taylor, which divide the rooms, are most interesting. I hope
It does not savour of an intrusion if 1 also add that the furniture now in the house
is of much interest, and portions of it coeval with the panelling'.'*

* Miscellany Accounts of the Diocese of Carlisle, A.D. 1704, p. 126. By Bishop
Nicolson. Published by Cumberland and IVestmorland Archwological Society,
1877.

70 THE OLD MANOKIrtL HALLS

Intimating that it was built by Lancelot Dawes, D.D., vicar
here, rector of Asby, and one of my predecessors in the first
Prebeud at Carlisle. He might reasonably tell the world
that it was designed for his successors, and not for himself,
since he always (or most commonly) resided at the Hall, on
his paternal estate, which was also chiefly of his own build-
ing." Dr. Lancelot Dawes was vicar here for forty-five
years, and he died in 1653. The arms assumed by the family,
as shown on a shield in the courtyard, exhibit a "conceit "'
in allusion to the name of Dawes, being charged with a fess
between three jackdaws.

I do not find any indication here of any structure earlier
than iate fifteenth century work ; but I have little doubt that
previous to that time, some fortified dwelling occupied this
peculiar site, which seems to have been chosen for its defen-
sive capabilities. This is a piece of ground surrounded nearly
by what was formerly a morass and treacherous swamp,
which couid be easily made impassable by flooding from the
little stream which flows past the house. The present
approach is by a narrow raised causeway. Though not very
usual in this district, yet in Scotland and Ireland it was very
common to utilise sites of this kind as strongholds for petty
chiefs.

First to its plan. The house as it now stands, presents
the figure of the letter L rendered somewhat irregular by
sundry projections. The original block, probably built early
in the sixteenth century, is of an oblong rectangular figure,
with one square projection on the west front carrying a
chimney and some closets, and another on the east side con-
taining a circular stone stair. It is of three stories in height,
the uppermost of which is an attic under the high-pitched
roof. The window openings in this part of the house are all
of a good character ; they are all square-headed, and the
hood-labels and the mullions dividing the hghts are worked
with a bold hollow.

The original hall on the ground floor, was lighted by two
windows opening to the east, one with three lights, and one
with four lights, and here, as on the first story, which presents.
windows of the same character, the dripstones are made con-

BARTON KIRKE.

71

tinuous over both openings. The principal apartment on the
first story has also a very fine muUioned and transomed
window of four lights towards the west. The original en-
trance was probably at the foot of the staircase turret. A
niuUioned window on the north gable has been cut through to
furnish the present main door of entrance to the house. The
ground floor of this old part of the structure contained two or
three apartments, but was mainly occupied by the dining
hall, which was subsequently divided and converted into a
kitchen.

About the year 1628, Lancelot Dawes added a long wing to
the original block on the garden side of the house, which gave
on the ground floor the present spacious hall, and extensive
farm buildings in the rear : he also built another staircase
turret on the north. Again, in 1693, his nephew Thomas
Dawes who succeeded him, threw out over the entrance to
this hall the projecting porch which goes up nearly to the
height of the building. The wall surface of this wing is slated
to withstand the weather, and I believe the present is the
original work. The mullions of the windows in this addition
are not hollowed, but merely splayed, and altogether the
work is shallow and inferior to that erected in the previous
century. Over the porch there is a stone tablet with a hollow
moulded hood-label with these inscriptions in relief, and
embellished with a Tudor rose and a scroll :

The initials on the lower line and the date have evidently
l)een inserted by Thomas on his uncle s tablet. The old
building and the new wing, by their junction, bound two
sides of a rectangular garden-court, 50 feet by 37 feet, which
is further inclosed by a strong rubble wall 9 feet high, pierced

72

*1AL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

L

by a doorway showing some Jacobean mouldings on the
lintel.

The hall doorway has a (riangiilar-headed lintel-stone; llie
original door remains with its latch and iron bands ; it is
double planked in oak, bound with wooden studs. The door
opens directly into the ball, a large apartment, 36 feet by iS
feet. At the upper end is the dais, which is raised by a step
of five inches from the floor of the hall ; it is lighted by a long
low horizontal mullioned window of five lights. A partition
of a late form of wainscot separates now the dais from the
body of the hall. On the north side in the middle of the hall,
a few years ago and within my remembrance, there remained
the original huge chimney corner, with seats withm it capable
of accommodating a dozen people, with the fire on the hearth.

On the upper fioor the principal apartment occupies the
south gable of the more ancient portion of the building, and
siiows us in a remarkable manner the remains of the sump-
tuous style of a with-drawingroomof an Elizabethan mansion.
It is nearly square ; the dimensions are ig feet 10 inches, by
19 feet. It has been lighted by windows on two sides; one
to the west, lofty and imposing, with four lights, mullioned
and transomed, and two of two lights to the east, now blocked
up.

The ceiling in plaster-work. — Ail must admire the richly
decorated ceiling of this apartment, probably the finest of the
kind which we have left to us in this district ; it reflects credit
alike to the taste of the designer and to the modeller's skill."
It may be worth while to devote a little time to the examina-
tion of the details. In the first place the plaster has been
laid on laths of split oak, which are still sound and fresh,
though in some places portions of the ceiling have dropped
from the decay of the iron nails. The ceiling is divided into
two compartments by the heavy projecting beam which
supports the floor above, and which traverses the centre of
the room. The patterns displayed have been designed exactly
to fit the compartments. On regarding attentively the plan

BARTON KIRKE. 73

it will be seen that the geometrical figures formed by the lines
of the moulded ribs have been drawn on squares of yi inches
from centre to centre. These figures are arranged in the fol-
lowing way. The acute angles of four pentagons are made
to unite at a centre boss, the sides of the opposing pentagons
form two sides of each of four long hexagons ; the long sides
of these latter figures, and the base lines of the pentagons,
enclose an octagon of long and short sides alternately ; each
of these spaces contains a different floral pattern in relief,
which is repeated in its proper place throughout the sections
of the work. At the central points at which the acute angles
of the pentagons meet, there is a boss with four oak leaves;
within the pentagon there is the head and two leaves of a
thistle and its stalk ; in the hexagon there are two scrolls
intersecting each other, embracing a rose at each end, each
of a different design, one furnished with its calyx and
stamens, and the other without these. Within the octagon
we have the emblem of the vine branch, with leaves and
tendrils and three bunches of grapes repeated four times, with
roses in the interspaces. The whole of the floral enrichments
are executed in a very spirited natural manner, and are sin-
gularly free from conventionalism. As the pentagon ap-
proaches the central beam, the sides forming the acute angle
are cut off so as to form a square, and each of these squares
contains a comic mask of a different style. The beam is
lathed and plastered, and embellished with arabesque scrolls
and foliage, fantastic human heads and heads of birds ; also
a bird with an oak leaf and acorn in its bill, probably a jack-
daw in allusion to the name of the family. A narrow frieze,
nine inches deep, of foliated scroll work runs along the top of
the wall under the cornice.

Now I have no doubt that this ceiling is of the same date
as those which will be noticed at Hornby Hall and at Gerard
Lowther's house at Penrith, viz., about 1585. It bears in-
ternal evidence of having been executed, if not by the same
plasterer (at Penrith probably), at least it has been designed
by the same man who did the ceiling at Hornby. The
treatment of the vine leaf and the bunch of grapes is the
same in both.

K

74 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Just about the period referred to, there was a great rage for
these elalwrate plaster ceilings, and in many old houses the
fine panelled wooden roofs of Henry VI I. 's time were taken
down to make way for indulgence in the new fashion. Besides
that at Barton Kirke, there are a number of others which will
come under our notice, as existing at the Halls of Levens,
Hutton John, Little Strickland, the "Two Lions'* and
"Mitre** Inn, Penrith; and an old house at Cockermouth,
and elsewhere.

Machel descril>es the plaster ceiling in the banquetting
room at Sockbridge as being verj* fine, and he tricks the
coats-of-arms which were displayed upon it. Now all these
were executetl between the years of 1560 and 1590. The
woodwork in this old place is very worthy of attention, and is
in a good state of preservation ; all the bedrooms and pas-
sages are partitioned off with wainscot, and examples of
almost all dates and styles may be noted: Elizabethan,
Jacobean, that of the Restoration, and of Queen Anne, and of
later periods. It is curious to note an oblique slit or squint
cut through the wall in the bedroom passage up stairs,
through which to overlook the proceedings in the servants*
hall below.

HARTSOP HALL.

Besides Sockbridge and Barton, which belonged originally
to the Lancastcrs, there is another little fifteenth century
manor house, Hartsop Hall, in this parish, which was in the
possession of a branch of the same family. This is situated
at the foot of Kirkstone Pass, at the Head of Patterdale, on
the west side of Broader, or Brother's Water. It is a low
building of two stories, constructed on the L shaped plan ;
the masonry is in rough rubble, and the walls are three feet
thick. Thirty years ago many of the original features of the
place were preserved, but now most of these are effaced
through the desire for modern improvements. In Machel's
MSS. there is a little sketch plan of the interior as it existed
in his day. The main door was within the re-entering angle
of the limbs of the L ^"^ gave entrance to the passage, or

HARTSOP HALL. 75

the " melldoers," which bisected the breadth of the house : on
the one side of the passage was the hall, and on the other the
kitchen and buttery. The main block, which is at right
angles to this part of the house, measures 54 feet by 24 feet,
and contains the parlour, the stairs, and a good withdrawing
room, and domestic apartments above. The main staircase
is in two straight flights, in oak, with light turned balusters, a
square handrail, and pillars capped with balls. Besides this
a newel stone stair leads from a vaulted undercroft cellar to
the upper rooms and attics : at the foot of the stairs there is a
doorway with a chamfered pointed arch. A four-centred de-
pressed arch covers the hearth-stone fireplace in the with-
drawing room : in this room the ceiling is flat, and the four
cross beams, meeting at the centre, as well as the joists, are
exposed to view, and neatly moulded with beads and flutings.
The whole character of the house is that of the period of
Henry VIII. All the windows have the Tudor features,
being square-headed, low and wide, divided by channelled
mullions into lights with segmental arches, and surmounted
with heavy coved dripstones.

The only heraldic embellishment left is a stone on the
staircase in the interior, on which is carved a shield, with two
bars, and a canton charged with a mullet. The parlour con-
tained, in Machel's time, carvings of the ragged stafl* and
escalop, the badge of the Dacres ; and the following in the
glass and **in plaster worke on the ceiling," three harts* heads
caboshed, with a mound bearing crosslets, the same escut-
cheon which is presented at Sockbridge Hall, and over the
porch at Barton Church. Up to within a few years ago,
there remained here in view an opening in the wall near the
fireplace, leading into a small narrow space containing a
ledge or stone bench within it, on which a man might lie, and
furnished with an air hole, a veritable secret chamber or
hiding place, as Machel has it, for " the Papist craft ; " there
was another secret arrangement as a hiding place in the attic
of this house subsisting until lately, and also one of the same
character at Barton Kirke.

Besides these seats of its manorial lords, this parish presents
several other examples of the remains of domestic architecture
of the Jacobean and Stuart period.

76 THE OLD MAN'OHIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Winder Hall, a large roomy massive building, with mul- I
lioned windows, dating from the year 1612, now a farmhouse, |
and much altered. It belonged lo the family of Davies.

KiRKBARROW Hall, a little old mansion situated not far \
from the church, possibly of the time of Henry VHI. In
interior could be traced a few years ago the lines of the dining j
hall of that period : there was the wide open chimney, the fire f
on the hearth, the ingle-nook, with the seat within it, and the |
little squint window to the outside ; two good examples of |
oaken planked doors, one with a hand-catch, and the other
with a bobbin-latch. There is the projecting porch over the I
doorway, with the little room above it, and the niche on the
exterior for an image,

Eamont Bridge mansion house is, a large square shaped
three-storied building on the double plan, with high vertical
windows, with mullions and transoms arranged symmetrically,
with consols and classic mouldings. There is a projecting
porch and balustered parapet, and over the doorway the
initials and date; —

There is another little old house bearing over the doorway,
within a panel in raised Roman letters, the following legend : —

OMNE ■ SOLVM FOR
I TI • PATRIA EST

; HP • 1671 • r

The quotation is from Ovid. (Fast. i. v. 403). "^

• The lines »re;—

"Omne solum forti patrii est, uC piscibuB acquorj

Ut volu«i, vacuo quidquld in orbe patel."

1 hsve been informed by the late Mr. W. Jacltson, F.S.A.. St. Bees, o[ the

following curious citcumstance relating to the ahon motto :— General Ludlow wu

CLIFTON HALL. 77

CLIFTON HALL.

The small parish of Clifton lies between the parishes of
Barton and Brougham, being separated from the former by
the river Lowther.

We find in the time of Henry H. that the manor of Clifton
was given by Sir Hugh de Morville to a Gilbert Engain and
his heirs. He and his successors continued to hold the manor
and the village and the rich lands around it, under the Clif-
fords, up to the 40th of Edward HL A Gilbert Engain was
the last male of the name in the direct line, he having only
one daughter, Eleanor, who married, in 38 of Edward HL,
William de Wybergh of St. Bees. It appears that shortly
after their marriage, Gilbert, the father-in-law, granted the
young couple a yearly rent of £2^ out of his lands at Clif-
ton ; and that two years after, during his life, he gave them a
moiety of his lands at Clifton, and that finally, in 40th of
Edward III., the whole manor passed to the Wyberghs.
Thirteen years after this time, however, Eleanor was left a
widow, for we find her marrying William Ferrour of Clifton,
as a second husband. The descent however, passed to her
son by William de Wybergh. Eleanor died some time
between the years 1400 and 141 2, in the reign of Henry IV.,
and she was buried in the north aisle of the church close by,
where on a painted glass may be seen her effigy and arms.
The arms of Engain were — Gules a bend wavy, with six
crosses fttchee Or, three above and three below. The arms
of Wybergh are : Sable, three bars Or, with three mullets of
the second, two in chief and one in base.

William is found holding the manor in the loth of Henry
V. He was succeeded by Thomas, who died in 1504, in the
19th of Henry VII. Thomas had married a Wharton, of
Kirkbythore, and he left one son, W^illiam, aged 30, as his

one of those who signed the death warrant of Charles I., and who on the Restora-
tion, mistnistinj; his safety, expatriated himself, and established himself at
Lausanne. Over the door he put the above I^tin quotation, doubtless claiminji^
the personal aptitude of the sig^nification, " To the resolute man every soil is his
country,**

7S THE OLD MANO&IAL HiO-LS OF WESTMORLAND.

htir. Thr f^fiandson erf this Thomas married a Lancaster of
Mt IkinihiVjv, in the 5th of Hem^ VIIL, and he appears to
have luvn siUl hving as an old man in the 5th of Elizabeth,

nuiin^ ihr jjrnerations nej>:t in succession the fortunes and
di^nuiesi of ihe family declined : they, like many others,
^urtVi^i) miuh dmini; the troublous times of Charles 1., and
uuuh ixt iheu sul^sxance was dissipated in the ruinous ex-
)>i Ube^ 4U%1 disaslcrs of the civil wars: so that wa find that a
Ku^f )v\iUon ot their manorial lands lying to the south of the
\Ulaf;x^ WAN nvMtii^iiXNi to Sir John Lowther, and was never
U^Ue\\\i\l We Are told that in the year 1652, Thomas
W nIh »jih h's.^, of St, Rees, was in the Hst of the delinquents
\<\n ihi \ weiv oalU\l^ whose estates were ordered to be sold
I^N ;\u oulu\,uv e of OvvMinveirs rarliament in that year. From
ihw uvoidisl dtvioe we may infer that the family had moved
lo\u|VManly out of residence from the patrimonial hall. But
I he hall and demesne still endured to the Wyberghs as a rem-
ivaul ot their ancient possessions in this parish, as, indeed,
tliey continue up to the present day. The tower was main-
laim\l as their habitation by Steven or eight generations of the
fanulv ilown to aK>ut eighty years ago.

The tower represents one of the smallest kinds of Peles;
moreover I l^elieve it to be one of a comparatively late date,
probably al>out the beginning of the sixteenth century. My
reasoas for this opinion are based on the following considera-
tions : the external details are of a plain and simple character;
the masonry does not exhibit that massiveness and thickness
of walling, and although well coined it is inferior to what we
are accustomed to see in the older Peles. It has been built
al a time when the element of defence had ceased to be con-
bideied as the tirst and paramount object in a structure ; but
we know that for some time after the period had passed a\va3'
\N hich imposed the need that a dwelling house should be for-
iilied, i»till the same type of house was adhered to, par-
Uvulaily in the north. So here although we have a tower
iiuiU \\\ the sau\e fashion as the older Peles, yet it is devoid
v»l houie v»t their peculiar provisions for security anil resistance
Ui M\M k. The ground lloor does not present to us the strong

CLIFTON HALL. 79

Stone vaulted roof, nor the narrow, widely-splayed slits which
we see in the fourteenth century fortalice, the window open-
ings being nearly square, and the roof of the lower chambers
being of wood. Besides, the older towers were usually built
upon a plinth, either with a splay, as at Askham, or with an
ogee moulding, as at Yanwath. Then again, there is the
absence throughout of the true pointed arch, or of any of the
features of the Decorated style, the doorways being mostly
headed with the elliptic arch considerably depressed. So
that I think we shall be safe in assigning the first part of the
sixteenth century as the date at which this tower was built.*
The tower is of a regular rectangular figure. The dimen-
sions are 33 feet 6 inches, by 26 feet 6 inches. The height to
top of parapet is 37 feet. As is usual, the tower contains two
stories above the ground floor, and an open roof with battle-
ments, with a small crenellated turret at one angle surmount-
ing the the whole ; a corkscrew stair ascends the south-west
angle. The original windows are square-headed ; some small
openings of one light, and some mullioned with several lights.
Attention may be directed to the south front, on the face of
which there are some features which admit of question and
debate. In the first place may be noticed the three door
openings. The one near the angle of the building is the
entrance to the newel stair and to the ground floor. It has a
four centred arch, very depressed, a bad form of work, but
original. The two doorways closely adjoining each other,
near to the one alluded to, with segmental arches cut in the
single stone which is applied as a lintel, are insertions of a
later date, to give access to an attached building. There may
he observed three corbel stones boldly projected from the face
of the wall, about 21 feet from the ground, and also the
weathering lines of a roof of forty-five degrees pitch which has
formerly covered a building attached to this face of the tower.
Now what has been the object of these corbels? Not certainly
to support any timbers concerned with the roof in question,

* Amongst many other oblic^ations for friendly professional suggestions and
assistance, I am indebted to Mr. Hippolyte Blanc, Architect, Edinburgh, for the
plans and drawings which illustrate the description of Clifton Hall.

8o

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

for they are not directly under the span of the roof, and indeed
one is placed outside of the roof Hne. Each stone is curiously
pierced horizontally with a hole. Have these brackets carried
a gallery, or wooden hoarding for the defence of the wall as
seems to have been their use at Catterlen Hall ? It has b^en
suggested, but I do not think with probability, that they may
have borne a grating, or some kind of jiortcullis arrangement
to protect the doorway.

The foundation walls of a supplementary building can be
traced following a rectangular outline to the extent of 5o feet
from the south aspect of the tower. This has contained a
dining hall, built on to the tower at a subsequent date, which
doubtless was similar in type to those added to many Peles
throughout the century when the desire arose for more
domestic accommodation; other buildings have formerly been
attached, and have covered a considerable space of this now
bare area. There has been an attachment of thick walling on
the north side, laid on at one of the angles, where there is a
scutcheon 4 feel 2 inches going up to the height of the water-
boarding half way up the tower: there has been an arched
opening in this angle into the tower ; within the arch is a door-
way with flat eUipse, in width 3 feet 4 inches and 5 feet high.
All this signifies that at one time buildings were clustered on
the tower of dimensions commensurate with the importance .
of the family in the Tudor period. I think it is probable that
these buildings may have been destroyed by fire, so complete
has been their demolition. I understand that the tower was
sole habitable part left to the last generation or two of the
family who occupied it until the beginning of the present
century : there may be noticed on the north side the eighteenth
century windows made in it to adapt it to modern fashion.

Interior. — The ground floor seems to have been divided into
three apartments, one of which was the kitchen. As I men-
tioned, there is no stone vaulting, but it has a very good flat
wooden ceiling of the Tudor period, with moulded ribs. The
small oaken door to the locker in the kitchen exhibits a good
example of the sixteenth century wood carving ; the wall is
plastered, and still shows remains of polychromatic figure
paintings. The original entrance to the lower rooms is by a

CLIFTON HALL. 8l

small doorway on the north front, with a flat elliptic arch,
and plain chamfer. There is a peculiarity in the steps of the
of the newel staircase, which marks a late date, and which is
never found in early mediaeval work ; the edge of the narrow
ends of the winders, as they approach the central pillar, is
coved back in cavetto to the line of step ; this treatment holds
for the first flight, higher up the treads are plain and without
coving.

The first and second stories are divided by partitions into
small apartments, but have been so much modernised as to
present no particular interest. The doorways have the same
general character of the flat elliptic arch with cavetto mould-
ing ; the wainscoting is in long wide panels ; the roof is hipped
and slated ; with an alure around it within the parapet. At
the south-west angle there is a turret about seven feet square,
with an ascent of six steps, with one embrasure on each of its
three sides. The battlements are doubly projected from the
walls, and present six and four embrasures on the alternate
sides. The coping has received good treatment, as is usual
in battlemented work of this period. The coping stones are
capped with a large bead and splay, and are projected outside
beyond the wall, and run continuously over the merlons and
embrasures.

The two chimney stacks also show good work ; they are orna-
mented with a cornice in cavetto, and with that form of crested
battlemented moulding, so much used in chimneys of which
we have examples at Catterlen, Yanwath, and other places.

The litttle Early English Church dedicated to St. Cuthbert
stands just outside the precincts of the hall. The same
relative proximity of the Hall to the Church is observed in
many cases throughout the district, as at Melmerby, Eden-
hall, Dacre, Newbiggin, Cliburn, Askham, and elsewhere.

HORNBY HALL.

Hornby Hall stands in the parish of Brougham on a rising
bank overlooking the Eamont on the Westmorland side of the
river, about two miles below the Roman camp of Brocavum,

L

82 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND,

and the bridge and whilom ford across the river at Brougham
Castle. Below this bridge the stream courses over rocky
rapids and deep pools, as far as half-a-milc below Hornby,
where its waters spread out over a smooth pebbly bottom,
which in ordinary conditions of the river affords a safe passage
of the stream. This crossing place is called Udforii," and
has been used as a ford and ferry for traffic going north and
south from early times, probably more than any other walh
on the river. The Roman road to the north from the camp
at Kirkbythore, I apprehend, must have crossed the river
Eden, which presented a barrier about two miles above this
place at Winderwath, and it must have passed in a straight
line through that estate to the hamlet of Woodside, and then
across this Hornby ground to the camp at Brocavum. The
vicinity of this Roman road, the common highway used in the
middle ages, and of the safe ford of Udford, along with the
allurements of the rich and fertile holmes adjoining the river,
may have determined the site of this mansion, on what we
are now apt to regard as a sequestered position. Be that as it
may, the Cliffords, lords of the barony, granted the land to
one Edward Birkbeck, in the sixth year of Edward VI,, f and
the demesne closely adjoined their sumptuous castle of
Brougham, and skirted the chase they loved so well — the
forest of VVhinfeil.

The house is built of the New Red Sandstone, of the
Permian Strata, over which it stands, and its frontage
presents to the eye the type of an Elizabethan manor house.
It is a rectangular, long, two-storied building, with mullioned
and transomed windows, square-headed, with hood mould-
ings over them. There is a courtyard behind the house,
partially enclosed with buildings and offices, and an arched
gateway leading into it from the front. Projected from the
face of the building there is a square turret, which has been
continued to a greater height than the elevation of the main
block, and which, indeed, originally has been a few feel
higher than it now appears. It is the porch tower, always a

*0.lar

>r Udilc/

HORNBY HALL. 83

favourite adjunct to the domestic architecture of this period :
indeed, it is found that the same style of carrying the porch
up to the main roof of the building was perpetuated in the
next century ; two porches of a later date similar to this are
seen at Barton Kirk and Kirkbarrow Halls. There seems at
all times to have been some natural impulse to impose over
the main doorway or entrance to a building some kind of
adjunctive erection. We see the expansion of this desire in
the portico of the Greek temples, in the gate-houses of our
old castles and colleges, in the west fronts and south doors of
our ecclesiastical buildings, and in the porticoes and peri-
styles of our classic revivals, until the national taste in street
architecture descended to the level of the miles of bald
monotony displayed in the eighteenth century streets of our
great cities. This porch tower consists of two stories, each
containing a small room, the upper chamber having been the
chapel, and it has carried a parapet, as may be seen by the
projection coved in cavetto to the line of wall, near the
summit.

There is an elliptic arch to the outer doorway. Over this,
set in the wall, there is a square stone with hollow moulded
hood, on which there is a well cut coat-of-arms, with esquire*s
helm, crest, and scroll ; the shield is much worn, but shows a
saltire engrailed. There are two small shields within the
superior angles of the tablet, but the charges are effaced.
There has been an outer door to the porch, and there is a
small square outlook on each side. The inner door is a very
good example of the oaken door of the period, with its hand-
catch and iron-work. It is panelled and capped with a bold
moulding, and fits the four-centred arch of the doorway.
From the inner entrance a passage leads to the kitchen, and
a small doorway to a corkscrew stair in the turret, and on
the left is the entrance to the hall.

The Hall, This apartment is very nearly square ; the
dimensions are 21 feet, exclusive of the recesses. The most
striking object in these old halls is usually the fire place ;
here is the huge chimney-piece so characteristic of the period.
It is flush with the wall, and is a segmental arch 12 feet in
span. The round and hollow mouldings on the angle of the
curve give it a bold appearance. We have a good example

84 THt OLD MANORIAL MALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

of similar treatment at Thwaite Hall in Cumberland. More
commonly the angle is plainly chamfered, as at Yanwath and
other places. The ball is lighted with square-headed windows
with mullions; two towards the front — one with three lights
and one with four lights, with slightly pointed arches. There
are some pieces of old coloured glass with coats of arms which
stii! remain ; one, argent, a fess chequy or and azure, between
three bears heads guies ; the other, chequy or and azure, a
fess gules. The arms of Birkbeck are said to be argent, a
fess chequy or and sable, between three lions' heads erased
gules.

The ceiling is of plaster, and has a moulded centre-piece,
adorned with an oak leaf pattern and a pendant. A fine piece
of carved oak wainscoting occupies the end of the hall, form-
ing a dado rising tliree feet from the floor. The lower panels
are worked in the pattern of the round arch, springing from
pilasters, with foliage in the spandrils ; a design which has
been perpetuated to us in the oak cupboards and buffets of
that period. The styles are deeply channelled with Ionic
flutings, and the horizontal border at the top of the dado is
beautifully worked in running ornaments of the Elizabethan
era — the guillochc and chain pattern. In connection with this
subject there is in the hall a handsome oak dressoir, which
formerly belonged to the Birkbecks, and which Mr. Hutchin-
son, the present farmer, has brought back curiously enough
to its old resting-place. It has the initials, "G B 1640,"
This apartment has been restored, and the original features
have been very happily retained.

A doorway leads out of the hall to the lord's parlour, or
little dining room. At this period it was unfashionable for
the lord and his guests to dme with the house-folk in the
common-hall, and in all the houses of the i6th century we find
a lord's parlour. The private room is often on the second
floor, as at Kirkbythore and Catterlen Halls, and at Barton
Kirke. In some of the larger houses, as in college halls, this
retiring room opens out from the dais of the hall opposite the
screens ; it is so here.

The entrance is by a square-headed doorway in red sand-
stone, with the cornice and architrave deeply moulded in

HORNBY HALL. 85

round and hollow members, and elaborately enriched with
the nail-head ornament in bold relief. The dado of the
pedestals of the door-jambs exhibits a carving of that eastern
symbol, the penticle within the circle, surrounded by a circular
cable moulding, below which is the rose or patera within a
square. It was erected, as seen by the inscription, in 1602.

I

B. 1602.

This piece of Renaissance work has been an insertion by the
Thomas Birkbeck of that date, as the main part of the mansion
was doubtless built about 1550 by Edward Birkbeck, to
whom the lands were first granted in 6th of Edward VI.

The oak carving in this house affords one of the best ex-
amples of any we have remaining in situ in this county. In
the parlour there is a carved mantelpiece in three divisions ;
the central compartment containing a shield with helm, mant-
lings, and tassels — the crest is wanting. The arms are a fess
chequy, between three bears heads, erased 2 and i. The
lateral compartments have contained paintings which are
now nearly obliterated, but which seem to have represented
some classical architectural subjects, probably of a sym-
bolic character. We have the ordinary Elizabethan enrich-
ments, the chain pattern and guilloche, egg and tongue
mouldings, and flutings chased after the type of the Corinth-
ian order, being separated by fillets.

We now ascend to the most interesting room in the house,
the drawing-room. The original access to the first story was
by a circular stone staircase, now closed. The drawing room
is situated over the hall, and is of the same dimensions —
about 21 feet square. It is lighted by two windows to the
front, both transomed, one of four lights and one of three
lights, with elliptic heads.

In the first place attention may be called to the wood work
of the apartment, which is in a good state of preservation.
There is a sumptuous carved oak mantelpiece, the finest ex-
isting in situ in this district. It is surmounted by a bold and
heavy cornice reaching to the ceiling, and is separated into

86 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

three divisions by pilasters ; the supporting jambs on either
side are formed by half-length Negro figures, male and
female, gross and barbanc in their form and ornaments. The
central panel contains an emblazoned coat-of-arms, a fess
chequy between three bears* heads. It is all in high relief,
and has b2t:n painted and gilded. The room is wainscoted
all round in panels about 14 inches by 10 inches, up to within
a short distance of the ceiling, under which there is a border
of horizontal work, which runs round the whole chamber, on
which has been painted in Roman capitals, Latin mottoes
and legends, such as "MORS CHRISTI, VITA MEA,*'
and others which are nearly illegible. The rails are morticed
into the styles, and fastened, as usual, by four oak pins. On
one of the styles at two ends of the room there is carved in
relief, in a row, a bundle of four javelins, or spears, five feet
two inches long, with gilded shafts and spear heads ; what
this may be symbolic of, it is difficult to determine.

Lastly, there is the ceiling. The ceiling is not quite flat,
but is slightly canted, as were the wooden panelled inner
roofs in Henry VII. time. It is crossed and intersected by
moulded ribs, which divide it into panels, and it has a centre-
piece which is blocked into compartments, on which are
embossed figures of various kinds. There are the bunches of
grapes, with vine leaf and tendrils, birds, and the lion passant
regardant, and in the centre, the rose and the oak leaf, and
the acorn. From the centrepiece hung a pendant. It has
been coloured in red and gold. If you try ro picture this
room in its original condition, you would realise the gorgeous
aspect it presented. The shining panelled woodwork lining
the walls, the inscriptions in bright letters running under the
cornice, the elaborate ceiling, and last of all, the bold and
richly-decorated mantelpiece with its shields, brilliant with
tinctures and metals.

The only other rooms possessing interest are those in the
turret over the porch ; they are directly over each other, and
are of about the same size, about nine feet six inches by nine
feet. The chamber on the first story has a date in plaster on
the ceiling : ** AK° 1584." It is curious to note that the year
1585 is the date on the heraldic plaster ceiling in the old hall
of Gerard Lowther, at Penrith.

HORNBY HALL. 87

It would seem that even at this period a domestic chapel
was still considered necessary in a mansion house. The little
room at the top of the tower was the chapel ; a water drain
and piscina formerly existed in the south-east corner, and it
carried a coved ceiling in plaster, which is described to me as
having been not many years ago very beautifully groined and
ornamented. It is lighted by a slightly pointed arched
window to the south, and by two small square openings on
the east and west. If I mistake not, it contained a fireplace.
The doorways to these chambers are narrow and low, and
have low two-centred pointed arches ; they are reached both
from the ground floor and from the first story by the little
spiral stair in the porch tower which was formerly continued
to the alure on the roof. There is above the second story a
horizontal projecting string course hollowed in cavetto, which
must have carried a rampart parapet, now gone.

APPENDIX.

The Rev. Thomas Lees, F.S.A., Rector of Wreay, has
kindly furnished me with the following information in relation
to the Birkbecks.

ALLIANCE OF BIRKBECK WITH HILTON.

Hilton of Hillwood.

Arms : sable 3 annulets 2 and i argent, in chief 2 saltires, couped
of the second.

Thomas Hilton = Ann dau of
of Hilton Co I Reginald Hartley-
Westmorland | of Appleby.
Esq. Ob. circa C° Westmorland.
1630 I

I. Geo. H. of H. . 2. Thos died = Eliz dau of

Th^ Sandford of

Askham West** Esq.

2. Catherine wife of Brian

Garnet of Kirkby Kendal C«

West*!.

died unmarried 1644

circa 1651.

I

I. Winifred = George Birkbeck.

of Millrig C° Westmorland
died 1643.

88

[ALLS OF WESTMDKLAND.

Noll by Chaneclior Ferguson, F.S.A. — Machel, vol i. p. 443, 0
loose paper, pinned in, gives ihe matches of Birkbeck : —

" Clifford base born. 2. Salkeld de Uosgill. 3, Detilon de Cardew.

4. Sandford de . 5. Wharlon de Kirkbythore. 6. Lancaster

de Sockbridge, 7. Lancaster de Brampton — West. S. Lancaster
de Bra. coheiress, y. Labourne de Cum Lancaster whose arms are
Bn escutcheon Armin, 3. 2. 3. 2- w" a bordure S charged 6 oivles, j
in chief, 2 in fess, one in base. 10. Pool-de-peake in Derby whose

arms B a chevron betwixt 3 or. ti. Cateng de Caleng Bridge

in Cum Ebor w. whom he had yc estate. ,

ASKHAM HALL.

The anciotu village of Askham lies along the slope of a
hill, on the left bank of the river Lowlher. The valley
through which the river flows is here contracted into a narrow
gorge, and the water is spanned by an early bridge of one
arch. On the right bank are the woodlands and picturesque
scenery of Lowther domain, and on the leit the church of
Askham (dedicated to St. Peter), the village, and on a lofty
knoll, rising high above the surrounding ground, stands the
hall, the seat of the Sandfords, the ancient lords of the manor.

The site has been selected as a good defensive position ; it
is protected on the east by the waters of the dark and rapid
river, and on the north by a steep ravine, through which a
runner of water descends to join the stream ; it is probable
that it may have had a moat on the other sides, which are
now arranged in garden terraces. This building, as do
others of the same class, presents in its parts two cliarac-
teristic structures; — ist, — the early or defensive portion ;
and and, — the later or domestic porlion. The tower, which
represents the former, is a massive imposing pele of three
lofty stories. It is in the form of a paralellogram 78 feet by
34 feet ; it has no cellarage, but stands on a projecting plinth
of ponderous stones ; the masonry is in regular courses and
well dressed ; the walls are from 54 to 6 feet thick. Its de-
fensive object is seen in the embattled parapet surmounting
the roof, which has six embrasures on the longer sides, and
three on the shorter — moreover at each angle there is a

square turret, projected on shallow corbels, or false machico-
lations. These turrets are also crenellated, and are carried a
few feet higher than the merlons of the roof parapet, and
have been of two stories, divided by a timber flooring — not of
stone as at Yanwath. Thus a cover breast-high would be
afforded to the archers shooting from the banquette above,
while the base of the turret was provided with loopholes for
those engaged below.

This tower of Askham is of a later date than the other Pele
towers of the neighbourhood. It was built probably at the
end ot the fifteenth century, at a time when the character of
the place as a fortress was subordinated to the requirements
of domestic accommodation and convenience. It is an ad-
vance on the rude, simple, and limited plan of many of the
Border Peles, with which we are familiar ; it belongs rather
to that class of tower-built bouses of which the characteristic
type is found in the moated brick house of Tattershall Castle,
in Lincolnshire.

The barrel-vaulted apartment, or chamber of security here,
is at the western end of the building ; it is lofty, and
measures 2a feet by 16 feet, but its walls now are cased wi'.h
lath and plaster ; the well-stair, which gave access to the
upper stories, occupies the angle nearest the courtyard : it is
now blocked ; a thick cross wall separates this vaulted
chamber from the remainder of the ground floor. This por^
lion, now divided into an entrance hall and dining room,
formerly constituted one noble hall, 4.4 feet by 23 feet. The
original entrance, still visible, was at the back of the tower,
by a low narrow doorway with a pointed arch, with the arris
chumfered, surmounted by an arched dripstone with gro-
tesque heads carved at each end. The tower has lost much
of its aspect as a defensive place, by the insertions made in it
to convert it into what it now is, a commodious and roomy
country mansion. It is now appropriated as the rectory of
the parish of Lowther. The main door, with classic mould-
ings and broken architrave, the high mullioned and tran-
somed windows, the handsome massive oaken staircase have
the character of work done in the time of Charles II., or
towards the very end of the seventeenth century.

go THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS

But about two hundred years had elapsed between these
later restorations and the early habitation of Askham as a
mediaival tower, and during all this time the hall had been
[he homestead of a powerful and wealthy family : more lodg-
ing room had been demanded than could be afforded by the
scrimp and semi-barbarous accommodation of the old Border
Pele. This introduces us to the range of Elizabethan build-
ings, raised in the back court, and about the dale of these
there can be no question, as the inscription over the gateway
expressly records it. On a square tablet over the gate, sur-
mounted by a wreath and helmet, are the arms quarterly of
Sandford, Crackenthorpe, and Lancaster ;- and underneath,
in capita! letters, curiously raised, this inscription : —

ffibomas Sanftfori) rsqupr
3For tbis pai{) meat anil iT^re;
ffi^hc ijear of our aabiourf
JU bunfircJilIj sfbcntg foure.

This Thomas was the sofi and heir of Sir Thomas, by his
wife Anne Crackenthorpe, of Howgill, He married Anne,
eldest daughter of Cuthbert Hutton, of Hutton John. He
succeeded in the 6th of Elizabeth : he began the building in
the back court, but died in the same year, and it was finished
by his executors.

The Elizabethan portion of Askham Hall, consists of long
ranges of two-storied buildings, occupying two sides of the
courtyard ; the outer entrance is on the west side, and passes
under the centre of the range ; it is about ii feet wide, and
presents a low circular gateway to the exterior. Above the
gateway, surmounted with helmet, crest, and niantlings with
tassels, are the coat-of-arnis and inscription represented in

I

Sandford : Paily per chevron

loupy Or.

tlnslish ! Sable, llirec lions ra
Crack en thorjjc ! Or, a chevrur
LancaitcrofHuiVfiilt: Arg, I'

rimpant E'uardant Or.

.rs' htadi in chief

OVER THE GAIEWAY, ASKIIAM HAIX.

r

\

A.SKHAM HAl.1.
WCSTMOKLAND

I

&nOUND Fl-AN

L ■• 1" r

ASKHAM HALL. 9 1

the drawings. The arch is encircled by a moulding of a very
unusual description ; the design is that of rope work, or of a
cable, with a knot at each terminal, well carved in stone : on
the cut end of the knot, on one side, are the initials T.S, and
and on the other A.S, for Thomas Sandford and Anne
Sandford his wife.

Th'j windows in this part of the building are stjuare-h.^aded
with mullions, and dripstones. To the left of the gateway
are two small pointed windows of a very early character :
one of them with an ogee-arch and single light. It is an
early English window, and, I think, l)Oth are insertions,
having been removed either from the tower or chapel. A
small window of a similar stvle still exists on the southern
face of Vanwath tower, in the upper story. The basement of
this building to the right of the gateway was doubtless used
as the new dining room : on the upper story there is a long
apartment of the breadth of the building, of low elevation,
with an open timber roof. It seems evident that this has been
a doriuitorv, and has been screened off into three or four
chambers, for on the low transverse oak tie-beams, which
bind the roof, are seen the grooves to which the framework of
the panelling has been notched arrd pinned. The beams
which support the flooring, seen from below, are worth in-
spection, as the original work and bead mouldings are
preserved.

The shields which Machel noticed in his day are still to be
seen in the back court. ** There is upon a muilion of one of
ye windows of the gatehouse dining room, on a scutcheon, a
Lyon passant, alluding to the English." Over the door of
entrance there is a circular shield, bearing three boars' heads
for Swinburne, and, I think, two lions rampant, for English.
There is a stone built into the back wall of the kitchen, ex-
hibiting two escutcheons, one charged with two boars' heads,
the other with three annulets and below, a lion passant, and
one annulet : Machel states that ** The same coats were also
on Cross which stood in midst of the town.'' An old in-
habitant of Askham has informed me that he remembers, as
a child, this cross, and the parish stocks, which stood close
by, and, I believe also the hand-stocks, and stretch-neck,
and whipping-post.

f)2 THE OLD MANOIKAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND,

A chapel has existed here at least from the time of Henry

IV., for Dame Idonea Sandford, whose curious will is
preserved in the Sandford MSS., bequeathed " 8 oxgangs of
land, and half of the mill in Ascome '• ' "- upon condition that
one chaplain be found to celebrate mass for the soul of her
father and her ancestors, in the chapel of St, Mary, of
Ascome," — which chapel stood nigh unto the hall, distinct
from other buildings. It is marked upon the plan ; it is now
the dairy: The site is verified by the discovery, as Provost
Jackson [who was then rector of Lowther) informed me,
within his recollection, of the piscina, and by th3 presence"of
the pointed arched doorway, still to be seen on the south side.
Machel refers to it in his MS,, by noticing that "the
chappie window has two lights with coloured glass of our
Saviour & Virgin Mary." The Sandfords were attached to
the old religion to the end of their race here at Askham,
which terminated in 1G80.

The device of the boars' heads on the shields in the back
court was derived from the Swinburnes, who held the manor of
Askham up to the 49 Ed. III., when it was conveyed to
Edmund de Sandford in fee,' "which Edmund was founder
of the family of the Sandfords, both at Askham and Howgill.
He was younger brother of William de Sandford, lord of the
manor of Sandforti, in (he parish of Warcop, descended of a
family of the same name, who had been lords of the manor
for several generations, at least from the reign of King
Richard I., and with this Edmund, we begin thd pedigree of
the Sandfords of Askham." This Edmund de Sandford
married Idonea, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas English,
Lord of Little Ashy, of an ancient family ihere, by which he
came, not only to the manor of Little Asby, but also to large
estates of land at Askham and Helton, all of which Dame
Idonea shows forth in the schedule to her will, as her
"herritake;" — so what with the towns and manors of As-
come, of Helton P'lechane, and Knipe, and the lands of
Satrow Park, Uutterwyke, Carholond, and the oxgangs and
mills, and parcels elsewhere, it made up a brave estate, to
maintain the honour and glory of Askham Hall through many
generations. In fact, few knights in the two shires would do

ASKHAM HALL. 93

*

service in the field with a better power of horsemen and foot
at his hack, than the Sandford of Askham. When Sir
Thomas Wharton, warden of the West Marches, in 34. Hen.
8. (1543) called out the gentlemen of the two counties for
service on the Borders, according to the proportionable value
of their respective estates, we find that Thomas Sandford
stands fourth on the list, with a following of 80 horse and 20
foot. His contingent was exceeded only by Strickland, of
Kendal, with 200 horse ; by Sir John Lowther, 100 horse and
40 foot ; and by Blenkinsop, of Hellbeck and Brough, with
120 horse; while the smaller gentry brought their 6, 10, or 20
followers.

And so the Sandfords lived and flourished here in the
direct male line for about three hundred years, full of
possessions, and contracting alliances with many important
families. But at the twelfth generation the race ended in
daughters, as was often the case, and the property was sold
in 1680, and even the name has almost entirely passed away
out of the county. But to one of the last of ths family,
Edmund Sandford, those interested in the local antiquities of
the country are indebted for much valuable and curious lore,
collected by him in his journeys through Cumberland, two
hundred years ago, and happily preserved to us in the
Sandford MSS.-

LOWTHER CASTLE.

The name of Lowther in connection with Cumberland and
Westmorland reaches back to the reign of Henry IL The
chief residence of the family has always been, from the time
of Edward L, when the pedigree begins, on the same site in
Lowther Park on which the present modern castle stands ;
this being the third or probably the fourth erection which has

• A Cursory Relation of all the Antitftiities vnd Familues in Cumberland, by
Rdmund Sandford, circa 1675. Under the editorship of Chancellor Fer^son,
this has been printed by the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological and
Antiquarian Society, as : Tract Series No. 4.

94

. HALLS OF WESTMDKLAND.

been built there. All traces of the previous structures are
effaced, except a fragmentary portion of a tower which is in-
corporated in the west wing of the existing castle. So far I
can find no references to the features of tlie early structures
further back than in some notes in the memoirs left by Sir
John Lowther, baronet, of Nova Scotia, who succeeded in the
year 1637 ; in these he gives some rather pertinent details in
relation to the building of the new Hall at Lowther,

The following extracts selected from his entries have some
interest : — " 1630. The buildings between the old tower and
Lowther Hall were made by my father. It is not known
when the old tower standing to the eastward was erected.
But the roof of the said buildings I■^etwi^t the two towers I
bought by my father's appointment, viz.. both the lead and
wood of Lord William Howard, being the roof of the great
hall at Kirkoswald Castle, which then was, before it was
pulled down by the said Lord William, a most magnificent
and princely house. For the lead and wood I paid £i^0.
The Newtown easlwarii was built likewise in memory by my
great grandfather. Sir Richard Lowther, and his wife, a care-
ful woman of Middleton Hall, when he was in the Tower of
London for entertaining the Queen of Scots. My grand-
father. Sir Christopher Lowther, built Hackthorpe Hall,
which he provided as a jointure house for his second wife.
He likewise built Meaburn Hall and planted much wood
there." .... "1637. I entered into Lowther Castle after
the death of my father. For Hackthorpe, while I lived there
after my marriage in my father's life, I built the oitt-stahle, and
bought houses and lan'l in the Towngate. ... I beauti-
fied the porch at Lowther Hall by building with stone fine
and white, which was got in Clifton Demesne, in the bank
under Clifton Hall, Dut though the stone was good for
building, it was difficult to work," .... "1640. My
grandfather, Sir Christopher, repaired the wall about the
New Park, and was a great lover of deer, and made the Park
staunch." . . . "1656. I built the gallery and chapel at
Lowther. The workmen were paid 8s. 6d. a rood for slating
without meal and drink only. Slate pins of sheep's bones we
bought at ad. per hundred, which are of more last than wood.

LOWTHER CASTLE. 95

which is apt to rot and let down the slates.'* . . . . " 1654.
I bought the reversion of Yanwath with the wood in posses-
sion, which cost me ;^2,ooo, to add to Lowther for use and
ornament.'* . . . "1671. Yanwath came to me in posses-
sion.** . . . ** The Hall left very ruinous.'* . . . "1658.
I partly walled the orchard under the pigeon-cote, near three
yards high, costing ^50. In the beginning of March, 1658,
being a backward spring that year, I planted many fruit trees
which I had bought in Yorkshire,*' etc.

There is a pen and ink sketch of the front elevation of this
17th century hall amongst Machel's papers, and there is also
a picture of the same at Lowther Castle, which give a general
idea of the place as it existed.

The towers referred to stood on the same plane and in a
line with each other, about 60 feet apart : they were apparently
nearly identical in dimensions and height, and consisted of a
basement and three floors. Each of the towers had a battle-
mented parapet slightly projected from a string course, with
square turrets at each angle, and were provided with gur-
goyles shaped like cannon. The tower to the eastward how-
ever was evidently the older of the two, for at each corner it
had a square buttress set diagonally, and stepped in three
stages with chamfered offsets, in a style which might bring it
within the Decorated period of the fourteenth century. The
western tower had not these characteristics, and must have
been a later addition during the fifteenth century, when pro-
bably the two were connected by a great dining hall and
domestic buildings.

But earl}- in the seventeenth century, either on account of
accident, or decay in the central erection, or perhaps to satisfy
the desire for Renaissance transformation, this part had to
give way to that alluded to in the journal of Sir John Lowther.
The two towers were allowed to remain and to flank the pile
which was erected betwixt them. Balance, symmetry, and
uniformity were estimated as essential features in the style of
the Jacobean Renaissance.

The new building presented a facade of three stories, with
three rows of fivG square-headed vertical windows set uni-
formly one above the other, with the doorway in the centre.

96 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

There was a battlemented parapet set in accordance with the
battlements on the old towers, though more for ornament than
for use, as the merlons were surmoimted by pierced stone
carving taking the form of a scroll and fleur-de-lys. Similar
treatment in stone work was common in the parapets and on
the pediments of windows both in England and Scotland at
this period. From the centre of the block rose a Byzantine
looking cu[>ola with an ogee curve and a pinnacle, no doubt
lighting the grand staircase of the period. At the same time
the windows in the old towers were enlarged and made to
harmonize with the rest of the facade. We have several
examples of Renaissance alterations in which the ancient keep
towers have been thus preserved, as at Sizergh, Howgill,
Newbiggin, and Blencow Halls, where the ground plans are
very similar to that which must have been presented by
Lowther Hall.

Sir John Lowther records that he himself beautified the
porch. The pictures alluded to indicate details of the classic
revival ; — a doorway with Grecian columns, and a classic
cornice and architrave, with a semi-circular pediment.

In the centre of the ornamented parapet were carved the
initials and the date : —

These refer to the father and mother of our journalist, viz.,
Sir John Lowther and Eleanor his wife, the daughter of
William Fleming, Esquire, of Rydal Hall. This building
only stood about a hundred years, as it was destroyed by fire
in 1726.

HACKTHOKPE HALL.

About a mile and a quarter to the south-east of Lowther
Castle is the village of Hackthorpe. From the name it is
evident that originally it was the hamlet of some Scan-
dinavian called Haki : indeed for some time after the Con-

LOWTHER CASTLE. 97

quest the thane at Hakethorpe was an Englishman or
Norseman called Gamel, who held the lands by service of
drengage from the barons of Kendal. It subsequently came
under the possession of the de Stirklands, who held the
neighbouring lands at Strickland, and one of them, Sir
Thomas, in the 35th of Edv^ard III., obtained royal licence
to impark his woods at Hakethorpe and elsewhere, in return
for good services in war in France. It continued in the
possession of the Stricklands of Sizergh until the year 1535,
when it was purchased by the Lowthers.

A substantial, roomy Elizabethan manor house was
subsequently erected, which is now standing in good preser-
vation, and in use as the very comfortable farm residence
to the Hackthorpe Hall farm. The building is an oblong
block in two stories with attics, with long, low, horizontal
windows, divided by mullions into four lights, transomed, and
with hood mouldings in the usual style. There is also the
usual square porch tower over the main doorway on the front,
with the customary little square room on the upper floor.
The ground plan corresponds with that of Hornby Hall, but
there is more plainness in the details. There is some good
wooden panelling remaining in the house of the ordinary
Elizabethan character.

The Sir John Lowther whom we have quoted, relates that
the Hall was built by his grandfather, Sir Christopher, as a
dower house for his second wife, and that he himself was
born there, and lived there till his succession. The date of
the erection was during the early years of James I.'s reign.
Over the doorway were the Lowther arms. '^'

* The arms of Lowther, as certified at Du^dale*s visitation, are:— i. Or,
bixannulets; 3, 2, and 1 Sable: by name of Lowther. 2. Ermine, a canton
azure, charged with a cross upon three stars Ar^^ent; by the name of Quaile. 3.
Arf^ent, a Hon rampant, Sable ; by the name of Stapleton. 4. Gules three fishes
Or; by the name of I^ucy. 5. Sable, three escalows within a bordure ingrailed
Argent ; by the name of Strickland. 6. Sable three covered cups Argent ; by
the name of Warcop. 7. Sable, three martlets volant Argent - - - -. 8. Or,
two bars Gules, and on a canton (jules a mullet of the first; by the name of
Lancaster.

The crest on a wreath, a griffin passant, Argent.

N

THE OLD MANORIAL i

i OF WESTMORLAND.

MELKINTHORPE HALL.

As the Danes or Scandinavians Haki and Crakr had their
respective " thorpes " or settlements in this neighbourhood, so
had their countryman Melkr his " thorpe " at this place. The
village lies about two miles from Lowther Castle, and the
manor no doubt continued for some time during the sway of
the early Norman kings in the native hands of the de Melcan-
thorps. It afterwards came into the possession of the Mus-
graves; these were succeeded by the Fallowfields, an old local
family connected with Great Strickland ; and by the marriage
of the heiress of Fallowfield in the first part of the seventeenth
century, it came to the Dalstons of Temple Sowerby, by
whom it was sold to Sir John Lowther.

The old manorial hall is now gone, although it was standing
within my remembrance not very many years ago. It was a
little low mean-looking building in a low situation near the
beck which flows by the village : it had small horizontal
mullioned windows with elliptic heads : it was without any
defensive arrangements, and dated probably from about the
beginning of the sixteenth century.

Machel visited the place, and in his MSS. has tricked the
coats of arms he fonnd there ; one of these is reproduced
above. The shield was painted on the wall of the dining-hall.
The arms arc: — Musgrave : six annulets; 3, 2, and i,

MELKINTHORPE HALL. 99

quartering Ward, a cross flory ; and Stapleton — 3 swords
potnels in the nombril of the escutcheon, points extended.

There were rilso on a wooilen chimneypiece in the parlour
the arms of Dalston of Acorn Bank impaling Fallowfield, ^
" by reason of a match with that family " ; also two crests,
" 1 a daw's head rising through a coronet from a wreath, 2^ a
boar's head couped."

LITTLE STRICKLAND HALL.

Adjoining the parish of Lowther there are the townships of
the two Stricklands, called Great and Little Strickland. In
early times the name was written Stirkland, and the manors
for several generations continued in the noted family of the
de Stricklands, who afterwards removed to Sizergh. In the
time of Henry VI. the family of Fallowfield succeeded the
Stricklands at Great Strickland, and it was only in ihe
middle of the present century that the name of Fallowfield
became extinct there. The manorial residence was at Mel-
kinthorpe Hall.

Little Strickland lies further south on the rising uplands of
the limestone formation midway Iwtween Lowther and Shap.
The Hall there stands on a rocky knoll rising from the
village green, and is now occupied as the homestead of the
principal farm. This little hall is very interesting, and it has
suffered but little alteration, and sliow^ very well the sur-
roundings under which a squire's family of moderate preten-
sions lived during the sixteenth century. The external fabric
dales from the reign of Henry VIII., though most of the
internal fittings and wood carvings, which are very good,
areof the latter part of ihe Elizabethan era. The buildings
were erected on a set plan, and for the most part all at one
time, by John, a younger son of Henry Crackenlhorpe, of
Ncwbiggin Hall, who settled here in Henry .VIII.'s reign.
The ground plan presents the form of the letter T the cross

lOO THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

line at the top of the capital representing the main block, and j
the vertical limb contains the doorway, the passage of 1
entrance, and offices and stabling. Up until a few years ago,
the tenement was suriounded by a wall nine feet high, which
inclosed an outer and an inner courtyard, which gave to the
aspect of the place a quaintness and feeling of snugness and
security.

The main block is 60 feet in length and 24 feet in width, i
containing on the ground floor in the centre the hall, out of j
which there is on the right hand the kitchen, and on the left
the lord's parlour.

The walls are in substantial ashlar masonry, and comprise 1
two ficors of rather low ceiled apartments. The door of
entry is placed in the shank of the letter X, at the distance of
12 feet from the re-entering angle towards the west ; it con-
sists of a two-centred pointed arch with a plain chamfer, sur- J
mounted down to the impost by a deeply-coved and pointed J
hood -moulding.

LITTLE STRICKLAND HALL. lOI

The windows throughout have square-headed lights, and are
carefully treated, all having dripstones either terminating in a
carved boss or short return ; they have either three, two, or
one mullions, some have transoms ; the mullions have
shallow hollows instead of a splay on the sides. A passage
bisects the wing from the main entrance into the inner court.
This was the usual arrangement at that time, and the
passage thus running across the house used to be spoken of
as the mell-doors. * From the mell-doors a short passage
led into the hall, having a spiral stair to the upper floor on the
right, and a small room to the left.

The hall measures 25 feet by 15 feet ; it is well lighted by
low mullioned windows to the north, it has a flat ceiling, and
the usual wide chimney arch, and is lined with polished oak
panelling.

The chief points of interest about the house relate to the
decorative plaster work and the carved oak mantelpieces and
fittings which have been allowed to remain in situ. A small
bedroom upstairs only 14 feet by 12 feet is a model in its way.
It is wainscoted all round up to a foot from the ceiling, the
rails and styles forming the frame of the small panels have
mouldings struck on the solid. The space above the wainscot,
as well as the timber supporting the ceiling are covered with
ornamental plaster pargeting presenting figures blocked out
in relief of classic heads, masks, flowers, birds, etc. The
chimney breast is covered with a piece in carved oak, com-
posed at the sides of Ionic pilasters with flutings filled at the
lower part with a round convex moulding, or what is called
cabled. Within these are two deeply recessed and moulded
panels, with indented circular arches with foliage in the span-
drels— one contains the upper part of a female figure with
head-dress displayed and arms crossed ; on the other there
has been incised a date 161 2, which is rather like an insertion
as the work is of an earlier character. In another bedroom
there remains another beautiful carved oak over-mantel with

• Mell-doors A,S, Mellan between or intermediate. Used also as Mella n-f^arth
(MelHraards) and Mellan-biggin for a middle field, or farmhouse in the middle
of a village.

lOa THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

fluted jambs and a fine cornice with cable ornament, and v
the base filled in with a favourite Elizabethan pattern c
sisting of a modification of the fleur-de-!ys alternating with a
scroll. It is composed of three divisions. The central com-
partment presents a circular arch supported by fluted columns
with a blank panel. On the other two sides is carved the
emblem of the pine-apple. The mouldings are of a rich
description representing t he egg-and- tongue and other patterns.
The lord's parlour behind the hall affords another example of
a ceiling in plaster-work. It is divided by geometrical par-
titions into variously shaped compartments ; the timber of the
ceiling being cased in the same way. Each compartment is
filled in with figures blocked out in relief representing the
rose and varieties of scroll work.

Over the window of the parlour on the exterior facing the
courtyard there is a square projecting frame which contained
K tablet with the shield of the Crackenthorpcs. The carved
Stone is now gone.

NEWBV HALL.

NEWBY HALL.
The hamlet of Newby stands on high limestone ground, and
is within the parish of Morland adjoining the two Strickland
villages. The manor do^s not seem to have been of much
account in early times, and was held by a family who bore the
name of De Newby, but concerning them nothing is known.
In the lolh of Henry VHI., i5 messuages and 300 acres of
land in the township of Newby were held of the king in capiU
by Richard Vernon. His son George sold all his possessions
there to Richard Nevinson yeoman of Kemplees, in the reign
of Philip and Mary. The posterity of the family of Nevinson
were seated at Newby for some generations, until the last
of the name Stanwix Nevinson left it to liis widow Julia
daughter of John Gaskarth of Hutton Hall, Penrith, who
married a second time in 1774, the Earl of Suffolk. The
pedigree of Nevinson is certified in Dugdale's visitation in

.664.

The manor house of which a photograph is given has nothing
about it of antiquity, but presents notable Jacobean features.
It was doubtless built early in the seventeenth century, not-
withstanding the appearance of the later date of J685, which
is carved in several places on the outbuildings. The erection
consists of a central block 27 feet in length, from which project
two symmetrical wings for a distance of 15 feet so as to give
the plan somewhat the form of the letter £, The front faces
the north towards a railed-in court. The plain roll-moulding
carried over the two rows ot windows as a string course,
broken with a batllemented outline, as well as the bead and
hollow on the dressing of the square-headed doorway are
mouldings significant of the period. The windows are square-
headed with plain splayed mullions ; the iron casements with
the original little square panes remain, along with a curious
device for barring them by two iron catches jointed on a rod.
The outside door opens directly into the dimng-hall which is
about 21 feel square ; out of this there leads as usual the
private room or parlour 18 feet by 15 feet, with a Jacobean
stone fire-place, and wainscoted in oak with mouldings
worked on the sohd. Upstairs the partitions and doors show

I04 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

a later form of woodwork, being in large vertical panels, not
of oak but of lighter wood with broad styles and mitred mould-
ings laid on.

In the kitchen is to be seen still in use an appendage to the
fireplace, the " bakstone " (pronounced bakst'n) on which oak-
cake is. baked, a relic expressive of the domestic mode of
living of our ancestors. * The bakstone is a slab set over a
little square fireplace with a flue communicating with the
kitchen chimney. The right kind of fuel for heating it was
considered to be corn husks, or seeds as they are termed,
procured from the winnowing of oats, or else dried ling or
heather. The haver-cake was " reeled *' on the baking-board
or ** hakbrade^'" from whence the soft and limp cake was thrown
on to the bakstone by means of a long broad flat-bladed iron
instrument set in a wooden handle called the ** spittle or spittle,''
an impltment now nearly extinct, t The bakstone is still to be
found in many of the old farm houses in the dales.

The outbuildings are very extensive, and the owners of the
property in the seventeenth century seem to have devoted
themselves considerably to the cultivation of their own lands.

There are carved tablets over the garden door and on other
places on the outbuildings ; the initials and date

N

I E

1685

referring to John Nevison and his wife Elizabeth Garth of
Hedlam in the county of Durham. Over the front door there
is a rather imposing tablet with a classic cornice, and sup-
ported by pilasters, containing the following armorial
bearings. The shield bears a cheveron charged with a mullet
between three eaglets displayed. On an esquire's helm, the
crest, a leopard passant, collared. The arms of Nevinson.

• Formerly little or no wheaten bread was used ; the oat-cake or haver-bread
formed the ^reat staple food. [feci. hafr. A.S. havcTf oats. J. 'I he word occurs
in ** Picru the Plowman.^*

' A few cruddes and cream, and an haver cake.'

t Bakbrade. ** Bred" is the Anglo*Saxon woid for loard. A specimen of the
" xpirtle" is in the Penrith Museum.

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NEWBY HALL. IO5

The plan and arrangements of this Hall are analagous to one
of about the same date, Meaburn Hall, which will be
described further on.

Besides the manor houses of Little Strickland and of
Newby, there are within the old ecclesiastical boundaries of
the parish of Morland, some other manors of which the resi-
dences remain, but which have either been so much altered
or are of so late a date as not to merit much consideration.

Morland Hall. — The old Hall is situated in the village a
little way above the mill. It was a little, low, sixteenth-
century building, with some carved stonework above the
doors : it contained two panelled rooms and a good moulded
stone chimneypiece. Much was removed and altered 20
years ago. It was held variously in former times by the
families of Windsore, of Musgrave, and of Backhouse.

CLIBURN HALL.

The manor of Cliburn seems to have been early divided
into two moities, under the names of Cliburn Talebois, and
Cliburn Hervey. The first was held until the time of Henry
V. by some of the name of Tailbois, probably a branch of the
ancient stem of the barons of Kendal ; after that period this
moiety of the manor became merged with Cliburn Hervey,
which had been held by a family of the name of Cliburn since
the time of Edward III. The name seems to have been
variously spelt in old deeds — Cliburne, Cleburn, Cleyburn.

In the 43rd of Edward III., Robert de Cliburn held the
manor of Cliburn Hervey, which Robert, at that time, was
lord also of the manor of Hampton Cundale. We find in the
7th, and again in the loth of Richard II., a Robert de Cliburn,
(probably this same Robert), who was knight of the shire
for Westmorland ; so that this Robert had residence here,
and it seems likely that it was he who erected the tower
which constitutes the core of the manor house, as his Border
keep. From this time there were three or four generations
who held the manor, until we come to Richard, in the reign

o

io5

lNORIAL I[\LLS of <,

iRLAND,

of Elizabeth, who altered the hall, according to the inscribed
slab over the doorway, in 1567.

Thomas, the son and heir of the last Richard, married
Frances, youngest daughter of Sir Richard Lowther. This
Sir Richard Lowther was he who was of so much renown in
the north country ; he succeeded Lord Scroop in the office of
lord warden of the West Marches, and was ihrice commis-
sioner in the great affairs between England and Scotland,
during most of the time of Queen Elizabeth. With the suc-
cessor of Thomas Cliburn ended the race of the Clibiirns at
Cliburn, and the hall and manor passed to the family of
Lowther.

One of the sons went over to Ireland, and founded the
important family of the CUburns of Ballycullatan in
Tipperary. In the ancient church of Kilbarron in Ireland,
there is a memorial flagstone to ihis William Cleburn of
Ballycullatan, second son of Thomas, ob. 1684. He was
Receiver-General in Ireland, and had large grants made to
him by the Crown, in ihe county Tipperarj', on the banks of
the Shannon, which passed to William, the heir of his eldest
brother, Ednumd of Cliburn Hall.-' In the course of two or
three generations, it seems these vast possessions became
lost, and the fimily became broken up, though the name of
Cliburn is frequently met with in various parts of the county
of Tipperary at the present day.

In feudal times, and even down to a late period, the old
occupied land at Cliburn adjoining the hall, must have formed
a kind of oasis amid the extensive wastes of Strickland Moor,
Cliburn Ling, and the forest of Whinfell.

The hall is planted on a bank, at the foot of which flows the
rivulet Leith, which discharges into the Eden a short way
off. Within a stone's throw of the hall there stands the little
church dedicated to St. Cuthbert, an ancient structure, com-

'Icburnu o[ Ballycullatan may be

■Commun^catiuns on the subject u( the
found in Nalrii and Qittriri, vol. vii. and viii. runnn jrntt.

Ireland, after its contiuesi and reduction by both Eliiabeth and Cromwell, in
consequence of the wholesale i^ants oF land arising out of (he ronRscatiuns of
estates olTered a rare field for Emlzcation to the adventurous cadets of English
families. Amongit thi^se who pronted hy these pHies, beudes the Qiburni, wc
find many names of Cumbrian citraclion, such as Graham, Laitbei, BIcnner-
basset, Ponsonby, lirisco, Salkcid, and olhen.

CLIBURN HALL. 107

prtsiog a nave and chancel, and gable belfry. There is a
charming little Norman window in the north wall of the
chancel, a narrow slit with a round head, and widely splayed
inside ; and a mutilated window of the Decorated period in
the nave, with deep hollow mouldings.

From the traces of foundation wails surrounding the hall,
and from the extensive range of buildings that are attached to
it (which are now used as stabling and outhouses, all having
the character of the Elizabethan period), this must in the time
of Richard Cliburn, have been a place of very considerable
extent and consequence, If we look at a plan of the structure,
as it existed in his time, it would present a range of buildings
inclosing three sides of a quadrangular courtyard, the centre
consisting of a massive tower, of three stories, and the wings of
slighter two-storied buildings. The central and most imposing
part (marked with black in the plan) has been the core to which
the other structures have been added. Indeed we find that the
type of the fourteenth century pele tower is presented to us.
The tower is quadrangular. The dimensions are 45 feet in
length — east and west, and the breadth — north and south — 29^
feet. It is built of small blocks of new red sandstone, procured
from a quarry close by ; the rock is close to the surface, and
forms the foundations of the buildings. The stone is well
hammer-dressed, and laid in regular courses ; it has been
covered with roughcast within the time of the present genera-
tion. This tower differs from earlier subjects, in possessing
no projecting plinth at the base, nor any string course proper.
The upper part of the building, just over the top story windows,
has a projection about five or six inches, and is coved in
cavetto to the plane of the walls. This part carried the battle-
mented parapet, which was removed within the memory of the
present tenant, when the new roof was put on. The tower
contains three stories. First, on a level with the ground, —a
vaulted substructure, with the barrel or waggon arch extending
the breadth of the interior ; the area is divided into two
unequal parts by a thick cross-wall, which extends upwards
through the building. The original doorway to the tower [a] ,
with a slightly pointed arch, is at the north-west angle, as
usual in these structures, in close proximity to the base of the
well-stair ; the doorway to the stair itself is gone, but there is

loS THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

another original doorway just opposite in the cross partition
wall [a.^ . This one shows the shouldered lintel or Camarvoa
arch. The entrance to the vaulted chamber, now in use, with
an elliptic arch 'b] , surmounted with a square moulding, is
an inter(x>Iation of the sixteenth century*, of the same date as
><vnc of the window openings in the upper stories. The lights
arc square optnint^s, each about i foot ii inches by r foot 3
irK'l:«.>, \\i:h cliariifered edj^e and splayed inside marked c in
:!:<. L\a:: ■. Thert- remains the- iron grille of the period : it ctjii-
>K^ ir two Vertical bars or stanchions square in form let in
d:a^-.ii:al:y. witii two tiat bjrizontal bands with weldeti loops
*.T t.\t'lLts cn.issinL: in front of tt:o former. The chimneypieee
:-i iicx.r\inL: '.-f nutice. It ci.»nsists of two seijmental arches,
•aiit.qiial ::: -i^e riush with the: wall, the iar;^er enclosini;: the
hi .irth>t'.'i:e ri replace, an-i the other givinij access to the
>pace inciiiiied by the hnure lateral expanse of the open
chmint.-y. This space is the in^le nook, and it is lighted by a
:>inail s<{uare window openin>( or look-out, which is common
in ail tht: old kitchens, in which the usage of the tire on the
hearth prevaih.'d. The tire was made with wood on the
h«Mrtli. anil the l)akin^ and boiling was done by heaping over
tin- ipjii kettle t)r boiler, suspended by its pot hook, the hot
ij.ht:'. and rrinb«:rs. In the seventeenth century the arched
Uil( hell ■ inninrypuce Hush with the wall, which had pre-
\.nif.l fDin th(; {"ourttrenth century, became superseded by
jijr wiih .•juan: pri)j(!Ctmir pii-rs. boldly corbelled out at the
!»)p, '.iir'iiii^ I :na:.^ivi: :iat iintci stone, with a cornice and
Mi.nitc! .Hell.

I \\r .w i.N' liimii i"ns )I :h(' iari^'T ■li\ision ot the vaulted
: J.I In I. .-i ii.- •.■:••!•! .»'. .:•..' \\':\. !n :i:e northern aiiLrie oi :he
.i.{i::i :.ii .-, -Ijrir iii- :!:i- •■«::r.;iin^ -I :iic '.veil -tair likI ::s
.M-M.-!. i.f.M.ii::; :i :;:«■ .v.iil 'ii '\v- ippcr :i».'ors. md :o \\\k:
:,.iiil.:i..:;: . i"]-:- i '\\\x-\ .uiitc-'i iiauM-t-r n :he

• J ,:iiiil ■|..'ti ...A , .' ■ 1 I . I i.i:rv. \}\\\ :h.ii - !'«r\()rui :he ::ict'
,1 ;!;i- .i.i .i»'-j. ii.-l ..i-. :ir:i:«'': :):irt ■! ::":«.• .jiidiiiuus :ii,uie

■ *

,11 ! lie 1 .ii/.ili(-t li.iii ;i<-riu(l.

I In- \w A :li)<»r il :lie tuw.tr. jU its unithern raci.-, :^ pierced
l.y ilji.i- ..|i».ir'- iir.ul •:! viridows, -.vith moulded !abeis,
.|i\i«li-/l iitiii .\\\\\\ ^ -.vith .lit(ht :nuilions ind trans<jms, with
liiMilu o( ^rt^nirnt;!! .irrhfis — the central one with four Iiyhtb,

GROUND PLAN.

A. Old Doovwtvs,

B. EhTKAICE I5U1 CiBTOHV.

C. Vaulted Ch*

D. Doorway A.D. 1367.

.s-j"

CLlIiURN HALL, Wbstkoblamd.

CLIBURN HALL.

109

the two others of three lights. All the windows in the upper
stories have the same character with coupled lights. The
first floor is divided by the partition into the state room, and
ao antechamber. The first is 23 feet ft inches by 20 feeti
occupying the breadth of the tower. The capacious fireplace
contained the old hearthstone fire up to within 30 years ago.
The story is divided by partitions, and presents nothing
peculiar. The chimneypiece in one room has the same treat-
ment as the liead of the doorway on the ground level. There
are no traces of nny mural chambers.

So much for the description of the old tower, the kernel on
which were developed the additional buildings, which have
been grouped around it. On the western face of the tower
towards llie front court, there is a flight of steps leading up
to the first floor, and to a modern doorway. Over this door
is inserted a square slab, on which is a shield : quarterly, ist
and 4th, three chevronels interlaced at base ; 2nd and 3rd, a
cross engrailed ; the shield is flanked by the initials " R.C.,''

^\^f^Q^'-Sy^

' llgcbai'ti - (H-Ieliur - tIjuB - tbrg. - mc - tatol -

' Mcli - in - nt]} - tgme - batij - bcoldFli - ^s - ball -

%\it - UMf • of - ouK lorii - goti - WAia - lyst .
I JFor - to - nram .

. 1^67 . H. II. maQBon.

no THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

The arms are Cliburn quartering Kirkkride, of Ellerton
Grange, in the parish of Hesket. Lysons says (p. Ixxxvii.)
that the elder branch of the Kirkhrides, of Ellerton, ended
{temp, Henry IV.) in co-hjiresses, who married Dalston,
Cliburn, and Wedd^l, but a younger branch was settled for
several generations at Ellerton. One of these, Richard
Kirkbride, married Eleanor, daughter of Edmund Cliburn of
Cliburn ; so there were two intermarriages between the
families of Kirkbride and Cliburn.

The inscription on the tablet is neither given completely nor
correctly in any history, and Burn and Nicolson are wrong
in the date. The last sentence is very difficult to decipher,
from the weather-wearing of the ends of the stone. The Rev.
T. Lees and myself have pored over it, and thought we had
made it out ; but I think I have got an index to the correct
reading ** who lyst for to neam'' by comparing it with the ending
somewhat similar **tt//w lyst to see"" in an inscription now over
the kitchen door at Newbiggin Hall :

(Ebristopb^ r . (Erachenttjorpe . thus . ge . m^ . call .
Mbne . in . mg . tiim^ . diid^ • bt;ld^ . tbxs . \ie\U .
%\^t ' ^n . of . our . lord . Mbo . Igst . to . sr .
^.^, . fijbe . bunbrrb . tbgrltj . anh • tbrr^ . '''

It seems that Richard Cliburn copied his neighbour
Crackenthorpe. Cliburn probably allowed (we hope without
docking it from the bill) the conceit of the ** mayson" per-
petuating his initials on his handiwork, which is really very

• Another of these rhyming couplets occurs in the neighbourhood, in the little
church at Nen^bipgin. There is a tomb within an arched recess in the sonth wall :
the arch of the canopy is semicircular and multifoil, with cusps worked at the end
into a round billet ; it is of the Decorated peri(xi, and has been restored by Mr.
Crackenthorpe. Within the hood moulding of the arch there runs this legend : —

{bis place is Hssigncb ^crc as jiou src
jFor tbe patron of this cburtb intrrrtb to be

CLIBURN HALL. Ill

well executed. The tablet is not in its original place, but has
been inserted, as is evident from the difference in the sur-
rounding masonry.

Richard Cliburn doubtless found the existing accommoda-
tion insufficient for the requirements of the age in which he
lived, and following the fashion prevailing amongst all his
friends and neighbours, set about building a range of
domestic apartments, contiguous to the old tower. The
square projecting building, facing the courtyard, was for the
purpose of giving a porch and stair to the first floor of the
tower. On the exterior, behind the hayrack of the stable
which has been erected against it, one can discover the head
of the original entrance doorway [marked d] ; its width is
4 feet lo inches. It has a depressed elliptic arch, within a
square frame, surmounted with a moulded dripstone, as pre-
vailed in the Tudor period. There are shields in the span-
drels, that on the dexter side bearing the arms of Cliburn,
that on the sinister those of Kirkbride. Over this doorway
would probably have been the original site of the tablet just
described. On the opposite side of this courtyard, there is a
long range of buildings, of two stories, very similar to those
erected about the same time in the back court at Askham
Hall. On the upper floor was the new dining chamber for
guests ; it has an open tie-beam roof, and the original fire-
place.

Before leaving the description of this place notice may be
directed to an uncommon feature in the earlier structure,
which indicates the design for security and defence. A
square mass of masonry, as may be seen on the plan, stands
as a small tower a few yards off from the pele tower. It is
14 feet square, without any openings in its walls, and rises to
the height of about 12 feet, and at the top there is an open
platform with a parapet. In the centre there is a circular
draw-well, built in well laid ashlar, about 14 yards deep,
which still supplies the house, and was formerly carried to
the top of the platform. Below the parapet there is a drain
spout, formed in imitation of a cannon, a conceit which
became common in the fifteenth century, and which we see
exemplified in the spouts at Catterlen, Dalston, Kirkandrews,

112 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

and Other Border towers, but best of all in the neighbouring
tower of Newbigg^n Hall. In this instance there is a cable
ornamentation around the gurgoyle. The well tower was
connected with the main building by a parapet wall. Another
massive wall proceeds from the pele parallel with this one, so
that they seem to have enclosed a small square court, which
might have been available on the sudden approach of the
moss-troopers as a shelter for the cattle, whilst it also formed
an outwork for the protection of the draw well, and to sheer
off danger from the threshold of the doorway. The outer
defences have been a ditch, which partially encompassed the
enceinte, and a wall, traces of which are visible.

CROSBY RAVENSWORTH.

Meaburn Hall. — This is situated near the village of
Mauld*s Meaburn, in the parish of Crosby Ravensworth ;
the rivulet Lyvennet flows through the valley. There are
two Medburns or Meaburns, one called King s Meaburn, and
the other Mauld*s Meaburn. The continuance of these pre-
fixes up to the present day shows the permanence of the
attachment of the names of places to bygone events, for in
these distinctive appellations is chronicled one of the circum-
stances issuing from the assassination of Thomas-^-Becket.

Roger de Morville, owner of the manor of Meaburn had a
son and heir, Hugh de Morville, who was one of the four that
slew Thomas-^-Becket, and a daughter Maud, married to
William de Veteripont, to whom she brought that part of
Meaburn which, from her, still bears the name of Mauld's
Meaburn (Meaburn Matildor) ; whereas the brother's portion of
the estates was seized into the king's hands, by reason of the
trespass committed {propter iransgressionem factam) by Hugh de
Morville, and was hereafter called King's Meaburn (Mcburn
Regis),

By the Veteriponts the manor was granted to the Fran-
ceys, which line was succeeded by the Vernons, who lasted
from Edward HI. to Philip and Mary. In the 12th of

■

I

MEABURK HALL. II3

James 1.. a settlement was made of this manor on Sir John
Lnwllier. anil Eleanor his wife, daughter of William Fleming
of Rydai, and the hall became the residence of this junior
branch of the Lowther family, and continued so for a period
of 140 years, unto the fourth generation, when Sir James
Lowther of Meaburn succeeded to the estates of Viscount
Lonsdale in i?5o.

The manor house had attached to it a deer park, terraced
walks, pleasure gardens, and fine avenues: it has fallen into
great decay, and is now a farmhouse ; still it has an interest.

Although it may probably occupy the site of some older
hall, there is no part of the present building which bears the
stamp of an earlier date than the last half of the fifteenth
century, and it is evident that additions and alterations have
been made, at two or three ciifTerent periods, to fit it for a
more spacious domestic residence. It stands somewhat in
the form of the letter E consisting of two wings of two
stories, connected by a central building of one story, which
contains the hall. The most ancient part of the house is to
the r^ht of the present modern doorway, or that which forms
the north wing.

On the ground floor is the kitchen, in which is one original
window opening with a small narrow light, round headed, and
very widely splayed inside. A spiral stair with a newel leads
from the kitchen to the upper story, in which there is a good
window looking into the front court: the windows are low
and oblong, and are of the Tudor period ; one of three lights,
; of two lights square-headed, with heavy mullions
and transoms, This apartment is wainscoted in oak in small
panels ; the iron hinges on the door are original ; the flooring
is deserving of notice, it is in rough planks about five feet long
and eight inches wide, fastened down by nailing.

A passage or the screens separates the kitchen from the
hall. The dimensions of the hall are 36 by 18 feet ; it is
now ceiled in plaster, but was originally open to the roof.
Formerly a wooden gangway or bridge stretched longi-
tudinally under the roof, right through the hall, to afford a
passage from the drawing room in the upper story of the new
; wing on the south, to the sleeping apartments on the old

114 THE OLD MA3fOar%r. a.UXS of WESXlCO&UL^fD.

wicg' oa the north: this was taken dcMra a fisw years ago,
having falTrn into decay. A stone let^ covered with thick
oaken boards, to serve as a bench fibr seats^ runs along the
east side of the halL

Though poor in character this place presents a £ur example
of a hall in the period of decadence, when it had become for-
saken by the lord kit the private dining room, and had
degenerated into the occupancy of servants and retainers.
The southern wing, which traverses one end of the hall, is
evidently of the date of James !.• and was built by Sir Chris-
topher Lowther. when he succeeded in 1607 to the property.
There is an inscribed slab over the lintel of the garden door

. with this date : the arms of Lowther are

610 I also carved on a shield over the main en-
trance, and the dumpy, swoUen classic

pillars which form the supporters^ and the volute scroll around
it, show that it b Jacobean work.

The windows are low and square-headed, with one or two
mullions and transomed. In the parlour in the new wing
there is some ver\- good Elizabethan panelling, covering the
walls from the base up to about iS inches from the cornice.
There is a characteristic black oak staircase, with well turned
circular balusters, with large balls capping the ends and
angle of the handrail. The drai*-ing room is on the first floor,
it is 1 3 by 15 feet, it is lighted by square mullioned windows.
The chimney pieces are of the style which was very usual at
that period : they are of stor»e, very slightly projected, with-
out a shelf, with a series of mouldings continued through the
jambs and lintel ; the mouldings are an ogee, and rounds,
and a shallow hollow separated by fillets. The wainscot-
ing of the drawing room has the long wide panels of the
Jacobean period ; on one side of the room there is an empty
space, in which may have been fitted a piece of tapestry, or a
picture, as is seen at Crackenthorpe Hall. Some bedrooms
are parteii off from the passage by wooden screens, the lower
part to the height of about six or seven feet, being formed of
close oak l>oarding, and the upper part, which does not
quite reacli the ceiling, being an open balustrade with round
rails, thus affording both light and ventilation to these little

CROSBV RAVliNSWORTH HALL. II5

cubicies. A similar arrangement was noted at Sockbridge
Hall.

Crosby Ravensworth Hall. — Besides Meaburn Ha]l
there are two other manor houses in this parish which may
be mentioned ; the Halls of Crosby and of Reagill.

Crosby Hall is situated in tlie pleasant village of the same
Dame, closely adjoining the beautiful Early English Church,
by the side of the rippling stream which drains the valley.
This manor had a very early foundation ; it formed part of
the possessions of the great English or Danish Earl Gos-
Patrick, who after the battle of Hastings fJed for security to
the North, and it descended to his son Torphin de Alverstein,
in the reign of Henry I. Subsequently the knightly family of
the Threlkelds of Cumberland were lords here, until the last
of them. Sir Lancelot Threlkeld, died about 1512, leaving
three daughters. ■' Through one of these heiresses the Crosby
manor was carried by marriage to the Pickerings, and in the
reign of James I. it was purchased by Sir John Lowther. It
was the father of this Sir Lancelot who married the widow of
the Black Clifford, who was slain at Towton Moor in 1461,
and who was instrumental in saving the life of his son, the
Shepherd Lord. It was the boast of Sir Lancelot that he had
three noble houses; one for pleasure, Crosby in Westmor-
land, where he had a park full of deer (a large tract at the
head of the valley enclosed by a high wall, of which traces
remain, now called "The Lodge"}: — one for profit and
warmth wherein to reside in winter, Yanwath, nigh Penrith ; —
and the third Threlkeld, well stocked with tenants, to go with
him to the wars. F

Crosby Hall was anciently a defensive position with a wet
moat surrounding the courtyard, of which the circuit is still
visible. There was here a fortified pele tower, which unfor-
tunately exists no more, though some very aged people still
remember it in a ruinous state. The manor house as it now

" Bitabclh who had matried lame* Piclieiing' took Crosby; Winifml who
inatrlcd William Pickcrin? the btuthrroF James touk IhrclkFld i and Grace, the
eldut daughter, broughl her huslrand, Thomas Uudlcy, the beautiful domain of
Vanwath.

t Bum and Nicotson, vot i., p, 49.S.

Il6 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Stands is a large substantial building with square-headed
mullioned windows, now occupied as the farm residence; but
there is nothing special about it which calls for a detailed
description ; it has been mostly the work of the Pickerings
during the sixteenth century.

I am indebted to the late Mr. William Jackson, F.S.A.,
for his note on the shield of arms over the door, as given
below. "

Reagill Grange. — Anciently written Renegillj doubtless
derived from a Norse proper name (Rayn or Ragner). In
very early times it was one of the possessions of Maud
Veteripont, and when her son Robert Vipond succeeded to
the barony of Appleby in the reign of King John, he granted
the whole vill of Renegill and its appurtenances to the Abbey
of Shap. On the dissolution of the monastery by Henry
VIII., this with other abbey lands were sold to the Duke of
Wharton, and after their day Reagill was purchased by Mr.
Robert Lowther of Meaburn Hall. The grange was the
abbey farm at which a few of the monks dwelt, and close by
they had their little chapel on the spot now called Chapel-
garth. The existing residence is of the sixteenth century, but
much altered.

Thrimby Hall. — In the old charters the name is written
Tyrueby, no doubt as having been the homestead belonging to
the Norse proper name Thirfti. The manor was originally
held by the family who took their surname from the place.
The lands were afterwards granted to the priory of Wetheral,
which had a grange here. The hall is a large building of
the seventeenth century, but presents nothing peculiar.

• Eipht (^uarterinjjs :

1st. — A lion nimpant, for Picker injr.

2nd. — Three chaplets, I presume with bars, which would make it Greystroke
of the second house.

3rd. — A cross, with acinquefoil in the first quarter, for Moresby.

4th. — Party per fesse, five martlets which must be for Fen wick.

5th. — A lion rampant, debruised with a bend, for Tilliol.

()th.— A cross moline, for Vesci ?

/th. — A lion rampant, for?

8th. — A maunche, for Ihrelkeld.

Supporters ; dexter a lion rampant ; sinister an unicorn ; crest a paw (?) dis-
played.

ROSGILL HALL. llj

SHAP AND HAMPTON.

The parishes of Shap and Hampton contain sundry old
manor houses, which, however, through change and altera-
tions are now of inferior consequence. The manorial lands of
Shap were vested in the Abbey of Heppe from very early
times down to the dissolution. It was founded and endowed
about the end of the twelfth century by Thomas the son of
Gospatrick, and it received grants in various parts of West-
morland from the Veteriponts, Cliffords, and others. Shap
Abl>ey is a study by itself, but the subject lies beyond the
limits of these papers. ''

RosGiLL Hall. — This is situated in the valley of the
Lowther, within the parish of Shap. It was in the posses-
sion of the family of the de Rosgills up to the reign of
Richard II., when the daughter and heiress was married to
Sir Hugh de Salkeld, of Corby Castle, Cumberland, which
brought the Salkelds to Rosgill. The Salkelds became of
some note in Westmorland, sometimes knights of the shire,
and could bring a good contingent of horse and foot for
Border service. Their arms were : Vert, a fret Argent. The
residence formerly possessed a pele tower, but now only the
Elizabethan part of the buildings remains.

Hampton parish embraces the head waters of the Lowther ;
at its nethermost part it is bounded on either side by rugged
hilly slopes, between the spurs of which lie rich meadows and
pastoral dales, whilst the uppermost end of the valley in which
lies ensconsed the lake of Haweswater, is blocked by the beet-
ling crags of Kidsty Pike and of the High Street range of fells.
It is a typical Westmorland country : severe and grey in
aspect and spare of trees, — inclosures with walls of loose
stones capped with turves full of yellow stone-crop, rue-leaved

• Sec Transactions oj the Cumberland and ffextmorland Antitfuarian and
Archn'oiof^icai Societt/, vol. x., p. 2S6 (1S89).

Ihc Praeinonstratensian Abbey of St. Mary Magdalene at Shap, Westmor-
land.

Part I. — Historical by the late Kev. G. F. Weston, M.A., lion. Canon
Carlisle, and Vicar of Crosby Kavensworth.

Part II — Architectural, by W. H. St John Hope, M.A.

Il8 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

saxifrage, the oak fern and polypody, — crooked narrow lanes,
little austere-looking farmhouses — many of them more than
200 years old, as may be learnt from the dates inscribed over
their doorways, with jutting gables, unkempt yards, and
rough old outbuildings of grey stones put together without
mortar. Notwithstanding these rude dwellings have an
interest, for in them are preserved the types belonging to
the domestic life of bygone years, for these for the most part
are the homesteads of the yeomen or " statesmen*' who held
their lands by customary dues and other services, but some of
whom have survived in their generations many changes of
lordship.*

In early times the manor of Bampton was divided into two
moities, one called Bampton Patrick and Knipe Patrick, and
the other Bampton Cundall. The first received its name
from its first lord Patrick de Culwen, who was the grandson
of Thomas son of Gospatrick who founded Shap Abbey. In
course of descent the name Culwen became converted into
Curwen, which name continues to be borne by the oldest
family in Cumberland — the Curwens of Workington. The
lordship continued with the Curwens to the reign of
Henry VIII.

The Cundale moiety was held first by the de Cundales ;
about the year 1391 it passed by marriage to the Cliburns,
and so continued until 1554, when the name ceased in the
county.

Bampton Hall. — It is an old house, but modern altera-
tions and improvements have made it quite commonplace.

Knipe Hall lies in a secluded hollow not far from the
river. This is a low, two-storied building on the L shaped
plan, with a kitchen and two rooms on the ground floor, with
low horizontal mullioned windows, and is of the sixteenth
century.

Thornthwaite Hall. This is an Elizabethan mansion on

* Amongst the names still existing in these dales as associated with the
*' statesmen" are those of Mounsey, Noble, Kirkbride, Atkinson, Rowlandson,
Stephenson, Wilson, Hudson, Bowman, Holme, Hall, Clark, Ca^ley, Winder,
and many more.

THORNTKWAITE HALL rig

I rather a substantial scale, with large rooms, and with
extensive outbuildings, and now used as a farmhouse to an
extensive sheep farm, It seems to have been designed as a
hunting seat for the adjoining forest of Naddle, which in-
cluded a large tract of fell and moorland. The place
anciently belonged to the Curwens, who sold it to Lord
William Howard of Naworth Castle.

Almost all these manorial halls which have been hitherto

. described in the West Ward of Westmorland have been

I absorbed from time to time into the possessions of the house

' of Lowlher.

BEWLEY CASTLE.

Though called a castle this place has been more a domestic

residence than one presenting much pretension to fortification.

There is but a scanty remnant of it standing above ground,

but this is interesting, in so far that it shows work of an earlier

period than is found in almost any other example of purely

Domestic Architecture in the northof England. Thestructure

is almost wholly ruinated, the progress of decay having been

much accelerated by the pillage of its ashlar work. As appears

from old drawings still extant, very much more of the walls

were standing a hundred years ago than now exist. * Very

I little mention of Bewley occurs in history, although at one

' lime it must have enjoyed considerable importance as having

been one of the early residences of the Bishops of Carlisle,}

I and an examination of its ground-plan discloses that it was

I considerably larger in extent, than a cursory view of its ruined

walls might lead us to suppose.

Bewley Castle is within the lordship of Bolton-in-Morland,
and is situated about one and a half miles to the west of

, Chancellor Ferfumn reproduces two sketches, taken

century SRnby tlr. Beltasis. then vicar uf Appleby. Tramuclinui Cumtrrlaml
and If'ntmarUnJ Arclitmlofliciit Siirirly, vol. vii., p. 41 j.

t Other Epitcopal Reddencei of the See at various tlmei were ; — Linstock,
(tow, HomcBilk-, Melbourne, Cariisle House in the Strand, and 1 think I may
■dd Penrith.

I

I
I

120 THF. OLD MANORIAL HALLS OH WESTMORLAND.

Applchy, on the south side of the river Eden. It lies in a
secluded dell, through which a small stream flows to the river,
which is about half a mile distant. Neither the plan, nor the
walls indicate that it was constructed as a place of any re-
markable degree of strength, nevertheless it looks as if it may
have been partially surrounded by a morass, and there are
traces of a fosse having tieen drawn about it.

The building consisted of a long central block running
nearly north and south, which was traversed at the south end
by a transverse portion, 45 feet in length, which gave to the
ground plan the shape of the letter ]__ This latter part is that
of which the walls are still standing. It presents at the east
side a small square tower, measuring over the walls 20 feet in
breadth, and projecting 15 feet beyond the stem of the |_^
This tower on the basement contains a vaulted apartment,
12 feet by 9 feet, and also in the thickness of the wall a garde-
robe, each of them being lighted by small square-headed
windows. At the opposite end of the base line, a buttress
turret 1 1 feet square caps the outside angle of the L with a
slight projection ; this turret contains a garderobe on the
ground floor, and has closets devoted to the same purposes on
the upper floors. The main block which extends at a right
angle northwards from this point, has a lireadth external
measurement of about 28 feet, and in length can be traced as
far as 50 feet, and may have reached considerably further,
but the extreme end is covered under heaps of fallen material.

At the north end of the block the basement is occupied by
two low vaulted chambers (one 19 feet by 14 feet), communi-
cating with each other; there is one external door to the
west ; it is lighted by loops to the east. These vaults sup-
ported the floor of the hall above. There are no fireplaces, nor
stairs on the ground floor; the walls are from 2 to 3^ feet thick.

The main entrance was on the ground level in the west
wall, and not in the place which was usual in the |_ shaped
buildings which came into vogue a century and a half later,
viz,, at the re-entering angle. The doorways have the pointed
arch with the angle pared off in cavetto. It is certain that
much of the main block on the first floor was occupied by
the great hall ; but all is gone.

BEWLEY CASTLE.

121

The transverse wing has had two stories, both now
floorless ; but it exhibits some interesting decorative
features which may help us to deduce the date of the struc-
ture. Towards the east on the first floor there are the
remains of a beautiful ornamented window ; it presents the
pointed arch under a monlded dripstone taking the same
form; it has been divided by a mnllion into two trefoil-
headed lights, and the space above within the inclosing arch
is pierced with a feathered quatrefoil. This doubtless was
the chapel window.

Adjoining the chapel in the transverse portion of the
building has been an important apartment with an ornate
window to the south. This is a square-headed opening,
under a label, containing double lights with pointed and
trefoiled heads, and has had a mullion and transom, which
are now gone. The deep recess in the reveal of this window
is furnished with stone bartizan seats, and presents some
thirteenth century mouldings, and the flat lintel stones which
cover the opening are supported by jambs with the shoulder-
headed arch. These interior arrangements give an early
character to the opening, though from its external features,
the window might be much later. Nevertheless square-
headed windows, and even the transom, were not uncom-
monly employed in domestic work in the thirteenth century.

The history of Bewley Castle is involved in great
obscurity. The first introduction into Westmorland of the
name of de Houille, from which there is reason to suppose the
appellation of this place was derived, was through Idonea
de Buille, or de HusH, who married the first Robert de
Veteripont, who was lord of Appleby. The de liuille sprang
from a noble race in Normandy, and their descendants
became lords of TickhiU Castle in Yorkshire. The last John
de Buille, who died in 1213, left Idonea as his only daughter
and heiress.

The marriage with Robert de Vipont must have taken
place at the beginning of the thirteenth century; Robert
died in the year 1228, and Idonea survived him, by some
accounts, seven, and by others, thirteen years. They left
one son John, who succeeded to the barony. By a com-

122 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

promise and partition as the issue of a litigation, the castle
and honour of Tickhill had passed away from Idonea Vipont,
and it is possible that during her widowhood, she may have
built for herself this residence near Appleby, and have given
to it her maiden name, by which it was afterwards known.

This, though merely a conjecture, receives some warrant in
respect of date from a consideration of some of the details left
to us in the old building. An earHer period is not reconcil-
able : — there exist no transition Norman features ; the work
shows the first pointed style, but that is of an advanced type,
passing into tlie Decorated era. The chapel window is the
test. The piercing of the space under the head of the arch
by the open quartrefoil, with its cusps and featherings, shows
the first step towards thr design of geometrical filling in, and
of tracery, which became characteristic of the second pointed
period. Considering also the Early English feeling suggested
by the stone seats and mouldings in the internal recess of the
other window, already alluded to, we may venture to fix the
date of the structure to some time about 1230 or 1240.

Be this as it may, there is historical warrant for concluding
that a residence existed at this place in the year 1256, for at
that date one Thomas Vipont was Bishop of Carlisle, and he
is found executing a deed relative to the vicarial tithes of St.
Michael's, Appleby, from Bewley Castle in that year.

If the conjecture be correct that this building may be iden-
tified with the above-mentioned date in the thirteenth
century, this is one of the earliest domestic habitations, apart
from military fortresses and abbey residences, to be found in
the north. The next example of Domestic Architecture
which approaches it in respect of early age, is the manor
house of Aydon Castle near Corbridge in Northumberland.

(123)

CHAPTER VI.

THE EAST WARD OF WESTMORLAND.

This division is bounded on the north by Cumberland, on
the east by Durham and Yorkshire, on the south by the latter
county and a small part of Kendal Ward, and on the west by
the West Ward with which we have just been concerned. It
is about twenty-three miles in length from north to south, and
ten to fourteen in breadth. It contains the ancient borough
of Appleby, the market towns of Brongh-under-Stanemore,
Kirkby Stephen, and Orton, and is divided into fifteen
parishes.

THE APPLEBY PARISHES.

Camden in his ** Britannia,'* in the short notice which he
gives of this ancient borough, states that it was a Roman
station, and seeks to identify it with the Aballaba mentioned
in the Notitia Imperii^ and so accounts for the derivation of the
name Appleby.

For these statements there are no genuine grounds. In the
first place in the fifth Itinerary of Antoninus, which refers to
the route from London by York to Luguballium or Carlisle,
no mention is made of Aballaba. In point of fact the station
so named was in the vicinity of Hadrian's wall, and has been
allocated, apparently justly, to Cambeck-fort or Castlesteads.
Besides, there is no evidence that Appleby was ever a Roman
station at all. The town lies on the left bank of the Eden,
whereas the Roman road courses along the line of the right
bank at a distance of at least one mile over the high ground
of the Fair Hill, or Gallows Hill. It was quite contrary to
the policy of tlie Roman engineers to place a station so far
away from the road, however tempting the defensive position
might be. On this highway there were two half-way or

124 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

summer camps between Burgh and Kirkby Thore (not men-
tioned in the Itinera)^ one at Redlands, three miles to the north
of Appleby, and another at Coupland Beck, two miles to the
south ; and there is no evidence to incline us to suppose,
neither is it likely, that there was one intermediate between
these. So that Camden*s derivation of the name is purely
fanciful.

The surmise that the name may have been obtained from
the fruit, ** the apple," has no better foundation than the
similarity of sound. We have frequent occasion to note the
extreme prevalence of Scandinavian proper names, as applied
to places all over Westmorland. For the present purpose it
will be sufficient to notice the local appropriation of this kind
of nomenclature in this immediate neighbourhood.

It would seem that when colonized by the Danes the lands
were systematically parted^ or dealt amongst the followers,
each of whom gave his name to the ** thwaite^' which he
cleared, or to the particular ** ^^," or house and farmsteadings,
which he erected. Thus near here Asgar founded Askeby,
or Asby; Koh, Colby ; Kraki, Crackenthorpe ; Orme, Orm-
shed or Ormsidc; Sauer, Sowerby ; Sulli or Solvr, Soulby;
Waldcve, Waldeby or Waitby ; and so on. These instances
bring us to reflect on the etymology of the place-name of
Appleby. On this question I venture to put forth a new
suggestion. As the explication is entirely novel, so far as I
am aware, it may be excused if I enlarge somewhat on the
argument by which it is sought to establish it.

Amongst the surnames found in the Scandinavian Sagas
occurs that which is written as ** Hialp." Now the very
earliest name of which we have any record as being associated
with the district of Appleby appears in a literary form as
Whelp. For in the registers of Holme Cultram Abbey, there
are charters of grants and confirmations of certain lands in
Kirkby Thore to the Abbey and monks of that foundation, in
the time of Henry II., by Waldeve, the son of Gamel, the son
of Whelp, who were the lords at Kirkby Thore. At that
place we are told by Machel that there existed in his time
extensive mounds and vestiges of ancient foundations, which
were known by tradition as the ruins of Whelp Castle ; Cam-

PARISHES. 125

den writes of them as being called in his day Wheallep Castle.
So that it would appear that at a period soon after the Con-
quest, one Whelp was lord of the soil and paramount at
Kirkby Thore. Now at the present lime in the hroad old-
fashioned Westniorlund tongue, the actual mode of pro-
nouncing the word whelp is " hwialp," both as applied to a
young dog (Ice. hvtlpr, and A.S. hwilp), and also in the exist-
ing Cumberland proper names of Whetpdale, Whelphow,
Whelpside, etc. Hence we may take this to have been the
original vocal utterance for the word " Hialp," which was
spelled by the monks, and ever after, as " Whelp." It seems
to me most probable that the three or four place-names occur-
ing in Enghsh Daneland, called Appleby, and such names as
Applethwaite, Applegarlh, .'\ppieton, etc., signify the home-
steads of some of the Viking families of Hialp, who may have
settled in these iocahties. In support of this conjecture it
may be noted that the word now written Appleby finds utter-
ance in the folk-speech of the country in a form which may
be expressed in letters as " Yjepllbi," which in sound is as
close as can be to Hialpeby.

The prominent headland on which the castle of Appleby
stands, affords ample evidence of having been occupied by a
Saxon or Danish stronghold, which, at the advtnt of the
Normans, must have been held by the English overlord.'''
This man I have ventured to identify as being Hialp or
Whelp, and to assert that one of his ancestors gave llieir
name to the place. As the Red King dispossessed the English
governor Dolphin of the Castle Hill of Carlisle, to make way
for the Norman mason, so in like manner was Hialp forced to
evacuate his "burh" at Appleby, in order that a Norman
fortress should be reared on its site. The Englishman was
turned out, and permitted to seat himself at Kirkby Thore,

As showing the ascendency of the Whelp family in the
neighbourhood, it is worth while to mention a rather curious
circumstance. The lands of Crackenlhorpe, lying between
Kirkby Thore and Appleby, are shown by records of the lime
of Henry 1. to have been in the possession of the family of

126 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Machel.'*' There appears to have been some tie of common
origin between Malchaels and the Whelps; in fact the name
of Machel {mal or mauvais chien) is frequently written in the old
deeds in the Latinized form of Mahis Catiilus (or mischievous
whelp). Curiously enough the shield borne by the Machels,
containing the charge of three running greyhounds, or
**smaw dogges, " as they were called in Westmorland, was
the same as that of the descendants of the Whelps. These
arms of the Whclpdales of Skirsgill and Penrith, a family
now extinct, are to be seen sculptured on a shield over the
doorway of Dockray Hall Inn, Penrith.

The borough of Appleby comprises two parishes which lie
on the opposite banks of the Eden, that of St. Lawrence on
the west, and that of St. Michael's on the east.

In the out townships of Colby, Hoff, and Barwise there
existed manorial halls, but there is nothing now remaining
about them worthy of notice.

Colby Hall was held by a family bearing the local name
from the reign of Henry II. to that of Richard II., when it
passed by marriage to the de Warcopes.

Barwise Hall was the seat of one Alan de Berwys, in the
reign of Henry III. They were a family of note, but became
extinct in the time of Richard II., as Thomas de Berewise,
who represented the shire in 1350-1, is the last of the name
that occurs in connection with Westmorland.

The parish of St. Michael's, or as it is more commonly
called Bongate, as having been the place in which were
housed the serfs or bondsmen in early Norman times, con-
tained the manorial houses of Crackenthorpe, Hilton, and
Murton.

Hilton Hall was the seat of the family of Hiltons.

MuRTON Hall belonged to the Musgraves of Hartley
Castle from the reign of Edward II. till 1625; it is now a
farmhouse, but retains nothing earlier than Elizabethan
features.

* See Crackenthorpe Hall, pajj^c 127.

THE APPLEBY PARISHES. I27

CRACKENTHORPE HALL.

This mansion lies two miles to the north of Appleby,
charmingly situated on a fertile riverholme on the east side
of the Eden.

The only remnant of the old manor house is the kitchen
and back part of the premises, which present some square
niullioned windows, and an apartment now divided by
separate partitions, which has been a portion of the old hall ;
it still retains the old chimneypiece, with a wide arch flush
with the wall.

The house is of interest as having been the birthplace and
ancestral home of Thomas Machel, the Antiquary to whom
we have so often to refer.

The Machel family resided here, and continued the name
as possessors of the manor of Crackenthorpe, for the long
period of at least 600 years. The pedigree and succession
are set forth at great length in the fifth volume of MSS., now
in the Dean and Chapter's Library in Carlisle, by the Rev.
Thomas Machel, who in his great zeal for the antiquity of his
name, did Latinize it into the form of Malus Catulus, and
supposes that they have descended from the Catuli among
the ancient Romans. However, without giving credit for the
validity of these pretensions, there is no doubt that this was
a name at the time of the Conquest, and it is found in
Domesday ; the first mantion of it in connexion with the
manor of Crackenthorpe, occurs in the person of one Halth
de Mauchael, in the reign of Henry H.*

None of this family ever acquired the rank of knights, but
they seem always to have maintained their position as gentry
and squires, of moderate means and possessions.

There is a stone now set in the wall of the stabling, with
initials and date, in raised characters, thus : —

• In the article — " Machell of Crackenthorpe,'* by E. Bellasis, ** Lancaster
Herald," Cumberland and Westmorland Antitfuarian and Archaroiogical Tran-
KactioHx, vol. viii., p. 416, both in the text, and in the copious excerpts from old
deeds in the notes, tncre is much information concerninfif this ancient family.

128 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

This Stone refers to Launcelot Machel, the father of two sons
Hugh and Thomas, and it was doubtless raised to com memo-
rate some alterations he may have made to the old hall.
Hugh succeeded to the estate, and Thomas was at the same
time Fellow of Queen's College in Oxford, Fellow of the
Royal Society, rector of Kirkbythore, and chaplain in
ordinary to King Charles H. ; and it is to his method and
diligence as an Antiquary in collecting, and recording, and
preserving information concerning various parishes in the two
counties, that all our local histories have hitherto been so
much indebted.

The arms of Machel were : Sable, three greyhounds
courant. Argent ; collared Or. On the gable of the present
building there is a carved stone with this escutcheon, sur-
mounted with a helmet, mantlings, and crest. The crest
represents the head and neck of a nondescript animal — it
might be a deer or goat with straight horns. I believe the
stone to be in its original position, but what renders it
specially interesting is that it is supported on both sides by
stones similar to each other in form and size, oblong, about
1 8 inches by 12 inches, which present the appearance of
Roman altars, though now so much incrusted with whitewash
that no inscription can be determined.

The present structure appears as if it had been built during
the last twenty years of the seventeenth century, and the
design probably arose under the inspiration of our Antiquary
Thomas Machel, who was a devoted admirer and promoter of
the pseudo-classic and Palladian architecture, which was at
that time supplanting our own national style throughout the
country. It is a narrow single tenemented building, with an
extensive and lofty frontage, with rows of numerous windows
in the modern style. The principal features are the regular
treatment of the lining and architrave of the doorway and its
triangular pediment ; there may be noted also the cutting of
the bed-moulding of the cornice under the eaves of the roof
into a row of blocks. This detail was introduced by Vignola,
and much adopted by Sir Christopher Wren, and is derived
from the row of dentils which have a place in the cornice of
the Ionic and Corinthian orders.

There is a very fine black oak staircase of the period with

ORTON. 129

twisted balusters leading to the second floor. Here there is
one apartment, which affords a good example of the style of
high oblong panelling in soft wood in use at the end of the
seventeenth century. Within the frame-work over the mantel
there is a painting on a panel ; it is in its original site, and
represents a hunting scene, and though not a Snyders it may
readily have been the work of an itinerant Dutch artist of the
time of William and Mary.

ORTON AND ASBY PARISHES.

The description of the Manorial halls in the East Ward
may be pursued by the consideration of those in the outlying
parishes of Orton and Asby.

ORTON.

The parish of Orton embraces an extensive area of slatey
hills of Silurian age, and limestone scars, eroded by numerous
streams, by which the watershed drains into the river Lune,
as it courses through Ravenstonedale and Orton from east
to west. As it approaches the narrow gorge through the
Tebay fells, the river takes a rectangular turn, and pushes
directly south to Morecambe bay. The local names, both in
the upper and lower valley of the Lune, proclaim that the
whole country was colonised by the Norseman, and held under
his grip.''' The constant incidence of the suffixes of hy^ biggen,
hevy beckf dale, garth, gill, holme, how, rig, scar, thwaite, manifest
the preponderating Scandinavian influence, whilst the Anglo-
Saxon test words arc comparatively rare.

*The moated mounds, or "burhs," the remains of which are found in Luncs-
dale, may be assig^ned as the work of these northern settlers, thrown up in the
ninth and tenth centuries. Besides those which were appropriated as sites for
Norman masonrjr, — as at I^ncaster, Kendal, and Appleoy, — there are several
remaininf? in their pristine state as green hillocks, such as those at Halton,
Mellinji^, Hornby, &c. One of these mounds exists in this parish, standing on the
S. of Lune as it enters thej3:ap at 1'ebay. It is called the Castle How, and con-
sists of a truncated, conical eminence, 30 feet hieh, surrounded by a deep and
wide fosbe, now of a horseshoe form, a segment of the mound and moat having
been swept away by river floods. On the op|)osite side of the river, near Grecn-
holroe> lymg S.W. of the Birkbeck stream, is another hill called Castlehowe.

K

130 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

The Anglian colonisation of the plain of Cumberland and of
the bottom of Westmorland, where Saxon terminations of
place-names are common, evidently advanced from the east,
— that is, from the direction of Northumberland, — and thence
along the course of the Roman roads ; whereas in S. West-
morland and along the Lune, where Danish and Norwegian
suffixes prevail to the comparative exclusion of Anglian ety-
mons, these northern invaders appear to have swept round the
western shores, and advanced inwards from Morecambe Bay.*

All over this part of Westmorland, place-names having dis-
tinctive Norwegian terminations are very frequently con-
joined with known old Norse patronymics. Thus we have
had immediately around here from the families of

xn'c 1 Kaine, Kavenstonedale, or /?atfs/i/}(/a//,

' "' ** ) Ravens-worth or te^^r^,

Aske, Askeby or Asby, Eskew, Waskew head .

Brere, Bretherdale.

EUer, Ellergill.

Buthr, Buttergill, Butterpot.

Brandr, Brant hwaite.

Bakki, Beckstones.

Flaki, Flakebridge.

Geit, Gaitsgill.

Grimer, (irimerhill, Grimesmoor.

Locki, Lockholme, Lockthwaite.

Dolphin, Dovengill.

Vicker, Wickerslack.

Odin, Oddendale.

Hardn, Hardendale.

Halle, Hallthwaite, Halligill.

Gunr, Gunnerdale, Gunncrkel I.

Gamel, Gamelands, GameU by.

Dockr, Dockergarth.

Futher, Fothergill.

Orme, Ormeshead, Ormsidc.

Biorn (Burn) Burnthwaite.

• It is the view of Mr. Robert Ferpuson that hands of Norsemen descended from
the Isle of M^n, at the end of the tenth century, and settled upon the op|M>site
roasts. Northmen in Cumberland and Westmnrlantl, Wy K. Kerjfiison, K.S.A.

t'Ihe raven (A.S. rwjen) was Odin's (or the '* Father of All's") sacred bird.
One of Odin*s names was, thciefori.*, Ravnefrid (raven-god), and the bird was
the Viking's emblem, just as Jupiter's eagle was the war-sign of the Romans. —
H orsatB.

ORTON. 131

The village name of Orton is an exception as being Saxon,
and it may have been obtained at a latter time, when English
became dominant as the language of the country. The word
was formerly written Overton '-^^ (A. S. ower), that is, the
" tun *' across the river or the hill. The original pronuncia-
tion has been preserved in the vernacular tongue to the
present day, by which it is commonly uttered by the old
people as Whoarton^ with a prolonged gliding on the first
syllable.

The first lord of Orton of whom we have any record is
Gamel de Pennington of Mulcaster, who, in the reign of
Henry 11., had considerable possessions here ; and he
granted the appropriation of the church to the priory of
Conishead.

It would appear that as early as the reign of Edward I.,
the manor of Orton was divided into moities, one of which
was in the hands of the Dacres of Dacre, Cumberland, and
the other was held by the Musgraves in this county. These
moities were not separated by metes and bounds, but the
owner of each moiety had tenants interspersed throughout
the whole manor.

The possession of the Dacre moiety continued entire and
vested in the Dacres until the twelfth year of James I., when
the co-heirs of the last Baron Dacre of the North sold the
several lands and messuages scattered over the parish at
Raisebeck, Kelleth, Sunbiggin, Coatgill, Tebay, Round-
thwaite, and other places, to sundry arbitrary tenants and
yeomen, amongst whom was the family of the Birkbecks of
Orton.

The Musgrave moiety of the manor became sub-divided at
a very early period, as in the time of Richard II. one portion
of it had gone by marriage to the then very notable family in
the bottom of Westmorland, the Blenkinsops of Helbeck ;
who held the lordship for many generations, and were
capable of showing a brave muster of men for service of
fealty from the vale of Orton. But finally evil times came
on the Blenkinsops, in consequence of conscientious ad-

* Sometimes Sker-Overtun, from the scar under which it stands.

132 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

herence to the old religion, and as recusants they suffered
severely under the penal laws. The last of the Blenkinsops
of Helbeck had to sell all his estates. In the year 1630 the
various tenements in this parish were disposed of to the
tenants and other persons.

The other share of the Musgrave moiety of the manor of
Orton appears to have been in the hands of the Warcops of
Smardale Hall. This family ended in two daughters, who,
in the 34 Eliz., parted with their interests in the manor by
sale to the tenants. One of the largest purchasers was an
Orton yeoman, George Birkbeck, who, in addition to his
own estate, acquired 32 tenants in Orton and elsewhere in
the manor.

From all this it would appear that long before the Act of
Parliament of 12 C. II., abolishing tenures by knight *s
service, and all the incidents and consequences thereof, the
tenants of the manors had acquired by purchase their enfran-
chisement as freeholders, with rights to a rateable part of the
wastes, and other manorial privileges, and became yeomen
and ** states-men."

Another peculiarity in the parochial economy at Orton is
that the rectory and advowson are in the gift of the land-
owners within the parish, the presentation being vested in
trustees, who are bound to appoint on the voidance of the
living, according to the majority of votes upon an election
day. ^

Nothing is known of the ancient manor house of Orton.
Dr. Burn supposed that it stood near the church, to the south
side, where in his day there existed ruins of old buildings.
The Blenkinsops kept their courts at Raisgill Hall, which is
situated higher up the valley of the Lune, but they did not
inhabit that place, their residence being at Helbeck, near
Brough.

Amongst those who became freeholders on the dispersion of

• After the dissolution of the priory of Conishead, the right of presentation to
the rectory was appropriated by the Crown ; and Hnally the rectory and advowson
were sold by the Crown, and in iGiS were purchased for the sum of /*57o, by
trustees on behalf oi the landowners within the parish. (Burn and NicoTson, toI.
i., p. 4S3.)

ORTON. 133

,1 lands at the end of Elizabeth's reign, the most in-
fluential was the family of the Birkbscks. It was they who
ruilt and occupied the old house in the village, known by the
ames of
ORTON OLD HALL, OR PETTV HALL.

This affords a very good example of a moderate-sized
Elizabethan residence, and it exists now very much as it was
at the end of the sixteenth century. It consists of a long low
single tenement of two floors, with horizontal mullioned win-
dows. The doorway is square-headed, with moulded jambs,
and is surmounted by a carved panel, inclosed by a coved
dripstone which terminates in corbel heads, on which are
carved heart-shaped ornaments, On the tablet, in raised
letters, there appear the following initials and date, without
any arms:—

iJl-

[ The doubly planked oaken door is substantially in its

■3 Ihal the Birkbeclts had nut pretcnsiuns to beat arm^. The Wcsl-

134

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OK WESTMORLAND.

original state ; the iron binges and bands, with fleur-de-lys
curves at the end of the straps, and the iron hasp-plate and
sneck are original ; and the oaken bar within, running in its
tunnel, is still in use. From the front door, a passage of
entry traverses the tenement ; this passa(je is that which was
formerly known under the name of the " meUdeors " (from A.S.
prep, mcll, between or intermediate),- -that is, the space
between the doors. To the left is the kitchen ; to the right,
the hall. The kitchen is lighted by a niulhoned window to
the front; and the great open chimney of 13 feet span,
crowned with the rannel-balk,-' fills one side of the room.
It presents the open hearth, the oven, and the recess, with
the usual little square spy-hole window towards the back of
the premises.

The dining-hall is 21 feet X 18 feet, lighted by two double
mullioned windows; the semi-circular chimney arch, of 13 feet
4 inch span, formerly contained the open hearth, is now cased
in. There are small bedrooms on the upper floor. There is
another room on the ground floor, which is now separately
tenanted, in which, over the mantel, there Is a carved stone
representing, within a circle with a fohated border, three
castles, two and one, and a pair of half-opened compasses
dividing them, with the initials qV. and the date 1689.
This is supposed to refer to the family of Petty, who about
that time acquired the property.!

CoATFLATT Hall, which also belonged to the Birkbecks,
lies on the road between Orton and Tebay, but presents
nothing peculiar now ; it occupies the site of an ancient
structure.

The present Orton Hall, which was built at the end of
last century by Dr. Burn and his successor, presents modern
attributes, t

• The hearth was slightly raistd from Ihe ground. A bram at wood called Ihe
" fmnrl-talk" ran across I he chimney opimn^, and from Ihishunj; aMoly chain,
[urn»hed vfith erooki and hargcii (or '.usntndmg ihe pols, ttinb, and kctllrs.

■tSee Trtntiitlmni «/ C«ml-rrla«'l and U'rilmorlnHil Arcl.ir'.hgieal Surirlu,
vol. xi. p. 300. OHon Old Hall, by Fred. B. Carnclt. C.B.

1 1 he (arish of Oilon sffurdt special inteie^^l in )U fat ll'at it wa» for 4'j years
the home and the sphere uf Ihe ratwurs of Richard Burn. LL.D., cclebraled nol
i.n1y tot hisgieat ligal wrilinRs (cnc oF nhlch, "The ,1 ustice of the Peace," has

On the south side of the township is Raiseglll Hall,
where the manor ourts were formerly held.

A S B Y.

From Orton, the great plateau of the limestone extends
over the adjoining parish of Asby, much of it being i2oci feet
alwve the sea level. These isolated moorlands and sterile
wastes were hare and comparatively destitute of forest
limtier even probably in pre-historic times, and much of the
surface continues in its primitive state, covered with ling and
heath and coarse mountain grasses. It is on this elevated
range of rough pastures, lying between Orton on one side,
and the watershed of the Eden, towards Kirkby Stephen and
Appleby, on the other, there are collected, in scattered
groups, those numerous barrows'' and prehistoric remains of
the Celtic period, which afforded the field for the explorations
of Canons Simpson and Greenwell, 25 years ago.

Even in Norman times there were two Asbys, that is — Old,
or Little Asby, and Great Asby, which latter was divided
into two manors, viz., Asby Winderwath and Asby Cottes-
ford. The name was originally spelt Askeby, I cannot
allow that the derivation has anything to do with the A. S.
or the O. N. askr, signifying an ash tree, but rather from
the Norwegian surname of Asgar or Aske.

become cKpanded ii

n authority}, hut famed to a
Mgraplier and historian of tt
/inton, near Kirkby Stephen

loo countt«.

ling, and in 1 736 he was decled, presented, : __ ^

tMon, He died here in n^y He Hlled the honourable olIicB al Chancellor of
tlie diucese. By his own dlhgent enquiries and accurate research in MBS. and
HBpubliihed records. Or. Burn accumulated a vast amount of material, and in
CDniunction with JiHcph Nicolson (nephew oi Dr. William Nicolson, Uishop of
Cadklel, published the well-known " History and Antiijuities of WestmorEand
and Cumberland," in two vols., quarto, in 1777, which has aHurded a rich
gleaning ground (or subsequent writers.

■ Amongil Iheie barrow-openings, one— in some respects the most remarkable
—was that on these fells, at Raiset Pike, near Sunbiegin Tarn. This proved to
be a retylafee. £onc ''arrou', with an arrangement of a trench and flue along the
medial line, to bcilitate the burning ol the body. This type of long barrows is
fcry tare in the nnrlh-western ports of l^n2la^d. and Is contemporaneous with the
I dolicbo-cephalic man of the Stone age. (Grecnwell's " Brili'h Barrau.;,"

13S

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMOKLj

The ravagers from the rocky fiords of Norway had a
footing even on these bare hills. With the old Vikings Aske
and Rafn, possihiy as fellow companions in the same kee!
which touched the sands at Morecamhe, came Birvil,
Buthar, Grim, Orme, Stanger, Solvr, Windar, and many
other tawny-haired followers, whose names have abided as
a prefix to the names of many places in this neighbourhood.
Their sacred inclosure dedicated to the gods, the hoff, or
temple, ■■ so often mentioned in the Sagas, has imparted the
name still-attached to the great wood of Hoff Lund, lying
between Asby and Appleby.

It is probable that the descendants of the old Viking,
Aske, continued in occupation after the Conquest. The lord-
ship of the manor of Askeby-Winanderwath, we find to be
held by a family of that name until the time of Edward III.,
when it passed to the Moresbys of Cumberland, and soon
after to the Pickerings of Yorkshire, which family held lands
also at Crosby Ravensworth and Garthorn.f The manor was
purchased from the Pickerings by Sir Richard Fletcher of
Hutton, whose descendant, Sir F. Fletcher Vane, sold it,
with the advowson of the rectory, to Mr. John Hill, of
Appleby.

The manor of Cottesford, or Cotesforth, was held by a
family so-called, from the time of King John to that of
Edward IV., when the name ceases to occur in connection
with Asby. The manor afterwards became the property of
a Musgrave, from whom it was transferred by marriage of
the heiress, and subsequently passed into other names.

Little Asby manor was held in the time of King John by
Richard le Engleys, and continued in that family until the
death of the last of that name at Asby, at the end of Edward
Ill.'s reign — Sir Thomas English, who left one daughter,
Idonea. This Idonea was a great match, for besides her
Asby property, she had considerable possessions at .^skham

' sactiiiclal (easts were K<
rought by marriaEe oF
ilcrsandco-heirsSSirL

ASBY. 137

and in the vale of Lowther, She married Edmund, a cadeE
of the Sandfords of Sandford ; the pair then removed to
Askham, and set going the fortune of the house of Sandford
for a long career, both at Askham Tower, and afterwards at
Howgill. In the time of Henry VIII,, a younger son of the
Sandford of Askham had apportioned to him the estate of
Howgill Castle, along with the possessions at Little Asby; so
that Little Asby continued with the Sandfords of Ifowgill
until failure of issue male.

Asby from medieval times has been a lonesome and
sequestered district, aHbrding but small attraction as a resi-
dence to its manorial lords.

There is one manor house at Garthobn or Gaythokn Hall
which is partly within Crosby Ravensworth. This hall,
which is now a farmhouse, was built in the beginning of the
seventeenth century, and was for some time the residence
of a branch of the Bellinghams of Over Levins.

There is another large substantial house of the same date,
which was occupied as the grange ol the manor, now called
Grancr Hall.

The only houses of interest in the village are the Rectory,

Fand that which is galled Great Asby Hall.
I stands in the township of Asby Cotesfotd, and w

This latter
■s the house

139 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND,

of one of the Musgraves who held the manor. Over the door-
way is a slab on which is sculptured the shield of the Mus-
graves, six annulets — three, two, and one, and a martlet, with
an esquire's helm, mantling and tassels, surmounted with the
crest, embraced by two arms in armour proper, gauntled, and
grasping an annulet. On each side, at the top of the tablet,
are the initials E, M,, and below the date, 1694. The style
of the building well accords with this date.

Ashy Rectory. — In the old wing of the Rectory house at
Asby there is merged a piece of late fourteenth century work.
This consists of a small tower, measuring 36ft. x 24ft-, with
walls about 6 feet thick, built of strong rubble masonry. The
original entrance to the tower is seen on that part of it at the
side to which the modern kitchen has been attached. An
acutely pointed and chamfered doorway furnishes an example
of the Decorated period, surmounted by a pointed arched
dripstone, with round and hollow mouldings, terminating at
the impost. It gives entrance to a passage in the thickness
of the wall, which opens at an angle by another pointed door-
way into the interior. The space inside is 20ft. X 13ft., and
arched by a barrel vault. There is a fireplace now at the
west end, and the space is lighted by two small mullion win-
dows, and there is a partition wall across it.

The first floor contains one chamber, which was the solar,
lighted on the east by a decorated window, divided by a
mullion into two lights, which are trefoiied, and cusped with
a quatrefoil on the head. This window has also a transom,
and is identical in style with the window in a similar
chamber at Kirkby Thore Hall. It is pleasing to find the
chai^cter of the ancient structure has lieen preserved amid
ihe enlargements and alterations of modern times.

The abbey of Byland, in Yorkshire, possessed an estate at
Asm- Grange, and it is possible that some of the lay brethren
of the order may have resided here as managers of the lands,
and busied themselves in agricultural pursnits.

KlKKhVTHORE HALL,

KIKKBYTHOHB HALL.

The site of the large sized and important camp, which is
believed to be the Brovonacae of the second Iter of Antoninus,
is on the high ground a little to the west of the hall, on the
plateau partly occupied by the village ; it consequently abutted
on the great Roman road, or said second Iter, proceeding
from Carlisle to York. From this station this road stretched
to the south-east, parallel to but a little to the north of the
present turnpike to Appleby, and onwards to Erough or Ver-
tera?, and over Stanemore, to join the high road to Eburacuni
at Cataracto, or Catterick Bridge.

Moreover this camp was the point of junction of a cross
line of road, called the Maiden Way, climbing the Pennine
mountains in a direct line N.N.E., to the Roman wall at
Magna or Carvoran. This road proceeded over Newbiggin
Moor to Kirkland, and on the grouse ground and sheep
walks of Ousby Fell, Mehnerby Fell, and Hartside, its cause-
wayed pavement may be traced for miles, far away from the
meddling hand of man. By this toilsome pathway, a short
cut was afforded to the Roman legions, from hence to the
middle third of the frontier barrier. A continuation of this
cross road passed in the S.S.E. direction from the camp at
Redlands, and probably crossed the river by Bolton, onwards
to Crosby Ravensworth ; and its level green surface may be
traced a long way over Wickerslack Moor, on towards the gap
at Tebay, to the camp at Low Burrowbridge.

Before the building of Kirkbythorc Hall, on the rising
ground to the west, in the enclosure called High Burwens,
close to the old Roman occupation, there stood a castle
called Whelp Castle. According to Machel's account, it
must have been very extensive ; but even in his time scarcely
a vestige of it was above the ground, and he states that it was
out of the ruins of this that the present hall or manor house
was built.

We have good reason to believe from documentary evidence
that the native lord of Kirkby Thore was called Whelp or
HiAlp. For in the Holme Cultram registers there are n^rauts
of land in Kirkby Thore to that Abbey, in the time of Henry

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KIRKBYTH08B HALL.

141

the interior would present a tolerably perfect example of
wliat was always the most prominent feature in the ancient
manor house, viz., the "hall." It would ihen be seen that
the hall reached the whole height of the house ; its dimen-
sions, including the dais, is 26 feet by 22 feet. Besides the
window of the dais, the hall has been lighted by windows
high in the wall; one to the west of three lights, square-
headed ; and two to the east, now blocked up, as other build-
ings are added on to this corner. One of these has been a
very line window; it is within a square frame, divided into
two lights, which are trefoil- headed and cusped, and there is
a small shield in each spandrel. It has a hood moulding also,
and has had a transom. It shows the transition perpendicular
Style.

The roof deserves attention ; the weight is supported by
the gable end, and by two heavy oak-timber arches, spring.
ing from corbels, they carry the purlins and rafters ; it is
without lie-beam or king-posts; the arches have a plain
chamfer and a check. There is also a very fine open timber
roof, covering the gable building at right angles with this : it
is unfortunately ceiled, and so difficult of access as not to be
opea to inspection. It differs however in construction from
the last, in so far that it consists of three bays, and it is a
collar-beam roof, with curved braces filling in the space
between the collar and principal rafter, with a solid arch of
timber ; this is supported by corbels low down on the wall,
to relieve the thrust. It is one of the best timber roofs of the
fifteenth century remaining in this country, except that at
Vanwath, which is superior to it in mouldings and decora-
tions; the construction of the two is similar, except that
Vanwath, besides the collar-beam, has a king-post and
trusses.

To continue the description of the ground Hoar ; — The dafs
has been well lighted by the projecting bay window. At the
back of the dais there is some wood wainscoting, of the time
of Henry VIH. The styles and rails of the framework are
moulded, and neatly pinned ; the panels small and oblong. It
has never reached higher than seven feet from the ground, as
may he seen by the finish at the top in the long narrow

142 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

panels set in a horizontal direction. These have a pattern
worked on them, so as to represent linen -folding at the ends,
with a moulding of the half-round billet on them.

There is a doorway leading out of the hall in the Carnarvon
form, with a flat lintel, shouldered by heavy corbels, coved in
cavetto. There is a solid arched tympanum above it, to
assist in supporting the superincumbent masonry.

The basement of the gable wing has a square apartment to
the front, lighted with a square heavy mullioned window. It
was the lord's parlour. The back part was probably occu-
pied by buttery and pantry, and led to the kitchen, which has
disappeared.

The upper story of the gable deserves attention. It was
approached by a well stair. It has consisted of a single apart-
ment, 33 feet by 15 feet, placed transversely to the hall, and
was lighted by a large pointed window in the gable to the
west. This window has a pierced quatrefoil at the head,
and the two-lights have trefoil heads and transoms. It pre-
sents the characters of the Decorated period. At the east
end there is a trefoil-headed window with a single light. The
corbel stones, and the spring of the timber arches, may be
noticed on the walls ; they carry the fine open timber roof to
which I have referred. This has, I think, been one apart-
ment, and from its size must have been an important room,
too considerable for a chapel, though it might be used some-
times as such ; it is erroneous to put every gothic window
down to a chapel. It was the solar or lord's chamber, which
was sometimes provided with a Decorated window, of which
a similar one is seen in the tower at Asby Rectory.

This is all that remains of the manor house of the Whar-
tons ; the rest has disappeared under modern improvements.

HOWGILL CASTLE.

This was the site of the ancient seat of the lords of the
manor of Milburn in the barony of Westmorland. Amongst
the friends and followers of the Norman brothers de Mes-
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HOWGILL CASTLE. I43

adherent named de Stuteville, who shared considerably in the
appropriation of lands in both counties. Amongst other
grants the Stuteville acquired the forest of Milburn. The
manor afterwards came to the family of the Lancasters.

These Lancasters were in descent from the great barons of
Kendal, the last of whom William the third died towards the
end of Henry III.'s reign without issue, leaving two sisters
Helwise and Alice, between whom were divided the inheri-
tance and dignities, in two shares, which became known as
the Richmond fee, and the Marquis fee. There was however a
half or illegitimate brother named Roger, to whom William
made sundry gifts. To this Roger thus came the succession
to Holgill or Howgill, and the manor adjoining, also various
lands in Barton and Patterdale; and in the 3rd of Edward I.,
he obtained confirmation of the grant made to him of the
forest of Rydal, as well as Amelside and Loughrigge.

Roger died in the 19th of Edward I., leaving three sons,
John, William, and Christopher. From Christopher issued
the branch of the Lancasters who prospered for many
generations in the direct male line at Sockbridge and Hart-
sop Halls, until the time of James L '•' The eldest son John
took the inheritance of the Howgill estate ; he served as
knight of the shire in parliament, and died in the eighth of
Edward H. without issue, and was succeeded by the next
heir male John de Lancastre, son of the second brother
William. So for nearly three hundred years did the name of
de Lancastre fill a notable position in Westmorland, as lords
of Howgill, up to the troublous times of Henry VI., when the
descent ended, in 1438, in four daughters. In the partition of
the various estates, Howgill fell to Elizabeth, who brought
the same by marriage to Robert, a younger brother of their
neighbour John de Crackenthorpe of Newbiggin. The grand-
son of this Robert had daughters only, the eldest of whom
Anne had Howgill for her share, and by her marriage with
Sir Thomas Sandford of Askham, we are first introduced to
the Sandfords as lords of Howgill. It may be remembered
that on the shield over the doorway at Askham Hall, there

••See Sockbridge Hall, p. 65.

144 '^^^ ^^^ MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

are to be seen the quarterings of the arms of the three great
heiresses with whom the house of Sandford intermarried.*
Three lions rampant for English ; two bars, on a canton of
the second a lion passant for Lancaster ; and for Cracken-
thorpe, the well-known chevron between three mullets. The
son of this Sir Thomas Sandford and Anne Crackenthorpe,
(whose name also was Thomas) succeeded to Askham, and
was the builder of the Elizabethan extensions in the back
court at Askham Hall, as we find by the quaint rhyming in-
scription f under the escutcheon with the date 1578. The
mother's inheritance devolved on a younger son Richard, who
removed to Howgill Castle, and was the founder of the family
of Sandfords at Howgill. The name of Sandford was pre-
served at Howgill until the beginning of the eighteenth
century, when it ended in a female heir, who married a
Honeywood of Marks Hall in Essex ; the property is now
comprised in the Appleby Castle estates.

The arms of the Lancasters of Howgill were : — Argent,
two bars Gules, on a canton of the second a lion passant
guardant Or.

Howgill Castle occupies an elevated position on the skirt
of the Crossfell range, in the parish of Milburn, about five
miles from Appleby. It is a massive and extensive pile of
building, and though long used as a farm residence, and much
modernized, it presents by its approaches, by its pillared
gateway, and imposing elevation some remnants of its past
grandeur. The site is on the brink of a deep ravine or gill,
through which descends a mountain stream, which might
have afforded some sort of defence at the back or north
aspect of the house, but there is nothing to show that it has
been strengthened elsewhere by artificial entrenchments.

The place has doubtless seen many transformations. When
the twelfth century came in, in pursuance of the national
military policy, the Normans were busy erecting strong
castles in Cumbria for the defence and settlement of the
country. Along the line of the old Roman highway from

•Sec drawing^ of the Shield and Inscription over Gateway, Askham Hall, p. 88.
t See Askham Hall, p. 90.

KOWGILL

'45

i

Csritste into the vale of York, strong sites were cliosen for the
massive Norman keeps, at Carlisle, Brougham, Appleby,
Brough-under-Stanemoor, Barnard Castle, and other places.
But at this period it is probable that the only important
structures in stone were the great national fortresses of the
Crown. The strife and tumult caused by the usurpation of
Stephen brought about a very unsettled condition of the
Border counties for a long period, and it was not until the
thirteenth century that the mesne tenants of (he great barons
liegan to build substantial stone manor houses on their own
account.

The early lords of Milburn, the Stutevilles, were big mag-
nates, and had large possessions Jn Cumberland and else-
where; one of them was castellan of Bamborough, perhaps
the largest and most unassailable fortress in the north of
England, and it h not likely that at a time when mason
labour was scarce, and had to be imported, that they would
care to rear a residential structure in permanent materia! on
their comparatively insignificant manor at Milburn. At that
time the accommodation at Howgill probably consisted of
nothing more than a wooden Saxon " burh" and earthwork.
In the thirteenth century the native English had acquired a
skill in masonry, and it would probably be on accession to
the manor by Roger de Lancastre in the reign of Henry III,,
that there would be erected a domestic edifice of any preten-
sion in solid niatenal. This would probably be on the simple
plan of the rectangular tower, derived from that of the Nor-
man keep. There is nothing remaining to indicate such an
early structure; indeed I am not aware of a single example
extant in Cumbria of ordinary Domestic Architecture of the
thirteenth century, except such domestic portions as may be
attached to the large castles or religious establishments. All
seem to have been razed or burnt during the civil strife and
the Scottish ravages.

The descendants of Roger de Lancastre increased in wealth
and importance during the fourieenth century, and it is prob-
able that during the later part of that jicriod some portion of
the present structure was erected.

The plan of the building is that of two oblong rectangular

I46 THE OLD MASOKUL HALLS OF WISTVOKLAKD.

towers. Standing on the same plane, united by a central
block 40 feet ic length, which is recessed 9 feel from the face
of each tower. These two lowers each 64 feet by 33 feet,
are of equal height, and in other respects symmetrical. The
walls are of estraordioaiy thickness, being from 9 feet to 10
feet and upwards, built of squared sandstone rubble, but the
front is now covered with rough-cast.

Each of the towers contains a vaulted basement, two upper
floors, and formerly a battlementcd roof. There is no plinth
nor offset, except the string-course just under the line from
whence the battlements were projected ; these are now gone,
but at the back of the east tower the remains of a merlon and
two embrasures, with their moulded copings, may be seen in
their places embedded in new masonry. Two of the plain
scooped gargoyles still exist.

The arching in the basements of both of the towers is in
plain barrel -vaulting.

The west tower communicates by a pointed arched doorway
with the central block ; the space is divided by a cross wall
into two cellars, each about 20 feet by 14 feet ; the compart-
ment to the north retains the original narrow window loops
high in the wall, widely splayed ; one of these is blocked, but
the other is open, with an ascent to it from the floor of several
steps. In the other compartment a square sash window has
been opened on the south front of the tower.

The east tower basement is used as the kitchen, with a
space of 38 feet by 14 feet, with a fireplace and its adjuncts
very deeply recessed in the north wait, surmounted by a built
semicircular arch of 11 feet 3 inches span. There are two
early Tudor low muUioned windows with hood mouldings on
the east side. From both of the towers there are in the
thickness of the wall, narrow flights of stairs and passages
leading to the first floor, and the openings present pointed
arched narrow doorways ; the ascent further is carried by
newels to the roof. The space in the upper stories has been
subdivided for modern use.

The central block, which no doubt originally contained the
ha!!, has evidently been taken down for the most part and re-
built probably about the end of the seventeenth century,
when the rows of stifi' vertical windows, which deform the

I

HOWGILL CASTLE.

H7

front elevation, were inserted, and the semicircular pediment
and pilasters given to the entrance door. The ground floor
is occupied by a large entrance lobby and parlour, and con-
tains also a very fine wide oak balustered staircase of the
period, in three flights, leading to the upper room or state
chamber.

This is a very large apartment, 40 feet by 24 feet, and is
characterised chiefly by an ornate carved stone chimney-
piece. This work is of a pseudo-classical debased style,
with a Corinthian cornice with a row of dentils as a bed-
moulding; the flat lintel is supported by jambs embellished
with a crenellated border, and the whole surface is panelled
and decorated with carvings of fruit and foliage, deeply cut,
but rather rigid and conventional in design.

The character of the old Tudor window lights and hood-
mouldings, and the bare masonry, is observed at the back
part of the house, where there is seen also on the west tower,
a flat tablet divided by a shaft into two compartments with
trefoil and cusped heads. These contained some carved
designs, but the sculpturing is nearly obliterated by
weathering.

There is a great similarity in the ground plan of this
building to that of Newbiggin Hall. In this instance the two
towers are so equivalent in their proportions, and apparently
so identical in their details, that it is difficult to conceive
them to be otherwise than of one date, which may he
assigned as towards the end of the fourteenth or beginning of
the fifteenth century.

NEWBIGGIN HALL.
Amongst the numerous Norsemen who established settle-
ments on Edenside, there appears to have been one Krdkr
who secured some fertile holmes on the river about three
miles below Appleby, where he founded his "thorpe" or
incloaure. As we have seen, the North-man frequently took
as his expressive title the name of some natural figure or
object, fuch as the bear, the wolf, the dog, the serpent, the
eagle, the raven. The cognomen in this instance was from

14^ THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

K*dhr the crow. We have several local names in these
counties from the same etymological source, such as Craco,
Craike, Crakeplace, Crakehow, Crayksothen, or Greysothen.
Blindcrake, etc. The suffix " thorpe," though estimated
more as a test word of Danish occupation, and very common
in the Danish districts of England, occurs nevertheless in
these counties, often as Thorpe, and Threaplands, and also
with the proper prefix of Haki, Melker, Miln.etc. Intheold
country dialect the name is pronounced Craikin-trop or drup,"^'-
by a phonetic abrasion in the final syllable, as obtains in the
place-name now written Staindrop.

The family of "de Crackenthorpe" f appear to have held
lands in the village, along with their neighbours the
Machells, until the match of the Crackenthorpe with the
heiress of Newbiggin, about the fifth of Edward III., when
they removed to Newbiggin. The first grant of the manor
of Newbiggin was in the reign of Stephen, from Gamel the
son of Whelp to Robert de Appleby, which grant was con-
firmed by Waldeve son of Ganicl to Laurence the son of
Robert. In the Holme Cultram registers there are charters
of land in Newbiggin to the use of the abbey by " Laurence
de Newbigginge, " This race continued in the male line to
the seventh generation, when Robert de Newbiggin married
Emma, a daughter of Threlkeld, and left a daughter only.
This brings us to the beginning of Edward III. This
daughter Emma the heiress of Newbiggin was married to
Robert de Crackenthorpe, and from them came the succes-
sion of fifteen generations of the name of the Cracken-
ihorpes of Newbiggin.

Previous to this it would appear that the predecessor of
this Robert had acquired a third part of the manor of
Brougham, and that this lordship was conjoined with that of

> Wealphalia, and curresponds Co the German
"- ■ 'Veatrup. Taylor's Wbrrii u«(l P/arr.,

ritnrpe signifies a collection or houses
vilUge ; and the consonants Th are

separated froin some piincipal e
pronounced as a single T.

t Burn and Nicolwin, vol. i, p. jCf). On (he question of separate descents of
the Machells and Crackpnthorpes, «ee notes to an article, " Machells of
Crackenthorpe," by E. Bellasis, Lancaster Herald. Transactions Cumltrlaad
■Did ll'cilmurlaad Architotogital Saciflj/, vol. viii.. 417-21.

MBWBIGGIN HALL. I49

Newbiggin, until the reign of Phil, and Mary, after which
the manor of Brougham passed from the family.

During this long epoch the stout blood derived from Norse
descent was asserted throughout in a bold and sturdy
lineage. The family were ever strong and prominent in
position, repeatedly serving as knights of the shire, and as
sheriflFs in Cumberland, marrying and giving in marriage with
most of the leading houses in the two counties : no quarter-
ings were more familiar on the shields sculptured on hall
walls than the well known chevron between three pierced
mullets, of Crackenthorpe.

When we enter the house we may be enabled to enumerate
the shields displaying these alliances. After Robert came
William, who continued to fifteenth of Richard II. After
William there were four Johns in succession, who respec-
tively married a Brisco, a Blencow, a Leybum, and a
Musgrave, and all of them held eminent positions.

In the time of Henry VI. one of the younger sons Robert
married Elizabeth, the heiress of the last Lancaster of
Howgill, and so set up the name of Crackenthorpe for three
generations at Howgill Castle. In the Wars of the Roses
the Crackenthorpe family were strong Lancastrians, and two
brothers shared the fate of their leader Lord Clifford, and fell
on that black Sunday for the north, in March, 1461, at
Towton Field.

Christopher, son of the last John, succeeded about the
eighteenth of Henry VIII., and it was he who was the
builder of the manor house on its present lines, as seen by
the inscription 1533 over the hall door. (Twenty-fifth of
Henry VIII.).

In 1536 the edict had gone forth for the suppression of the
lesser monasteries, and their revenues were confiscated to the
King's use, and amongst these fell the monastery of Holme
Cultram — the priory of Carmelite friars at Appleby — and the
abbey of By land in Yorkshire, all of which possessed property
in the neighbourhood. Amongst these estates the farm of
Hale-grange, and lands at Kirkby Thore and Appleby, as
well as the manor of Hardendale at Shap, were purchased
from the Crown by Christopher Crackenthorpe. This

15°

:aLLS of WESTMORLAND.

Christopher married a Blenkinsop of Hillbeck, and had two
sons, the younger of whom, John, settled at Little Strickland,
and founded the hall there. The elder, Henry, who succeeded
is noted as having had four wives. Beyond this point it is
needless to follow the pedigree, which is to l>e found set forth
in Burn and Nicolson,

Besides their residence at Newbiggin, the Crackenthorpes
had also an ancient place at Bank Hal! attached to the
manor of Kirkland, which seems to have been inhabited by
branches o( the family. On an old chimneypiece at Bank
Hall are the characteas H.C. 1564, witli the arms of
Crackenthorpe on one side ; and on the other Crackenthorpe
quartered with Dalston, ■^'

Newbiggin Hall is situated in a secluded hollow, almost on
all sides commanded by higher ground, except in the course
of the ravine through which flows the rivutet by which its
precincts are swept. This stream is called the Crowdundale
Beck, which springs on the western slopes of Crossfell and
all along to its junction with the Eden, near Temple
Sowerby, forms the ancient bound between the two coun-
ties, t The site presents nothing to make it of value as a
defensive position, except its low situation, as affording
facilities for keeping assailants at a distance by means of
flooding the outer defences. There can be no doubt that in
the original fortalice, wet moats were drawn round the place,
and contrivances existed for damming up the water. In the
times of the Newbiggins and early Crackenthorpes, there
stood on the present site an earher building — possibly a
simple keep or tower of the usual quadrilateral plan, capable
of affording safety and resistance. Tradition says that it
dated back to Edward I., and tradition is probably right, but
I cannot find any remains of any such early structure.

The ground plan of the building as it now exists, and
which, I believe, is very much the same as it was when built
in 1533, is that of two rectangular oblong towers, united by a
central block, giving somewhat the form of the letter |-|

r-Fclland fhni-htt.

NEWfllGGIN* HALL, I5I

which about that period was a very favourite arrangement, of
which we have seen many examples, such as Blencow Hall,
Howgill Castle, and other places. The front of the building
faces nearly south. In 1844 the late Mr, Crackenthorpe
found the west tower in a very shaky state and had it taken
down, and the whole wing was re-built under the direction of
Salvin, but very much on the same lines as before. The east
tower was not meddled with by Mr. Salvin, but it had been
a good deal pulled about by previous architects. None of
original windows or doors remain ; high vertical sash win-
dows had been inserted, and the doorway is of the time of
William and Mary, surmounted with a plain frieze and cor-
nice, and the semi-circular broken pediment, which are
characteristic of the dressing of doorways in that reign.

The main tower measured 45 feet by 30 feet ; the masonry
is of the fine red Crawdundale sandstone of the carboniferous
series, in large squared blocks, hammer dressed, and laid in
regular courses ; it presents an appreciable batter upwards ;
the walls are plain and without plinth or set-off, until just
under the line of the parapet. Here a moulded string-course
of bold projection runs along the sides, carrying the over-
hanging battlements. There are square turrets and watch-
towers at each angle, also battleniented. The bartizan turret
on the south-west angle is projected on a row of squared
corbel-stones set close. The capping of the merlons and em-
brasures presents n round and splay moulding. There are
numerous gurgoyles above the siring course, to serve as
gutter spouts for the roof, and they are all moulded so as to
imitate cannons, like the examples at Kirkandrews-on-Esk
and other places. The walls are 4I feet thick. The ground
outside has been so raised that the basement is partly
covered, but it contains a barrel-vaulted cellar with steps
leading from it at the north-west corner, The first floor con-
tains a space of 37 feet by 2a feet now divided but doubtless
less originally one hall. The upper floors are modernised.

As may be seen by the plan which accompanies this
paper,* there is added to the north face of the main tower a

• Fur this plan I am indeUed [0 Mr. C. J. Ftrgiaon, F.S.A., Carlisle, the

152 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

small subordinate tower on a parallel plane which is never-
theless a part of the original work. This tower measures 36
feet by 21 feet, and is also furnished with angular watch-
tnrret and battlements. It contains small apartments and a
newel-stair which goes upwards and gives access to the main
building and the roof. The inmates familiarly call it JeruEa-
iem.

There are some other special details connected with New-
biggin Hall which deserve notice. On the south front of the
tower at the height of about 6 feet from the original ground
level, there are two heavy corbel stones projected on the same
line, about a yard apart and immediately above ihera may be
detected in the masonry the vertical jambs of a doorway, so
that it would appear there had been an external entrance
here to the first floor at one time, and that the corbels had
probably sustained a movable platform.

Again one of the merlons above the parapet on the west
wall is pierced with a round gun-hole splayed externallj', for
the placing of a culverin or small cannon, showing that pro-
vision had been made for the introduction of ordnance. It is
a very unusual feature in keeps on this side of the border to
be furnished with these gun-ports or shot-holes for artillery or
musketry, although they occur everywhere in Scotland in
strongholds of late fifteenth century and onwards. They are
found usually flanking the gateway and under the sills of the
windows.

Again, observation is at once attracted by the stone eifigiea
of knight-in-armour, standing with elbows akimbo on the
battlements. There are only two remaining, one on the
summit of the south-west turret and one on the north-west
watch tower. There were probably originally four of these
stone warriors; we know for certain there were three, for the
head of one of these decayed gentlemen may be seen lying
against the south wall. I cannot think that this device of
setting up these effigies on the parapets ever took hold as a
fashion in our district. This is the only example 1 know of

I

I

Jerusalcni towcc, and Ushov

in plain shading in the plan

NEWBIGGIN HALL, Wbstmoriand.

NEWBIGGIN HALL. I53

existing in these counties, and I have never come across any
remains of such overthrown stone knights about any of our
old defensive places. Close to the frontier however at
Dalton-in-Furness tower in Lancashire, there are four stone
men-at-arms standing on the battlements. There were at
one time many of these stone figures standing on the walls at
Alnwick Castle two or three of which I believe were original,
and belonged to the time of the early Percies, but most of
them were the work of a local mason, and were placed there
by the first duke at the time of the re-building in 1764, and
have been since removed." The idea could only have been
a conceit for architectural embellishment, as such a pretence
would not be at all likely to impose on the enemy.

The central block which united the two towers formerly
contained the old hall or dining-place, which has been
described to me by the late Mr. Crackenthorpe from tradition
which had been handed down to him, as having been a
hundred years before a very beautiful hall, wainscoted all
round, and embellished with a multitude of blazoned shields
and heraldic glass. During the non-residence of the family
in the last century the place was inhabited by a farmer, and
it fell into great dilapidation. It was partially re-built by
the architect employed in the erection of Skirsgill near Pen-
rith, who knocked out the old windows and inserted modern
ones, and the interior was much cut up. The complete
restoration was carried out by the late Mr. William
Crackenthorpe in 1844.

In the reproduction of the west tower the external features
of the old one have been retained, and it may be observed
that the two towers were designed to uphold the harmony of
the elevation and to balance each other. The original
carved tablet which was over the entrance has been
preserved, and is now inserted over the kitchen door. The
legend contains four lines in raised English letters. The

• Similar stone warriors adorn Carnarvon Castle. Foimerly the walls of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne were embellished in the same manner. ** Between each of
the strong towers on the wall there were for the most part two watch towers,
made square, with effi£ne5 of men cut in stone on the top of them, as though they
were watching." E. Mackenzie, History 0/ NewcastlCf vol. i., p. 109.

V

154

THE OLD. MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

composition is identical in rhyme and feeling, to those in-
scriptions at Cliburn, Askham, Catterlen, and other places : —

Cli;riat0f£r (ErakantIj0rpe tbua ge m^ rail.
Wihitht in mg tgm bgbe b^lbt tijia ball.
€ht ^ex of our Horbe toljo Igst to sn.
^.^. fgtre bttttbrrtb tijgrtg anb Djvee.

Tne slab is under a label on the return of which there is the
shield of Crackenthorpe.

The arms of Crackenthorpe are : Or, a chevron between
three mullets pierced azure ; The Crest ; on a wreath Or and
Azure, a holly tree sprig or bush proper.

There is some good oak wainscot of the Elizabethan and
Jacobean periods in different parts of the house. Over the
mantel-shelf in the entrance hall there is a framework of
panelling of earlier date enclosed by fluted pilasters and
moulded styles and rails, the lower horizontal panels being
carved with foliage. Above there are two rows of five panels
containing the following shields blazoned with their colours
and bearings : —

f jjrclkflb.

Onur.

Slcncotof. ' JSnnbfortb.

I

I
Wlb:urton. • ^ ., , - "

Q

Q

Jllusqrabr. Scllinqtbnm.

Q Q

Dnislon.

^fftbcrstonr-
b'Uiqb.

ANCIENT MANORS. 155

There are a few more halls near Appleby associated with
ancient manors, but the buildings contain very little about
them of a character to warrant independent notice.

DuFTON was held at an early period by the de Graystocks
and Dacres.

Knock, which was held under the Cliffords successively by
the Bojrvilles, Rookbys, Soulbys, and Lancasters.

Ormside Hall and Breaks Hall are in the parish of
Great Ormside, which is on the banks of the Eden to the
south of Appleby, adjoining the parishes of Asby and
Warcop. The old Scandinavian family of Orme were the
lords of this district at the Conquest, and retained their
possessions at this place, Ormesheved, One Orme figures in
the annals of Henry H., and his son Gospatric was the un-
fortunate constable of Appleby Castle when the town was
sacked by William the Lion of Scotland in 1173. The
succession to the manor continued under the local name de
Ormeshcved until the reign of Edward H., when it came into
the possession of the de Derwcntwaters of Cumberland, and
through them to their heirs the RadclifTes : afterwards to the
Bartons, Pickerings, Hiltons, and Wyberghs.

(156)

CHAPTER VII.

THE HONOUR OF BROUGH-UNDER-STANEMORE

AND KIRKBY STEPHEN.

Brough came to be the important centre of this part of the
country, as the Normans, for the purpose of consolidating
their sway, and as a defence of the pass over Stainmoor
against invasion from the north, erected a massive donjon
fortress on the strong defensive eminence nigh Brough, on
the site where the Romans long ago had planted their camp
of Verterae. ■' Judging from the place-names of the villages,
hamlets, and steadings, the lands of the district at the time of
the Conquest were extensively occupied by descendants of
the Saxon and Scandinavian invaders, the latter largely
predominating. The settlement of the country under
Norman rule was not effected until the reign of Henry I.,
when the district was carved out into manors under the lord-
ship of the Barony of Westmorland. Some lands were
doubtless granted off to Norman followers, but it is more
than probable that many of the English thanes were allowed
to retain their possessions by certain tenures and services, t

Hence most of those who succeeded in the direct line as
owners of these manors may have reckoned to trace their
descents from old English or Scandinavian blood.

Three of the manors attached to the honour of Brough
continued in the hands of the Viponds and Cliffords without
having been granted off to inferior lords, viz., the manors of
Stainmoor, Brough Sowerby, and Winton.

At the time of the settlement by the Normans amongst the

* Sec lirouiih Castle, p. .^i.

t 1 he peculiar tenure of Dmifia^v or Drrmhfs was one of these. According"
to Spielman, it applied to such, as at the cominjj of the Conqueror, beinj» put
out of their estates were afterwards lestored thereunto, on their makin}; it
appear they were owners thereof, and neither **/// am His nor rowA/V/o" against
him.

BROUGII - 1; N DER- STAN E MOOR.

"57

demesne lords were : — The Musgraves of Musgrave, the ilc
Suilebys of Soulby, ihe de Sandfords of Sandford, the Helte-
becks of Hcilebeck, the Caberghs of Kaber, tlie Warthcops
of Warcop, the Harclas of Hartley, the Whartons of
Wharton, and the de Smeredales of Smardale.

The fertile pastoral vale of the upper Eden contained quite
a considerable number of manorial lordships, but unfor-
tunately from successive changes and improvements, com-
paratively few traces of the ancient structures remain. The
first owners of these holdings of whom we have records, all
took iheir surnames from their respective seigniorities, with
the prehx of the definite article "De." This custom
prevailed at ail events down to the time of Henry VI., after
which the distinction of the possessive article fell out of
general use.

Amongst these manors may beenumerared the following: —

Hellbeck Hall, was situated on the slopes at the foot of
the Pennine Range, a short distance to the N.E, from
Brongh. Of the old house there is hardly any portion left:
it has been supplanted by an eighteentli century building.
The de Hellebecks continued as lords here until the end of
the reign of Edward II., when a daughter was left as heiress.
By marriage, a Elenkinsop from Northumberland was
brought into Westmorland. The Blenkinsops continued as a
family of note for fourteen generations at Hellbeck : some-
times they served the shire in Parliament ; they could bring
on the field a force of 120 horse, and did good service against
the Scots during the disturbances in the early part of the
reign of Henry VIII. But evil times fell upon the Blenkin-
sops. They were Papists and Royalists, and suffered much
from pains and penalties, and were ruined in the Civil War,

Warcop Hall was the abode of the de Warthcops from
the reign of King John to the end of Elizabeth, when it came
to be possessed by the Braithwailes of Ambleside and
Burneshead. The present building is in the classic Renais-
sance of the eighteenth century, with fragments of an older
structure at the back part.

Sandfokd Hall. An Elizabethan manor house with later
alterations. The de Sandfords were here from the time of

158 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

King John to the reign of Henry VL In the fifteenth of
Edward II., a younger son Edmund removed to Askham
Hall, and was the founder of the name, both at Askham and
Howgill.

Kaber. The manor house gone : held by the families of
Kabergh, and of Fullthorp, from Edward III. to Philip and
Mary.

SouLBY and Crosby Garret. * The old halls have dis-
appeared. These manors were first under the de Sullebys,
and afterwards merged into the power of the Musgraves.

Musgrave. The first we hear of at this place was Peter
de Musgrave, in the time of Stephen. It is not clear whether
the original holder gave his name to the manor, or whether
the surname of the family was derived from the place ; and
it is equally uncertain whether the Musgraves were of
Teutonic, Norse, or of Norman stock. After a duration of
seven centuries the Musgraves continue as lords here to the
present day. They were a strong and widespread family,
and put forth many offshoots who settled at Orton, Asby,
Melkinthorpe, and in Cumberland at Penrith, Plunipton,
Hayton, Johnby, and Crookdake.

KIRKBY STEPHEN.

The town of Kirkby Stephen forms the principal centre of
the rich pastoral valley of the upper waters of the Eden, and
was under the seigniory of Brough Castle as held by the
Veteriponts and their descendants.

From the evidence of fragments of Saxon crosses and other
sculptured stones, discovered in connection with the church
during its renovation in 1H47, it is certain that a Christian
church existed here as early as the ninth century ; and so the
place acquired its name as a Kirkby or church town. But it
ought to be understood that the word Stephen has nothing to
do with the Martyr Saint, nor any other person, but is

* Garret, a corruption of Gerard ; compare Gerard Cross in Bucks.

KIRKBY STEPHEN. I59

derived from the river near which the town stands. It was
the ^^ church town on the Eden,'' and by the slippinij; of the
article, which is usual in the dialect of North Yorkshire and
Westmorland, it became Kirkby t' Eden, and so corrupted to
Kirkby Stephen. In the old speech of the district the
pronunciation was Kurby Stebben.

Many other church towns owe the distinguishing affixed
word to the presence of a river, as Kirkby Kendal on the
Kent, Kirkby Lonsdale on the Lune, Kirklinton on the
Lyne, Kirkby-on-Wyske, or to something else in the locality
as Kirkby Moorside, or, to take a neighbouring example,
Kirkby Thore. In this last instance the suffix has nothing to
do with the Norse god Thor : — it is pronounced in the
vernacular ^^Thure,'' or ^^Fuer,'' and is derived from the
Norse ^*Thor/' a highway, having a reference to the great
Roman roads which "had a junction on the spot on which the
village stands.

Near this old market centre there are some ancient seats
and structures which call for a more extended considera-
tion ; — Hartley Castle, Wharton Castle, and Smardale Hall.

HARTLEY CASTLE.

Hartley Castle, near Kirkby Stephen, is deserving of
notice as being famous in the annals of Westmorland, having
been associated first with the celebrated personage Sir
Andrew de Harcla, and secondly as having been the place of
abode for a considerable time of the distinguished family of
the Musgraves.

The Harclas were seated here in the time of Henry II.,
and the names of Michael, Walter, and John de Harcla are
met with during the succeeding reigns in inquisitions, deeds,
and as witnesses of grants, and so forth ; and in the
fourteenth of Edward I., in the partition of the inheritance
between the two daughters of the last Robart de Viteripont,
mention is made of Michael de Harcla as holding undar the
Barony the manors or Harcla and Smardale. The next in

i6o

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

succession was Sir Andrew de Harcla, - so famous in the time ]
of Edward II.

The career of this man was extraordinary. Having bet-nof |
great service to the King in the war against the Scots, and by i
his spirit and intrepidity in defeating the rebellion of the i
Barons in 1322, dignities and lands were lavished upon him j
to an extraordinary extent. But his success was of short |
duration. Whilst Lord of the Western Marches he
prudently engaged in some questionable negociations w
Robert Bruce, and was proclaimed a traitor by his enem;
The consequence was he was arrested by order of the King i
in his sitting room in Carlisle Castie in 1325, and seven days
after was condemned, degraded from knighthood, and hanged
and quartered.

After the forfeiture the possession of Harcla was for a time
in Ralph de Nevil, Baron of Raby, who sold it to Thomas de
Musgrave of Musgravc,

This village of Musgrave is within three miles of Kirkby
Stephen, where the family were settled some time after the
Conquest, and had their habitation ; no vestiges of their
dwelling-place remain, but the site is supposed to have been
on the farm now called Hallgarth.

This Sir Thomas was the most illustrious of all the line.
Soon after the purchase he removed to Harcla Castle, and
had a licence in the twenty-seventh of Edward HI. to re-
build and fortify "mansum manerii," Harcla. t This Sir
Thomas did good service to the State ; he was one of the
commanders of the army which defeated the invasion of the
Scots near Durham ; he was Warden of the Marchss and
Governor of Berwick; he died about 1376.

Here at Harcla the successive Musgraves maintained the
dignities of the family until the end of the reign of Henry
VI., when a Sir Thomas Musgrave married the heiress of

w At Harcla wa; created Earl of CatlLtle
■.t\S of Cumberland For dFteen years, .

he WIS Warden of the
id hai [jrants of InriM
' in the dnter

esiarrs. inc arms inc i:.ari ijurc wrrc i nr^ciji, a iiruH );uic>. in ini' ueiier
chief pomt a martlef sable.

+ The roll adds : " Quod prupe Marciam Scocix situater ct per Scotos
inimicoA nustros siepius ante hcec Cempora combuitum cxticit et desCiuctuni. "

^<^

1%

HARTLEY CASTLE. l6l

Stapleton, which match brought them to Edenhall, in
Cumberland.

Harcla Castle appears to have been much enlarged and
improved by Sir Richard Musgrave, who lived in the latter
part of Elizabeth's reign. It was he who was created the
first baronet. He died at Naples in 1615. His son Philip
was proscribed by Cromwell's Parliament as an enemy to the
Commonwealth, but on the Restoration was much advanced
by Charles H., and had a warrant for his creation as Baron
Musgrave of Harcla, but he declined taking out the patent.
He died in 1677, and lies buried in Edenhall Church.

After this period, from neglect and non-residence, Harcla
Castle fall away from its stately condition, and eventually it
was totally demolished by Sir Christopher, who died in the
3'ear 1735."^' It is said that the lead and wooden fittings and
materials were carried away for the purpose of repairing the
Edenhall mansion. So nearly obliterated are the vestiges of
this historical place that interest in the site of it has almost
passed away, but it may be worth while to gather up and
re-call such information and records as may serve to
elucidate its former aspect.

The castle stood on an elevated position on a gently
sloping eminence about half-a-mile to the S.E. of the town of
Kirkby Stephen. The hill is bounded on the west by the
waters of the Eden, which is about a quarter-of-a-mile
distant ; on two other sides it is protected by ravines, which
have been scooped out by two rapid mountain streams which
descend from the heights of Hartley Fell and Nine
Standards, so that the site presented some advantages for
defence. It is quite possible there may have been a dry
fosse about the place, but the indications have disappeared.

The plateau on the summit of the hill is covered with
grass-grown mounds, which disclose here and there some
courses of old thick walling. The only remnant of the old

• Pennant visited the neicrhbourhood A.D. 1773, and says of "Harcla**: —
" Scarcely a wreck is left of the Castle. . . . For a long" time it was kept
in good repair, as with Kdcn Hall alternately inhabited, but was demolished by
the late Sir Christopher Musgrave, who removed the materials to repair his other
scat." — Penuanl\s Tour from Douiting to Alston Moor.

W

l62 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

feudal fortress abiding above ground is a mass of masonry
to the left of the front entrance, which must have been part
of one of the towers ; under it is a strong vaulted chamber,
with a slightly pointed wagon arch. This cellar is still in
use on the farm in the summer time as a dairy, on account of
its coolness. This is probably a portion of the castle erected
here in 1361 (as we find by the licence to crenellate) by the
first Sir Thomas, who purchased the place, but as to the plan
or extent of this re-building there are no data to go upon.

The next building epoch here seems to have been in
Elizabeth's reign, with subsequent Jacobean additions.
These have been utterly razed, and the demolition must
have been accomplished somewhere between the years 1704
and 1735. Sir Daniel Fleming, of Rydal, in his description
of the county of Westmorland, A.D. 1671,* says : — ** Hartley
Castle, or rather Harcla Castle, is a stately house and seat
which hath received many additions by the present owner."
The owner at that period was the baronet Philip, who was
distinguished in the Civil Wars and after the Restoration.*
Machel also about the same time knew the place in its glory;
he says : — " Hartley Castle is a noble old building, standing
upon the edge of a fell and overlooking the village of
Hartley, the town of Kirkby Stephen, and many other
country villages, with fair fields and meadows which 13'e
therc-aboutes ; and on the back side of Hartley-Parke, well
replenished with deer, which extends itself up into the Fells,
which are exceeding rich in lead mines ; &c. "I

Our Antiquary Machel has given in his MSS., as he often
docs, a little sketch-plan of the buildings, which is here
reproduced. Although we cannot accept this as being scaled
(as he confesses it has been drawn from memory only) yet it
is valuable for our purpose as being the only record extant to
illustrate the domestic arrangements of the departed mansion.
It is evident from this sketch that in Machel's day there was
no part of the mediaeval fortress left standing. The planning
shows the usual design of an Elizabethan mansion, consist-

• Fleming's MSS. Tract Series No. i .
t Machel's MSS., vol. iii., p. 223.

HARTLEY CASTLE. 163

ing of an outer court, and an inner quadrangle with buildings
arranged in a parallel form on the four sides. An archway of
entry opens into the inner court from the centre of the north
front ; to the left is the kitchen, buttery, and cellars below ;
adjoining this is the hall, with an outside balustered stair
leading from the courtyard. The south end is occupied by
the chapel, the lord's dining room and withdrawing room ;
and on the west side is the long gallery or corridor which was
so usual at that period, with a large oriel window facing the
quadrangle.

There is a drawing existing in Kirkby Stephen presenting
the elevation, which shows that it was a lofty building of three
and four stories. The outer bailey was a square enclosure
continued from the north front, surrounded by a thick hign
wall ; the entrance to it was directly opposite the front of the
hall through a porch and gateway, aproached by a flight of
steps from the road. The wall of inclosure still exists on the
west and north sides, and, in fact, the lower courses of it may
be traced all round. The main entrance was doubtless at
the gap through which the present roadway runs. The edi-
fice itself stood on the area on which the extensive farm
buildings have been erected. The present farm house is
built on the outer court, and it is plain that the ashlar of the
old structure has been utilized, and the dressings of the doors
and windows exhibit the shallow beads and hollows of
Jacobean mouldings.

SMARDALE HALL.

This manor in the reign of Edward L belonged to a family
who took their name from the place, de Smardale. After-
wards, in the reign of Edward II., it seems to have been in
the possession of Sir Andrew de Harcla ; but after his
attainder it came back to the de Smardales. This family
ended in a daughter, in the time of Richard II., who carried
the inheritance to her husband, a younger son of the
Warcops of Warcop.

With the Warcops the possession of Smardale continued

164 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

until the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, when this race
also ended in two daughters, co-heirs. The eldest, Frances,
married Sir John Dalston of Dalston in Cumberland, and
thus the manor came to be transferred to the Dalstons.

The first foundation of the family of dc Dalston was from a
brother of Hubert de Vallibus, first lord of Gilsland, and
later on they had an offshoot at Acorn Bank, near Temple
Sowerby, at which place they participated in the spoil of the
Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, in the time of Henry VHI.
Smardale continued with the Dalstons until the decease of
the last baronet in 1765. This Sir George is said to have
resided a good deal at Smardale, and to have made consider-
able repairs to the building.

The place is now a very substantial and commodious
farmhouse, and some years ago was thoroughly and
judiciously renovated by the owner, the late Mr. W. H.
Wakefield, of Kendal.

Smardale Hall is situated in a glen in the upland country',
about four miles to the west of Kirkby Stephen, near the
village of Waitby ( Waldeof-hy),

It is a very unusual plan of building for this part of the
country. It consists of a solid block, forming a long
parallelogram about 100 feet in length, with a breadth of 30
feet, with large circular towers capping each of the four
angles. These drum-like projections almost swamp the gable
ends of the building, leaving only an interval of twelve feet
between them. They are all symmetrical, with a consider-
able batter upwards, and rise above the high-pitched roof of
the main building. Each tower is capped with a conical
slated roof, coming to a point, and surmounted by a ball as a
finial, and has a circular string course on a level with the
roof of the central block. They are of rubble, now cemented
over. The main entrance is to the front, facing a paved and
enclosed courtyard, where some of the original hooded and
mullioned windows have been preserved.

There is nothing of special interest in the interior. Two of
the turrets opposing each other diagonally contain winding
staircases, conducting to the upper floor ; the remaining two
comprise circular closets, with small scjiiare lights. There

SMARDALE HALL. 165

have been on the ground floor the common hall, private
dining room, kitchen, and other rooms, and on the upper
floor a large gallery or reception room. There is inserted
over the old kitchen door in the courtyard a circular stone
boss 12 inches in diameter, with a shield which is too much
weathered to be decipherable. The boss is ornamented with
deeply carved trefoil leaves and flowers, possibly to represent
the emblem clover, in allusion to the name of the place,
SmeredaUj (which is derived from A.S. smerey Dan. smur, grease,
fatness) or as it may be interpreted Butter-dale.

The whole character of the place is late Elizabethan or
Jacobean. The introduction of these drum towers at the
angles is a very rare feature in the north of England, though
very common in seventeenth century houses in Scotland.
There was in the Jacobean period a sort of running back to
Norman ideas, or a revival of them in a sham debased form,
as we see in the re-appearance in their mouldings, of the
battlement, and the billet, the zigzag and cable, and other
favourite Norman details.

WHARTON HALL.

This is a fairly well preserved specimen of Domestic Archi-
tecture of the period of Henry VHL, and was for a time a
place of very great consequence. It is situated on the left
bank of the Eden, about two miles to the south of Kirkby
Stephen, and now forms the residence to a large pastoral
farm.

The manor is said to have been held by a family of the
name of Querton or Wharton, under the Barons Clifford, as
early as the reign of Edward L, but the pedigree certified in
the herald's visitation of 1585 begins only in the reign of
Henry VL

The most notable of all the race was Sir Thomas Wharton,
in the reign of Henry VHL He was a gallant soldier, and a
firm administrator ; he was governor of Carlisle in 1537, and
first distinguished himself by his intrepid action in the over-
throw of the Scots' invasion on SoUom Moss in 1542 ; he was

i66

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

in high trust with (he king for his vigilant wardenship of the
Western Marches, which ht- held until 1547; Jnd he received
from ihe Crown liberal grants of land lelonging to the dis-
solved monasteries. He was advanced lo the dignity of
Baron, and died ai Wharton alwnt the year 1558.

Philip, the fourlh lord, was a vehement Nonconformist and
a Cromwellian colonel. Thomas, his Fon, was an active ad-
herent of William of Orange, and a Whig in the reign of
Queen Anne, and was created Marquis of Wharton. His
son and snccessor to llie large estates was Philip, the erratic
and disreputable Duke of Wharton ; he died in Spain in 1731,
at the age of thirty-two, a ruinei! spendthrift, a rehel, and an
outlaw. Pope portrayed his character well in the polished
lines commencing —

irton Ihe scum and Honiler i
jw ruling pawion was the lu
1 ivitii wfiateVr nnild win il I

u days.

The confiscated estates were sold to Mr. Robert Lowther of
Maulds Mcalmrn, and are now in the possession of his des-
cendant, the Earl of Lonsdale. ~

The position of Wharton Hall is on an eminence rising out
of the river basin presenting an abrupt slope on the north
and east towards the Eden, from whicli it is not far distant,
whereas the other sides are open and level. The buildings
are arranged on the courtyard plan, which succeeded in point
of time that of the simple square keep or pele tower. The
inclosure is quadrilateral but not square, the sides being un-
equal. The shortest side on the S.W. contains the gateway
buildings, opposite is the extensive front consisting of the
principal rooms of the castle, and from ihis base line con-
verging obliquely to the gatehouse on one side there is a
narrow range of buildings, and on the other a curtain wall.

It will be most convenient to commence our description
with the gate-house buildings. These consist of a castellated

!linj; iiaper was given by Can
Anarton Family," in Traniacl
mi/ A rrhitnlngiral SnciXy, vol.

n Simpson, LL.U.. i>

I
I

WHARTON HALL, I67

block of ihree stories with a battlemented parapet at the top
slightly projected. The entrance is 8 feet wide, under a de-
pressed four-centred arch, above which is a tablet carved
with the Wharton arms. A similar archway opens into the
inner court ; the passage between them is -^i feet long, it is
not vaulted In stone but has been covered with waoden joist-
ing. There is a tunnel in the wall behind the outer door for
the reception of a square heavy drawbar. There is no port-
cullis chase. Opening on the passage on the right h^nd is a
guard-room 15 feet by 12 feet, with a small square window
light and fireplace; two similar upper rooms on two floors,
now in a ruinous stale, look into the courtyard by square-
headed rnullioned windows. To the left of the passag.' there
IS a slip of a chamber, 15 feet by 4 feet, with a narrow loop
and doorway opening into the passage, too small for being
habitable, which it is said by tradition was the kennel in
which the sleuth-dogs were kept, which is quite probable.

On this side the building contains two stages of good
square apartments, with pointed windows, fireplaces, and
garderobe ; these adjoin the chapel, and probably constituted
the priest's lodging.

Stretching from the gate-house a strong thick wall 14 feet
high extends obliquely to join the main block, and incloses
this side of the courtyard. As it approaches the extremity
the curtain is pierced by a postern doorway under a four-
centred arch with a plain splay ; connected with this opening
there have been some defensive provisions, with a small
turret and battlements, and the usual tunnel for a drawbar
behind the door.

The facade fronting the quadrangle consists of the kitchen
lower, the hall, some intermediate buildings, and a keep-like
tower at the opposite end, all on the same plane; and it ex-
teads to a distance of 180 feet. The elevation of these erec-
tions presents for the most part the general architectural
character of the Tudor period — high perpendicular windows,
divided into several lights by hollowed mullions, with arched
heads, some pointed but without foiiation or cuspings — others
■have segmental heads. Most of the windows have Ira
bars high up, and the lower compartments are treated with

l68 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

arched heads in the same manner as the upper ; a hood-
moulding coved in cavetto is in universal use, and is either
continuous over several window openings, or terminates over
each in a short return. A parapet with a string course
underneath runs along the top of the walls facing the court,
and it is battlemented more for a finish than for use ; the
cope-moulding is a head and splay, and it is continued alike
over the merlons and embrasures.

We have l^fore ns an excellent example of the planning
and distribution of the principal rooms in the habitation of a
wealthy noble of the period of Henry VIII. It may be noted
that the large apartments are all on the first floor, and that
the basement consists of vaulted cellars.

The building to the extreme right is a massive tower,
measuring about 40 feet by 30 feet over the walls : with a
vaulted chamber underneath. It was the kitchen. In the
small castles and manor houses in the north, previous to the
beginning of the fifteenth century, culinary requirements
were meagrely served with scant accommodation ; the cook-
ing was generally done outside the keep in the inner baily, in
a temporary erection of wood or of daub and plaster, not
often of stone and lime. Here we have the importance of
the kitchen boldly asserted. It is a separate and substantial
building, exclusively devoted to the purpose, containing a
single apartment with lofty walls, reaching to an open collar
beam roof, well lighted by three windows, one high in the
wall to the east, and two facing the court, of three lights,
with segmental heads, and divided by transoms. The floor
is approached by stone steps from the court, which still
remain: the doorway is a four-centred arch, with half-round
and hollow mouldings. On the north and east sides there
are two fireplaces under segmental arches of wide span, with
ovens, and other cooking fixings;'-' the drain spout for the
discharge of slops still remains.

So long as the great hall continued in use as the common

• Pennant, in his Tour J mm Ihnvtiing to Alslun iWoor, says: — "The house is
almost a ruin, and has been very larjje. In the kitchen are two vast fireplaces ;
in the hall, one 12 feet wide ; melancholy testimonies of the former hospitalities
of the place."

PuAN OF FiiisT Floor of the Central Bloon
Plan of Qiquno Flood, Qate House. Qallery, and Old Tower

_^,^_^ — f. 1* — (,,

WHARTON HALL, West>iokl«.vu.

WHARTON HALL. 1 69

dining place, it was customary that the kitchen should adjoin
the hall, and communicate with its lower end, either by a
passage as we find at Middleton Hall, and many other
examples, or directly by doorways into the screens, as we find
to be the case here. In the wall separating the two places
there are the usual two doorways, one of which may be seen ;
the other is built up (but the jambs may be traced), one
serving for the entry, the other for the exit of the dishes
and servitors. The vaulted spaces underneath the kitchen
and the hall, which are lighted by slits only, were used for
stores, larder, buttery, cellar, and so forth. It may be noted
that the space beneath the screens was not vaulted in stone,
but had beams supporting a joisted flooring, through which
there was probably a hatch -way, and wooden steps for draw-
ing up the supplies.

The hall must have been a magnificent room. The pro-
portions are very grand, measuring inside 68 feet from the
lower end to the back of the dais, with lofty walls reaching to
an open roof. A considerable portion of the north wall is
standing ; the south hide, towards the court, is mostly ruined
down to the lower courses. Our antiquary, Thomas Machel,
has left in Vol. i. of his MSS., a little scratch plan of the
building as he saw it in 1680. Pennant gives an interesting
picture of the building by Moses Griffiths, "^^ which displays
the front elevation as it existed in A.D. 1773 J so that from
these two data, and from the examination of what remains of
the structure, a sufficiently accurate plan is here given.

It would appear that the position of the openings in the
walls of the hall, which have since disappeared, was as
follows : — The main entrance was from the courtyard by a
straight flight of outside steps ; these led up to a boldly pro-
jected porch, which was carried up to the full height of the
edifice, and battlemented at the top. There was a large out-
shot window at the dais end, towards the court, and another
opposite, looking towards the country. There are still the
remains of a magnificent fireplace, flush with the wall on the
middle of the north side, the jambs with a bead and hollow

• The quarto edition published in iSoi.

170

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF VVESTMORLAN'D.

moulding are to be seen ; the opening is spanned by a Tudor
arch, from which many of the ashlar voussoirs have fallen.

There is no indication of any solid wall having shut off the
screens from the body of the hall ; the probable arrangement
was that of a panelled partition, with two door openings
through it, and surmounted by Che minstrel's gallery, just as
we find still existing in the hall at Haddon in Derbyshire,
which is of about the same date.

The hall and kitchen, the gallery to which we will presently
refer to on the west side, and probably the gateway also, we
may be certain were additions made hy Thomas, the first
Lord Wharton, and were built on to the older part of the
dwelling house. Sir Thomas when he came into power and
influence, found doubtless that the accommodation of his
patrimonial home was too scanty for the requirements of the
times and the maintenance of his new dignities. The con-
structive details indicate a date of about the years 1540-50.

The older habitation may be earlier by at least two genera-
tions. This part consists of a square tower at the north-west
corner of the courtyard, and a low, two storied building
standing intermediate between this and the hall, as may be
seen in the view. This portion seems to have contained
originally the old common hall, which came to be converted
afterwards into the lord's private parlour and the dining
room. These rooms occupy the first floor; the basement
contained the old kitchen and two chambers divided by a
cross wall, and vaulted with barrel arches slightly pointed ;
the doorways here show the corbelled flat linte! or the Car-
narvon arch.

On the first floor the principal windows are large and
square-headed, divided into several lights with pointed
arched heads ; that of the dining room was projected as a
bay, which part of the room seems to have been screened
off at the time when Machcl wrote, so as to form what he
calls a study or evidence room.

This part of the house was much altered at the beginning
of the present century by the first Lord Lonsdale who fitted
it up as a shooting lodge ; an external stair was raised up
against it, and a doorway to the first floor was broken
through where the bay window formerly existed.

WHARTON HALL. I7I

The tower has the usual features of a pele of the fifteenth
century, and still forms a habitable portion of the farm
house. It is in three stories, surmounted by a flat roof and
crenallated parapet coped with a bead and splay. The
chimney has a battlemented cornice.

Abutting on the angle of this tower, and closing in the
quadrangle on this side in an oblique direction there is a
narrow range of building 90 feet long, with a pitched roof.
This also is Lord Thomas's work. It is the gallery or re-
ception room, which became a favourite and necessary ad-
junct to all great mansions in the periods of Henry VIII. and
Elizabeth. This apartment was originally open to the roof,
but is now divided by a floor. The far end was partitioned
off" to form the chapel ; the stone bench for seats along the
wall at the chancel end still remains ; the point of the gable

was surmounted by a cross : this part was connected with
the gatehouse by the buildings which have been already

described as the priest's apartments.

To complete the description of Wharton there is still
another tower to be mentioned. This lies outside of the
enclosure on the north side, and against it is built the north
wall of the gallery. This little tower is 24 feet square ; it is
partly in ruins ; it contains two stages of rooms about 15
feet by 12 feet ; the doorway is to the outer side; there is a
newel stair set in the wall in one corner. The walls are
about 4 feet thick. This may be taken to be a remnant of
the earliest habitation of the Whartons on this site, and may
carry us back to some time in the reign of Henry VI.

In the barton outside the enciente there remain some very
old barn or barrack buildings, and one with a stream of
water running underneath, which suggests that it may have
been used as a wash-house and laundry. Outside, to the
west, would be the garden and pleasaunce and fishpond; and
all around the finely grassed pastures, and the extensive deer
parks stretching upwards to the fells, to preserve which, it is
said, the village of Wharton was demolished, and the tenants
removed to ihe other side of the river.

Nothing now remains of the internal decorative work, the
wood carving, panelling, or glass ; but we have the assurance

172 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAN'D.

of Macbel as an eye witness, that there was here a m agnifi-
cent display of painted glass. He enumerates the windows
which were so embellished, and he tricks many of the coats
which were impaled and quartered on the various shields —
the arms ot Wharton, the cheeky and fesse of Clifford, the
six amulets of Lowther and of Musgrave, the three covered
cups of Warcop, and many more. The great dais windows
of the hall, the bays of the dining room and parlour, the
windows of the chapel and gallery — in fact, all the lights
looking into the court, were full of heraldic devices, cyphers,
and "imageries."

From the later period of the reign of Edward IV. and
onwards, the ostentatious exhibition of wealth ran into all
forms of decorative display, and amongst others, specially in
the luxury of painted glass. In most of the manorial halls
of the north the casements were filled with coloured instead
of white glass, and these were especially splendid in the
castle of the Dacres at Kirkoswald, and the hall of the
Dudleys at Yanwath ; scraps of the old quarries are often
seen inserted in existing windows, as at Hugill, Hornby
Hall, Middleton Hall, and several other places. At Wharton
Hall the divisions and compartments of the windows are all
so much alike in dimensions, that they almost seem to have
been contrived for the reception of movable and inter-change-
able casements. We know that the glass was expensive,
and was held as valuable. The pieces were leaded into
oblong frames, which were fitted for the apertures of the
windows, and let into rebates or grooves in the sill and
inullions, and fastened by bolts so as to be removable ; and,
in fact, were removed sometimes from one residence to
another. After the time of Henry VIII. casements were
reckoned as fixtures.

The arms of Wharton were : Sable, a maunch Argent,
lulward VI. granted to Lord Thomas an augmentation of his
paternal coat, viz., a bonier engrailed Or, charged with legs
of lions in saltire gules, armed azure.

(173)

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BARONY OF KENDAL.

At the time of the Conquest the Barony of Kendal was
included in Amoundernesse, which territory comprised, in
addition to the southern part of Westmorland, a narrow slice
of Cumberland to the south-west, and the districts of Cartmel
and Furness, along with all Lancashire north of the Ribble,
as well as the Wasentake of Ewecrosse in the West Riding
of Yorkshire. The almost exclusive prevalence of Teutonic
place-names indicates an extensive and abiding settlement in
this district by Saxon colonists. '•'

The Domesday Survey embraced Amoundernesse ; yet the
entries are somewhat brief and unsatisfactory ; the compilers
have not afforded the same amount of information in regard
to the names of the holders of the demesne lands, and of the
nature, extent, and value of their properties, as is furnished
in other parts of England.

The Survey extended no further than the two Stricklands
(Roger and Ketel) and Patton on the north, leaving out the
whole of the Lake District ; to the west it reached as far as
Bootle in Cumberland, and on the east to Sedbergh ; while
towards the south the cultivatable lands of the vallies of the
Kent and the Lune are included. Over most of this district
at that period, the great Earl Tosti of Northumberland was
lord paramount, after whom was Roger de Poictou. In the
manors set down in Domesday around Kendal were: — Stereo-
land, Mimet, (Mint), Chirchchi (Kendal), Biedun, Lupetun, Hel-
singtony Steintiin, Bodlesford, Hoton, Lefuenes, Borton, Dalton,
Patun. One Gilemichel had lands at Chirchehi^ and also one
Duun had six carucates to be taxed, being cultivated land.

• The suffix syllable in the names of villages and hamlets is almost invariably
Angrlo>Saxon, such as : — To/i, ham^ dalr^ beck, Uy, land, mere, rif^, thorpe, wick,
lerfi;, rtc.

174 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Doubtless a vast area was in natural coppice, forest and
waste. Tosti was dispossessed. Ivo de Tailbois, brother of
Fulk, Earl of Anjou, having been a leading chief among the
Norman host, was favoured by the Conqueror with immense
grants in North Lancashire and Westmorland, and became
first Lord of the Barony of Kendal.

But probably to Ivo the Anjevin the eastern part of I
England was more attractive as a residence than the, at '
that time, wild, rugged, humid country in the north. For
this great baron had large possessions at Croyland in Lin-
colnshire, and had taken to wife one Lucia the heiress of an
Englishman named Thorold, who was lord of Spalding. A
succession of the Tailbois followed ; Eldred, Ketel, and Gil-
bert, until William the fifth of them, in the reign of Henry
IL, took the name of de Lancastre. probably from the castle
at Lancaster being a chief residence. This Wilham de
Lancaster was the founder of Conishead Priory and a bene-
factor to Furness Abbey, and other religious houses ; from
his uncle Ornie are descended the Curwens of Workington. \
On the death of the next de Lancastre without issue the
name ended in his two sisters, co-heiresses, Helwise and
Alice; so the barony became divided into moities. Alice
married William de Lindesay, and her share of the Barony
was afterwards known as the Richmond Fee. This appella-
tion arose from this portion having been granted from the
Crown by Henry VI. to John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset and
Kendal, whose daughter and heiress, Margaret, became
Countess of Richmond, and mother of Henry VII.

Helwise married Peter de Brus, the descendant of a dis-
tinguished Norman, who came over with tlie Conqueror.
Through the Brus it went to the Parrs, one of whom became
Marquis of Northampton, from which this division of the
Barony acquired the name of the Marquis Fee. The sister of
this Marquis of Northampton was Katharine Parr, the sixth
wife and widow of Henry VIIL Hence the association of
Queen Katharine with Kendal Castle. Such is a brief

fSec The Curwent of It'orkinglmt Hall and Ki»drrd Fami/tM," l,y W. Jack-
son, F.S.A. Traniarliimi Ciml-rrland and HMmarlond Afili'iiianau and
ArthiKjUigical Sodtty, vol. v. p. iBi .

THE BARONY OF KEN'DAL. 175

summary of the succession of the baronial lords, which it is
needless to extend, the genealogies being sufficiently given in
the county history of Burn and Nicotson, vol i., and by other
local writers.

KENDAL CASTLE.

It may be assumed that the site on which Kendal stands
formed the chief centre of defence of the Saxon inhabitants of
the land in times of yore. The position lies in the middle of
the valley of the Kent, and probably not very far from the
extreme border of the Saxon colony ; for at no great distance
rose the masses of the Lake mountains, with their im-
penetrable thickets and swamps, which, for a considerable
period would afford a refuge for the Welsh speaking native
tribes.

From the level of the valley there rises to the height of
some 170 feet, a conical natural hill, on the summit of which
stand the crumbling ruins of a Norman fortress, Kendal
Castle, The top presents a level circular space alwut 250
feet in diameter, surrounded by a very wide and deep moat ;
connected with this, and lower down the steep sloping sides
of the hill, there is a square area, also moated ; this was the
base court. The whole has constituted the "burh" or
" motte" of the thane who preceded the Norman lord. This
is the opinion of Chancellor Ferguson, who has given a
monograph of Kendal Castle and a detailed account of its

The construction of the stone castle raised in Norman

times was on the shell plan, without any central keep. It
consisted of an oval or circular inclosurc, surmounted by an
encitnti wall of great thickness, with a rampart walk on the
top, having a gateway facing the north, and furnished with a
small square tower and two circular turrets, abutting on the

of Kendal. /»!•/, vol. i

176 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OP WBBTMORLAND.

wall. The remains of these still exist. The hall and
domestic buildings lay on the north side contiguous to the
square mural tower; they had vaulted cellars underneath,
and presented to an interior courtyard. The whole has been
constructed of the rough Silurian rock of the country, which
is intractable under the mason's chisel, and affords no detail
of work by which to determine the date of the erection with
any certainty. The conjecture is that the castle was built in
the twelfth century by one of the Lancasters, or by one of
the later Tailbois.

Apart from the history of the families who held the
Barony, there are hardly any records concerning the Castle
of Kendal. A survey was made in 1572, in which it was then
reported to be in a state of dilapidation, and abandoned as a
residence. It is best known in connection with the Parr
family. Queen Katharine Parr is said to have been born
here in 1509, and brought up in the neighbourhood. After
the attainder of the Marquis of Northampton, for treason in
supporting Lady Jane Grey in 1553, the Castle was seized by
the Crown, and passed away, and became void of interest as
part of the baronial property.

BURNESIDE HALL.

There are two manors in the neighbourhood of Kendal
which are closely connected by historical and family associa-
tions, both having been held by the de Bellinghams. The one
is Burneside and the other is Over Levens, which latter will
be described farther on. Interesting memoirs of both these
manorial halls have already been given by the late Canon
Weston ; "^^ and in the following papers concerning these two
halls, I avail myself freely of the information he has collected,
and 1 have at the same time the privilege granted of making

• Burneside Hall, By Rev. G. F. Weston, Vicar of Crosby Ravensworth,
Hon. Canon of Carlisle Cathedral. Transactions of Cumberland and Jf*estmor-
land Antiquarian and Archirological Society, vol. vi., p. 94. Levens Hall,
Archaeological Journal vol. xxvi., p. 97.

BURNESIDE HALL. 177

use of the plans and drawings with which they were
illustrated.

The ancient manor house of Burneside, or Burneshead, as
it used to be called, lies two miles to the north of Kendal,
and is placed within the angle of junction of the river Kent
with the mountain brook, which flows down the valley of
Long Sleddale.

The manor of Burneside belonged in the reign of Edward
I. to a family bearing the local name. Margaret, the heiress
in the reign of Edward II., married Richard de Bellingham
from Tyneside in Northumberland, which event brought a
branch of that family into Westmorland. Seven of the de
Bellinghams held the manor in lineal succession during a
period of something more than two hundred years. The last
Sir Robert sold Burneshead in the sixteenth century to Sir
Thomas Clifford ; it subsequently passed through the
Braithwaites of Ambleside and of Warcop into other hands.

The Bellinghams bore for their arms : Argent a bugle or
hunting horn Sable, stringed Gules. They were a flourishing
family, and became knights and bannerets, and one of them,
Alan, a younger son, in the reign of Henry VIII., purchased
Levens and other estates in Westmorland.

Burneside Hall is an interesting specimen of a Border
stronghold, and though the ancient tower is much ruined, yet
there is retained about the inclosure some original features
and peculiarities which render it highly worthy of notice.

In the first place we have existing the remains of the moat
which formerly surrounded the outer walls, and expanded
into two meres, or large ponds, on either side of the passage
up to the main gate, as may be seen represented in MacheFs
sketch, which is given with the plans. The mere on the north
side with the island in it is still there.

Then again we have preserved to us the gatehouse and a
portion of the defensive curtain wall of the barmkin. It is
not frequent that the gatehouse and enceinte wall of the
smaller Border fortalices of the gentry survive. The
examples are few, but they are found at the halls of Yan-
wath, Wharton, Middleton, Beetham, Lower Levens, and at
Scaleby, Naworth, and Rose Castles.

178 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

The gatehouse here (c) is in good preservation ; the en-
trance is through a slightly pointed arch, and a passage eight
feet wide provided with stone seats on each side. Half-way
through, the passage is barred by massive oaken gates in two
leaves, doubly planked and studded with iron, and the top of
the gates taking the form of the arch. The doors are of old
work, the hinges are doubly strapped, and hang on oak posts
at the sides ; there is a small wicket in one of the doors.
There is a porter's lodge on the ground floor, and a guard
room above with low mullioned windows.

Of the enceinte wall which formerly surrounded the
inclosure, there are several yards standing adjoining the gate-
house ; the battlements are gone, but the rampart walk, 4
feet wide, remains, with a flight of steps up to it ; the height
is about 12 feet.

In the centre of the inclosure is the tower. It is oblong in
plan, 45 feet by 30 feet, with a square projecting garde robe
turret at the north-east angle ; it contains three stories. The
walls are stript of ornamental work, and densely covered with
ivy, so that there is an absence of any detail from which to
derive positive information.

A well stair at the south-east corner, partly in the thick-
ness of the wall, and partly encroaching into the interior,
ascends from below through the first floor or the solar to the
top of the tower ; at the head of the stair are the remains of a
little turret giving access to the battlements.

A peculiarity about this tower which is seen nowhere else,
is that the two vaulted cellars into which the basement is
divided (b and n) are separated by a passage 4 feet wide, run-
ning right through the structure from side to side ; this tunnel
(marked e) has a pointed vault. The passage gave access
from the lower hall to an outside wailed inclosure (a), some
40 feet square, into which cattle and horses may have been
driven for additional security. This tunnel is a very unusual
arrangement.

The two vaulted compartments are of equal size, 20 feet
long by 12 feet wide, with walls 4 feet 6 inches thick. All the
doorways below have the pointed arch in well dressed stone.
This prevalence of the pointed arch in the tower refers the

BURNESIDE HALL. I79

erection of it back to the fourteenth century, though modifica-
tions may have been made in the fifteenth century.

The first floor of the tower contained the lord's solar, which
can only now be entered by a ladder from the outside. It
must have been a fine chamber : about 35 feet by 20 feet, but
the details and framework of the windows are all gone. It
contains the remains of a built-up four-centred chimney
fireplace, probably a later insertion in Tudor times.

Above the solar was an apartment of similar dimensions.

The roof and battleijients are gone. Adjoining the tower
was the building which contained the common hall, originally
doubtless a stately apartment reaching from the ground level
to an open timbered roof. From the increasing refinement of
manners during the fifteenth century more accommodation
was required, and here, as at Levens, a floor was introduced
some 10 feet from the ground. The lower part served for the
use of the retainers, and above was the banqueting hall, 25
feet 6 inches by 22 feet. Above the fireplace, on the east
wall, at the time of MachePs visit in 1692, were stone shields
(Nos. 16 and 17 in his list) charged with a fesse and a
bordure, the other with a bordure alone, which bearings are
now effaced by weathering and whitewash.

From the dais end of the hall a door communicated with
the solar of the tower. The oak screen in this apartment is a
fine piece of wood carving, and is well preserved ; it is of the
sixteenth century, and is very massive, with a heavy cornice
and very deeply recessed panels.

This part of the house has been considerably altered to fit
it for a modern residence. To the south of the hall was the
withdrawing room, originally a handsome apartment (marked
D on the plan), about 23 feet by 18 feet. It has had an orna-
mented plaster ceiling, similar to one seen at Levens ; it is
worked in large quatrefoils, and within each of them is the
pattern of the vine, with leaves and grapes, treated in the
usual way.

Extending eastward from the withdrawing room was a
long chaml)er 24^ feet by 14 J feet, with a decorated window
in the east wall, and containing traces of fresco decoration.
This may have been the domestic chapel, and is marked f in

THE OLn MANORIM,

TSTMORLAND.

the plan. The kitchen at this period of the history of the
building was at the south-west corner (marked g in the plan).
The earliest spelling of Burneshcad was Bronolmsheved,
possibly from the personal name Bijorni, or Burn. This
seems the more likely derivation of the name of the place
Ihan that suggested by Machel and Nicolson and Burn,
from its vicinity to the stream. The word "beck" was
always applied in Westmorland for such a stream, and not
the word "burn," which is universal in Northumberland and
Scotland.

APPENDIX.
Machel gives drawings, partially tricked and partially
supplemented by written description, of 17 coats-of-arms at
Burneside Hall : —

I. — Dcacribed below in Machel'a notes.

a. — Being Braithwaite impaling Williamson.

3. — Braithwaile impalinfi Bindloss, viz., quarterly per fesse

indented and per pale Or and Gules; on a bend Azure B

cinquefoJl between two marlletn nf the first.
4. — Braithwaile (differenced by a crescent) impaling Genaon

Argent on a chevron Sable, three cross crasslets Or.
5' — Bradley, sable a fesse and a border engrailed, in chief a mullet

between two cross crnsslets Or, impaling Braithwaile.
6. — Benson (ut supra) impaling Braithwaite.
7. — Briggs (Baruly, Or and Sable, a canton of the first) impaling

Braithwaite.
8. — Braithwaite impaling Dalslon, a chevron engrailed between

three daws heads, no colour.
g. — Braithwaite impaling Lawson, as in Machel'a notes below.
10. — Lamplugh, Or a cross fieury Sable, impaling Braithwaite.
II. — Barton, as in Machel'a notes below, impaling Braithwaite.
12. — Salkeld, vert fretly argent, impaling Braithwaite.
13. — Brisco, three greyhounds courant (nn colour), impaling

Braithwaite.
14, — Askough, as in Machcl's notes below, impaling Braithwaite.
15. — Braithwaite impaling Penruddock, as in Machel's notes below.
16. — A shield having a fcssc and a. border.
17, — A shield with a border.

I

» i-: :■ K'rf^SZ

- - J

-BuRNESiDE W*.

Cfi_m£_ ft*fl aJLft-'i!.

^ V >r ^rn

BURNESIDE HALL. l8l

Machel's drawing of No. i shows it in an oval compart-
ment with the date 1628 under it. Machel's notes are as
follow : —

" I. The ist is in ihe new Dineing RooniE, Gules a chevron

Argenl charged wiih 3 cross crosslels sable in chief for distinc-
tion of a second House a Crescent Or. The bust a greyhound seiant
Arg, collar Or, Leased Gules by the name of Urailhwaite. All the
rest (except the 2 last wch are in stone above the Hall chimney} arc
in the gallery window, and hiive all compartments about them and
Inscrijitions under them like the coate marked a wch is Braithwaite
impaleing Williamson who Bears Argenl between three Trefoils slipt
a Chevron engrailed charged with three Crescents Or. The gth
Braithwaite impaling a Quarterly Coat whereof the ist and 4(h
Argsnt a chevron between 3 martlets Sable by the name of Lawson.
The iilh Barton bears (if this be right) Quarterly 1 ermine on a fess
gules 3 annulets Or the znd Paly of six Arg and veri, the three gulea
between 2 bends or fie arg 3 Lioncels pt arg the 4 gulch a chevron
Arg charged with 3 harts inter 3 fleur-de-lis Or. The 14th is Sable a
fess Or inter three horses sistant Argent by the name of Askew,
The i6ih impaled with Quarterly i Gules a ragged staff Argent, 2
Sandford a Bore's head Or. 3 Sable 6 annulets Or perhaps
Lowther. 4 a fesse between 3 martlets. The 17 may seem have
been the arms of John Machel in a Border. Taken zo July ifigz".

In the margia are the following notes:^

" In the old Parlour or Dineing room a.e ye same with the 3d and
gth upon the wainscot, and the same with the ist in Plaster with a
Crescent & the year of our Lord 1641. "

" In the Hall upon small diamond quarries ofglas are two coates
the same with the isl charged with a Crescent. "

" And also the same with the coat marked 3 wavy for ita crest a
Demy Horse Couped with a Diical flaurishc 1 Collar Azure Belonging
Bindloss of Borrick."

So it is certain that most of this heraldic glass was set up
in these rooins after Burneshead came into the [wssession of
the Braithwaites of Ambleside in the sixteenth century.

s OF WESTMORLAND.

SIZERGH CASTLE.

Amongst the residences of the knightly families around
Kendal none were of greater importance during the middle
ages than Sizergh, the seat of the Stricklands. Sizergh
Castle is situated on rising ground on the right bank of the
Kent three miles below Kendal. It is a place of remarkable
interest, and still continues to he the residence of the ancient
family. '-

On commencing the description of an old manorial place
one is induced first to speculate as to the derivation of the
name.

In old deeds up to a certain period the word was commonly
spelt Siresergh or Strtsergr. Mr. Strickland has kindly shown
me the MS. abstracts of the various deeds in his possession,
which commence at the twelfth century, which abstract was
made about a hundred years ago, by Mr. Thomas West, the
author of the " Antiquities of Furness."

In the first deed, time of Richard I.. William de Lancaster
grants to Gervaise de Ainecuria (Deincourt) lands at " Sigar-
iih-ergt." So that from this orthography it might be inferred
that the first part of the name might have been derived from
some old Danish thane called " Sigaric," who had been de-
spoiled of the possession.

There are several places near here besides Sizergh which
have the same suffix " crgh," such as Naynsergh, Skelsmergh,
Mansergh near Kirkby Lonsdale. By extending the enquiry
further afield, we find quite a considerable number of places
in adjacent parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire having the
suffix ergh or argh conjoined with personal names, such as
Grimsergh, Freisergh, Strasergh, Goosenargh, Mosergh, so
that this terminal must mean some common object.

1

I

• Tlie followinit account of Siierfih is reprinted vttcy nearly as it was delivered
. the viiit of the Cumberland and Westmorland Society to that place in July,

88, and as it appeared in the Transactions of that Society, vol. ■. Mr. John

my special thanks are
„.3nd lor his permlsaon

ivondivnrk and panellinj;.

SI2ERGH CASTLE. 183

*'Ergh " is considered by Mr. Whitaker in his ** History of
Whalley " to be equivalent to the Swedish ARF (terra) a
field or ploughed land, which if the last letter is pronounced
gutturally is precisely the same with ** argh/* *

Be this as it may, it appears from the deed referred to that
at the end of the twelfth century this manor was apportioned
to the Norman de Aincourt, which name by the Saxon speak-
ing occupiers of the soil naturally became contracted into
Deincourt. Here probably this Norman family had residence
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Such residence may
have been on the same site, but it certainly was not in this
tower, which is of later construction.

In 1239 the manor of Sizergh passed by marriage of the
heiress Elizabeth Deincourt to William de Strickland of
Great Strickland in the parish of Morland.

The first of the name of Stirkeland is met with in the reign
of King John ; and the Stirkelands continued to hold lands
and possessions extensively in the bottom of Westmorland,
at Great Strickland, Hackthorpe, Whale, Lowther, and
Barton parishes ; and they seem to have held residence and
court there for a long period after Sizergh came into the
family. But in the thirteenth century the barons and other
large proprietors who might own several estates moved
periodically from place to place to look after their interests
and draw their supplies, and frequently changed their abode
from one domicile to another.

In the ninth of Edward III. Sir Walter Stirkland had
licence granted to inclose his wood and demesne lands at
Siresergh, and to make a park there, so that we may assume
that some kind of suitable habitation stood here at that time,
viz., 1336. In 1362 a patent was granted to his son Thomas
to impark his woods at Helsington, Levens, and Hackthorpe,
containing 300 acres, for his good service done in parts of
France. So that about this period the Stirklands were
evidently taking more and more interest in their possessions

* The Kev. J. C. Atkinson considers the suffix ergh to be the Rame as horgh or
horghum, an altar of stone. Sizergh is therefore Sigarith's altar. See — The
Arch(rolnpical Rrview, vol. i., pp. 432-33.

in the valley of the Kent. This Thomas died about the li
year of Edward III.'s reigti, 1377. 1 think it is qn
: thai this Thomas, in liis later years, may have bi
the builder of the present pele lower.

The attempt to assign a date to a building of this descri]
lion must, however, be determined by a scrutiny of such
parts as we may htt assured belong to the original structure;
by the examination of the proportions given to the arches, by
the character of the window lights, and above all by the styia
of the mouldings and ornaments.

Having undertaken to be your conductor on this occasion^
it shall be my endeavour, as we proceed to note the succes-
i stages of transformation of this splendid old place, to
point out details which may perhaps appear prosy and
nihcant, but which nevertheless are more or less important i£
we wish to attain its true antiquarian history.

The opportunity for the inspection of Sizergh which has
been afforded to our Society by Mr. Strickland — with so much
goodwill and liberality and sympathy with our work — I shall
try to turn to account, by completing a description of the
different sections of the building as they pass under view at
certain points; though by this plan an occasional chronologi-
cal conlusion may ensue, which would have been avoided if
this paper had been prepared solely for publication in our
Transactions. I take this opportunity of stating how much
I have been indebted to the plan which Mr. Curwen, of Ken-
dal, has drawn to scale with great care and precision."

I will not touch upon the history of the family. The history
of the Stricklands is a big subject, and the Society has been
promised an exposition of it under the erudite authorship of
Mr. Bellasis, Lancaster Herald. +

In proceeding through the structure we shall find that it
follows the usual progression of epochs which are manifested
by most old manorial halls in the north of England, these

• Siirrrh, No. 3. By John F. Curwen, Traittiiclioni Camtcrland and H'«
mnrlaml AititiuaTiBH and ATrli<ealtif:Ual Siieicly, vol. »., p. 66.

t SlritkUnd if Sizefgh. By k. Belliiu, Xanculcr Herald. TruMnatlim
Cvvi^trltiml and treilmurlaud Aulii/uariaa Had Archimjaniciil Sudrli/, tol. »

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SIZEBGH CASTLE. 185

Stages of growth being : isl, the tower house ; 2nd, the hai! :
3rd, the Elizabethan adjuncts. I shall not take into account
the eighteenth century additions, comprising the modern
entrance and external facade, which were projected on the
north-west front in 1770.

THE TOWER.

The tower of Sizergh has been reared according to the
usual type of the larger Border peles. The measurement
is 60 feet by 39I feet, and the long axis lies north-west and
south-east ; its height is about 60 feet. It is a massive
rectangular structure of plain rubble, without any ashlar
masonry except at the openings ; it is built from the founda-
tion stones without plinth, set-off, or string course, except
two courses of weather moulding, just under the crenellated
parapet, which has a slight projection but no machicolations.
On the middle of the long axis of the building, on the western
side, there is attached a turret 20 feet 6 inches broad, with a
projection of 12 feet, which is carried up about 10 feet higher
than the tower itself, and is surmounted also by a battle-
mented parapet ; it contains small square apartments and
closets on each floor communicating with the main tower,
and a cell on the basement which appears to have been a
dungeon. On the north corner, on the eastern side, a newel
staircase runs right up the building in the thickness of the
wall, which has here a projected buttress to give it additional
strength and width.

Of the windows, some have been interfered with, and some
still present the original features. At every change of style,
both in Ecclesiastical and Domestic Architecture, there has
been a disposition to alter the window openings in an ancient
structure, mostly with a view of affording more light. Thus
from the fifteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century,
the line of alteration was a widening of the windows in an
horizontal direction, whilst during the last 150 years the ten-
dency has been for enlargement in the vertical direction, to
accommodate the modern innovation of the sash-window. We
are only now discovering that this is an a?sthetic mistake in a
certain class of domestic dwellings, and we are endeavouring.

rS6 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

with some success, to amend it. Thus the insertions which
you find here with the columnar arrangement, with its super-
structure and semicircular pediment, mark the taste of the
Georgian era of 1770 : of similar windows there are several
examples in the neighbouring town of Kendal.

On the second story of the tower we find the windows with
arched heads, filled in with trefoils and cusps, and divided by
mullions into three lights, and surmounted by a square label
with mouldings. But, as is usual, it is on the top story of
these peles that the original features are best preserved, so it
is in this tower of Sizergh, wo find an indication which might
take us back into the fourteentli century, For here we have
a small window on the north-west front, under an ogee arch,
with the heads trefoiled and feathered, recessed deeply into
the wall with moulded jambs. Below this window there is
an escutcheon set diagonally under an arched and deeply
recessed canopy, ornamented with pinnacles and crockets,
with a coat-of-arms, Demcourt quartering Strickland, and on
the helm the holly bush for a crest.' Several of the minor
openings in the tower present original features of loop holes,
slits, and smali rectangular lights.

As is the invariable rule in the Border peles, the basement
chamber consists of a massive barrel-vaulted cellar. The
interior measurement is 46 feet by 21 feet 6 inches, but in this
example it is divided by a cross-wail, no doubt a part of the
original design, into two vaults, one rather larger than the
other. This partition of the cellar by a thick wall is an
arrangement which obtains in some keeps of the larger
castles, and in a few of the Border towers ; we have it at
Clibiirn Hall, it exists in the tower at Levcns, and at Burne-
side there are two walls across the cellar of the tower, with an
open gangway between them. The walls have a minimum
thickness of seven feet, and are pierced with six loops widely

I

SIZERCK CASTLE, 187

splayed within, two on each of the longer sides and one on
each of the shorter.

The outer entrance was at the foot of the spiral staircase
on the north-west side, through the wall which is here g feet
6 inches thick, by a low doorway with a semicircular arch, the
angle of the stones being pared off with a wide chamfer. A
straight narrow passage leads by a similar doorway into the
vaulted cellar, and midway in the thickness of the wall there
is a narrow pointed arched doorway giving entrance to the
newel stair. In the inside of all these arches there is a rebate
to receive the massive doors, and a vertical slit into which to
slip an iron drawbar. In the thick wall dividing the vaults of
the cellar, we find an acutely pointed doorway which in style
may be referred back to the Decorated period. It is a fine
two-centred pointed arch, recessed in the wall, with hollow
and round mouldings continued down the jambs, surmounted
with a round moulded dripstone following the shape of the
ardi, terminating in a short return.

It has been assumed repeatedly in descriptions of Border
peles that the vaulted sub structure was used as a place of
safety for horses and cattle on the occasion of any raid on the
place. I could never quite see how this could be. The low-
ness of the doorway would hardly admit of the ingress of the
powerful, proud -crested destrier or war horse, and the
narrowness of it would present an obstacle to the entry of the
long-horned cattle, which probably was the breed which sup-
plied the draught oxen used in this part of the country in
those days. Hesides, comparatively a small number of quad-
rupeds could be accommodated under the vaulted space, and
their presence there would confound and hamper the defence
of the place under circumstances requiring desperate resist-
ance. No, the cellar was mostly occupied as the store for the
meal and flour, salted meat and fish, and provisions for the

(icison. The horses would be stabled, and the stock penned
i securely as might be in the barmkin, but well within
B bowshot of the tower,
i newel stair gave access to the first story. Judging
from the arrangement in similar structures, it is possible that
during the earlier period of Hfe in the pele this space may

IGb THE OLD MAKORUL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

have constituted a great liall, 48 feet by 24 feet, forming the
house-place and dining or living-room, and at night a sleep-
ing floor for the retainers and defenders of the castle. Subse-
quently, after a regular hall was erected in the fifteenth
century, the partition wall, whicii you now see cased in
wainscot, may have been reared on the line of the cross wall
in the vaulted chamber, to divide the space as now into two
apartments. This wall is not carried higher than the first
story.

Now, all the attributes of the ancient occupation of this
floor are gone, and we have before us a sumptuous example
of two apartments, in which survive, in a manner unequalled,
the gorgeous adornments and furnishings of the Elizabethan
period. The one division is the present drawing-room of the
mansion, and the other is known as Queen Katherine Parr's
room, or "Queen's Chamber."

In the first room the opening of the fireplace presents the
low depressed arch of the Tudor period, the lintel cut in a
single stone with the lines rising straight to an angle, sur-
rounded with round and hollow mouldings, and plain
hexagonal shields cut in the spandrels. Above is a deeply
carved and very ornate wood over-mantel of the ciaque cento
period, the jambs being formed of half-length male figures
with beards, bearing on their heads baskets of fruits and
flowers ; over the shelf the woodwork is divided by pilasters
into a large central and two side compartments containing
shields with the family arms ; the central escutcheon bears
quarterly: I, Strickland; 2, Deincourt; 3, Neville; 4,
Ward ; crest, on a helm a holly bush ; supporters, a stag and
a bull : the spaces are filled in with deep cut scroll work and
foliage, with the date 1564. All round the room the wainscot
reaches to the ceihng, and is in the small oblong panels with
solid moulded styles and rails pegged together of the early
Elizabethan pattern.

The adjoining bedchamber, with the superb chimneypiece
and hangings of tapestry, is called the " Queen's room." In
the sixteenth century casing the walls in wainscot superseded
10 a great extent the employment of tapestry, which during
the fifteenth century had attained its climax as a mural

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SI2ERGH CASTLE. I89

decoration. The use in this way of embroidered cloth and
tapestry goes back to the twelfth century ; at first it was con-
fined to the hangings behind the lord's seat and dais of the
hall, and as "dorsers" and "bankers'' of the seats of the
chief guests. But so much did the fashion increase, that no
longer couhl the industry and nimble fingers of the ladies of
the family produce in sufficient abundance the favourite cm-
broideries of the period, So that the loom came to be applied
to its production, and the woven fabrics of Flanders and
France became celebrated.

The tapestry hung in this apartment is woven in worsted,
and was made at Beauvais ; there are several pieces, repre-
senting forest scenery, hunting episodes, and men on horse-
back, boar hunts, hon hunts, etc. : there are also five other
pieces in the entrance lobby, illustrating the story of Anthony
and Cleopatra. I cannot say what the age of this tapestry
may be, but Mr. Strickland informs me thai it was sent to
Sizergh by Thomas, son of the sixteenth in descent, who
lived at the end of the seventeenth century, and who was for
many years Bishop of Namur.

The stone fireplace is of the usual Tudor style with the
outer mouldings formed into a square over the arch ; it is
flanked with wood pillars balustered at the bottom, running
into circular fluted shafts, with Corinthian capitals. These
carry a massive boldly carved over-mantel containing three
compartments, and a cornice, divided and upheld by an
arrangement of four pillars, similar in design. The central
panel contains the arms of France and England quartered,
surmounted with the high arched royal crown. The other
spaces are filled in with masks, cornucopia, and the Tudor
rose. Above, inscribed on a scroll, is " Vivat Regina," and a
date — 1564. In the treatment of the heraldic achievement,
some licence allowable in the craft has been taken by the
wood carver.

Katherine Parr was born at Kendal Castle, being one of
the two daughters of Sir Thomas Parr, and it is quite likely
that during some part of her career she may have been a
l^st here, and occupied these rooms. Already the widow of
jtwo husbands, she married King Henry VIII. in 1543, being

190 THB OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

then 34 years of age, and eminent for beauty. The King
died in January, i547» and the Queen, after a very brief
widowhood, was hastily married to Lord Seymour, the
brother of the Protector ; she died in September, 1548,
at Sudely, in Gloucestershire. By the account given by
Miss Agnes Strickland of her proceedings during that short
interval, it is very improbable that she had time to journey to
the north after the King*s death. All the elaborate decora-
tions in these apartments, which we now see are of a date
sixteen years subsequent to the death of the Queen.

All the woodwork in these rooms, as is confirmed by the
dates on it, was put up during the lifetime of Sir Walter
Strickland, the thirteenth in descent, who reigned here as
lord for 31 years ; he was a minor at his father*s death and
in ward to the King, and had livery of his lands in the
twenty-ninth of Henry VIII., 1538, and died in the eleventh
of Elizabeth, 1569.

It was by right of this lord's mother that we find the arms
of Neville and Ward on shields on some parts of the building,
she being daughter and heiress of Sir Ralph Neville in the
county of York, by his wife, daughter and co-heiress of Sir
Christopher Ward. In the early part of his career this Sir
Walter served with distinction throughout the harrowing
warfare and cruel inroads which prevailed along the Western
Marches, between England and Scotland during the latter
years of Henry VIII., until the cessation of hostilities during
the Protectorate of 1550.

Soon after this time this Walter set to work for the
enlargment and beautifying of Sizergh, for it was he also who
built the wings forming the sides of the quadrangle, and the
date appearing there, 1558, announces their completion.

Second Story,

The old ascent by the spiral stair leads to the second story,
which presents a space of exactly the same dimensions as the
floor below, without any wall or division, though a room
is cut oflf by a partition of waiilscot. This area during
the rudimental period, when the tower was the only stone
structure, may have been called the ** lord's chamber,'* or

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L J. V. c:

SIZERCH CASTLE.

council room. It is now called the banqueting room, and
possibly during the Elizabethan period it may have been so
used on great occasions after the alteration and abandon-
ment of the great hall. On the north-west side there is an
original window divided by heavy niullions into three lights,
which are trefoil -headed and cusped : opposite there is a
wide window with four lights, with segmental heads, divided
by chamfered niullions and transoms. The doorways in the
room are: — one to the spiral stair, one into a little square
apartment contained in the turret, and one to a garderobe
closet ; they present the pointed arch with a chamfer.
There is a large fireplace of the Tudor period on the east
side.

A portion of this hall is now partitioned off by wainscot to
form a very highly enriched apartment on the south front,
which is called the " Inlaid Chamber." This bedroom is 24
feet by 19 feet, and is panelled throughout from the floor to
the cornice of the richly embellished plaster ceiling. The
details of the designs in this room deserve particular illus-
tration, which they have received from Mr. Curwen. The
wainscot is divided by pilasters into bays containing a
framework of panelling with a profusion of mitred mouldings,
and embellished with an interlacing pattern of inlaid strips of
black and white woods, which are said to be fossil oak and
holly.

Those who have followed the meetings of our Society have
had opportunities of inspecting various examples of the beau-
tiful plaster work which came to be the vogue for the
ornamentation of ceilings in the Elizabethan period. We
have seen specimens at Penrith, Yanwath, Barton, Hornby,
Levens, and other halls. You have an illustration of this
kind of work in this room, and it is presented to us in a
perfectly fresh and good condition. As is usual, the pattern
is geometrical, and is repeated in a scries of similar compart-
ments. As is often adopted, the form on which the
geometrical figures turn is a central octagon, with long and
short sides, having eight ribs converging to a pendent in the
centre : all the spaces are marked uut by boldly moulded
ribs, and arc filled in by a series of emblems in relief, such as

192

THK OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

the fleur-de-lys and acorn, an animal resembling the goat, the
stag collared and chained, and shields exhibiting the saltire
and cross flory.

The fireplace is a plain stone Tudor arch, under a square-
headed moulding with carved shields in the spandrels. The
bedstead in the room is contemporaneous, and presents the
same kind of embelHshment as distinguishes the woodwork
of the apartment. Notice the panelling of the l>ed-head,
flanked by caryatides figures, and the richly carved cornice
with a shield bearing quarterly the arms of Strickland, Dein-
court, Neville, and Ward, the crest of the holly bush on a
helm, and the date of 1568; the two front posts are very
massive, in (he lower part being wrought on the square, in
three stages of deeply recessed panel work, and continued
into a fluted pillar set round at the base with the acanthus
leaf and cherub heads, and surmounted by a Composite
capital. Notice that these posts stand quite detached from
the bedstock. This last feature is worthy of remark, as it
manifests the last transition step to the well-known four-
poster of the eighteenth century.

Our ancestors in the fourteenth century were content with
sleeping provisions of a very simple and unobtrusive nature ;
after the supper tables on tressels were cleared and " turned
up" in the common hall, the house-folk for the most part
ranged on shakedowns on the rush-strewn floor ; the ladies
retired to "ye bowere," and the lord to his "chamber." It
was quite usual, even in the case of distinguished guests, to
have two or more persons sleeping in one room. One or more
couch bed-frames stood on the floor, with truckle or trundle
beds wheeled underneath, which might be moved out at night
for ths use of others. A certain amount of snugness and
privacy was no doubt imparted by "noble worsted hangings"
and "comely curtynes" suspended on rails from the wall.
The next improvement in the bedstead was the supplement
of a "cellure" or roof, or corniced canopy, ornamented it
might be with carving and the emblazoned arms of the
possessor, and hung with rich fringes and embroidered
brocade. The back and canopy were fixed to the wall or to
the ceiling of the apnrtment. A step further was the erection

SIZERGH CASTLE.

193

within the room of a square tent, supported by four corner
posts, and the bed-franie was placed within, quite detached,
leaving a space within it and the surrounding posts and
curtains. In the sixteenth century the four-posted and stand-
ing bedstead became frequent in the houses of the wealthy,
and you see an example of it here in its transition state.

Third Slory.

There is but one room now on the third story of the tower,
for you may notice that the portion of the ceiling which
covered the larger area of the banquet hall is gone. The
approach is by the spiral stair and an open gallery. The
chamber we are about to visit is the proverbial "haunted
room" of the castle: it is redolent of ghosts, supernatural
sounds are heard, the boards won't lie quiet in their places,
the hair of the deceased lady still clings to the wall, all the
attributes are there of a very respectable ghost-chamber!

But Co us as antiquaries it is most interesting, as presenting
in its dismantled and half-ruinous condition many of its
original features. There is a fourteenth century window
here ; a small ogee opening, deeply recessed into the wall, of
two lights, with trefoiled and feathered heads, with stone
seats opposite each other in the recess. Here the ladies of
the family might sit and converse (for this really was the
ladies' boudoir, or "bowere") and find light to spin or
wind the distaff, or ply the nimble needle on some em-
broidered quilt or baudekin. The only other lights are two
Utile square peepholes in the wall.

The timber roof and the peculiar style of flowing here
displayed are vestiges which carry us well back to the four-
teenth century. The method of laying the flooring boards is
well worthy of notice. The floor is upheld by solid oak joists,
on the average about a foot square, along the length of the
room at intervals of 12 or 15 inches ; there is a rebate on
each side of the joist into which the coarse oaken planks
which form the Door are laid in parallel with the joists, and
not crosswise. This is a survival not often met with ; we
have seen it m the ladies' chamber on the top story of the

194 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLE OF WESTMORLAND.

tower at Yanwath, where the oak slabs are fitted into rebated
joists, which again are tenoned on a central beam, running in
a transverse direction.

The roof, which takes the bearing of the leaden covering
outside, is open and depressed at a very obtuse angle ; it is a
tie-beam and trussed roof of five compartments, the principal
timbers, as well as the purlins and rafters, are enriched with
mouldings. It is a fairly good example of the style prevailing
in Henry VII. 's lime (of which a considerable number still
exist in the country), though many had to give way to the
feeling in the Renaissance in favour of flat plaster ceilings.

There are a few steps leading up to a small room contained
in the turret, lighted by two loops. The closet equivalent to
this one leading out of the ladies' chamber occurs in many
Border towers, and I have frequently found it to have been
an oratory, and it may have been so here.

Top of the Towtr.

It is worth while to ascend the spiral stair to the top of the
tower, from which is obtained a fine view of the valley of the
Kent, and you may note the original provisions of the upper
or fighting deck of a Border pele. The three sides of the main
tower are crenellated all round, and the coping, with a bold
round moulding and splay, is continued over the merlons and
embrasures, of which there are six on the longer sides. A
flight of open steps leads up to the platform of the lateral
turret, which forms the highest watch tower ; this has an in-
terior area of ig feet 6 inches by 13 feet 6 inches; the parapet
has four embrasures on one side and three on the other, and
it is projected slightly from a moulded corbelled course, but
without any attempt at machicolation. Under the platform
of the turret is a guard room for the defenders.

The chimneystack invariably received some decorative
treatment in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries : here it is
an octagonal shaft widened out below into a succession of
squares, and the top is ornamented with the favourite battle-
mented cornice, which we have seen at the halls of Clifton,
Yanwath, and other places.

BIZERCH CASTLE.

THE HALL,

We have now finished the description of the pele tower,
and I think we shall be right to assume, judging from ob-
servations of similar structures elsewhere, and from the
evidences afforded in the basement, that originally, and for
some limited period, this lower stood alone as the defensive
fortalice of the lords of Sizergh. The moat and external
defences must have embraced a considerable area to
the north and east, within which enclosure no doubt were
clustered other buildings and ofEces, but these most likely
would be timber erections.

But the time came when considerations of a purely military
character had to give way to the increasing desire for an ex-
tension of domestic conveniences, so that here, as we have
found frequently elsewhere in the North, the wooden houses
within the enceinte gave place to a substantial stone structure;
that is, a hall built up against one side of the pele tower. The
halt here was erected in the fifteenth century, probably in the
time of Henry VI,, but successive alterations have destroyed
its integrity. There is just sufficient remaining of the original
walls of the substructure and at the back of the central block
to enable us to speculate as to what may have been pretty
nearly the original features of the old hall.

The hall stood on the ground level, and was most probably
of lofty proportions, and with an open timber roof. It occu-
pied the central block, and was recessed 13 feet from the
tower; it was 40 feet long, and — exclusive of the bay^about
20 feet wide. At the dais end is the circular-headed doorway
already referred to as being the original entrance to the pele ;
at the other end, on the north-east side, there is an original
outside doorway leading into the courtyard ; it has a pointed
arch with a plain chamfer, it is 3 feet 6 inches wide, with ft
rebate for the door on the inside. At the end of the hall,
on the "screens," there is a doorway into the wing. There
are now only two small window openings visible, but in the
period we are referring to the greater windows would range
high up in the wall, above the ceiling of the low cellar in
which we find these vestiges. The great large opening of the
fireplace is still here.

igt 7Hi£ oLu Manorial halls of wbstmokland.

It is evident that contemporaneously with the building o£
the hall, there was projected from it at the north-east end
another small square tower, having attached to it, with a pro-
jection of 12 feel, a turret, probably containing a staircase lo
give access to its chambers. The elements of defence have
been regarded here, and I have reason to think that the
original approach to the building was at that corner — near
where the present outer archway stands. In the interior the
tower presents on the basement a barrel-vaulted chamber ii
feet by 14 feet ; it has a pointed arched doorway at the en
trance, the walls are 5 feet 6 inches thick, and it has i
narrow slit moderately splayed ; from this vaulted porch there
is an opening into the hall.

Various alterations have been made at this end of the hall |
during the early Elizabethan period, when the great outside J
wings were built. On the ground floor, in what is now the
servants' hall, you see a very fine Tudor fireplace and some
exquisite woodwork and panelling- Immediately above this
is the beautiful bedroom known as the Boynton chamber.
The oak casing is in a peculiar style of wainscot, with
lozenge -shaped mouldings mitred on the panels, which are
divided into bays by fluted pilasters. The over-mantel is a
highly- finished piece of woodwork, filled in with scrolls and
figures, with a shield of ten quarterings without crest or sup-
porters ; the bedstead with tester roof and two posts is
coeval. The date of the work in this chamlier is 1575. Sir
Walter, the thirteenth in succession, died in the nth of
Elizabeth, 1569, and his widow married Sir Thomas Boynton,
and again became a widow, and appears to have lived here
as Lady Alice Boynton during the minority of her son. Sir
Thomas, up to 1587 ; hence the name of the Boynton
chamber.--

The present dining room, which is on the same floor,
presents a similar style of Renaissance decoration, wainscot
reaching to the ceiling, the panels overlaid with moulding in
the form of a broad lozenge ; on the chimney mantel, with

r diiiiigns futlowed In Ihc ]

I

5IZBRGH CASTLE. I97

fluted pilasters and classic capitals, a coat-of-arms with six'
teen quarterings, having as supporters a stag collared and
chained, and a bull with a mullet on the shoulder. There is
a plain flat plaster ceiling divided into square compartments
by wooden ribs. This room is of the date of Sir Thomas, who
has just been referred to as the son of Lady Boynton,

The finest piece of wainscoting in the castle is in the ante-
room adjoining the dining room ; the pattern, at all events, Is
of much earlier date than any we have hitherto seen. It is of
the time of Henry VII, It consists of moulded rails and
styles, inclosing rather small panels, on which is worked on
the solid, a pattern presenting a series of folds and billets,
which have a very rich effect.

THE ELIZABETHAN WINGS,

Lastly we come to the next great enlargement of Sizergb,
the building out of the wings which form the sides of the
quadrangle ; these were erected early in Elizabeth's reign by
Sir Walter, who was distinguished for his Border service in
Henty VIlI's time,

At or before this period the grand old hall of the fifteenth
century, in which lord and vassals had feasted in common,
had been sacrificed and divided into floors to provide addi-
tional accommodation. Now a kitchen and offices were built
out on one wing, with a range of sleeping apartments above,
and on the opposite side a vast dining place or refectory for
the household servants and military tenants and retinue,
which now goes under the name of the " barracks. " This is a
long room lighted with great windows muUioned and tran-
somed, and was separated from a range of attics above by a
flat boarded floor which is now gone. The large Tudor fire-
place remains.

There are three or four examples oi fine Elizabethan verge
or barge-boards on these gables, with open carved scroll work
with hip-knobs at the top and pendants at the lower ends.

One of the chambers in the wing is devoted to the use of a
chapel, in which I may be permitted to bring under your
notice a rare and valuable relic of early leather work. This

J 98 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

is the frontal to the altar and side tables ; it consists of three
hangings of sheets of leather on which are painted, with very
delicate handling and colouring, sacred subject • figures,
cherubs, the hoi}' monogram, and glories, sumptuously illu-
minated in burnished gold and sil\*er. The work is Italian,
and Mr. Strickland informs me that it was sent from Rome
during the pontificate of Eugenius IV. It is curious to find
that there is a bull ^-et extant of Pope Eugenius IV. dated
143 1, granting to Sir Thomas Strickland and Mabel his wife
licence for a domestic chapel and pK>rtable altar.

Of course all the larger castles in the north are either
partially or entirely moated, and this outer means of defence
was generall}' adopted even in those of the secondary class,
when the position of the site permitted the formation of a wet
ditch. The best examples 1 can give of moated fortresses of
this class are Kirkoswald, Dacre, Burneshead, Scaleby, and
Thurland Castles. Here, at Sizergh, the line of the ditch may
readily be traced on two sides of the efweinU ; it begins at
some little distance from the north-west angle of the tower,
where a pond now exists ; it proceeds along the north and
eastern sides, inclosing a considerable area, runs along the
hollow under the terrace, and was stopped at the south angle
of the tower.

And so we leave the precincts of this delightful old place ;
we have attempted to mark in its venerable walls the muta-
tions wrought by the requirements of different epochs, by the
progress of domestic life and civilization, by the changes of
thought and style ; in them, if we are so minded, we may
read the history of the life and customs of our sturdy
ancestors ; but amidst all these transformations its posses-
sion has clung to a brave and loyal family for over 500 years,
and whose descent has continued from father to son except
in one or two instances from brother to brother in an
unbroken line for twenty-four generations.

LEVENS HALL,

LEVENS HALL.

About five miles south from Kendal, lower down on the
banks of the Kent, is the castellated maneion of Levens Hall,
which possesses almost an equal interest with Sizergh on
account of the remarkable manner in which its domestic
Elizabethan features have been kept up to the present day,
and the exceptionally good example it still affords in its sur-
roundings of the Dutch system of ornamental gardening.
There are two ancient houses of this name ; one is the other
moiety of the manor on the opposite side of the river, called
Nether Levens, and this Upper or Over Levens, which
always seems to have been the greater of the two in im-
portance.

The name of Levens, which apears in Domesday Book as
" LefutHius," was at that time in the possession of Tosti, the
great Earl of Northumberland, from whom it passed to Roger
of Poictou. In 1188, Ketel {who then owned the manor),
sold off the moiety of it called Over Levens to Henry, son of
Norman de Redeman, and the other half, or Nether Levens,
passed from Ketel or his immediate successors into the hands
of a family of note who bore the local name of de Levens.

The Redemans were distinguished people. One Henry,
n the time of Henry II. (probably he who purchased the
property), was Seneschall of Kendal ; one Matthew, in the
teign of Henry 111., held the same office, and in subsequent
reigns others of the name represented the county as " Par-
liament men," The Redemans continued in their possessions
here for three hundred years, until 1490, when the properties
were sold to Alan, a son of the Bellinghams of Burneside
— originally a Northumbrian family. This Alan managed
to add to it numerous estates in Westmorland, and received,
in 1540, from Henry VIII. the Lumley fee, which con-
stituted a fourth part of the Barony of Kendal. All this
vast aggregation of wealth was dissipated and brought to
nought by another Alan, the last of the Bellinghams, who
died in 1690, He sold the Westmorland estates to a younger
brother of Sir Richard Graham of Netherby, Colonel James
Grabam, who was Privy Purse to Kiog James 11. Colonel

200 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Graham, after the fall of his royal master, retired to Levens,
added to and altered the buildings, and laid out the gardens
in the new Italian style then prevalent, under the direction of
a French gardener, M. Beaumont, who had been employed
at Versailles and Hampton Court.

Levens continues in the possession of the descendants of
Colonel Graham.

Thus for seven hundred years this hall has been in the
hands of three families only: the Redemans, the Belling-
hams, and Colonel Graham and his successors. Most of the
work which is now visible about the mansion was done about
the end of Elizabeth's reign by Sir James, one of the later
Bellinghams.

A very pleasing account of Levens Hall was given some
years ago in a paper by the late Canon Weston, Vicar of
Crosby Ravensworth, illustrated both by plans and his own
drawings of the building. '■ The subject was there so care-
fully and judiciously treated that I have not sought to go
over the ground again particularly myself, but have availed
myself of the details given in that paper.

Although from external appearance we might regard this as
an Elizabethan erection, yet a careful survey of the fabric
discloses an earlier phase in its architectural history, and
carries us back to the occupancy of the Redemans. This was
well pointed out by Canon VVeslon.

The east end of the present mansion, though overlaid with
additions and bereft of its battlements, and having its distinc-
tive features disguised by sundry alterations, contains as a
core a Border pclo tower, which may be referred back to
early in the fourteenth century. The traces of this are found
in the vaulted cellars which form the basement chambers of
the lower. The internal measurement at the basement is 40
feel long by 17I feet wide, and yi feet high to the crown of
the tunnel arch. The space is divided by a cross wall into
two unequally-sized conipartnients, such as are frequently

■ Ltvrn' Hull, M'eitmorlattd. By Rev. C. F. Weilon, M.A., Vicar ofCnuby

Rivensworth. ^rrWMiral youroa'. vol. Jl"!.. p. « (18O9).

By the pecmlsE'kin of Ihr Ciiuncil of the Royal Archa^ologicBl Inslituli-, .ind
wilh the san«ion ot Mrs. We*lon thew dranmijs arc here reproducc-a.

LEVENS HALL. 20I

found in pele towers. The outer or smaller cellar was
entered from without by a doorway with a pointed arch
through a projecting turret at the north end of the tower, and
opposite to it, at the distance of six feet, there is another
narrow doorway in the massive wall of the tower itself. This
latter doorway presents the square trefoil head or Carnarvon
arch ; a similar doorway with the shouldered lintel exists in
the cross wall, and communicates with the larger vaulted
chamber. These are characteristic, and the same arrange-
ment exists at Cliburn, Dacre, and other fourteenth century
peles ; so that at that period the house of the Redemans
consisted of the usual rectangular keep.

Besides this there are indications that at a somewhat later
date the Redemans built on to the west side of the tower a
great common hall, as the Stricklands did at Sizergh, proba-
bly with an open timber roof such as still exists at Yanwath.
The dais with its windows would be at the east end next the
tower wall ; on the northern side were the outer entrance to
the hall, and at the west end the screens, with the kitchen and
offices, as are shown at Wharton and Middleton halls and
other instances. All these portions of the old structure have
disappeared. What is now the entrance hall of the mansion
stands on the foundations of the grand old dining place, which
after having endured possibly a century and a half, had to
give way to the great remodelling of the structure, which was
ill progress under Sir James Bellingham in Queen Elizabeth's
time. The lofty open -timbered hall in which the lord and
his vassals had been wont to sit together at meals, went far
to provide for the additional accommodation which changes
in custom required. It was divided into three stories by two
separate floors. The first was placed about eight feet from
the ground, giving room below for cellars and servants*
offices. Above this was the public banqueting hall, and on
the top story a suite of bedrooms.

The great reception or banqueting hall, as may still be
viewed, was a stately chamber of lofty proportions, with oak
panelling to the height of eight or ten feet from the floor, with
a flat ceiling blocked out in plaster work, and the interven-
ing spaces decorated in pargeting. Canon Weston describes

BB

202 THK ilLIl MA^ORIAL HALI.H Ol' WKSTMORLAND.

it r " The ceiling and the wall space between it and the pan-
elling, are enriched with elahorate plaster ornamentation
picked out with gilding and colour ; over the fireplace arc
thus represented the arms of Elizabeth, with the arms of the
Belhnghanis (argent three bugles or hunting-horns Sable
garnished and furnished Or) : on either side. A row of
shields, filling compartments of the walls and beginning from
the oriel window, show different alliances of the family. On
the first shield are the arms of BelUngham and of Burneshead
united. These arms occur on the dexter half of the next tliree
shields, while on the sinister are the arms of Gilpin of Kent-
mere (showing the marriage of i\lan, the purchaser of
Levens) and two others; on the fifth, sixth, and seventh
shields these arms are displayed on the sinister half, while
other arms occupy the dexter. Among the minor devices on
the ceiling and walls are: the Tudor badge, the rose sur-
mounted by a crown, the white and red roses of York and
Lancaster united, and the bugle-horn of the Bellinghams.
The stonework of the fireplace is of more recent insertion,
and is probably part of the farther alterations made towards
the end of another century by its then owner, Sir William.
Grahme. The original fireplace may be seen in the servants"
hall, a portion of the building certainly altered by him."

The spacious open oak staircase from the hall to the upper
floor (each step being a solid block of oak, now cased over),
with its characleri.itic bannisters, forms part of the Belling-
ham alterations. The present drawing-room occupies what
was in ruder times the lord's solar of the tower, but it has
been lengthened, and the boudoir, or library, has been added.
At the other end of the banquetting hall was placed the lord's
private dining room : on the panel-work over the fireplace
there are the initials J.B. and the date 1586.

The original decoration ol the wails of this chamber in Sir
James' time, was stamped and gilded leather of Spanish
workmanship, which 15 now to be seen in another part of the

At this end of the range near this apartment was the
domestic chapel, now converted into a bedroom.

The work of transformation at Levens extended (

LEVENS HALL.

number of years, as may be seen by inscriptions carved on
various places in the house. There are the initials and date
in the dining-room already referred to, and also the same with
the date 1595 on a very handsome oak chimreypiece in the
drawing-room. On the stone fireplace in the servants' hall
we have the J.B. and A.B., the initials, no doubt, of his wife
Agnes, daughter of Sir Henry Curwen of Workington.
Canon Weston points out :^"The same initials l.B..\., with
the date 1617, occurs on a piece of oak carving over the
panelwork that extends across the south end of the hall,
which it will be observed is of older date than the rest of the
panelwork, probably of Henry VIII. 's time, and will be
recognised as the old "screen," with its two doors of entry,
and which must have been removed from its original position
as a screen, probably by Sir James Uellingham, and placed
against the end wall to increase the size of the chamlier.
There is a screen of a very similar construction still in situ at
Bumeside Hall."

As was specially pointed out m the article on Sizergh, the
re-modelling and enlargement of that place had progressed
considerably before Levens was taken in hand, and it can
readily be observed from the similarity of plan and arrange-
ment, how closely Sir James followed the lines set out by his
neighbours Sir Walter and Thomas Strickland and Lady
Alice Boynton, in converting like them his pele tower and old
hall into a stately Elizabethan mansion.

The change of ownership from the Bellingham family to
Sir James Grahnie took place about the year 1690. About
that time sundry additions were made, and probably the
present entrance doorway inserted.

One of the works of Colonel Grahme was the laying out of
the pleasure grounds and gardens of his newly acquired pro-
perty in the fashionable style of the period, which arc still in
evidence showing its main features, and which have been
handed down almost exactly as first planned.

These gardens are in the style called "topiary," from the
"opus topiarium" of the Romans. These consist of long
straight walks, Iwrders, and sweeps of lawn, with trees and
shrubs, mostly yews, box trees, and hollies, clipped into

iuj rill-: OMi MANOK1AI.

It : " 'I'lii- crilini; iiiul the w
i-lliiiK, ;iir ciiridicd with
|iii1<i-il nut witli K'l*l'"n ""
lliir. ii'|it('S('iit[:(t the :irii)s >
Iti'lliiiKliaitis (ikrjfcnt thr.-i
i;,iuiiMli('t1 iiiul furnished ('
sliii'lils, tilhiij; aiiiiiiarlinciU
the niii-l wiiiiltiw, shiiw liiili
tluti..ashi<-I.I;Hvlli.-.in.i>
iiii;i.'.l. riK'si-anii^xciiir .
r.|l1.').ls, while on tllr Muist.
iiu'n- ^^l^^l^\ill(; ihc ui^iii ■
l.'v.iis^ .in.l t»o ollii'i-
shiil.is Ihfst- .iiiiis .in
.-tlui .ums.viHpylli.d
thi- iiiHhj; .itid \\.i\\> a
m.>miti\l !•>■ .1 tu'w:i. i
1 .iiUMsU'i united, :;ii'
rii." >t.>!'.fw.nk ot [■

[ LOW LEVENS.

NETHER OR LOW LEVENS.

This formed the other moiety of the manor of Levens,
which was sold by Ke'el or his successors to the family who
took the local name. The arms they bore were : — Argent on
a bend Sable three escallops of the field. The crest — a slip
of vine (in allusion to the name,) proper.

Next came the family of Prestons.

There are two townships in the Kendal district which from
the lime of Domesday have borne the name of Preston, from
their original Saxon appellation ; one l^reston Richard in the
parish of Heversham, and one large township in Burton and
ffolme, called Preston Patrick. We find a grant recited in
Dugdale," from Thomas, son of Gospatrick, who was grand-
son of Ketel, of certain lands within the baundaries of
Preston in Kendale for the endowment of the Premon-
straientian monastery there.

This was in the year iiig. The grandson of this Thomas,
son of Gospatrick, was named Patricius de Culwen, who was
ancestor to the Curwens of Workington, and from him was
probably derived the second portion of the name of Preston
Patrick. The canons soon after removed to Shap, and their
abbey and bnildings were founded there.

The unalienated portion of the manor of Preston Patrick,
as well as Preston fiichard, Heversham, Nether Levens, and
other places in Westmorland, were afterwards held by a
family bearing the local name of de Preston. These Prestons
continued as a puissant family in the country, having attained
the dignity ol baronets, until about the period of the Restora-
tion, when they ended in two daughters. Nether Levens
came by marriage of one of the coheirs to Herbert Lord
Montgomery, who sold it to Edward Wilson, Esq., of Dallam
Tower, about the year 1694.

In the account of the arms which he found at Under-
Levins hall, Machel notes the following in the dining-room :
Preston single; Preston impaling the coats of the several
bmilies of Curwen, Thornburgh, Redman, Bradley. The

206

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLj

only heraldic remains left now are on two diamond shaped
quarries of painted glass placed in the bay window of the
dining-room, containing the shields of Preston and of Wilson
of Dallam Tower,

Low Levens hall is situated on an elevated Bank on the
west side of the river Kent, from which it is only separated
by a narrow roadway. On this aspect there is still standing
several yards of the defensive curtain wall which inclosetl the
old fortified structure. The wall is twelve feet high, and
carries a rampart walk 3! feet wide, above which would rise
the breast-work, which is now gone. The old tower stands
in a line with the wall, and at the junction of the two was
placed the gateway to the courtyard, as the jambs and spring
of the arch are traceable at this point.

Like many other places in the district. Low Levena
exhibits remains of two different periods, one comprising a
jjortion of a building and of walling very much in ruins which
belong to the fourteenth century, and secondly the present
inhabited block, which is of the period of Henry VIII.

The ancient portion has consisted of a rectangular tower,
with an annexed projecting building, so as to give an L'
shaped plan. The walls of the east part of the tower arel
standing up to the second floor, but the openings are broken
down and the dressings gone, and the whole is covered ^
dense overhanging masses of ivy and shrubby growth,
walling consists of rough limestone rubble and boulders, and
is about three feet thick. Within has been a low cellar, but
apparently not vaulted; above this has been tlie principal
chamber, ig feet 6 inches in width within the walls, but the
length cannot be determined in consequence ol the oblitera-
tion of the returning angles at the other end. There was a
window opening to the east, and two to the south, on which
side also there is a fireplace with chimneyflue. At the ex-
treme west, in a line with the tower, an angle of the old wall
remains containing a large fireplace, which shows that the
whole block as it existed at this period extended to 60 feet.

So that this portion in the fourteenth century consisted ofa
rectangular pele tower about 25 feet in breadth, and probably
with a proportionate length of about 33 feet; outside the

I

^■^ -JETHER OR LOW LEVENS. 2O7

walls, and in a line with it, and giving the [_ shaped plan,
the usual dining hall, such as we see attached to towers at
Kentmere, Hazelslack, and other places in the neighbour-
hood.

When this old medisevai structure fell into decay and
became insufficient as a residence in Tudor times, a new
range of buildings was erected transversely, facing east ;iiid
west. This block extended to a distance of about loo feet, in
one plane, only broken by a porch turret of 15 feet projection
on the east front, and on the west front by a small square
turret and heavy projecting chimneystacks, as may be seen in
the view. The breadth of this range is 30 feet.

1

.itiae'

1 hf •. ,:.^

- ;'^«— --.-*^

The south end of the building is occupied by the dining
hall, a fine apartment 17 feet by ao feel. The principal
feature in the chamber is the large wide Tudor window which

r

2o8 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

lights the hall towards the east, as is shown in the photograph
below. This window is surmounted by a square dripstone
hollowed in cavetto, and consists of four lights with elliptic
heads. The mullions, jambs, and heads of the arches are
moulded with a shallow hollow. The casements, with the
diamond-shaped panes, have been renewed, but some glass
with the old Preston arms, and the arms of the Wilsons of
Dallam Tower, is still preserved.

The only other feature in this room is the chimney opening,
which is 9 feet ii inches in span, and consists of a built-up
four-centred arch, with a hollow cut on the edge all round.

As is often found in these old halls, there has been preserved
the massive framed oak table on six legs of the Renaissance
period ; also leading out of the hall to the upper floor, an old
oak staircase in four flights, with square moulded handrail
and turned bannisters and pedestals. A passage runs along
the length of the remainder of the house, giving access to the
various rooms, in which there is nothing demanding notice.
Some of the walls in the house are 4! and 5 feet thick.

The back or the west side of the house, of which is given a
view, presents several mullioned and elliptic arched windows
and heavy projecting chimneys built out, square, and stepped
below, and running into a huge conical lofty stack, covered
with rough cast, as is frequent in this part of Westmoihind,
but which is most identified with the limestone district of
Cartmel-in-Furness.

There has been a later extension to this range of domestic
buildings, for on the north gable there is inserted a tablet on
which can be deciphered the date 1594 and the initials T.P.
lor Thomas Preston.

HEVEKSRAM HALL.

HEVERSHAM HALL.

I

The parish of Heversham lies about six miles to the south
of Kendal, and is of some extent and importance, embracing
a considerable area of rich pastoral limestone land, and con-
taJDJng within it the several manors of Upper and Lower
Levens, Heversham, and others.

As shown by its Saxon name this was an early Teutonic
settlement ; — in Domesday Survey it was written Eurahaim,
from the name of the owner Eure or Hewer, a name still ex-
tant in the north.

The great lord here at the Conquest was Tosti ; and after
him came Roger of Poictou. The manor subsequently passed
to one of the de Lancastres, barons of Kendal, who gave it,
along with Grayrigg and Morland, with a daughter in
marriage, to Alexander de Windsore. There were four
generations of the de Windsores, until they ended in one
daughter Margery, who married in the reign of Edward II.,
John Ducket of Fillingham, Lincolnshire, which brought the
family of Ducket to Grayrigg in Westmorland, where they
continued for many generations. A great portion of the
manor fell into the possession of the Abbey of St, Mary's,
York, to which the church at " Evershaim " had been appro-
priated by Ivo de Tailbois soon after the Conquest.

After the dissolution of the monasteries the demesne lands
came into the possession of a family named Buskell, one of
whose descendants, Jasper, in the nth of James I., sold them
to the ancestors of the Wilsons of Dallam Tower.

Heversham Hall stands in the village not far from the
church. The habitable portion is in good condition, and is
used as the residence of the farm : its appearance indicates
the date as being the latter end of ihe fifteenth century. Ad-
joining to the residence are some fragments of walling of a
much more ancient structure, pertaining apparently to a
tower, but so scanty and decayed, as to afford no certain ar-
chitectural data as to its plan or age. It is a remnant proba-
bly of the tower of one of the Windsores.

The present hall is a single house of two stories with a
long frontage facing an open courtyard : a considerable por-

I

2IO THr OI.H MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

tion of tile range to the right of the entrance being occupied
by a dining hall, which measures 30 feet by 27 feet. This
apartment is entered directly at the centre of the block by a
pointed arched doorway in dressed stone with a plain splay
on the arris ; a similar door leads out from the far end of the
hal! : ihere is a small parlour beyond. The windows are of
the Tudor period, four in number, two on each side, square-

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headed, but divided by a mullion into two lights, with pointed J
heads trefoiled and feathered, and with transoms also. ~'
roof of the room is flat, and was no doubt, as was usual at|
that period, panelled in wood, but has been replaced by {
modern plastered ceiling. The upper floors are lighted witbfl
plain miiUioned windows, and present nothing pecuHar.'J
The oak staircase in small flights, with spindly turned baluB-a
ters is of the late Renaissance period.

Belonging to the hall, and still in situ, there is a character']
istic dining table of late Elizabethan work with a niassivdf

HEVERSHAM HALL. 211

frame and foot rail, on six baluster turned legs. The top is
loose in one piece of solid oak, six inches thick, measuring
13 feet 8 inches, by 2 feet 10 inches.

The walls in this house are of great thickness and solidity,
some of them inside being six feet thick.

BRETHAM PARISH.

BEETHAM HALL.

About a mile south of Milnthorpe commences the wide
parish of Beetham which includes a large mountainous dis-
trict of carboniferous limestone which constitutes the south-
west extremity of Westmorland.

The manor of Beetham is mentioned in Domesday, and is
there written Bicdun, ** In Biedun habuit comes Tosti 6
carucatas terrae ad geldum ; Nunc habet Rogerus Pictavien-
sis, et Eruvin presbyter sub eo ; in Farleton 4 carucatas."

The successors of Eruvin the priest as usual took their
name from the place. The earliest mention of the de Beth-
ams is in the reign of King John when the heir of Sir Thomas
de Beetham, amongst other heirs of divers mesne lords hold-
ing under the barons of Kendal, was delivered as an hostage
to the king for the future fidelity of Gilbert son of Roger Fitz-
Renifred, who had sided with the rebellious barons. During
the reigns of the Edwards and Henrys, there were eleven
descents of the de Beethams, and the last time the name is
met with is in the reign of Henry VI.

It would seem that the later successors were on the losing
side at the battle of Bosworth field ; for the manor of Beetham
along with the manors of Farleton and of Witherslack in the
same parish were forfeited, and granted by Henry VII. to the
Stanleys. The manor of Beetham subsequently passed to
the Cliffords, and was sold by Lord Clifford in 1767 to Daniel
Wilson, Esq., of Dallam Tower, in which family it still re-
mains.

About one mile from where the waters of the beautiful

212 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLG OF WESTMORLAND.

stream of the Bela ~ discharge into the estuary of the Ketit-J
lies the picturesque village and the ancient church of Beet-^V
ham. There is reason to believe that a church was erected I
on this spot soon after the Norman Conquest. It was r&-J
built in the thirteenth century, but some of the NonnaoJ
arches and pillars have been retained in the south aisle.

About a quarter of a mile distant, situated on gently rising
ground overlooking the romantic and fertile vale of the Bela,
stand the remains of the habitation of the ancient de Beet-
hams.

This place was noticed by Camden and Leyland, and called
a Castle, and no doubt in the time of its glory during the
early part of the fifteenth century it would be one of the prin-
cipal feudal places in the neighbourhood. What is remain-
ing of the ancient part of Beetham Hall is full of interest, for
though considerably ruinated, yet it retains certain details
which render it valuable as showing the arrangement of the
hall, kitchen, and chapel of the period. The progress of de-
cay has gone on to a certain point in these apartments ; but
when they became diverted to other inferior purposes there
has been no attempt at restoration, and they have been simply
kept rooftight, and so still present many original features.

There arc no particular defensive advantages in the site.
Its protection depended on a high parapetted wall which
inclosed it, forming a quadrilateral area about 70 yards long
and 45 yards in breadth. There are no indications of an
outside ditch or moat, except on the south front.

The wall is well preserved throughout the greater part of
its extent ; it is from 10 to i j feet high up to the row of cor-
bels, which bore out the breastwork 4i feet higher. The
corbel stones are set one foot apart ; the wall is 3 feet 2
inches thick, there is a rampant walk on the top ; there is a
square bastion on the north side, where there are remains of
steps to ascend from the courtyard. At occasional intervals
there are narrow loops, about 4! feet from the ground-level on
the outside.

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BEETHAM HALL. 2I3

Along the north side of the inclosure there has been a row
of low buildings set against the inside face of the wall to the
height of the rampart walk for the distance of about loo feet,
giving lodging room for the garrison or retainers. The re-
mains of the wall of enceinte are more extensive in this place
than are found at Wharton, Burneside, Low Levens, or
Middleton Halls.

The inclosed area now forms the courtyard to the farm of
Beetham Hall. The greater portion of the southern side is
occupied by the present farm residence, which, judging from
the Jacobean mouldings over the doorways and windows is of
the time of the Stewarts- Subsequent alterations and addi-
tions are indicated by the present porch, and the initials
and date: —

The interior of this house presents a handsome little oak
staircase with turned balusters, and balls on the handrail of
the st3^1e of Charles II.

But it is with the most ancient part of the structure that
we are concerned. The gateway stood near the centre of the
north wall, but the buildings connected with it have disap-
peared. There are no traces of any strong defensive keep or
pele tower. The remains now standing are on the east and
south ends of the enclosure, and comprise a block containing
the ancient hall, and at right angles to it a range consisting of
the kitchen and chapel tower and three floors of domestic
apartments above them, which however are now floorless and
roofless.

The hall, which has for long been used as the barn, is 39
feet 6 inches long, with a breadth of 24 feet 8 inches, and the
walls have a thickness of 4 feet 2 inches ; the height to the
tie beams of the present roof is 22 feet. At a lower level on
the north and south are the corbels which supported the
timbers of the bays of the original open roof.

The doorways and window openings give good indica-
tions of the age of this set of buildings : they are of the

214 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

Transitional period, between the Decorated and the Perpen-
dicular, say of the reign of Richard II.

The doorway arches are pointed, with mouldings carried
down through the jambs of a three-quarter round and hollow;
they also are surmounted by a hood label, the rear arches in
the interior being segmental.

There are four windows in the hall, two to the east and two
to the west, all high in the wall ; (the view has been taken to
show the side of the hall looking east).

The principal windows are divided by a mullion into two
lights with ogee heads, trefoiled and cusped, with a quatre-
foil and tracery above, under a pointed arch and hood mould-
ing. The other windows have square heads, with trefoil and
cusped lights and a mullion.

There are no traces of a fireplace or chimney ; possibly the
fireplace was on the hearth in the centre of the hall.

At the south end of the hall there are three putlog holes
high in the wall, which may have been for the insertion of
beams for the support of a wooden music gallery.

Placed at the diagonally opposite corners of the hall at the
north-east and south-west are built out two circular turrets
containing spiral stairs ; the steps are of limestone flags built
into the wall, with no newel.

At the south end of the hall were two doors leading into
the kitchen, which occupied part of the ground floor of the
range, which stood at rijo^ht angles to the hall.

The kitchen was very commodious, measuring 36 feet 7
inches by 18 feet 9 inches, the longer axis lying transversely
in respect to the hall. The fireplace opening appears to have
had a projecting hood, and the flue passes through the wall
and is carried upwards by a narrow chimney built up on the
outside. Above the kitchen have been two timber floors with
good apartments, with fireplaces and square-headed decorated
windows with tracery, looking south.

In a line with the kitchen, and separated from it by a
passage and gateway bisecting the block, there is a small
tower which has contained the chapel and priests' apart-
ments. On the basement there is a single room eighteen feet
square with a fireplace, and lighted by two small square

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BEETHAM HALL. 21 5

windows ; the walls have been covered with cement, it has
had a wooden roof. There is a small spiral stair in the
thickness of the wall in one corner for entrance from with-
out. Above this was a chamber of the same dimensions
which was the chapel : at the east end is a three-light window,
with ogee heads trefoiled and cusped, and small decorated
lights to north and south. There is a trefoil-headed piscina,
and recessed lockers on each side of the altar.

There are two floors above of the same size. A square
turret projecting on the south side contains garderobes for
this part of the premises. This chapel tower was devoted to
the priest's lodgings in a manner similar to what was noticed
at Wharton Hall and elsewhere.

HAZELSLACK TOWER.

Hazelslack, or Helslack as it is called in common parlance,
is a small hamlet within the manor of Beetham, two miles
from Milnthorpe. The tower is placed in a secluded position
within sight of the sands of the estuary of the Kent.

The only portion of the ancient structure which is retained
is the old tower, which has its walls entire, but it is roofless
and the floors are gone. The type presented is that of the
rectangular border pele, though on a small scale. The length
on the south side is 29 feet 9 inches; on the west 24 feet ;
whilst at the north-east end there is a turret ni feet wide,
with a projection of 5 feet 3 inches, as is seen represented in
the plan. This turret at the re-entering angle with the main
block gives space for an entrance doorway on the ground
Ittvel. This doorway has an acutely pointed arch of dressed
freestone, with the angle simply splayed without moulding.

The interior is divided into two unequal spaces by a cross-
wall 2 feet 10 inches thick, rising upwards through the build-
ing. The compartment to the east contains the passage of
entrance from the doorway, being 6 feet 9 inches wide; at the
far end there is a flight f>f nine steps in limestone slabs lead-
ing to a doorway on the first floor : these steps are continued
upwards in a well in a spiral form without a newel. In the

THIi OLD MANOKIAL HALLS OF WESTMi

middle of the crosswall on the basement, a doorway supplied^
with a draw-bar tunnel leads into what has been ;
chamber, as may

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The dimensions are 14 feet by 13 feet 7 h
El fireplace in the north wall, and two square window open-
ings surmounted wi'.h fiat rough lintels. Roughly dressed
corbel stones for supporting the upper floors remain. There .
were three of these floors above the basement with fireplaces j
and single-light square-headed windows. The apartm
the second floor, which no douht was the ladies' chamber, J
however, presents to the south a good late decorated windowJ
separated by a mullion into two lights, with pointed headsjl
trefoiled and cusped. Above the ladies' chamber has been a 1
low well lighted apartment under the flat roof of the tower, |
Tlie parapet and battlements are gone.

The exterior presents no plinth, set-off, nor string course,
and is, as usual in these parts, of rude rubble masonry. The
south-east angle of the lower, in line with the well-stair, con-
tained small garde-robes, the shoot of these is seen at the J
ground level at the east end of the south front. The stair^
is lighted by vertical slits on the south wall. The south!
view is given in the picture. Such are the features of the |
tower of Hazelslack— the work is early fifteenth century :
but what has been retained does not represent the complete '
residence as it existed even during that period.

On the north wall of the tower may be seen the w
tabling of a very high pitched roof, the apex of which rises to
just below the parapet, showing that an important building
extended in line from the north aspect of the tower. Of this
part all the walls have disappeared. Nevertheless as may be
seen by the remains on the outside of the north wall of the
tower, there was a large chimney and fireplace of n feet g
inches span as represented on the ground plan ; this probably I
was the great kitchen fireplace. On the floor above would be !
the dining-hall open to the timbers of the roof; a ssgmental-
beaded doorway led from the hall through the north wall into
the first floor of the tower. There is no evidence of any out-
side defences.

Arnside Tower
a poimted doohwavb
B The TuHRer
C Closets Qarderobe

D FlHEPUOES

Hazelslack Tower

Qrouno Plan

14- 3a

ARNSIDF. TOWER. 217

ARNSIDE TOWER.

Three miles south from Milnthorpe, and one mile from
Hazelslack, and within view of Morecambe Bay, stands the
conspicuous and lofty tower of Arnside. Its situation on the
summit of a natural conical eminence, with the ground slop-
ing on all sides, has evidently been chosen for defensive
purposes, and as one commanding an extensive prospect.

The tower presents the external characters of the Border
pele, yet it cannot be set down as the work of an early
period. It is an example of the persistence of the keep-plan
of building after feudal times had passed away. As may be
seen by the plan the tower is oblong, with turrets set on at
the opposing angles on the south-east and north-west. The
turret on the north-west corner is the larger of the two, being
16 feet 6 inches in breadth, with a projection of 13 feet 6
inches. This one contains on each floor a small chamber 8
feet 9 inches by 7 feet 2 inches ; these little rooms communi-
cate by means of square-headed doorways with the large
apartments on the several floors of the main building.

The smaller turret has a breadth of 6 feet 5 inches, with a
projection of 5 feet 2 inches, and is devoted to garderobes
inclosed in the thickness of the wall ; the shoot may be seen
on the east side.

Inclusive of these projections the dimensions of the whole
block are on the south front 50 feet, and on the west side 45
feet. The walls are without plinth or set-off, and are com-
posed of biggish blocks of squared limestone set in courses
with abundance of mortar, and average 4 feet 2 inches in
thickness. The tower rises to the height of four stories ; the
two angle turrets go considerably higher, and the larger one
has had a bartizan at each corner. This larger turret has
two set-offs high up, where the thinning of the wall occurs ;
the battlements are gone, but were here borne out by thirteen
boldly projected corbels which formed open machicoulis. The
main entrance was on the basement, on the north front,
through a pointed arched doorway in dressed sandstone, with-
out mouldings, and with a plain splay only. The window
openings are generally plain and square-headed, capped with

DD

21^ THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

a flat lintel of the rouf^h limestone of the country ; others
show a depressed elliptic arch ; some are dressed in millstone
^rit, square-headed and with a plain splay ; the iron stan-
chions and bars which closed them remain in some instances.
The interior is roofless and ruinated ; a great portion of the
south wall and the south-west angle of the tower was blown
down bodily in a great December hurricane about eight years
ago, and the toppled mass is lying prostrate, as is represented
in the photographic illustration. It is likely the progress of
decadence will now go on apace.

Following the Norman keep-plan, the interior is divided by
a cross wall into two unequal spaces (as may be seen in the
annexed plan of the basement). Each of the compartments
is 25 feet 4 inches in length, and in breadth the room on the
west side measures 23 feet 8 inches, that on the east side
l)eing 13 feet 10 inches. The cross wall is 3 feet 3 inches
thick, and diverges outwards, where it joins the north wall
so as to inclose the well of a spiral stair, which leads to the
upper floors of the tower by an ascent of 54 steps. These
steps are composed of split limestone flags, left quite in the
rough, and with one end embedded in the walling, and over-
lapping each other. This species of stone not being very
tractable under the chisel, the steps are left, as is commonly
the case in this district, without any central shaft or newel. ^

There has been no stone vaulting over the basement, but
the first floor has been of timber, for the beams of which the
putlog holes are visible in the walls ; the floors above have
had corbel stone bearers. Fireplaces have been provided
throughout, principally on the east wall, where they are set
above each other in echellon, to serve the diflerent floors.

The larger compartment on the basement has a wide and
deep fireplace recess : this has been the kitchen ; it has two
square single windows to the west and one to the north, and
has had two entrances — one from the turret, and also directly
from the pointed d(;orway on the south side of the tower.
Through this entrance doorway, in the passage through the
thickness of the wall, to the left, is the opening to the narrow
and inconvenient corkscrew stair which ascends to the upper
flats of the building, The first floor has contained the main

ARNSIDE TOWER. 219

apartment or banqueting room ; from this chamber there
were doors opening into the small rooms of the turret, and
also to straight stairs in the thickness of the wall, giving
independent access to the upper rooms.

This is in all respects a Tower-built house, after the model
which had prevailed in earlier times, and which from its
machicoulis, bartizans, and battlements at the top, and small
windows in the lower part had some defensive pretensions
against sudden attack. Nevertheless from its size, and the
number and loftiness of the apartments, domestic con-
veniences have evidently influenced the plans, and it has
been adapted more as a residential mansion than a fortress.

With the exception of the pointed arch in the doorways,
there are no special architectural attributes to take us far
back into the fifteenth century ; indeed it is more likely that
this edifice was erected early in the sixteenth century.

KENTMERE HALL.

The vale of Kentmere lies about nine miles to the north-
west of Kendal ; it is a narrow valley, about four miles in
length, running through a mountainous country, and hemmed
in on the north by the lofty fells of Patterdale and of the
High Street range. From thence spring the head waters of
the river Kent, which at one spot formerly spread out into a
tarn or mere ; hence the name of Kentmere or mire. In the
spirit for agricultural improvement, this little lake was
drained and swept away some years ago.

Kentmere Hall, which is distinguished as being the ancient
house of the Gilpin family, stands quite near the head of the
dale ; close to it is the chapel ; beyond it rise the rocky
heights of a rugged mountain, and at its western side, close
by, runs the rivulet which goes to form the Kent.

One is surprised to find in this out-of-the-way and lofty
nook, an ancient tower-house of this extent : The approach is
from the east by a rough mountain road. The house consists
of a pele tower, with a range of buildings abutting on its
northern side.

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KENTMERE HALL. 221

On the first floor there are three window lights, besides
which (as may be seen in the plan which is annexed) there
are two defensive loopholes or arrow-slits which pierce the
wall in a slanting or oblique direction on the east front, so as
to command the angles.

The charm of this little tower lies not only in its pic-
turesque and thickly ivy-covered aspect, but to the anti-
quarian it is valuable in so far that though in decay it is not
roofless, and the original architectural features and details
have been preserved as far as they go, without change or
renovation. Here in the solar we have a Decorated window
which marks well the date of the building. It is of two lights,
trefoiled, under ogee heads, and surmounted by a moulded
square dripstone. It is of the period of Edward III., at the
latter end of. the fourteenth century, and thus it is rendered
probable that the edifice was erected by the afore-mentioned
William Gilpin named in the pedigree. In this room there
are the remains of a fireplace with a vent in the north wall.
In the opposite corner to the garderobe turret the semi-
circular wall of the well-stair commences, and is built into
the room. This winding stair leads upwards to the battle-
ments. The steps are built mto the wall and overlap each
other without a central pillar, as we have found to be the
common practice in this neighbourhood. The floor above
comprises a single apartment with square-headed windows,
with dressed stone for the jambs, with mouldings. There is a
door, now blocked, which communicated with the other part
of the house.

This is the block which adjoins the tower, and looks to be
of coeval date. The old entrance, seen in the view, is
through a pointed arched doorway in dressed sandstone, with
the angle splayed, evidently of the late Decorated period.
This leads into a passage 28^ feet long, which traverses the
breadth of the building to the back door, and to the down
house in the back yard. This continued for centuries to be
the prevailing plan of entry in the smaller residences. From
the halUn, or passage, it was usual on one side to have the
mdldoor opening to the heck, a narrow passage 6 feet long,
leading into the main apartment, from which it was separated

222 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

by a partition which screened the wind from the fireplace.
On the other side was the door to the down-house, where the
brewing and washing was done, and which was used as a
receptacle for the elding or firewood.

To the right of the passage there is a long building placed
transversely and about 25 feet in breadth, with very substan-
tial walls, now used for a stable and outhouse.

The portion of the house to the left, which constitutes the
present farm residence, contains on the ground floor what
was formerly the dining hall, and a low upper story of
sleeping apartments.

The hall originally seems to have been about 30 feet long
with a breadth of 14 feet 2 inches. From it a pointed arched
doorway led by a few steps into the vaulted cellar of the
tower. The principal window was square-headed, with a
moulded dripstone, and divided into four lights by moulded
mullions. The space however has been cut up and par-
titioned in later times, and an external doorway has been
opened through the mullioned window. The part now used
as a kitchen has also been a later addition.

CUNSWICK HALL.

Beside the Bellinghams of Burneside and of Levens, and
the Stricklands of Sizergh Castle, there was in ancient times
another knightly family, the Leyburnes, associated wtih two
manors in the immediate neighbourhood of Kendal, viz. : —
Skelsmergh and Cunswick Halls.

The Skelsmergh lands were granted by William Lancastre,
baron of Kendal, to Robert de Leyburne in the reign of
Henry HL, and the Lcybourne family continued to hold
them for a period of upwards of four hundred years. On
<i^ht occasions the Leyburnes represented Westmorland in
t^'jucLiJiment ; ihcy also acquired Cunswick Hall, and seated
dl«iiES*;ives there, until they removed to Withcrslack Hall,

•jvhicii th<y purchased from the Derby family about the time

ii :iiti R5;:jCv?rjLtion.

r.iii L.i^':?cmes were very influential all through the four-

"waucr Wii ci^itiath centuries, but they suffered severely after

CUNSWICK HALL. 223

the Reformation on account of persistent adherence to the
old faith. The downfall of the family arose from their stead-
fastness to the Stuarts ; John Leyburn of Cunswick was out
in the rebellion of 1715, and the estates were forfeited to the
Crown. The family is totally extinct.

Cunswick Hall is a large rambling place with a number of
attached buildings, and is used as a farmhouse. It is situated
three miles south-west from Kendal on an elevated position
on Scout Scar, or Cunswick Scar, a lofty ridge of mountain
limestone running north and south through the township of
Underbarrow. The house is really devoid of much interest,
as there are Httle or any remains of ancient structure earlier
than the Tudor period.

Over a plain gateway in the transverse building which
divided the inner from the outer courtyard, there is carved a
shield with the royal arms of France and England encircled
with the motto of the garter, having as supporters the lion,
and apparently the red dragon, and on one side of it is carved
the badge of the portcullis. The date may be referred to the
time of Henry VHI. The residential part of the house has
been modernised. There is one Tudor window remaining on
the first floor facing west ; it is of two lights with elliptic
heads, and divided by a thick mullion with round mouldings
and a fillet on the interior. The iron crooks remain for the two-
leaved shutters which closed the lower part of the window.

There are no traces of outward defences. A fine avenue
of magnificent yew-trees very straight in the bole, bound the
road of entrance to the south front.

SKELSMERGH HALL.

This was the early seat of the family of the Leyburnes, but
on account of their sufferings in Queen Elizabeth's time by
cause of their religion, the manor was sold to the Belling-
hams of Levens and Braithwaite of Burneshead. The name
was anciently written Skehmerescrgh,

Skelsmergh Hall possesses many points of interest and re-
tains several old features. It is now the residence of a highly

2«4 THF. Ol.n MANORIAL HALLS OF WF.STMORLAND.

cultivated farm. It stands on the ri|nrht hand side of the great
northern turnpike road poinc,^ over Shap fells, about three
miles north from Kendal. It is surrounded by a number of
late sixteenth century farm buildings.

The structure at once indicates various periods of erection.
On approaching it from the west, it presents a strong tower,
which from the character of its two Decorated windows on
the first and second fioors, shows it to be of the early part of
the fifteenth century. Attached to the south face of the old
tower there is a two-storied block of domestic buildings set on
at right angles, which have been added in the sixteenth cen-
tury to supply a dining-hall and private apartments above.
This constitutes part of the present dwelling-house, and was
further extended to the east in the early Jacobean period, and
has had a kitchen built on at the extreme end, in more recent
times. So that now the range presents a frontage of seventy-
five feet to the south or garden front. The older portion is
recognised by the thickness of the walling, and the heavy
character of the moulded mullions and dripstones of the
square-headed windows. The entrance doorway which faces
wx»st is square-headed, with moulded jambs, and has set over
it a carved panel, but the subject and date are so much
weathered as to be unintelligible. The entrance has been
covered by a modern porch, in which there has been inserted
a stone with the date 1629, wliich was discovered a few years
«igo in use as a lintel to a fireplace within the house. This
date accords with some of the mullioned and transomed
windows.

Let us direct our attention to the old prle tower, in which
there are found some interesting peculiarities.

In the first place it is more oblong in plan than is usual,
fi>r whilst the length is 40 feet, the width is only 20 feet over
the walls, a rather uncommon disproportion. The long
measurement lies nearly due cast and west. The masonry is
in irregular rubble covered with n)ugh cast, with no dressed
s:ono except at the facings of thcopmings; iht- walls rise
s:r,v*chl frc^m the foundation stones without any plinth at the
y-iist. .T <etts-offin their elevation.

Tbi bafoment is occupied by a vaulted cellar 33 feet by 13

SKELSMERGH HALL. 225

feet 6 inches, and 9 feet high, with a plain barrel arch, hghted
by small square windows in the east and west walls. The
only entrance into the tower was on the ground level at the
south-east angle, which is now covered over by the annexed
building, showing that originally the tower stood alone. The
doorway has a two-centred arch rather acute, and with a
plain chamfer. Close to the ingoing of the door at this
corner of the tower there is a small square recessed chamber
within the walls, with a hatch or trap-door in the roof, show-
ing that the access from the cellar to the first floor was by
means of wooden steps. This mode of descent into the cellar
by a hatch and ladder, though frequently met with in Scottish
peles, as at Liberton and elsewhere where the entrance was
often on the level of the first floor, is not at all common on
this side of the border. In this instance of Skelsmergh, the
circular well in the angle of the tower with stone steps going
up spirally to the upper rooms begins only at the first floor.
The wall encroaches by half a circle into the interior of the
different rooms, and the steps are built into the wall, and
simply overlap each other without the use of a central newel,
as was the usual practice in this district. The walls at this
corner containing the recess, and from which springs the
staircase well are 5 feet 10 inches thick at the base, whereas
in other parts the thickness is 3i feet.

The interior of the tower above the ground-floor is much
dilapidated, though not ruined, and shows the arrangements
of the first and second floors. The third floor and battle-
mented roof are gone, and the building has been protected by a
pitched roof, evidently of considerable age, which is supported
by king-posts and struts on four tie-beams at the level of the
third floor.

The only method of getting into the interior is by a ladder
from the outside, through the opening of a decorated window
on the east end of the tower. The first floor is the solar, and
consists of one apartment 33 feet by 14 feet 4 inches, and 9
feet high ; the well-stair is seen encroaching on the interior at
the south-east corner, and the remains of a fireplace in the
centre of the north wall, with little square windows widely
splaj'ed on each side of it.

EE

226 THE OLr MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAXP.

The principal lights to the solar were two fine windows-
one to the west and the other to the east ; they are of the late
Decorated type passing into the Perpendicular ; they are of
three lights, trefoiled and cusped under flanish two-centred
arched heads, and surmounted by a square label with a
three-quarter round moulding. Above the west end window
of the solar there is another of the same character lighting
the room above. These details appear to be about the time
of Richard II.

Two heavy balks of oak timber which supponed the second
flcxjr still remain in their places, apparently sound. There
has l)een a doorway of commr.nication, now blocked, between
the solar and the upper apartments of the hall building which
was subsequently annexed to the tower.

This constituted the habitation of the Leybumes, as raised
by them at the end of the fourteenth century, and in its en-
tirety must have presented a rather superior class of dwell-
ing; but, as has already been stated, it is now shorn of its
dimensions by the loss of the upper story and the parapet.

It may be worth while to mention as a proof of the manner
in which the after additions to the domestic portion of the
house were carried out, that a huge boulder block which
was used as the horse-stone or mounting-stone, has been left
standing within the walls of the later buildings at the foot
of the back stairs.

A very primitive oak staircase, with massive squared rails
and pillars without mouldinfcs, leads by two flights to the
up{>er rooruH. These are divided from the passage mostly by
oak panelling of the Stuart period, with mitred mouldings on
the rails and style*;.

SELSIDE HALL.

Tbe ancient hall of Selsat, as it is called in old documents,
^irv i farmhouse, is situated five miles to the north of
»"-^'*^^^\ close to the great northern high road as it mounts
-*^ Skeismergh fell towards Shap.

""li.i- :< a high undulating pastoral country, bare and deso-
jj:. ^tiz ^reat inclosures of loose stone walling ; across it

SELSIDE HALL. 227

may be seen traces of the old pack-horse tracks which pre-
ceded the turnpike road. These routes after the Roman
fashion were carried in direct lines from point to point
irrespective of difficulties.

The family of Thornburgh, who came from Yorkshire,
possessed this manor at least from the time of Richard II.,
and had been settled in Westmorland in the reign of Edward
I., and up to the time of Henry V. the name of de Thorn-
burgh is frequently met with amongst the ** Parliament men**
of the shire. They continued to be associated with Selside
and Hampsfield Hall in the Cartmel district of Lancashire
down to the end of the last century.'*'

The old mansion has fallen much away from its high estate,
and there are just a few points of interest about it left worthy
of notice.

Of what remains most seems to have been built at one
period — probably some time before the middle of the fifteenth
century. It is a departure from the usual pele tower type.

It consists essentially of two towers, nearly symmetrical,
united by a central block, so as to give the plan the shape of
the letter \-\ with the front facing to the east. The entrance
is on the east front at the north end of the block near the re-
entering of the tower angle. The opening shows a very good
pointed arch with a splay on the edge, and a deep check on
the interior for the reception of the door : the two heavy iron
crooks which carried the bands still remain.

The tower to the south is the one showing the more
characteristic features. The masonry is in rude and rough
rubble, composed of the slatey ragstone of the country,
mingled with boulder blocks of old red sandstone and con-
glomerate ; the walls are 3^ feet in thickness. The tower is
46 feet long, and only 19 feet in width outside the walls, so
that its proportions are more oblong than is usual, and
approximate those of the tower of Skelsmergh. The height
only rises to two stories, and it is questionable whether it
ever was higher, or carried battlements.

The basement has a low barrel vault, the space is divided

* There is a record uf the Thornburgh pedigree given by Burn and Nicolaon.

228 THK OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

by a cross wall i fogt lo inches thick, which is not carried Up
beyond the vaulting; the compartments are each 13 feet
wide, that to the east being 24 feet long, whilst that to the
west is only 15 feet : they are lighted by a little square ojien-
ing at c^ncli end, with a wide splay. An interesting point is
that here in this cellar, as at Levens, we see used the Car-
narvon arch or shoujdered lintel, for such is the opening
through the division wall, and also in the doorway leading
to the body of the main house. There is no external en-
trance to this tower. There is a fireplace in the upper room,
and the chimneystack is built up of squared stones in the
hexagonal form.

The other tower at the north end is similar in size and
appearance, but is not vaulted, and the construction is not so
substantial ; it is quite possible it may be of later date, and
may have been added to furnish a separate kitchen, and has
been so set on to give symmetry to the plan.

On the first floor of each of the towers there are late
Decorated windows which give a character to the east front,
both square-headed with dripstones coved in cavelto, and of
two lights with pointed arched heads trefoiied and cusped,
running up into bars at the top. They are similar in style
to those seen at Skelsmergh Hall, and show the Perpen-
dicular transition.

The central block between the two towers contained the
hall, but this part of the house has been a good deal
modernised.

On the occasion of a late visit to Selside, in company with
Mr. T. Wilson, of Kendal, we made the interesting discovery
of a secret chamber or hiding-place, In a closet on the first
floor of the central block, the farmer showed us that the
plank flooring had an aperture cut in it, 2\ feet by ij feet,
which led underneath by a passage 3 feel long into a vacant
space in the partition wall. The hole did not allow the
passage of a man's body, but on exploring under the roof we
found an aperture through which a man might be let down
mto a secret cavity contrived in the thickness of the cross
wall of the house, which carried the big chimney of the hall.
The hole in the floor below seemed to be mtended for pass-
ing in provisions and affording ventilation.

SELSIDE HALL. 229

During the reign of Henry VIII. Selside and Whitwell
were distinct manors, held respectively by the Thornburghs
and Bellinghams, but became united by the marriage of Sir
William Thornburgh with Thomasin daughter and co-heiress
of Robert Belli ngham. *

The house and demesne passed from the Thornburghs in
1774 ^y failure of male issue.

Grayrigg Hall was situated not far from Selside in a
mountainous country five miles from Kendal on the road to
Appleby. The manor was given by William de Lancastre,
baron of Kendal, to Alexander de Windsore in marriage with
his daughter Agnes, which has been noticed in connection
with Heversham and Morland. The Windsores continued to
the middle of the fourteenth century. It then passed by the
marriage of an heiress to the family of Duckets of Lincoln-
shire. The Duckets continued here until 1695, when Anthony
Ducket sold the manor to Sir John Lowther.

The old hall was situated to the south of the present farm-
house. It was a place of considerable strength and size, and
was castellated. The old buildings were cleared away about
eighty years ago, when the present farmhouse was built.
The lead and timber was employed in building Lowther
Castle. All vestiges have disappeared.

BLEAZE HALL.

Two miles from Oxenholme station on the road from Ken-
dal to Kirkby Lonsdale, there is an old building called
Bleaze Hall, now used as a farmhouse. This structure
though never a manorial hall, and presentmg nothing remark-
able on the exterior except being a fair example of an early
Jacobean mansion, is worthy of note as containing the re-
mains of some originally splendid woodcarving and panelling
of this period.

* Dame Thomasin survived her husband, and during* her widowhood lived at
Selsatt. By a surviving; account book it appears that in her time wool sold
at the hig^h price of los. a stone, and Anno Domini 1579 the whole year's wa;;es
of Dame Thomasin at Selsatt of all her servants "amounted to ^14 los., viz.,
^*io IS. 4d. for nine servantmen, and ^4 8s. 8d. to the eight maydes. "

230 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

The house has been much larger than it now appears, It
consisted of two side buildings united by a cross-block, sd as
to present the shape of the letter \-\^ To the front was a
spacious fore-court, now an orchard. This was inclosed by a
high stone wall, in which there is a postern doorway, with an
elliptic arch, and coved hood, and mouldings of the round,
hollow, and fillet of the Jacobean period, continued down the
jambs. Adjoining the smaller door may be seen the jambs
and springing of the arch for a carriage way, now blocked up.
The main entrance into the house was probably at the re-
entrant angle of the right side building with the cross, which
part is now gone.

The cross building presents a rather imposing frontage to
the courtyard ; there are projected four mullioned wide win-
dows, two on the ground-floor, and two on the floor above —
one fine one with five lights, with four stone mullions and
transoms, moulded externally with round and fillet, and with
a scooped hollow on the interior. This handsome window
formed one of the lights of the withdrawing room on the first
floor; and it is to this apartment that attention will be
specially directed.

This room within the existing wood-casing, measures 27
feet by 21 feet, but the walling shows that originally it was
much wider, as a portion of the width has been screened off"
by the wainscot, whicli evidently has been inserted at a later
dale than the erection of the mansion.

The wainscoting is very elaborate and remarkable, and re-
sembles in style and pattern some of the later panelling which
has been represented in the casing of the dining-room at
Sizergh Castle. The mouldings are not struck out of the
solid but are mitred ; the rails and styles inclose panels 15
inches by 12 inches, which are overlaid with mitred mouldings
set on in a diamond shaped form, and pinned within the same
— a proof of late work. The surface is divided at intervals by
pilasters with caps and bases, and carved with a running
pattern of the vine leaf, as well as the guilloche and chain ;
a beautiful frieze and cornice surmounts the whole, which
rises to within two feet of the ceiling. The space above the
panelling is pargeted in stucco, showing female figures, scroll-
work, and running patterns of the vine and grapes.

BLEA2E HALL. 23 I

The ceiling has contained three compartments in plaster
work, the central only remaining. This contains two circles,
each with moulded projected rings and bands, with the vine
and grapes set spirally. The ornamental work on the other
compartments has perished from damp, and the rusting of the
lath nails.

The over- mantel is very handsome though passing sadly to
decay like all the rest. It is in three divisions separated by
pilasters, with female figures carved upon them ; the jambs
are massive, and present two half-length female Indian
figures richly carved. The date 1644 appears in the wood-
work of the mantel, and over one of the doorways are the
initial letters H. B. ^" both cases incised in the wood, and
filled up with some black substance. The date represents
truly the period of the execution of this style of work.

The initials H^ B. ^^^ those of Henry Bateman of Kendal,
who resided at Bleaze Hall, and put up the woodwork. He
is said to have been a great pack-horse carrier between Lon-
don, York, and the North. The house was probabl}' built
forty years before this time by a predecessor, Roger Bate-
man, a clothmaker in Kendal. '^'

In the lower part of the house there is still in use a massive
oak-framed table 15 feet long, standing on six turned legs
with the date 1631 carved upon it.

A curious relic of old world superstitious belief survives in
this house. In the attic behind the window there is sus-
pended an ancient British stone celt or hatchet, with the
hole through it for the handle ; through the. hole is fastened
an unravelled strand of hempen rope, by which it is attached
by a chain, and hangs from a rafter. This is the Dobbie or
Flaying Stonc^ which may still be found among the country
folk in the north, in byres and stables in remote dales, hung
up as a charm against the freaks of the local spirit or Dobbie ,
or to prevent the ghost peculiar to the house disturbing the
premises, or flaying the live-stock.

* There are several brasses in Kendal Church, referring to this family of
Batenmns.

232 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

MIDDLETON HALL.

The name of Middleton as the name of a place or parish is
of frequent occurence in the north of England. There are
Middletons in Northumberland, in Durham, and in Lanca-
shire ; there is a Middleton in Teesdale, and the old Hall
which is the subject of this paper, is in the parish of Middle-
ton in Lonsdale or Lunesdale.

This like many of the neighbouring manors was apportioned
to the Barony of Kendal, and it seems to have been granted by
the Talbois, first to the Prestons, and from the Prestons it
passed to the family of Kennet. It is probable that one of
these {possessors, as was not unusual, took the local name.
We find from documentary history that there was a Thomas
Middleton settled at Middleton Hall in the reign of Edward
HL ; and that the possession continued in this name and
family in the direct male line for ten generations, until about
the year 1644, when the inheritance descended to daughters.
As might have been anticipated from this continuous run of
possession for three hundred years of a considerable estate,
the family from time contracted alliances with people of con-
sequence in the north. Thus on referring to the genealogy of
the family, we find marriages with the Musgraves of Harcla
Castle, Bellinghams of Burneshead, Lowthers of Lowther,
Lancasters of Sockbridge, Tunstalls of Thurland Castle, etc.
But in the troublous times of the civil war, the family suffered
both in person and property, from the disasters of national
strife, for like many of the gentry of the north country, they
espoused the losing side. John Middleton the lord in the
early part of the reign of Charles I., had four sons in the
king's service, of whom three were slain fighting in the Royal
cause. In the second generation after this period, the line
ended in two daughters. Somewhile after the estates came
into the possession of the Cumberland family of Askews, with
whom they continued up until a comparatively recent date.

The ancient structure is extremely valuable to us, as an in-
structive remnant of the domestic architecture of the fifteenth
century, and as it differs in some material features from what

/

A Pointed Doorwavb

S SOREBNS

C CeLLAH BUTTERT

D CHlkfEL

E Well

F LoND-8 Parlor

MIDDLETON HALL, Westmorland.

I

I

MEDDLETON HALL. 233

we have found elsewhere, it is well worthy of a critical
examination.

The hall stands in the vale of Lune, on the left bank, on a
gentle elevation sloping down to the river, which is about
half-a-mile distant. The site cannot be considered as a
Strong or peculiarly defensive position in a military sense,
although the shallow ghyll which bounds it on the north side,
through which flows a fell beck (which appears to have driven
at one time the lord's corn-mill just in front of the gateway),
may have afforded some protection in that direction. There
is not however any evidence of the place having been moated
like the neighlxiuring halls of Burneshead and Sizergh, or the
more important adjoining fortahce — Thurland Castle in Lan-
cashire.

The battlemented wall and gateway bounding theinclosure
may have afforded fairly strong provisions against mounted
men engaged in marauding incursions, V>ut could not have
Stood against any serious or planned assault. In point of
fact the place was not within the ordinary march of Scottish
depredation ; it is situatetl fully sixty miles from the Border,
and the imtractable wilds and fells of Shap and Tebay would
interpose obstacles even to quick-heeled Border rievers
extending their outrode! so far down the vale of Lune.

To understand the arrangement of this very typical manor
house, it would be well to direct our attention to the ground
plan of the structure showing its original state. It will bo
seen that the place consists of an enclosure, and within two
courts — an outer and an inner court — instead of one court,
which is the type prevailing in houses of these dimensions
near the Border.

The front of the enciente which contains the main gateway,
and which for convenience we will call the west front, though
it is not really west hut a few points to the south of west, is
formed by a high defensive wall, which returns at the south
angle and joins the main block of the inhabited buildings
which constitute the south front \ the inner court on the east
is also closed by a wall of defence, and the north side is also
of buildings which were formerly occupied by
xnd offices. The two courts are separated from
pp

334 "^"^ °^^ MAIfORIAL HALLS OF

each other by that which is the most valuable feature iBfl

the slnicture — the old hall.

We can now enter into the details of the separate parts.
First as to the outer walls. The wall is 5 feet thick at the
base, and batters upwards : it is at)Out 18 feet in height up to
the line at which a parapet is projected on a closely arranged
series of corbel stones, which form false machicolations ; the
parapet was probably crenellated, but the top courses of
stones are gone. There has been a walk behind the parapet
for the defenders. The extent of the front is about 40 yards;
at the south angle there was probably a projecting tower to |

flank the gateway. The gateway is an arched opening la
feet wide, over which there are two windows, square-headed,
of one light, with trefoils and cusps. There have been
chambers here over the gateway, the fireplace of one of which
is still remaining. Within the wall is the outer court, which
is about 32 yards by 17 yards, and directly in front you have,
the very interesting specimen of the mediieval dining ball of
a manor house of some importance.
This house differs from many we have inspected, and it

ilDDLBTON HALL.

235

differs in this way. Nearer the Border the fourteenth and
fifteenth century houses always assume the pele [ower
arrangement : the tower often appears originally to have
been the whole house, and when enlargements were made the
tower formed the centre round which the later buildings
turned. But here, at Middleton Hall, there has never been
an earlier keep or tower, and the evidence points to the whole
place having been built at one time and in pursuance of one
original design. It is an exception to our north country
examples, and follows the type of the fifteenth century manor
houses of the middle and southern districts of England.

Thi? buildings are arranged somewhat in ihe \-\ shaped
form, the central portion consisting of the hall and its ad-
juncts, dividing the two (juadrangles. The hall itself is in
good preservation, and l>eing in a fairly original condition,
presents us with a valuable and interesting specimen well
worthy of notice. It is of one story, and it is built in rubble
of the slatey Silurian rock of the country roughly trimmed,
aDd the dressed stones of the quoins and openings are rough
grained sandstone or millstone grit. There is an entrance

^36 THE OLD MANOKIAI. HALLS OF WESTMORLAND,

from both courts to a straight passage six feet wide, at the
lower end of the hall, This passage, which is the usual
arrangement, is called the " Screens." To the front court,
there is a good pointed arched doorway, recessed with round J
and hollow mouldings, surmounted with an arched drip-stone ]
terminathig in heads ; at the opposite end there is a pointed
arch, with a plain chamfer, leading to the inner court.

Within the screens there are three doorways with pointed
arches also plainly chamfered, which deserve parlicL
attention. In most uf the manor-houses in the north, it is I
usual to have but one doorway leading to the kitchen and
offices. But here we have three original doorways. The
purposes of these are evident, akhough the block behind
them is in ruins. The middle entrance led by a straight
passage to the kitchen, and the side openings were to the
buttery and to the cellar. The tripartite arrangement of
doorways from the screens, assimilates Middleton Hall with ,
the plan displayed in southern manor-houses. The same ''
design is carried out in Haddon Hall, Berkeley Castle, Pens-
hurst in Kent, Norborough in Northamptonshire, and many 1
other places. The kitchen stood where the long barn has
been rebuilt. Mr. Bownass, the tenant, whose family have
occupied the place for three generations, tells me he remem-
bers the old building with the huge fireplace existing in the ]
cast gable.

The position of the music gallery looking into the hall 1
would lie over the screens, and if a search were made ]
evidence of it would probably be found, as was the cast
Yanwath ; hut the upper portion of the wall and the timbers j
of the roof are now hid by a flat plaster ceiling. You enter '
the hall through an elliptic headed doorway. The door itself
is worth notice; it is doubly planked in oak, studded with
iron ; the top is elliptic in form and moulded ; two strips of i
moulding divide the inner face into three panels. The apart- ]
ment is 28 feet by 24 feet. The fireplace, now covered, '
deeply recessed in the thickness of the wall at the end next ]
the screens, and spanned with a flattish segmental arch of 1
feet 10 inches.

There are four windows, two on each side, that to the right ]

MIDDLETON HALL. 237

band of the dsis being higher in the wall than the others.
The date of the building may be determined in a great
measure by the character of these windows. They are ortgi-
and of similar style. They are about four feet wide,
Jed below by a mullion into two lights, arched, trefoiled,
and cusped. This mullion is continued straight up to the
architrave, and tlie upper part of the window is filled with
four foliated arches, produced by vertical nuillions being
carried up from the points of the sub-arches. So that here
we have an example ol that transitional stage, when the
flowing tracery of the Decorated was giving way to the rigid
lines of the Perpendicular period. The doorways still have
retained the decorated arch and mouldings, and the windows,
although preserving some of the earlier style, show the pre-
dominating features of the Perpendicular, The change of
style was in progress at the end of the fourteenth century, so
that if we assign the date of this hall to some time well into
the fifteenth century, it is a safe presumption.

Two small doorways lead from the dais end of the hail, one
a straighi stair to the upper apartments of the adjoining
block, and the other to the withdrawing room behind the
These doorways have the flat corbelled lintel or Car-
narvon arch, a form of opening in very early use, but
perpetuated frequently to a much later period. In the small
lights of the upper part of the window to the left of the dais
there are four pieces of painted glass, seemingly in their
original position, one of which represents the letters i'^p
Birangeil as a monogram, and another the sacred I.H.S.
inclosed in a circle.

The ancient furniture of the hall is represented by two
massive oak tables, which are probably sixteenth century.
The withdrawmg room is a square low ceiled apartment,
with two muUioned windows of three lights with square
labels. It is panelled in Elizabethan wainscot, with a
characteristic pattern of the lozenge and circle, carried on
narrow horizontal panels under the cornice.

The bold carved work of the mantelpiece is not in its
place — ^it has been the head of a bedstead apparently. There
is incised in a panel over the door this pious sentiment:

238 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

"VENTVRVM EXHORESCO diem"; ** I dfcad the coming day."
The spelling is bad in "exhorresco," with one **r" instead
of two.

The room above corresponding to this was the ^* Lady's
Chamber,'' and it presents early Elizabethan decoration ; on
the jambs of the chimneypiece are carved the arms of
Middleton, a saltier engrailed, and the "three combs" of
Tunstal of Thurland Castle.

When Machel visited the place about the year 1691, carved
coats-of-arms existed in the hall, though considerably effaced,
and he refers to them in his MSS. * : — Middleton impaling
Lowther ; Tunstal, three small combs ; Threlkeld, a maunch ;
also Middleton impaling a quarterly coat, i and 4, three
cscalops, 2 and 3, a dancette and nine billets. He also gives
a drawing of a shield.

A chapel of course must have existed in a house of this im-
portance, but I can discover no special traces of it ; the
probable position is marked on the plan.

The remains of the curtain wall on the cast side for the
protection of the inner court are well seen ; the wall is not so
high as that protecting the front, but it also has had a
parapet corbelled out, with a walk upon it for the warder,
and has been pierced by a gateway.

KILLINGTON HALL.

On the riglit bank of the Lune, nearly opposite Middleton
Hall, there are the remains of another fortified hall, which
was anciently the seat of the knightly family of the
Pickerings.

This is Killington Hall ; the name is altogether Saxon, and
appears to be derived from the proper name, formerly spelt
Chellinge.

The only portion of great antiquity is the tower, which is
still standing, though ruinous and rooHess. It is situateJ

* Machel MSS., \i)l. ii,, p. 241

KILLINGTON HALL. 239

about nine miles from Kendal and seven miles from Kirkby
Lonsdale, in a sequestered mountainous region opening into
the valley of the Lune.

The position of the tower has been well chosen for defence,
as it has been built on the immediate verge of a rocky dell,
and is protected in front by the steep banks of the ravine.

In feudal times there would be a drawbridge by which to
approach the fortalice ; now there is a narrow stone arch
thrown across the gyll.

The tower is not built quite on the lines of a Border pele ;
it has no vaulted substructure, but rises from the rocky
foundation of the river bank, and parallel with the stream.
The tower extends in this direction east and west for 40 feet,
whereas the breadth is only 22 feet over the walls, thus
approximating the proportions shown by the kindred towers
of Skelsmergh and Selside.

The walls are three feet thick, built of cobbles mostly and
undressed stone.

The principal room was on the ground level, measuring 33
feet by 15 feet, well lighted by three windows. There is a fine
large Decorated window to the east, divided by three mullions
into four lights, with trefoiled and cusped pointed heads,
surmounted with a square-headed coved hood ; another of
similar character to the south and a single mullioned window
at the south-west corner, now broken down. There is a fire-
place with a projecting hood and plain chamfered jambs in
the north wall.

The first floor presents a fine three-light Decorated window
at the east end, in the same style as that below it.

The third story and battlements are gone. There is no ex-
ternal entrance to this tower, but a pointed doorway has
existed in the north-east corner of the principal chamber or
the hall communicating with the adjoining building.

This tower no doubt pertains to the fourteenth century, and
was a portion of the house of the ancient Pickerings. In
their time there were buildings also extending in a line
annexed to the north side of the tower, to which there was
access by the above-mentioned doorway.

From the Pickerings the demesne passed by a daughter

240 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF WESTMORLAND.

and heiress to the Vaughans and subsequently to various
famiUes by purchase.

The house now presents a range of 40 feet, extending from
the north side of the tower, mostly representing a Jacobean
character, with plain mullioned and dormer windows. The

initials , appear, and also I.U. I I 1803,

I.U. rn| I

for John Upton, the shield bearing a cross moline impaling a
chevron with three bears' heads between three cinquefoils,
2 and I.

PART II.

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS

OF

CUMBERLAND.

cc

CHAPTER IX.

THE HONOUR OF PENRITH.
Penrith during the long abode of the Ramans in its vicinity
was to them nothing more than the " Red Hill,'' the name
given by the old Welsh population to the eminence which
fornns a conspicuous landmark above the town. This hJll is
a prominent outcrop of the New Red Sandstone range of the
Permian period lying on the western verge of the Eden Valley
basin. It rises to the height of 800 feet, and on its summit
was perched the iron fire-basket or cradle, to show forth the
Deacon light to telegraph impending danger from the Scottish
border.

No indications have been found within the circuit of this
hill to testify that it was ever held by the native races as an
entrenched position, or resorted to as a place of security. It
is evident from the abundant Celtic remains which we find
outside the area of the town that the ancient people congre-
gated mostly on the more fertile lands of the limestone for-
mation on the opposite slopes, and on the other side of
the river Eamont. If we may judge from the amount of
labour requisite to heap up the immense mounds at May-
burgh inclosed circle, near Eamont Bridge, the tribal popu-
lation in this locality must have been very considerable,

The Romans never had a domestic footing within the area
of Penrith during their career ; no Roman remains have been
found there, saving the pavement of their causeway, which
crossed the breast of the hill above the town. This great
railit-ary ittr from York to Carlisle passed from Brougham
Bridge by the Scaws Farm, over the Fair Hill, and taking
the line of the old turnpike reached the station of Voreda in
Plumpton, and so on to Luguballium.

The town of the Romans, during their occupation of three
hundred years, was in the vUui or suburbs of their camp 01
Brocavum or Brougham, at the confluence of the rivers

It,

t

*

I f

. . . /•

THE CASTLE OF PENRITH. 245

montory whereon Carlisle Castle stands, and one probably
named Hialp or Whelp was driven from his earthwork, or
**i^r," on the bluff at Apple-by, to give place to the turreted
keep of the Norman.

Penrith Castle presents a commanding position on the high
ground to the west, immediately contiguous to the town, from
which it is approached by a street called Castlegate. The
crown of the hill is surrounded by an artificial ditch, oblong
and rectangular in plan, the material from which may have
been thrown up and contributed to form what is now a level
platform in the interior.

Before the formation of the railway station ths Castle stood
amongst open fields, and the course of the moat could be
seen in its entirety round the fortress ; now however the road
to the station occupies and obliterates the western side of it.
On the south side of the castle walls the earthworks are
levelled, and the line of entrenchment is now considerably
effaced. On the east side the formation and depth and width
of the ditch may be very perfectly appreciated, coursing as
it does parallel to and at a distance of 15 feet from the foot
of the curtain wall. On the north side, presenting towards
the town, the scarp and counterscarp are well defined, and
the excavation has been conducted at greater distance from
the masonry, leaving an intervening level platform of 22
yards in length. At this side was the roadway of approach
to the Castle from the town, traces of which are visible ; the
drawbridge over the moat must have existed here, but all in-
dications of the barbican and gateway are gone. As it does
not appear how a supply of running water could be obtained
to fill and maintain this as a wet ditch, it is probable that
it was never intended to be such, and that its value as a
defensive obstacle would be sought in its depth, and in the
steepness of its scarp and counterscarp, and in time of war
supplemented by stockade and breastworks on the inner side.

Placed symmetrically, and with the sides and angles cor-
responding to the outline of the moat, stood the walls of the
stone structure. The plan of the castle is very simple, and
appears mostly to have been carried out at one period.
Though now much ruined there is still enough left of the in-

246 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

closing walls to enable us to illustrate the design of it. The
plan taken in 1774, given in Grose's Antiquities, is worthless,
being incorrect and deficient in detail ; but the picture of the
castle given in the same work supplies some details, as also
does to some extent the engraving of the two Bucks,
published in 1739, which shows considerable portions of the
structure standing which perished in the interval up to 1774.

The inclosure presents a rectangular figure, very nearly
square, being each side about 132 feet, external measure-
ment, up to the centres of the angle turrets. What will be
called the south side faces a point or two west of south.
The east wall is standing perfect from end to end, and so also
is the south wall for half its length, and also a small portion
of the return at the north side. The south-east angle is
capped by a buttress or small solid tower set on diagonally,
which is 5 feet 3 inches in width, and has a projection from
the curtain wall of 6 feet 8 inches. The foundations of a
similar solid turret, disposed in the same manner, can be
made out at the ruined south-west angle. The north-eastern
angle of the wall has no turret, but at the height of six feet
there is a projection of six inches, carried on four corbels,
which adds so much to the thickness of the wall for the
height of four feet, where it terminates in a chamfered slope
dying into the wall ; in this portion there is an oilette or
crossed loophole.

The north-western corner of the building has contained a
tower of large and habitable dimensions and square in form.

Besides these projections at the angles, according to the old
drawings, the middle of each face received additional strength
and support by a buttress running the full height of the wall.
One of these only remains ; it is very near the centre of the
east face ; it is square, four feet wide, with a projection of six
feet at the base, and is reduced by a set-off in a higher stage
in the wall.

The facing masonry throughout is of good character, com-
prising squared **clene hewen" ashlar, set in regular courses;
the stones are in large blocks of 18 to 24 inches, and consist
of the deeply-coloured red sandstone of Penrith fell. The
walls are 4J feet and nowhere more than five feet thick ; the

ryurygf ^t^ ^

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PENRITH CASTLE.

I

THE CASTLE Ol' l-ESRITll. 247

pnterior is filled in with river-worn cobbles and grouted
material. There are no Roman dressed stones anywhere
about the place. The ruins have suffered grievous pillage as
a quarry for ashlar.

The purpose of the building of this castle seems simply to
have been that of affording a stronghold or strategic position
to the town of Penrith, as a check to the harrying incursions
oi the Scotch, to which the place had been terribly exposed
during the fourteenth century. The structure bears e\-ide nee
that it was erected in a hurry, and prominently with a
studious view of defence, and not at all as a palatial or
baronial residence. Hence, though the work is of fairly good
construction, there ts about it a studied simplicity, a lack of
decoration or ornamented mouldings, or any special adaptive
architectural skill. The walls rise plain from the base, with-
out plinth or set-olf ; there are no apertures on the encHnte,
except narrow slits up to the corbel-tabling, which begins
about 25 feet above the foot of the walls.

The scheme of corbelling is quite a feature in this castle.
On the east wall, plain round-ended stones are set in a con-
tinuous row, about thirty-six in number, equidistant apart,
■forming a tabling, which bears out the upper story, so as to
overhang about nine inches beyond the vertical face of the
wall below. On the portion of the wall on the south front now
Standing, there is seen a row of eight corbels with open
machicolations ; the old drawings show that these were con-
tinued in a line throughout the whole length of the wall, but
these it will presently be suggested, were for a purpose other
than that of carrying a stone super-structure. Higher up,
under the line of the parapets, was another series of project-
ing machicolations.

Reverting to the ruined half of the south front. Buck's
view displays at the west cud the angle tower and a mass of
habitable building, which must have disappeared some time
between 1739 and 1774. The postern was in this quarter. A
solitary portion of the west wall remains at the north corner,
adjacent to the road. Here stood some important buildings.
There is a vaulted substructure with a semi-circular arch
ttiO remaining, over which there are two stages of floors ; the

24f^ THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

square, smalt, single-light apertures of two of the windows are

seen in the height of the wall facing west. The wall returns
flush with the line of the north front, but it is evident that
there was a tower also, exterior to the wal! at [his point.

The interior of the castle is entirely gutted, but the position
of the domestic apartments is pretty evident. Ranges of high
buildings, abutting on the exterior walls on three sides, faced
into the courtyard ; the principal rooms were all on the
upper floors, and the basement having no openings to the ex-
terior was occupied by stabling and stores.

On the first floor on the north wall was the great hall,
reaching to the roof, lighted externally by three long windows
high in the wall, with segmental arched heads. These
windows have tumbled down within the memory of some of
the older inhabitants, but some of the jambs and sills can be
made out. The entrance to the hall was by an arched door-
way from the tower set over the vaulted cellar at the north-
west corner. The main gateway into the castle was through
the north wall, nearer to the eastern corner ; all traces of it
are entirely gone. On the east wall, over the basement, there
has been a continuous floor throughout its whole length, with
six square-headed loops, widely splayed inside, which pre-
sented to the exterior under the corbei-tabling. This stage
was probably occupied as barracks by the garrison. Over
this suite, on the second floor, on a level with the corbel-
tabling outside, was a range of superior apartments for the
private uses of the lord. The window openings still visible
are 5 feet wide, and show a flat segmental arch in the recess,
and the jambs are ornamented with a bold round. There is
preserved on the premises a fragment of a window top show-
ing two trefoiled lights. No doubl the more ornate parts of
these domestic structures would present to the quadrangle;
but all is gone. Most likely the greater part of the west wall
was void, with a parapet and alure at the top only, and that
the absence of support by buildings in the interior may have
expedited its overthrow.

A word as to the object of the open corbelling under the
parapets and under the south wall. The purpose I take to
have been to enable the defenders to push out upon them on

THE CASTLE OF PENRITH. 249

struts wooden galleries, or hoards, for the defence of the base
of the curtain walls. These timber erections were adopted
by French military engineers as early as the twelfth century,
and were called the hretasche. In this castle the loop aper-
tures were too few in numbsr to b3 of much account in the
defence, the roof was the main fighting deck during a siege.
So long as the enemy were on the outside of the moat the
missiles of the beseiged could be delivered with effect through
the crenelles, embrasures, and other openings in the walls of
the fortress ; but after the assailants had succeeded, by
means of pushing material into the moat, to effect a passage
across it, they proceeded under cover of their movabKi sheds
and penthouses to sap, disjoint, and batter the masonry at the
base of the wall. Meanwhile the archers of the besiegers,
under the protection of the mantelets on the other side of
the ditch, had arrows ready for every head that showed a
mark about the phicc. It was not possible for an archer or
arbalestrier from the top of the walls to take aim at the foot
of the fortification without projecting one-half of his body
through the embrasure, nor could they hurl down ponderous
stones without exposure, and hence the use of open machico-
lations on the tops of castles, and over gateways, entrances,
and other situations. Therefore the device came into practice
of carrying out wooden galleries, or hoards^ to overhang the
face of the wall, and to lessen the danger of burning, they
were made to rest on brackets of stone. For the same reason
this woodwork was often hourdccs ; that is, daubed with loam
and mortar, and sometimes covered with wet hides. These
hoards were always placed at a certain height up the wall, to
as to be out of the reach of ladders. "

This explanation will, I think, account for the high corbel-
ling on the south side of Penrith Castle, where this system of
defence seems to have been conducted. I have found corbel
stones set apparently for the same purpose on the face of
Catterlen Hall, and of Clifton Tower, and in other placer.
In the settlement of the claiuis of the Kings of Scotland to

* These wiNiden ^.'illeries were uften miTt-ly tcmpurary expedients, and put up
only when serious trouble was itiiminent.

HH

250 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

the sovereignty of Cumberland, a compromise was effected in
the year 1242 between Henry III. and Alexander of Scotland.
In pursuance of the agreement, Penrith, Sowerby, and some
other places were ceded to the Scotch, the conditions being
that two hundred librates of land in the counties of Cumber-
land and Northumberland should be given up, if the same
could be found in any townships where no castle stood — ** Si
predictor libratae terras in ipsis comitatibus extra villas ubi
castra sita sunt possunt inveneri.'* It is therefore clear that
no fortified stone castle existed at Penrith during the period
of the Norman Kings.

I find amongst the lists of Licences to Crenellate, taken
from the Rolls, that in the 20th of Edward III., ** Homines
villas de Penereth," obtained permission to crenellate ** the
aforesaid town '' ; that is to construct with stone and lime,
and to embattle^ kernel, and machecollate walls and towers. This
licence must refer to the town only, as the men of Penrith
could not have built the castle ; and it shows that the town
must have been in some way inclosed and defended by gates
about the year 1350. Though it is certain that Penrith was
never in a true sense fortified with rampart walls, yet there
are traces of a circuit of narrow lanes extending from the
castle round the town, in some parts bounded by old substan-
tial walling, and in other places with the house gables and
inclosurcs so arranged as to resist at all events the entrance
of mounted men. The existing names of the main streets in-
dicate the outlets into the country, and the position of the
gates or bars, of which there are five, viz., Castlcgate,
Middlegate, Borogate, Sandgate, Nethergate.

From architectural inferences, it is improbable that the
castle was erected at so early a date as 1350. Although there
is no historical record to depend upon, it seems most likely
that the structure was built by Ralph Neville, first Earl of
Westmorland, to whom Richard II. granted the honour of
Penrith and the wardcnship of the West Marches, quite late
in the fourteenth century : Ralph Neville died in 1425.

There were licences to crenellate a tower at Penrith
granted in 1399 to William dc Strickland, then Bishoj) of
Carlisle, which are supposed to refer to what was known as

THE CASTLF. OF P5NB

= 51

the " bishop's tower " in the castle, which has now disap-
peared. ^' This date quite fits in with the supposition that
Ralph Neville erected the castle some time after he entered
upon his duties as governor of the north in the year 1389.

Immediately after the important Lancastrian victory at
Waitefield, in 1460, in which the Duke of York and his young
son the Earl of Rutland were slain, Henry VI. granted to
John Lord Clifford, the Black Earl, the custody of the castle
and manor of Penrith. Alter his advent to the throne,
Edward IV., in 1471, granted the honour and lordship to his
hrother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and appointed him
governor of the castles of Carlisle and Penrith. Gloucester
was the son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, by his
wife Cicely Neville, daughter of Ralph, Ear! of Westmorland,
whose portrait heads in painted glass are preserved in a win-
dow in the parish church of Penrith. Richard of Gloucester
was at the same time High Sheriff of tlie county for five years.
and is described as of Penrith Castle, and doubtless had. as
reputed, occasional residence there. It is stated by writers
that he made additions and repairs to the castle, consisting of
a tower and porter's lodge, and some detached buildings.
This is probably true. In the north-east corner in the uppier
stories of the castle, which is the angle represented in the
view here given, there is a difference in the colour of the
stones, in the shape of the mason-work, and in the more
finished treatment of the details, indicating newer work,
which may have been comprised in the additions of the Duke
of Gloucester.

I. March Scocice.
ai. Willielinui de Stirkeland . . . unan, miii.l
March. ScocitE.
In the !■«[ inslance Ihe Roll recites the previoi
"Kernel

icr,- &c..

(ernelUndi quan
la de Penrcth super March. Scocin. Nns He aberiuri ifratia nostra ciHnesii-
U," frc, " llceDliam quod ipsn unum mantel rtlum de pelru et caire Facere et
canterw predict* conjancere M manleleltam preillcllni kef nellare," &e.

'ITiis appears to have been an active byildins peiiiKi at Penrith. I he same
Efood Dishnp cut the conduit fmm the river Pclteril In supply the tiiwn ivith
waterj (ounded tt chantry here i Ihe church tower also is of about Ihiadate.

252 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

General Lambert with a detachment of the Parliamentary
army had his headquarters here in the summer of 1648. The
fortress was afterwards slighted, and purposely dismantled by
the Commonwealth.

William III. gave the honour and castle of Penrith to
William Bentinck, Earl of Portland.

MESNE MANORS OF PENRITH.

There were three inferior manors within the parish of
Penrith. One called Bishop's Row appertained to the see of
Carlisle, and contained several leasehold and customary tene-
ments as appended to the manor.

The second was the manor of Carleton Hall held by the
Carletons.

The pedigree of the family, as certified by Dugdale, and
given in the county histories, goes back to the time of
Edward I., above which date there are five descents of which
the names barely are given, which must lead back to the time
of the Conquest. Whether they were originally Saxons or
Normans is uncertain, but the name would imply that they
were of Saxon birth.

The line of the Carletons formed alliances with many of
the principal families, and continued down to the time of
William III., and became extinct in 1707. The arms were :
ICrmine, a bend Sable, charged with three pheons Argent.

Carleton Hall is a building of the early part of last
century with only a fragment of an old Elizabethan structure
incorporated in the back part of the premises.

HUTTON HALL.

The thinl manor belonged to the ancient and ** worshipful
tainily" v»t the Muttons of Hutton Hall. Arms: — Argent, on
.1 Ic^sc Sable, three bucks' heads caboshed, Or. The pedi-
L;iee ol ll»is tannly runs up to Adam de Hutton, who was
hviuL; \\\ I'eniith in the reign of Edward L The Huttons
always maiiaautiil ciuisiderable local influence and position ;

HUTTON HALL. 253

the descent continued in the male line for fourteen genera-
tions here, to the death of Addison Hutton, M.D., in 1746,
who was the last of the name at Hutton Hall.

The original residence was a square defensive pele tower of
the usual type, which stands within the town ; in fact the
enceinte walls around the ground attached to the tower prob-
ably formed part of the inclosing boundary of the town in
olden times.

The tower is a rectangular pile of rather smaller dimen-
sions than usual, measuring 32 feet by 24 feet ; it is without
a plinth, and is built of rubble covered with rough-cast, and
with ashlar quoins of Penrith red sandstone. It is in three
stories, each containing a single room, and was formerly sur-
mounted with a battlementcd roof and parapet : this was
blown down by a hurricane rather more than a century ago.

The original entrance at the ground level remains at the
south-east corner. This narrow doorway consists of a
depressed four-centred arch, with a chamfer on the edge; on
the inside, behind the door, is the tunnel for the wooden
drawbar. This doorway gave entry to the basement, and
also to the newel stair, which ascended to the top of the
tower in this angle, the well being partly in the thickness of
the wall, and partly built inwards as a semicircle, and en-
croaching on the rooms in its upward ascent.

The basement is not vaulted in stone ; it presents the
original four small narrow square windows with a splay in
the interior. On the upper floors there are two little look-out
windows with pointed heads on the east and north, but the
principal windows face west. These are low horizontal open-
ings, divided by chamfered mullions surmounted by hood-
mouldings coved in cavetto, terminating in carved balls, on
some of which can be determined the initial |-| ; these are
doubtless later insertions.

The principal room, or the *Mord's solar," was on the first
floor. It contains two recesses in the thickness of the wall,
now petitioned ofl* by old panelling. In it is a large open fire-
place, which is a Jacobean insertion : on the chimney-mantel
there are carved three shields, separated from each other by
a round moulding in a battlementcd outline containing the
following letters : —

THE OLD MANORIAL HAI.LS OF CUMBERLAND.

W

©

^

These initials apply to Sir William and Dorotliy Hullor.
He was High Sheriff in the second and eighth years of James i
I.* Two other mantels in the tower are insertions of the I
same period, showing the large rounds anil shallow hollows i
of Jacobean mouldings.

This tower is an example of one of the later peles, or of one
of those residences which continued to be erected on the pele
tow^r type long after special defensive provisions were posi-
tively required. If we may judge from the depressed arch of
the doorway at the foot of the spiral stair, the tower was built ^
probably rather late in the fifteenth century,

A low two-storied building for domestic accommodation
was added in Elizabethan times, or earlier, against its
southern face.

Finally about the year 1720 there was attached to the old
structures a mansion house, with a long symmetrical facade
and classic features, consisting of a frontage of single rooms
with a corridor or passage at the back of them, after the style
of that period, of which there are numerous examples in the
district.

THE TWO LIONS INN, OR GERARD
LOWTHER'S HOUSE.
The old mansion house of Gerard Lowther at Penrith,
stands at one angle of the open area known as Great Dock-
ray, which space is one of those large triangular-shaped
market-places which are found to exist in so.nis of our shire
capitals and market towns. It was here that the bull-ring
formerly had its station.

Abutting on this locality there are two ancient mansion

• This Sir WilHflm Hutlon Itnight married fir
V»U!i, Esq., of C«llerlBn Hallin Co. Cumberland j
oF BenK.n of

GERARD LOWTHER S HOUSE IN BENRITH. 255

houses which still present some of their original features, and

possess some historical interest : one of these is Dockray

Hall, now an Inn, — the Gloucester Arms, — and the other is

Gerard Lowther's house, or the Two Lions Inn, or the
Bowling Green Inn.

Gerard Lowther was brought up to the study of law, and
was entered at Gray's Inn. He was a younger brother of Sir
Richard Lowther, so well known as having in virtue of his
office of Sheriff of Cumberland in 1568, taken in charge or
received to hospitality Mary Queen of Scots after her flight
from Langside. The Lowther family were then principally
through their two Clifford alliances rising into more than
local importance, and were pushing their way amongst the
greater actors in the momentous era in which they lived. *

It was about this time that Gerard Lowther married Lucy
Dudley, the widow of Albany Featherstonhaugh ; she was
second cousin, once removed to the Queen's favourite, Robert
Dudley, Earl of Leicester. One of her brothers was his
steward, and the eldest of the family, the possessor of Yan-
wath, was receiver for the Queen's mmes at Keswick.

In 1585 Gerard erected this mansion, one inducement to
which might be that his wife's aunt Dorothy, the wife of
John Musgrave, was residing at Musgrave Hall in Penrith.
In 1594 ^^ w^s sheriff of Cumberland.

The building has been a good deal cut and modernised,
but Mr. Hippolyte Blanc, Architect, Edinburgh, who visited
the place with me, has kindly executed a ground-plan, in
which he has been at pains to show the assumed original
arrangement of the mansion, and he has also given the ac-
companying drawing of the plaster- woik ceiling with its
heraldic shields. The house stands back from the street,
from which it is separated by a front courtyard, formerly
closed by a gateway, by the sides of which, as I have learnt,
there anciently stood two gate lodges.

Facing the courtyard is the the range of the main part of
the house, which consisted of a long two-storied building with

* The ]{reat alliance was the marriage of Huj^h Lowther, the father of Richard
and Gerard with iJorothy, the daughter of Henry, Lord Clifford, the Shepherd
I^rd of Wordsworth's beautiful poem.

256 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

attics. An open porch was formerly projected l>efore the
main entrance. The doorway has a four-centred elliptic
head. The fine old massive door still remains ; it is douhlv
and transversely planked with hewn oaken boards, studded
with heavy-headed iron nails set in diagonal rows and
clenched behind ; the iron bands, terminating in crosslct
ends, go across the whole breadth of it, and the old lock is
still attached ; tne head of the d »or is arched to fit the open-
ing. A ponderous oak draw-bar, 7 J by 6 inches thick, lies in
its tunnel in the substance of the wall. On the right hand of
the passage of entry is the hall ; and on the left was the
kitchen, now an out-house and stable. A doorway from the
kitchen opened into the passage, and on the opposite side
there were, as was not unusual, two doorways opening into
the hall at the screens — one on each side of the fireplace.

Opposite to one of the doorways into the hall, near the
main entrance, we have an arched opening in the kitchen
wall affording a good example of a buttery hatch, — an arrange-
ment such as is usual in old colleges, but which is not often
found existing in domestic remains in tlie north. Through
this hatch dishes and supplies were passed to the diners
in the hall, directly from the kitchen and pantries. The
opening is i foot 6 inclics in length, and i foot 4 inches in
height, and is formed of an ogje-headed arch, with a round
and hollow moulding set in a square frame widely-splayed.

The kitchen chimney-piece still remains ; it is worked in
masonry into a segmental arch of about 11 feet span, with
the edge plainly chamfered. The principal lights to the
kitchen were by square-headed mullioned windows of two
lights with segmental heads. One has been cut to form a
doorway.

The annexed plan gives what are supposed to have been
the dimensions of the original dining-hall, and the position of
the main window looking out into the gardens behind. This
window has been removed, and is now found built into an
addition at the back of the house ; it has been a fine long low
window of six lights, with segmental-arched heads, which
with the mullions are moulded in cavetto, an<l it has bcrn
surmounted by a similarly moulded s(iuare hood-label.

GERARD LOWTHER*S HOUSE IN PENRITH. 257

Though now out of place, and appearing as an insertion, it is
evident from the return of the walling, and from other circum-
stances, that these remnants have formed the big window of
the dais of this little hall, as is evolved in Mr. Blanc's plan.

The large window of the dais is always an important feature
in all the fifteenth and sixteenth century halls in this neigh-
bourhood. It is seen in the beautiful bay at Yanwath, which
belongs to the Transitional between the Decorated and the
Perpendicular periods ; it also occurs in the later halls of
Barton Kirke, and in a modified form at Hornby Hall. It is
the type which is preserved in examples of these centuries
still remaining to us in many of the central and western shires
of England, and most gloriously in those old college halls of
Oxford and Cambridge, which have been best kept up and
preserved.

It is remarkable that here in tliis market town in the
north, in this little inn, we should find elaborated the same
domestic arrangements, and relative position of the kitchen
and buttery-hatch, and the screens and the dais window,
which prevailed in the spacious colleges and castellated halls
of the fifteentn century. Moreover, on referring to the plan,
it will be seen that the similitude to college halls is perfected
still further, for in these it is almost invariable to find one or
two doors of exit behind the dais to a private apartment or
retiring parlour beyond. The same arrangement obtains
here; the position of the dais was opposite the fireplace and
screens, and behind the dais were two doorways leading to a
parlour and the lord's dining-room.

This latter apartment is well worthy of inspection, on
account of the ceiling in plaster-work blocked out in geo-
metric designs, and with coats of arms. This work is of
about the same date as that of the similar ceilings of Hornby
Hall and Barton Kirke, described in a former part of this
volume. Mr. Blanc's drawing and Mr. Jackson's discrimi-
nate commentary on the arms, illustrate the subject so com-
pletely that further description is unnecessary.

A turret, now removed, formerly abutted on this part of
the building behind, and it contained a newel stone staircase,
which gave access to the upper rooms. These latter have

II

25S THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBliRLAND.

been so modernised as to present nothing of particular notice,
and the wooden panelling, of which this house at one time
possessed a large quantity, is now almost all removed. A few
heraldic escutcheons charged with the same arms as those
depicted in the lord's dining-rooni, occur in several of the
rooms and passages. The pleasaunce and the grounds
behind the house have been used for several generations as a
well-kept public bowling-green.

The appended genealogical sketch showing the alliances of
Lowthcrs, Dudleys, etc., and indicating the respective shields
and their owners found in this house, was drawn up by the
late Mr. William Jackson, F.S.A., St. Bees, and is contained
in a paper published by him, *■

These particulars, along with the view of the ceiling and
delineation of the arms, will sufficiently preserve memorials
of what still exists in this interesting building. Mr. Jackson's
commentary on the arms is as follows : —

" All, with the exception of the Feathergtonhau^h c
tin the ceiling of the room new used as a billiard room, together
the date 1535, On the lintel nf the fireplace
shields of arms, the cer.lral one being Lowther
one on the right Lowlher impaling Middlelon.
Lowlhcr impaling Dudley-, with an annulcl
hall arc several arragements nf shields. In
Lowther impaling Clifford form

are shields bearing Lowiher combined with Middleton, Dudley,
Kiehmond, Wybergh, Goodyer, and Carlelon ; in another part a
shield bearing Lowlher impaling Dudley, with an annulet and the
letters U.L. ; and in a third part of ih^ s.
Fealherstonhaugh. On the ceiling of a room over the billiard n
the arms of Lowlher impaling Dudley,

I for Gerard and Lucy Lowther, and the date
circle. The same arras have been repealed over a
many loose shields are preserved in the house, wh.
of the "Two Lions" to two shields bearing the Dudley
once existed on the outside of the building."

n the hail a

mpalinf Cliff

^. and that on the left

On the ceiling of the

)ne part a shield bearing

DOCKRAY HALL. 259

DOCKRAY HALL.

Facing the market-place of Penrith, and the great open
space which is called Great Dockray, there is another old
mansion-house, which is interesting as retaining many old
features, and also a great deal of original wood-work. This
was known as Dockray Hall, but has been for many years
occupied as an Inn, under the sign of the Gloster Arms, from
the belief that it was the occasional residence of Richard,
Duke of Gloucester during his connection with the north.
One fails to discover any decided indications of an early date
in the existing building. The date of the doorway 1580
points to the time when a considerable portion of the house
was rebuilt.

The original entrance was towards the south end of the
frontage, by a square projecting porch, which rose to the full
height of the building. The doorway is surmounted by a
lintel stone having the effect of a four-centred arch, but with
the sides cut straight, except at the lower angles next the
import : — a^ign of late and debased work. Over this there
is a panel with a shield, inclosed within a bold frame
hollowed in cavetto, terminating in conical moulded bosses.
The arms are — three greyhounds courant in pale, collared ;
with the initials and date--

I.W. 1560.

This I take to represent the names and arms of John Whelp-
dale. ••

This portion of the house which is now a separate tenement,
formerly contained the kitchen and dependant offices. The
arrangements follow, as nearly as possible, the plan as
already given of Gerard Lowther's house, which is of the
same date. From the passage of entry there was direct
communication with the hall. This was a large room, with a

* The same charges of three running greyhounds, differing only in colours,
were borne by the families of Machcl, Hrisco, and Patrickson, as well as Whelp-
dale.

25o THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS 01- Cl'MUERLAND.

wide fireplace with a semi -circular arch, and lighted with
muUioned windows. It is now curtailed of its great propor-
tions by the cutting of one of the window ojienings to form
a new entrance, and by running a passage across the far end
of the hall.

Off the hall to the right was as usual the lord's parlour, 19
feet by 18 feet. This room is lined with superb old panel-
ling, which has been made to fit the apartment. The wain-
scot has moulded rails and styles pinned logether as usual.
At the top under the ceiling, is carried a battleniented cornice
with billet moiildinEs. Immediately below are long narrow
horizontal panels, filled in with grotesque carvings. For
instance one of these panels contains in the centre a medal-
lion human head in profile, and making for it on each side,
there is the figure of a scaly dragon open-mouthed with
forked tongue, and with a spear through his back, .\ltogether
the designs are very effective, and are suggestive more of the
feeilng which existed in the previous century than in the time
of Elizabeth.

There is a small bedroom on the first floor over the porch
(called the Gloster room), which also contains some fine old
patterns of carving over the fireplace and window recess, pre-
senting the guilloche, fretty, and Tudor rose. The wainscot
is in panels, 16 inches by 12 inches. On the ceiling there is a
centre piece struck in plaster, containing a shield within a
circle of cable moulding. The charges are, dexter ; — Ermine,
on a bend three pheons (Carleton of Carleton Hall) : sinister,
three animals apparently bears.

These coats are incorrectly placed. The block-ciilter not
unfrequently in tooling the mould, was wont to copy the
pattern drawing as set liefore him, hence the result ; the cast
or stamp on the wet plaster presented the objects in reverse
order. When the design consisted of geometric devices,
scrolls, arabesque, or foliated patterns, this was immaterial.
But in dealing with shields of arms, this inadvertence had the
effect of making the impression represent the coat of the lady
to impale that of her husband, or a bend to be transformed
into a bend sinister. That is precisely what occurs here, and
also on all the shields on the blocked-out ceiling at the Two

DOCKRAY HALL. 26 I

Lions Inn, which was most likely the work of the same man ;
and the same error may be frequently noticed in other places.
The most part of the first floor in the main block of the house
is occupied by what was the banquet hall or audience room, a
large apartment 42 feet by 24 feet, which still retains its oak
wainscot of the Elizabethan period.

(262)

CHAPTER X.

LEATH WARD.

KIRKOSWALD CASTLE.

The village of Kirkoswald, or rather the town, for in the
reign of King John it had the grant of a market, derives its
name from the famous Oswald, King of Northumbria, the
redoubtable propagandist and champion of Christianity in
the north in the seventh century, to whom the church is
dedicated.

Though now lonesome and decayed, in the Middle Ages
and before the Reformation, this place was probably of some
vitality and considerable population ; it was the market and
rendezvous of the occupiers of an important portion of the
fertile vale through which the Eden flows, and of the nume-
rous felJside villages which skirt the base of the Pennine
Range ; to the church was attached a collegiate establish-
ment of twelve secular priests ; whilst the safety of the town
was secured and its prosperity sustained by the neighbouring
fortress, the frequent residence of a powerful family.

It will be no part of my business to dilate on the pedigree
or history of the ancient possessors of this manor, inasmuch
as, amongst other reasons, we hope on a subsequent occasion
to have some points of genealogical interest with reference to
the Morvilles and Multons dealt with by a much more com-
petent authority on such subjects — our excellent member Mr.
Jackson, of St. Bees ; my particular concern is to give as
complete and precise a description as I can, of the castle, its
plan, and present condition.

The Castle of Kirkoswald is said, on the authority of Dr.
Todd, • to have been originally founded about the year 1201

* Jefferson, Lvalh ff'artl, p. 274. The date here is an error : A.D. 1201, was
the second of King John : the period of Randolph Enpayne was 100 years before
the date stated.

kikIcoswald castle. 263

by Randolph Engayne ; but, he adds, it was then much
inferior in size and magnificence, and **far short of that
beauty and state which it had afterwards by his successors."
By the marriage of Ada, granddaughter of this Randolph
Engayne, it passed to Simon Morville, and Sir Hugh de
Morville, in the second of King John, obtained licence to
fortify the castle and inclose the park. -•'

There seems to have been a mistake made by Denton
whose MSS. have been followed by the compilers of our
county histories) in the identification of this Hugh Morville,
lord of Burgh and Kirkoswald, and his more notorious name-
sake, one of the murderers of Thomas-a-Becket. Mr. Hodg-
son Hind (in a paper read at a meeting of the Archaeological
Institute, in Carlisle in 1859) traced the error to the
Chronicon Cumbriae, and showed that Becket's assassin was
Hugh, lord of Westmorland and Knaresburgh at the same
time that Burgh was possessed by Simon the grandfather of
his namesake, who held Kirkoswald in the second of King
John.

The possessions of the Morvilles descended to the Multons,
by whom, in the time of Edward H., this castle was further
enlarged and fortified. In the seventh year of Edward II.,
the castle and manor of Kirkoswald, the barony of Gilsland,
and other vast estates were transferred by the marriage of
Margaret, daughter and heiress of Thomas de Multon, to
Ralph, baron of Dacre, of Dacre Castle.

It was during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, whilst
held by the powerful family of the Dacres, that the castle
rose to its full pride and magnificence, and about the year
1500, after having been occupied by their family for eight
generations, it received its last improvements from the
famous Thomas Lord Dacre, '*who encompassed it with a
large ditch for better security, and beautified it at great
expense."

The power of the Dacres of Gilsland and Kirkoswald cul-

* The park inclosed a varied and undulating; tract extendin^sf from the broad
and lapid waters of the Eden, over Viol Moor towards the eastern fells, and up
the Raven Beck to the hamlet still called Park Head, a domain which is now
divided into five or six considerable fertile farms.

264 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

minated during the long reign of forty years of this Thomas
the Sixth. He succeeded in the first of Henry VII. (1485),
and died in the seventeenth of Henry VIII. (1525). Hot,
impetuous, and ambitious, he began his career b}' following
the example set one hundred and seventy years before by his
ancestor, Ralph of Dacre Castle, who stole from Warwick
Castle the daughter and heiress of the Multons. It was this
Thomas, who carried off by stealth in the dead of night, at
Brougham Castle, from the guardianship of the Cliffords, the
young and wealthy heiress, Elizabeth of Greystock, by
marriage with whom the barony of Greystoke became united
to that of Gillesland and Kirkoswald. This Thomas was
distinguished also in war. Lord Surrey gave him command
of the reserve on Flodden Field :

** Lord Dacre with his horsemen light
Shall be in rearward of the fi^ht.
And succour them that need it most. "

M arm ion,

and staunchily did his Cumbrian knights and men-at-arms
and Border prickers repel the onslaught of the hot-blooded
Highland kernes of Huntly and Argyle, and bore their sway
with fell intent at the close of the day, to the terrible break-
ing of the Scottish power on that fatal field.

When Lord Warden of the Western Marches (to which
appointment he was promoted by Henry VIII.), Thomas
Lord Dacre frequently resided at Kirkoswald, and dated
dispatches from thence. He was a diplomatist also ; to him
Henry entrusted much of the management of Scottish affairs,
and the conduct of the intrigues with the factions which rent
that kingdom after the battle of Flodden.

On the division of the vast possessions of the Dacres mto
the two branches, known as the Dacres of the North and the
Dacres of the South, the Castle of Kirkoswald fell to the
latter branch, which very shortly terminated in the Fiennes
and Lennards, the last of whom, marrying a natural daughter
of Charles II., by the Duchess of Cleveland, was created
Earl of Sussex, and died in 1715, leaving two daughters. The
property was exposed for sale, and bought by the Musgravcs,
in whose possession it now is.

KIRKOSWALD CASTLE. 265

It was during the period of the rapid decadency of this race,
and of the impoverishment and non-residency of these latter
Dacres of the South that this castle fell from its high estate,
and the work of displenishment and spoliation began.

The process of dismantling was in operation between the
years 1604 and 1624. First, probably from its value, the lead
would be stripped off the roof, and the trappings of the hall,
the painted glass casements, and wood carvings, and panel-
ling would follow fast. Some movable chattels went to
Lowther Hall, some glass to Corby and to Wetheral Church ;
Belted Will Howard enriched his castle of Naworth largely
from here. The curious genealogical tree of the Dacre
family, with armorial bearings and inscriptions round them in
painted glass, was transferred to the chapel at Naworth ;
this, and the curious panelled ceiling with the pictures of the
kings (referred to by Sandford) were destroyed at the fire at
Naworth in 1844. In the library in Belted Will's tower may
still be seen a strong, massive, beautifully-moulded, and
characteristic fourteenth-century wooden panelled roof. This,
as was pointed out by Mr. J. H. Parker, at the visit in 1859
of the Archaeological Institute, was not originally intended for
its present situation, as it doss not fit the cornice of the room.
In all probability it was one of the spoils of Kirkoswald
Castle.

In the year 1688, when Mr. Thomas Denton wrote, he
described the castle as being a bare shell or heap of stones.
1 have before me the plate published by the Bucks in 1739,
which shows some walls standing in the north-east, which are
now gone ; otherwise the rest of the castle is represented as
being almost as ruinous as at present. In point of fact, the
excellency of the facing-stones has proved fatal to its exist-
ence, for the walls have been blasted and ruthlessly thrown
down, and the stones stripped off; it has actually formed a
quarry of excellent ashlar, to be taken when needed, as may
be seen by the mason's marks on some of the buildings in the
village of Kirkoswald.

The demolition of the walls has been so extensive, and the
foundations are so much overthrown by debris^ that it is
difficult to form an entire plan of the wards and chambers of

KK

266 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

the castle. However from the insight afforded by the three
existing towers, from the fragments of outside and partition
walls visible, or traceable in their foundations, and by the
help of Buck's view, I have constructed a ground plan which
will give an idea at all events of the extent and general
arrangement of the building.

The site which is on shghtly rising ground, about a quarter
of a mile to the south-east of the village, presents no natural
advantages as a defensive position. The approach is by an
ancient causeway, which runs parallel with, and close to the
counterscarp of the moat on its western border. The moat
encompasses a level area of about one-and-three-quarter
acres, nearly in the centre of which stands the fortress.

As may be seen on the plan, the fosse is of a rectangular
figure, exactly following the contour of the castle, and sur-
rounding it on every side. In one direction it is 380 feet
long, in the other 300 feet ; inside measurements. It has an
average width of 30 or 40 feet, and might have had a depth of
from 12 to 18 feet; it was supplied with water by a brook
from the ponds in the park above, and when filled, must have
proved a very formidable obstacle to any assailants.

At the western angle of the moat, there is an additional
work of defence, of great interest and importance; it is a rec-
tangular mound, an outwork or ravelin lying within the moat,
and provided with a ditch of its own. It is nearly square, the
dimensions are 45 feet by 40 feet ; it is on the same level as
the inner inclosure, and the sides presented to the exterior
are nearly flush with the lines of scarp of the main ditch.
The function of this earthwork has been to flank the main
entrance and drawbridge, which probably were placed where
the gap now is, about the middle of the western side.

There remains no traces of buildings of gatehouse, or of
gatehouse towers, or of barbican, and there may have been
none, except the timber apparatus for the drawbridge — there
has been no masonry along the edge of the moat, the defence
has been by wooden stockading.

The plan of the castle seems to have been quadrangular,
fornnng a scjuare of about 150 feet, yet not regular nor com-
plete, seeing that the eastern line re-enters at an angle, at the
southern corner, leaving there a rectangular recess.

KIRKOSWALll CASTLE. Sfi?

Two towers, of which a good deal still remains, though
plundered of their facing stones, cap the angles on the south
face. They are nearly of the same size and pattern, and
nearly square, 35 by 30 feet ; they are about 50 feet apart,
and set on nearly flush with the curtain wall which has con-
nected them. They have had a basement, and a first and
second floor. The basement in each consists of a vaulted
chamber, entered from the ward at the court level by a
narrow doorway with a pointed arch, and plainly chamfered ;
each is lighted with a single square-headed loop. In the in-
terior these chambers are well preserved, the roofs are low,
barreUvauited ; the arches and walls are of goodly -worked
chiselled stones, exhibiting a great variety of mason marks.

The tower which caps the eastern angle, measures inside
16 feet by 15 feet, with its doorway and loop, lx)th on the
north side, opening into the ward. The chamber in the
opposite tower is ig feet by 13 feet, with its loophole opposite
to the doorway, and presenting to the exterior of the castle.
The upper stories show nothing but ruined walls, but they
S«em to have had some round-headed window openings.
These towers are probably part of the original castle of the
date of Edward II. The adjoining ward was probably occu-
pied by the lower class of apartments, kitchen, storehouses,
and accomodation for the household retainers.

On turning to the north side of the rnctinU, there stands a
tall slender tower, which constitutes the main feature of the
ruins, tolerably entire, with its well laid ashlar of the red
sandstone of the country, excellently preserved. It is 65 feet
high, and with its battlements, which are now gone, it would
have been three feet higher. It is four-sided and nearly
square, at least the sides facing to the exterior are each
about 14J feet at the base, just above the massive plinth on
which it is founded ; half way up there is a course of masonry
forming a string course, and there is another a little distance
helow the parapet. The openings to the outside are of the
nature of loops and small square-headed windows, without
decoration or mouldings. The tower is set on diagonally, or
diamond-wise against the wall of the enctinte, with rather more
than half of it projections buttress-like beyond the wall.

268 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

This tower has been constructed solely with the object of
carrying the winding staircase, which has given access to
three stories of upper apartments. The three square-headed
doorways placed one above another, seen on one interior face,
have each communicated with a mural gallery or corridor in
the thickness of the cross and partition walls, of which a
fragment remains ii feet thick. The fourth small doorway'
above led to the roof and the battlements.

At the foot of the tower there are two doorways entering
upon the staircase, one triangular-headed on one face of the
tower presenting to the court ; and the principal one with a
good pointed arch leading from a straight passage through
the thickness of the wall, which is here 8 feet 3 inches thick.
The inlet and outlet to this passage are by two pointed-
arched and chamfered doorways, one direct to an inner apart-
ment, the other having been in use as a postern to the moat
and outer buildings.

This side of the quadrangle has contained the range of the
principal apartments of the castle, the hall and chapel, and
dining-room, and on the upper stories suites of rooms for the
lord and his chief guests. The great hall, which we are led
to believe was 100 feet in length, probably extended along the
north wall of the castle, with the dais at its eastern end ; and
adjoining the dais, the chapel.

The hall, if we rely on history and tradition, cannot have
been exceeded in baronial magnificence, and in the splendour
of its internal decorations, by any existing in our counties in
the sixteenth century. We may consider the hall and the
buildings connected with it, and the staircase tower, to have
constituted the additions made to the castle about the year
1500.

Sandford, who visited this place about 1610, says in his
MSS.: **This great castle of Kirkoswald was once the fairest
fabric that ever eyes looked upon. The hall I have seen 100
feet long ; and the great portraiture of King Brute lying in
end of the roof of this hall, and of all his succeeding suc-
cessors kings of England, portraicted to the waist, their
visage, hats, feathers, garbs, and habits, in the roof of this
hall ; now translated to Naword Castle, where they are

KIRKOSWALD CASTLE. 269

placed in the roof of the hall, and at the end thereof. This
castle was the ancient palace of the Lord Multon, marrying
the Lord Vaux's heir, lord of Naworth and Gilsland ; and
afterwards of the late lords Dacre ; and now come by lineal
descent to the tresgallant the earls of Sussex : with the lands
adjoining, and many brave parks and villages belonging
therereto." Speaking further he says : ** In this grand castle
I was some sixty years agoe, when there was many fair toures
and chambers and chapels ; and in the east end, on one
behinde the altar, there was a crucifix in the windows, with
the portrait of Christ ; and the manner how he was crucified
thereupon ; and a substantial subsibdy yeoman man ther
asket me what picture that was, and I told him the picture of
Christ crucified ; and he said that he never knew so much of
Christ's crucifying and his dolorous death and sufferings and
pashion."

Let us now turn to the western face, or front of the enceinte.
Amid the hillocks and hollows and heaps of grass-grown
rubbish that encumber this side of the ruin, it is possible to
mdicate the site of the gateway as having consisted of an
outer and inner gate, flanked with turrets, or tower-like
buttresses.

It was usual in the outer bailey, outside of the walls, to
have the stabling, out-offices, and inferior apartments ; the
site of these may be traced in the foundations of main walls
and partitions, covered by the turf, extending from the
northern boundary of the castle to the scarp of the moat.

It is possible that the road of approach to the castle gate
from the drawbridge and the moat, was sunken below the
level of the ground in the manner of a trench, or covered
wav, so as to shelter the advance or retreat of the defenders :
the depression in the ground suggests the idea.

The tradition of a subterranean passage existing from the
castle to the church is supported by Dr. Todd ; I have
nothing to affirm about this either in one waj- or other. A
similar tradition is attached to several feudal strongholds in
this country ; it is commonly believed that an underground
way extended from Penrith Castle to Dockray Hall in the
centre of the town, from Hornby Hall in Brougham parish,

270 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

Westmorland, to St. Ninian's Church ; at Hohne Cultram, at
Naworth Castle, and at other places.

To sum up what can be told of the antiquity of Kirkoswald
Castle, I would say: There is no part of it to which an
earlier date can be assigned than the latter part of the
thirteenth century. The inceptive work of Randolph Engain
has beem of no account ; the Norman has left no mark here,
there is no single massive keep or citadel, the invariable
characteristic of the strong Norman fortress, and which we
find abiding almost in its pristine strength, when the
adjacent buildings of a subsequent date, are mouldering in
ruins.

The two original towers afford the key to its design and
proportions, as a small Edwardian castle ; that is, a quad-
rangular mural enclosure, with projecting towers capping the
angles.

The alterations and additions in Henry VII. 's reign would
modify much the military character of the place from that of
a fortress dependent for its defence on its loopholed bastions,
turrets, and battlements, and strong walls and ramparts.

A material change in the type of castles and new-built resi-
dences was being produced about this period, in conse-
quence of the generally more peaceful and civilised state of
England. In these buildings defence became a secondary
consideration, whilst the number and convenience of the
domestic apartments were much increased ; instead of being
spread about the enclosure they were built in blocks, or
gathered together in a palatial pile, with large and mullioned
window openings, flush with or projected as bows beyond Ihc
face of the wall.

But having been divested of the projecting wall of enceinte
there arose a necessity for an outer defence of the castle for
security against surprise, and to extend a safer distance any
attack by the use of gunpowder, or from the rude match-
locks, or dubious ordnance of the period.

Accordingly we find the moat extensively used about later
castles and manor houses, even in the time of Elizabeth and
later, a species of defensive obstacle which once received its
perfect consummation as a part of the system of modern

KIRKOSWALD CASTLE.

271

permanent fortification ; so that about the year 1500 Sir
Thomas Dacre "encompassed it with a large ditch for better
security," which is the splendid moat which you now see so
perfectly preserved.

CATTERLEN HALL.

There is that strong Keltic ring in the sound of the word
Catterlen, that we are prompted to appeal to Gaelic ethno-
graphers for its derivation. Accordingly they tell us that the
name is derived from the two Hiberno-Keltic words, cealher,
the quadrangle ; and leana, of the marsh or riverside ground.

The township and the bank on which this fortahce of
Catterlen stands are encompassed on the west, south, and
east by a bend of the river Petteril [Pedrogvl] before it enters
its own proper valley, where it assumes a straight northward
course to Carlisle. In the elbow thus formed by the river
through the land at KeltJeside there is much low marshy
ground.

That the country around this place was extensively
occupied by Keltic tribes is evinced by the remains still
existent of the inhabitancy of an early people. These relics
are scattered here and there in the parish of Newton Reigney
just over Petteril ; we find a British camp adjoining the
village,— an earthen barrow at Mossthorn,— a buried stone
circle at the KJggs, — remnants of stone sepulchral rings at
Sewborrens,— detached boulder stones, probably forming part
of a stone avenue leading from Newton through Sewborrens
on the line of way to the river Eamont, towards the ford at
Yanwath,

The Roman occupation of this district is marked by the
fine remains about three miles below 00 the bank of the
Petteril of the camp of Voreda, or Old Penrith, and by the ex-
istence of a Roman road from that camp through Penrith to
Brougham, or Brovacum.

The Angle and Saxon dominion has left an indelible stamp
in the names of the adjoining townships and places, as shown
by such Saxon words as Newton, Stainton, Plumpton,

272 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

Hutton, Skelton, Newbiggin, Riggs, Kelbarrow, Thorn-
burrow, etc.

We find that at the time of the Norman Conquest these
lands of Catterlen were in the possession of the Saxon
Haldane, and that Hubert de Vallibus, or of Gilsland, a
Norman follower of the despotic William, wrested the manor
from Willifred, the son of the Saxon Thane. Henry I. re-
granted and confirmed to the said Hubert and his heirs,
besides the barony of Gilsland (the spoliation of a Saxon
noble, one Beuth) other manors, and amongst them ** Kader-
leng, cum molindino quod Uchtredus filius Haldani tenuit.*'

So was this manor of Catterlen apportioned to a branch of
the great family of de Vallibus, or Vaulx, which family,
during the reigns of the Norman Kings and to the end of the
reign of Henry III., possessed paramount power and influ-
ence, not only in Cumberland, as barons of Gilsland, but also
in other parts of the kingdom.

Catterlen Hall, like many other mediaeval mansion houses
in the northern counties, is a building of varied composition,
and the marks of the additions and alterations that have been
successively made may be readily detected.

You can trace three epochs of architecture. The pile
occupying the northern end of the range of buildings prob-
ably stood alone for a century. It is a Border pele tower,
similar in construction to many others in the district ; it is
not a very early tower — the date may be about the middle of
the fifteenth century. To this, in the sixteenth century, were
added the hall and kitchen, and again, in the middle of the
seventeenth century, the more imposing buildings approached
by the flight of steps, which proceed at a right angle from the
southern face. Let us examine these different parts in
detail : —

First, the pele tower. This in all essential arrangements,
is of the same type which characterises the pele towers in the
neighbouring districts, and those of the Scottish border. In
its dimensions it is smaller (it is 30^ feet long and 19 J broad
at base) than most of them. The masonry is not quite so
good as m the towers of Yanwath and Askham. The pele
consists of a basement story, containing one low-barrel

LtOORWAV AT CA [ TKHLKN HAI

CATTERLEN HALL. 273

vaulted apartment, now appropriated as a dairy. In this
there are square narrow openings, enlargements of the old
loopholes, widely splayed inside. The walls are four feet
thick. In the south-west angle there is the low pointed
arched doorway of the newel staircase, which leads to the
upper floors and battlements. In the upper apartments the
thickness of the wall is not sufficient to contain the stair, so
that the circumference of the well encroaches on the angle of
the apartments.

The first stor}' is occupied by one room — the Solar or
King's Chamber, — dimensions, 23 by 13 feet — attached to
which is a very small closet. The chief light in this chamber
is the window on the east front ; it consists of two lights, with
pointed arches, plain, with chamfered edge. Over the arch
is a label moulding, enclosing a square frame, and in the
spandrels are three shields, two plain, and the central one
bearing the coat of the Vaulx of Catterlen.

At the level of this floor on the exterior of the west wall
there may be noticed three projecting corbel stones set in a
line. These were intended to carry a hoarding or wooden plat-
form for the defence of this side of the tower, or the bretasche.
Similar arrangements were noticed at Penrith Castle and
Clifton tower, and are seen at Craigmillar Castle, and Preston
tower in Scotland.

The roof of this and the floormg of upper chamber are gone,
but at the height of some feet the corbels which supported
them remain. The walls retain the original plaster, which
probably was covered with fresco paintings.

The chamber above is the ladies' chamber. This is lighted
by two windows, one on the east and one on the north face of
tower. The windows are each of two lights, separated by a
mullion. They have pointed arches, with a pierced cinque-
foil at the head, enriched with cusps, deeply recessed, with
mouldings. The original iron grilles across the casements
remain. The newel stair issues on the roof under a pent-
house at the south-west angle.

The parapet of the roof is about six feet high, and crenel-
lated. There are six embrasures on two sides and four on
the shorter sides. The dimensions inside the parapet are

LL

274 "^^^ OL^ MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

27 by 1 8 feet. Projecting from ihe cornice under the battle-
ment on the northern and eastern aspects of the tower, there
remain the waterspouts or gurgoyles ; these are made to re-
semble cannon, a device that has been assumed in the water-
spouts of the tower of Kirk- Andre ws-on-Esk, and in some
Scottish peles.

Here at Caterlen as at the towers of Yanwath, Sockbridge,
Clifton, Hutton John, Hutton Hall, and many other instances,
it had become a matter of necessity to provide extra accortio-
dation for the increasing requirements and progress of the
age. Hence we find that in the course of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, ranges of buildings were added to one
end of the tower.

Here at Catterlen this addition is in the form of a long two-
storied building, about twenty-two yards long, containing on
the ground floor a hall and kitchen, and sleeping apartments
on the upper stories. As we find by the inscription over the
doorway, it was built by Rowland Vaux, in 1577. This is
the principal doorway on the east front. It is flatheaded and
surmounted by the usual square label or dripstone of the
Elizabethan period. The inscribed stone stands above the
lintel, and is protected by a projecting label and square frame-
work. When Machel wrote his MSS., about the year 1690,
he says, that over the old kitchen door at Catterlen Hall were
the arms of Vaux in a roundel, viz., or, a fesse cheeky or and
gules between three garbs gules, branded or. With this
legend round in old characters :

ICrt ntrrriT anb faithfulnrs ntbtv qo\ic home the.

and underneath :

^t tbis time is llatolanb tJaui larb of tijis plart, anb
builbeb tbis Ijause in tlje ijrar af C5ab, 1577.

with the letters R.V. A.V., viz., Rowland Vaux, Anne Vaux,
the name of his wife, who was daughter of a Salkeld.

Now, as pointed out to me by Mr. R. S. Ferguson, Machel
is incorrect in his description of the arms over the doorway

CATTERLEN HALL. 275

at Catterlen, They are correctly expressed ic Whelan's
Cumberland, p. 584, and in Jefferson's Leatk Ward, pp. 149

and 496.

Tiie Escocheon is as foJlows : —

A ftss cheeky bdwixt six garbs (vallx of catterlen),
quartering, a cross fiory (delamoke of cumberlanu).

Neither Jefferson nor Wiielan knew the name of the quar-
tered arms, but by a reference to St. George's visitation it is
fotind that William le Vaiix married Isabella, heiress of
Delamore, in the twentieth year of Edward IV., and the
arms of Vaux and Delamorc are there given as over the door-
way at Catterlen. The arms on the tower are those of Vaux

The chimneypiece in the hall is characteristic ; it is a flat
segmental arch, stretching across two thirds of the room, in-
closing a nook within whicli half-a-dozen persons might cozily

• It b very curious lha[ {ai. puinted out by Mr. Jackson of St. Mm,
meeling) In both Ihcw instances, and also on a tomb In Newton Reigney C
the arms o( Vaux show six fartn : over the door ti> the wing at the top
steps are the »rmi of Vaux quartering Richmond, three garbs only.

Now the arms with three garbs are gcneratly supposed to be those of V.
Catterlen, and those with six, tho» of Viu* ol Torcrossock. It is curious
them bolh at Catterlen. On referencf lo Machel I lind he nMiccs this. bu(
■.t\i tocarelessneiton psitof the cirvcr. He alto says that un the Id

^tiarc with a clowned M in it, which he eniilaina to mean "Maria

Regina/' but it probably means Queen Mary, and alludes (o repairs done
' - ;. R.S.F.

276 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

be seated. The windows of this part of the building are all
of the same character, square-headed with square labels,
divided into two and three lights by plain mullions, with
round segmental arches. The hall — now split up by parti-
tions— originally occupied the whole breadth of the building.
It was well lighted by the windows on each side. The roof
is low, and is particularly deserving of notice. It is a flat
timber roof, ribbed and panelled, of good workmanship, but
without much ornamentation or carving. It is of the Tudor
period, a style which preceded the ornamented and moulded
plaster ceilings which were introduced into the north of
England in Elizabeth's reign, and in the succeeding reigns, of
which we have had so many examples.

In the fifteenth century the old feudal custom was still
maintained for the lord and his guests to dine in the hall in
common with his vassals and retainers, who depended upon
him for their food and housing. But after this period a vast
change was in progress in regard to the domestic relations
existing between the lord and his household retainers. The
inferior orders were no longer now under serfdom and villain-
age, as they were in feudal times. They had now become
engaged in handicraft and profitable pursuits, by which they
earned an independent subsistence, and by which they were
enabled to lodge and feed themselves. The serving men and
women were hirelings, and it became a matter of taste that
the lord and lady and their guests should wish to draw them-
selves from the coarseness and clatter of the common hall.
Hence during the sixteenth century we find that the hall in
its size and in its decorations lost its importance, and was no
longer the principal chamber of the dwelling. In the houses
built in the seventeenth century, the requirements of the age
led to the introduction of the private dining-room and with-
drawing room of the lord and lady.

John Vaux of Catterlen, the last of the name, died without
male issue in 1642, and the manor descended to two
daughters, co-heircsscs ; one of them, Mabel, chose for a
husband a neighbouring scjuire, Christopher Richmond, of
High Head Castle, which lay midway between this place and
Carlisle, which estate was subsequently acquired by the first

CATTERLKN HALL. 277

Lord Bcougham and Vaux. Christopher Richmond and
Mabel Vaux probably were married about the year 16+7, and
I find that at the period of Dugdale's visitation in 1665, they
had issue :— Christopher, aged 17 ; |ohn, aged 16 ; and Mag-
dalen, aged 12 ; and that moreover to his second wife he had
married Magdalen daughter of Andrew Hiidleston Esquire
of Hutton John, and by her had issue : — Dorothy (at the said
visitation), aged i year; and Margery, a^ed 7 weeks.

The old Pcle tower and the premises built by Rowland
Vaux, fell short of the requirements of the new-married
couple and the taste of the age, and in accordance with the
custom of the times, they determined to make an addition to
the old manorial residence. They accordingly resolved to
build a wmg at right angles to the old range of buildings, and
this was completed, according to the dates I find affixed on
three separate inscribed stones.

Gothic art was now dead ; the pointed arch was disused,
and the cusps and tracery which had distinguished the rich
Perpendicular period of Henry VII. gave way to the square-
headed windows and plain mulHons and transoms of the
Elizabethan period, which were transmitted into the Jaco-
bean age. The revival of the style of classical Grecian and
Roman architecture was influencing the taste of the age, and
received an impetus in this country from the example of In igo
Jones. It was the so-called Renaissance of art.

You mark the transition here in the doorway of the new
wing, and in the whole character and ornamentation of the
structure ; none of the early or decorated mouldings or orna-
ments have been retained, except the square billet in the
jambs of the doorway (an ornament imported into the Italian
style), and in the feeble battlemented plaster cornice in the
interior.

This wing consists of a building 63 feet long, of two stories,
the lower containing kitchen and offices, and the upper of a
banquetting room, a withdrawing room, and a lord and lady's
chamber. The upper story is approached by a flight of
sixteen steps, There have been more buildings raised on a
vaulted substructure abutting on the road, which have now
disappeared, and the vaulted cellars have been filled up with
the rubbish.

I

278 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

The doorway is ornamented in the Italian style, It is s
mounted by an entablature bearing ihe coat-of-amis, crest,
helmet, wrcalli, and scroll, and date (you notice the Ionic I
columns),'' The large liall in the interior is divided by a]
lath and plaster partition in two unequal portions, and it ]
seems to have been ceiled in plaster.

At either end are two chimney pieces deserving notice. I
They are both in the same style, and are of stone. The J
jambs are massive, curved outline, and boldly cut, and the ]
shelf is cut In a fluted pattern. There is a device in the centre 1
of each, consisting of the initials of the husband and wife — I
Q H j^ — joined with the true lovers' knm along with the j
badge of the family, the rose of Richmond, surniountiri
V-shaped heart, along with the date 1657, This was a
common custom in the Stuart period.

In the chimneypiece in the bedroom you see a further |
development of the classical style in the introduction of the ]
female figures, or caryatides, which form the supporting 1
jambs of the maiUctshelf.

DACRE CASTLE.

There are in the north of England still remaining a number
of tower-built houses to which the title of castle has liecn
attached, which are intermediate in extent and importance
between the ordinary pele tower and castles properly so-
called ; that is, fortresses constructed exclusively as places of
strength for the defence of important positions.

This class of buildings are on a more dignified and impos-
ing scale than the ordinary Border pele. They consist
uniformly of a massive square tower of larger dimensions

The shield lieais quarterly Richmond and Vauii, dated ids^t molto, "
nit jiivante;" cresl, a calamuunt sitlinff tin a wreath, and holdint; u
icl. Machcl >iay& that in the dininj; ruon. ace the arm:, uf Richmond Im
a Quatterlv Cuat, viz., isl and 4lh (uncolouredl per liend indmtcd I
!, apparcnlly r md and jtd or, a saltitc sahle. His drawing (all he rih-

MMBlJiB^

1 lp<'MiiB

■5 ffi^-"'-'t'v^''^^i

L

fflaU' '

■ ■HI <': ' ' "^V'

1

fa^^^^^mM

1
1

f

DACRF. CASTLE. 279

than the pele, often with a projecting square turret at each
angle, and contain a greater number and variety of apart-
ments. To this class of houses what now remains of the
castle of Dacre belongs.

Of this variety of tower-built houses there are several
examples existing. I may instance Aydon Castle, Belsay
Castle, and Langley Castle in Northumberland ; Crum-
longan Castle near Ruthwell, on the Solway (a fine example
of the fifteenth century) ; and Tattershall in Lincolnshire.

The watershed of the high country between Penrith and
Keswick, flowing eastwards, and also the drainage of the
extensive pastoral valley of Matterdale, unite in a stream
called Dacre Beck ; this, after flowing past the ancient tower
of Hutton John, courses through the beautiful valley of
Dacre, and joins the river Eamont near Dalemain.

The valley is narrow, but the slopes of the hills on either
side are gentle and admit of high cultivation.

Just at the outlet of the valley on a spur of high ground, on
the left bank of the beck, stands the Castle of Dacre.
Towards the south and east this bank rises abruptly to the
height of fifty feet above the level meadow, through which
the river runs. On the other sides the ground occupied by
the castle and its enceinte possesses no natural advantages as
a defensive position, except a small ravine on the north,
separating it from the church.

Here was its weak place as a fortification, and the first
point of interest to note concerning Dacre Castle is that it is
moated.

All the large Norman castles in Cumberland and Westmor-
land such as Carlisle, Cockermoutli, Brougham, Appleby, and
Brough have of course a moat as the outer defence of the
main wards and curtain wall ; so also have castles of
secondary size and importance, such as Rose, Naworth, Pen-
rith, and Kirkoswald. The moat at Kirkoswald is very fine
and distinct, and well worth inspection. It is rectangular,
and completely surrounds the fortress ; moreover within the
moat there is an outwork, so placed as to command the main
gateway and drawbridge. This outwork itself is moated,
and stands in the ditch in the same manner as a ravelin or

28o THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

flanking defence in a work of modern fortification. In some
feudal strongholds in some parts of Scotland, the site chosen
has been a piece of dry land in the midst of a morass, or
some locality capable of being flooded artificially with water.
For instance on the other side of the river Eamont, opposite
to this place in Westmorland there is an old sixteenth century
manor-house now standing (Barton Hall), which anciently
must have been surrounded by a marsh and low swampy
ground, approachable only by a narrow and difficult cause-
way.

The moat at Dacre is very perfect, and occupies three sides
of a quadrangular figure, and encloses a space about 80
yards long, and about 60 yards wide ; inside the ditch, at
the eastern corner of this space, stands the present remnant
of the fortress, the kesp. The depth of the moat must have
been considerable in its original state, from 12 to 20 feet, and
even now it is often half filled with water. The width varies
from 30 to 50 feet from bank to bank.

It IS evident that the moat never entirely surrounded the
castle courtyard. At the northern side it dies away at about
twenty paces from the keep at the steep sloping bank, on the
edge of which the north-eastern face of the keep has been
planted. At this weak part the defence of the courtyard has
been by means of a curtain wall, which has abutted on the
northern angle turret, and has been carried onwards to the
scarp of the ditch. At an angle from this curtain wall there
appears to have been projected a flanking spur-work to guard
and close the head of the moat. The foundations of masonry
may be traced here, but from the absence of stonework else-
where along the scarp of the moat, I presume that the
enceinte was fenced, not by substantial walls of masonry, but
by pallisades and timber.

The plan of the castle is that of a massive square tower of
three stories, each of which is occupied by a large apartment;
but at each angle of the tower there is a square turret pro-
jected from the building ; of these turrets, the two at the
east and west are of larger size, and are set on parallel to the
sides of the central building ; the two at the north and south
angles arc smaller, and are set on in a diagonal direction.

DACRE CASTLE. 281

which peculiarity of construction, from all points of view,
imparts to the tower a very bold, remarkable, and unusual
aspect. The height of the higher turrets is about sixty-six feet.

The large turret at the west, marked (E) in the plan, is the
entrance and staircase turret, which contains a newel stair,
leading up to the upper stories, and to the battlemented roof
and its watch towers. The large turret (B), at the east, con-
tains four flights of small apartments or bedrooms. The
small northern turret (C) also contains rooms, and the small
south turret, (D) is appropriated exclusively to closets and
shoots, and is now blocked up.

We will notice the arrangement of these apartments as we
proceed higher in the building.

Including the turrets, Dacre kec^p occupies a space of
ground whicli we may estimate as measuring sixty-six feet
by forty-five feet.

Let us glance at the exterior. I must premise, that the
original architectural character of the castle is very much
impaired by the alterations made in the seventeenth century ;
the large square-headed windows were then inserted : and the
present doorway, approached by tne external flight of steps,
was broken into the first floor. These changes were made
by Thomas Lennard Lord Dacre, afterwards created Earl of
Sussex, whose arms are over the entrance. The shield con-
tains : — ist, on a fesse three flcurs de lys, Lennard ; 2nd,
three lions rampant, Fiennes ; 3rd, three escallops, Dacre ;
4th, three bars, Multon. The shield is surmounted by a
coronet, for supporters a wolf chained, dexter, a bull chained
sinister ; and the motto, ** Pour bien desirer." This Earl died
in 1 71 5, and on his demise, the castle and manor of Dacre
was conveyed to Sir Christopher Musgrave, and afterwards
sold to the ancestors of the present much respected squire,
E. W. Hasell, of Dalemain.

The original entrance to the castle was by the pointed
doorway at the foot of the west or staircase turret. A short
passage from the foot of the stairs leads to the ground floor ;
this consists of two barrel or tunnel vaulted rooms, each
twenty feet long, by fourteen feet wide, and eight feet seven
inches high to the top of the vault : the partition wall bc-

MM

282 THIi OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

twccn them is five feet thick. The exterior walJs are strong
and massive, and calculated to withstand fire and assault,
being eight feet six inches thick. They are lighted by three
small windows, approached by a flight of six steps from the
floor. In all these particulars, the basement structure
accords to the plan of border towers in general.

We ascend by the staircase turret, (E) and from a landing
plrice on the stairs, a pointed doorway gives entrance to the
large chamber on the first floor, or the hall, (A).

THK HALL.

This st!(!ms at one time to have been occupied as a kitchen,
as well as a hall ; for you have the oven and open fireplace
still rcimaining. A partition divides it now: but the measure-
ment of the original apartment is thirty-six feet by twenty-
one*, exclusiv(i of the recesses in the thickness of the walls,
and the attached closets and badrooms in the north and east
turnjts. The corbels which support the roof spring at a
height of thirte(ui feet from the floor.

I must call your attention particularly to the arched niche
in the wall, ()})p()sit(; the fireplace. It incloses a shelf, and a
piscina, and waterdrain. The arch is trefoil headed, with
ornamentcMl eusps, and round and hollow mouldings, sur-
mounted by an arched canopy or dripstone, terminating in
heads. The style of the work is pure Early English, or of
the thirteenth ccMitury, and similar in design to the piscina
found in cluirclies of that period. It is curious that there is a
record that a license was given by the Bishop of Carlisle in
1334 to Margaret, of Ciilsland, widow of Ralf, the first baron,
to have a chapel within the castle ; so that a castle existed
here at that time. The position which this niche occupies,
is in that part of the hall wliicli was called the " Screens,"
whicli is near the door of entry. Tiie position of the " Dais,"
oi ** lui;h table," 1 take io have been in the recess in the
liiivkiiess of the wall, now partitioned ofT into a separate
u\':ii opjH^site the " Screens." The other recess on the
it^:;'L !j,h\1 side was for a dresser or cupboard, on which
.U'v'vl i!k" pialo. and glass, and spicery, at the lord's banquets.
l'>: » uvv'^>. in many castles, was richly ornamented with

DACRE CASTLE. 283

stone carvings and mouldings, as at Crumlongan castle, in
Dumfrieshirc.

I cannot pretend to undsrstand tha nie.ining of that broad
headed corbel, situated in the " Screens," half wa}' up the
wall.

THE king's chamber.

We will now ascend by the staircase tower to the upper
story. This is popularly known as the king's chamber. Its
measurements are thirty-four feet by twenty-one feet six
inches. The height to the top of the corbels, from whence
springs the present open timber roof, is seventeen feet. The
fireplace is on the north-west side. The present windows are
all comparatively modern. Examine the north and east
turrets, with their small rooms one above another, and notice
the flight of steps nigh the window jambs, ascending to the
room in the east turret, and the flight of steps, descending
again from its top-most chamber, through the thickness of
the wall, towards the king's chamber.

I wish to point out to you the previous existence of a
gallery here. This flight of steps leads evidently to a passage
in the thickness of the wall, occupying the whole breadth of
this side of the king's chamber. You notice in the middle of
the wall, half way up, a pointed arched doorway, now blocked
up. At the height of seven feet nine inches from the floor,
you notice three corbels still remaining. These have evi-
dently been for the support of a wooden gallery or loft,
stretching across this end of the hall. This has been the
** Minstrel Gallery." The arched doorway is of the same
character as the other original doorways of the building, and
belongs to the period of architecture to which I am about to
refer : it has formed the entrance to the music gallery, and
the passage in the wall and the narrow staircase led to the
small upper room, or minstrel's chamber, or lodging room.

The practice of employing music during the time of dinner
seems to have been universal in the middle ages, and it was
usual to have a gallery or loft in the hall, set apart for the
players. These players, or wandering minstrels, or jongleurs,
did not form a permanent part of the establishment, but

284 THE OLD MANORIAL HA[.LS OF Cl'MBEKLA>

travelled about from one great house to another. Some! _
this music gallery was of stone, built in the wall, with an (
opening looking into the hall, as wc found well illustrated In j
our visit to Yanwath, last year. Here in Dacre Castle it has !
been of wood.

DATE OF THE CASTLE.

The venerable Beds wrote in the eighth century, in the ■
year 731, and he mentions that a monastery existed here in
his time. If so, it was probably built of wood and shingles,
for the Saxons at that time were not masons. In a later I
century, this monastery may have been repaired and rebuilt |
with stone; and it is possible, that the ineriualities of the
surface of the field, behind the present church, cover the site
of that establishment. There are, however, no records of j
any monastery existing here, after the date of William the (
Conqueror.

Moreover, William of Malmsbury, writing in A.D. i
mentions, that Dacre Castle was noted as lieing the place 1
where Constantine king of the Scots, and Eugenius king of '
Cumberland, put themselves and their kingdoms under the
English king Athelstane. This circumstance must have '
happened about the year 927, after the battle of Branan-
burgh in Northumbria, in which AnlafT king of that province,
and Constantine king of the Scots, and the confederacy
formed against Athelstane, were routed and overthrown.

Furthermore, Camden, in his Britannia, repeals the story (
from Malmsbury : and Gibbon adds as a note, " Here is a '
" castle standing, which has formerly been a magnificent
" building, and a seat of the family." From the fact of these
very ancient records making mention of a castle existing at
Dacre", in those early centuries, popular belief has accorded
an extravagant antiquity to the present building; and this 1
chamber in which we now are, called the " King's Chamber," \
is commonly credited with being that in which the three
kings held their conclave. I fear we must disturb that idea.

The Norman style of architecture was not introduced into
England, imti! the time of Edward the Confessor, A.D. io5o,
and the work, at that early period, was so rude and clumsy.

DACRE CASTLE. 285

with wide rough-jointed masonry, and in fact, so bad, and
perishable, that very few remains of it now exist in this
country. But examine the masonry in this castle ; examine
particularly the courses in the newel staircase, and other
portions of the interior, and you will fir^d it of excellent
workmanship ; it is not rough and open, with the interstices
grouted and filled with mortar, as in very early Norman
work, but the stones fit closely, and it is what is called fine-
jointed, which is the distinctive character of later work.

Let us try and come to some decision as to the date of this
building, by a scrutiny of such parts of the original structure
now remaining, as may aid us in the enquiry. But these
parts are few. It is from the character of the arches, the
nature of the window lights, and, above all, the style of the
mouldings and ornaments, that the date of a structure is
determined. We know that in the twelfth century, the arch
adopted by the Norman builders was the round-headed or
semicircular arch. You certainly have it here. In the
original doorway, at the foot of the staircase turret, you
have a round-headed arch, plain and square edged, without
chamfer or mouldings. On the south-west side of the " King's
Chamber," you may observe the rear arch of one of the
original windows still visible ; it is of one light, it is round-
headed, it is not recessed, and it has a moulding. That
moulding is of the plainest description ; it consists of a round
bead or keel, with a hollow on each side, cut on the angle.
It is an early Norman style of moulding, which preceded the
infinite variety of rounds, and hollows, and scrolls, and orna-
ments, which were profusely used in later styles. There is
one other window, now blocked up, with a plain round-
headed arch, with a single light, to be seen on the exterior
on the north-west side. But again, in other original parts of
the building you have the pointed arch. Now the presence
of this change in the formation of the arch brings us into the
thirteenth century, for the pointed arch did not prevail until
the transition period of Norman architecture, when it began
to l>e overlapped by the Early English style. You see the
pointed arch in the small doorways leading into the different
apartments ; it is generally plain and without mouldings, not

286 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

recessed, but simply with the angles chamfered. Again,
some of the openings exhibit examples of what is called the
Carnarvon arch, or shouldered arch, that is, a flat-headed
lintel, supported with a corbelled stone at the angles. This
form again is characteristic of the Early English style. And
lastly, there is in the hall the trefoiled niche, with its cusps
and mouldings, and multifoil piscina, which is so eminently
Gothic, as in point of date to lead us well in the thirteenth
century.

To sum up then ; sparse as are the evidences left, yet they
are sufficient to enable us to assign, with reasonable proba-
bility, the date of the building of the present castle of Dacre,
to about the middle of the thirteenth century.

In the Pipe Rolls of the first of Edward II. there is a
license granted to William de Dacre to crenellate his house
at Dunwalloght in Cumberland, which is generally regarded
as being Dacre Castle.

(287)

CHAPTER XL

THE BARONY OF GREYSTOKE.

The Barony of Greystoke comprehends all that part of
Cumberland on the south side of the forest of Inglewood,
between the seigniory of Penrith and the manor of Castlerigg,
near Keswick. The Barony has passed through the several
houses of de Greystoke, Grymethorpe, and Dacre, before it
came to the Howards. The caput has always been situated
at Greystoke about five miles from Penrith.

In the sixteenth of Edward HI., William de Greystoke
came of age, and succeeded his father Ralph as Baron of
Greystoke ; he became a man of renown, and a builder ; he
was Lord of Morpeth and built Morpeth Castle ; and it was
during his lifetime, about ten years after his succession, that
the expansion of Greystoke Castle was commenced, for in
1353 he had the King's licence to castellate his manor house
at Greystoke.

The castle is stated originally to have consisted of a quad-
rangle comprised within four towers and a gateway.

The greater part of the castle was burnt down in the civil
wars in the time of Charles L, but was rebuilt in a modern
form, and at great expense made into a very convenient and
delightful habitation by Henry Charles Howard at the end
of the seventeenth century.

It was again burnt down and rebuilt about thirty years ago.
The only portion of the old structure remaining is a f)ortion
of one of the old towers with very massive walls, with a
vaulted cellar about 23 feet long by 20J feet wide.

Z2SZ r3E IL-I it5.:aLt-L 3^

- ' i -I?

Bl.enco'*v hall.

jLiitien ^t ne xriai: I^lZzuj ic Gr*j5Cske- ind is
ijni mcariscng siecmiisi it rre saiccssTe cc^sgcs in docre^aic
irrrmTKirnnl gLanmnc TTOcfr aa^t ^xcutred ia the Xobx5i of
Fmf.inif. Zr 3 znsisLZsLj sedated en a gcsitie slope in the
TxLLey :£ rre ^^•M--*r':: iZrcur i TziJt crocn Greystoke Cisile>
juif niii: iir fnni lie -^TT.ig* zi Grsar Blencow.

W-nian it; Gr^y^ccks served with the Black Prince in
nrrtscns mc: F rxice. ^risi :;ce oc hfs followers was Adaai de
Edsurjw^. A.iani xiisc ^lave jrcaiiv distineuished himself on
siicne :cc2:si:n> znhxihlj it the battle of Poictiers, for ia
iicncr :c l:s rr:w»;ss. i3re L:rd of Greyst-jke granted to Adam
:k:i\L 'zi:s 'zjtir^ rv inrrazr. his cw:* arms with a counter chaise
:f nzcTjr^. vli. i scieLd sable with a bead barred argent and
i-nr?. •*^:*1: :hr^;e ch^;:iet5 of roses giiles.^ It cannot be
nairujziei rr^i: this rLice was the site of the homestead of
Aiazi ie Blecccwe. '^ f^r there is nothing remaining here that
car :iie i:s razk to ihe middle of the fourteenth century ; it
:^ rrica'z.-r :hi: :hr :vy-c!ad tower on the north side was
cr-:'::r^i :> :zr :: :he blencowes after the middle of the

Tne ^-r.-:trj.:::ns :f :he Blencowes enjoyed honourable con-
si'Jlcra:::^ ir.i n^.aJe distinguished alliances with the gentry
or tilt: county, and they, have handed down their descent in
the n:-ur line, I believe, to the present time, and the family
had resiJ-nce here until the close of the eighteenth century.

In iSj2 Mr. Henry Prescot Blencowe sold the property to

^ome of the Notes appended t > the text, h.ivc been added to this piper by tht-

k.r.dnes> ot the Rev. I homas Uc8. M.A., K.S.A.. VVreay, Carlisle.

Ih.^-.ant of Arm. was made A.I). , 35r,. Nine years bcf.ire this (xxi. Hd. Ml.

iU7n ^'n^ytJ^ard the III. had jjranted to Adam de Blencowe tNe ♦' Clausa de

Calnethwayt and Braythwaythowes " in the K,.yal Forest of Injilewood ; and two

jears afterwards m i 358, makes him another arrant of all the lands in (ireystoke,

Blencowe, and Newb.-unn>:, which had belong,-.! t., |ohn Kiddall. 1 he estate at

.reat Blencowe was sold ,n ..S02, to William I routbeck, Ksq., (Lyvn s (V/m-

t Burn conjectures that the first si«Tf u-iv -.t i'r.,.* in ii ti 1 c

^, • u L • '^^ ^*'^ **' vjrcat Blcncow on the lAlier side ot

the river, where he mentions t'u* minv ,.f 1,, ,.1 1 ♦ • »• • u- 1

,. , v. . / , .. ^^^ rums ot an old tower as existin<r m his dav.

till r 71 anil ?\uiil^nn, vo . n p. ^-^ ^

BLENCOW HALL.

289

the Duke of Norfolk, and it is now included in the Greystoke
domain.

During the Civil War the place Was battered with cannon
by a detachment of the Parliamentary army, and a raised
platform is pointed out in an adjoining field from which the
guns were levelled. ••'

The south tower is roofless and presents a shell of bare
walls ; the north tower is partly ruinous, but the lower por-
tion has been re-roofed and is utilised as a stable and hayloft.
The central portion is quite habitable, and is occupied as the
residence for the farm.

The entrance to the premises is through a quadrangular
courtyard on the west side, about 70 feet square, and our
attention is at once attracted to the carvings over the door in
the centre of the main block. It is a Tudor-headed door-
way, with beaded and hollow moulding ; surmounting the
lintel there is an oblong slab, inclosed within a boldly pro-
jecting label, terminating in round ornamental caps. In the
centre of the stone there is a shield with a canton in the ist
quarter, without any other charge, and in raised Roman
capitals, in three lines, the inscription : — t

QVORSVM

VIVERE MORI
HENRICVS

'590
OKI VIT^E

LENCOVV ;

♦ General I-ambert in command of ths Parliamentary forces took Penrith on
15th June, 1648, and made it his headouarters for a month. Detachments of his
army took Circystokc, Rose, and Scaleby Castles; Denton, in his MS. History of
(Cumberland, says that Greystoke and Rose Castles were burnt by Major
Cholmlcy in it)4S. Probiblv the Major commanded this detachment of Lam-
bert's army. As Blcncowe Hall lay in the direct way from Greystoke to Rose, it
seems most likely that it was battered on this occasion. Thomas Lees.

t Anthony Blencowe married Winifred dauc^hter of Thomas Dudley : and thus
the Blencowcs were related to I^rd Guildford Dudley, the husband of the unfor-
tunate Lady Jane Grey. On the nijfht before her execution Lady Jane wrote an
exhortation at the end of a New Testament, which she sent to her sister l-ady
Catharine Gicy, in which are the^e words:—** Live still to die, that you by death
may purchase eternal life." May not this inscription be an echo ot thii? Mr.
VV. Jickson pointed out this coincidence to me. Thomas Lrbs.

J On this inscription, see Transactions of Cumberland and If^estmoiiai
(jiiarian and Archtro'ogical Soaetif, vol. i, p. 335, voL vi., p. 389.

1

290 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

Superimposed, there is another smaller square tablet, also
within a hood- moulding, which contains the initials ^ ^ and
three shields, set one and two.

The shield in the upper compartment is blank or has
been defaced ; below, the dexter shield bears Crackenthorpe
(chevron between 3 mullets, 2 and i) ; * the sinister shield is
charged with a fret of eight pieces and a chief.

The general plan and construction of the central building
accords with the style prevalent at the date 1590 given on
the tablet, presenting the usual Elizabethan characteristics.
It is a long single tenement of two stories, the rooms having
windows on both sides : these are divided by chamfered
mullions into two, three, or four lights ; and have hoods
coved beneath, with terminations in balls carved with
crosses, or with spiral and circular lines, and some with the
initials of the builder, H. B.

The principal doorway in the middle of the building gives
entry to a passage or vestibule ; to the left of which is the
common hall or dining-place, 27 feet by 21 feet, at this period
an apartment of greatly reduced dimensions, and no longer
holding the place of importance in the establishment which
it did in the previous century. 7\t one end of the hall is the
usual little parlour, 18 feet by 10 feet, with two mullioned
windows to the east front. In the vestibule there is a
straight flight of steps to the first floor, which contains bed-
rooms only. To the right of the passage is the original
kitchen pertaining to the dwelling in this stage of its occu-
pation. It is small, 18 feet by 11 feet, exclusive of a large
recess ; the fireplace opening consists of an eliptic arch of
9 feet 9 inches span. This central block bears evidence of
having all been built at one time, and of having been set up
against the side of the north tower.

This tower has a projection from the face of the block of
7 feet into the courtyard, and of 10 feet 9 inches on the east
front. The central portion of the edifice has 62 feet of

* Kichard Blencow married Klcanor Crackenthorpe. Tviiip. lien. vil. Pos-
sibly this man might have been the builder of the pele : the style and details
accord with this epoch. — M.JJ'.T.

a, OnjintI Fnfnj/iee.

b Doers blacktd.

C Tudor dooriKiy

(I Modern opening.

e Entrance fo eentrgi block.

f Buttress.

f-'f-~^""=^ I I , , I )

Ground Tloor Pun.

BLENCOW HALL.

a. Ongiiul Fntnnee,

b. Oaen bloek§d.
c Tilt/or doontiy.
d Moijem opening.

e Entrance fe centril block

i. Sutfptss

I

Ground Floor Plan.

I.

BLENCOW HALL.

BLENCOW HALL. 29I

frontage, and forms connection with two towers in the form
of the letter H.

These two towers are, roughly speaking, of about equal
dimensions, and both externally present a similar plan and
elevation, so that, viewed superficially, or from a distance,
the visitor might easily imagine that both were contem-
poraneous. However, when I point out to you the differ-
ences in detail, I have confidence that you will agree with me
in my interpretation of the history of Hlencow Hall. • Let
us take first the north tower.

This is oblong and rectagular in plan ; its dimensions on
the north side are 44 feet and on the west 32 feet, but the
east face has been prolonged by a projecting turret about 10
feet square, so as to have presented originally an L shaped
plan. To the re-entering side of this turret the front wall of the
Elizabethan addition has been affixed. Within the turret is
a corks::rew stair entered by a narrow doorway on the east
front, by which access is obtained to the floors of the build-
ing. The main tower contains a basement, two stories, and
a battlemented roof.

The basement comprises one single chamber, 36 feet by 20
feet ; it had no stone vaulting, but was joisted in timber.
On the first floor there is a room of equal dimensions,
entered by an elliptic doorway from a landing on the spiral
stair ; this represents the solar of the old keep. This is now
covered over with a pent -house roof, and is used as a hay-
loft. The tower above this is a ruin, the roof and floorings
are gone. The newel stair still gives access to the battle-
ments. It may been seen that the second story has con-
tained two rooms, each with a Tudor fireplace in the north
wall ; the dividing partitions must have been of wood, as
there is no transverse wall of division in the tower. The
covering has probably been a slightly inclined roof of over-
lapping flags, allowing of a walk within the parapet all
round. The merlons and embrasures are coped with a splay
and round. The parapet is very slightly projected from a
plain cornice tabling, and at the angles there are gutter-
spouts or gurgoyles. There are several little square window-
slits remaining in this tower, but the larger openings are

29^2 THE OLD NfANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

mullioned, with square labels over them, with ball termina-
tions, some carved with the initials H. B., probably Eliza-
bethan insertions. The masonry is in substantial rubble in
well-laid regular courses, and the walls are 4! feet thick,
without plinth or set-off.

Here therefore we have a tower constructed evidently for
defence, on the model of the ordinary square keep or border
pele, with an attached turret on the L shaped plan, which
became common in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is
true that there is an absence here of the vaulted substructure,
but in some of the later pele towers the vaulting in stone of
the basement came to be omitted, as we have seen at Clifton
tower, and at Hutton Hall, Penrith. It may be asserted
that this keep was built at the end of the fifteenth century,
and stood alone as the homestead of the Blencowes for a
period of a hundred years until Henry Blencowe made his
enlargements in Elizabeth's reign.

We proceed now to the inspection of the south tower,
which is attached to the opposite end of the central building.
This erection lies in the same plane, occupying pretty nearly
a corresponding superficies — follows the same projections —
presents a similar elevation — with adjunctive details of
battlcmented parapet and string-course, identical with the
north tower. But we need not proceed far in the inspection
before wc can perceive that it is but a superficial copy of the
old keep, made at a much later date, when all thought of
defensive requirements in a structure had been abandoned.
The mason work is not so substantially laid, it is more
shallow, the walls are only 2J feet thick, the windows on the
ground floor arc large mullioned openings, affording easy
access from the outside. It is cut up into a variety of
rooms very much as a modern house. The ground floor is
divided into two unequal compartments, by double partition
walls, inclosing a scale stair of twelve steps, 2 feet 8 inches
wide, leading to the upper floor. The large apartment has
been the drawing-room of the renovated mansion, and
measures, inclusive of the projecting bay, 29 feet by 17 feet ;
it is well lighted by a five- feet mullioned window to the east
and by two oIIkt lij^lits to the south ; there is a fireplace

BLEMCOW HALL.

=93

wiih an oblique triangle sunk in the lintel stone; a square
(loorw;iy with a plain cliamfcr gives an entrance from the

garden front.

The smaller apartment is ao feet by 14 feet, and it com-
municates directly with the range of buildings forming the
wing in the courtyard. In Ihe interior the common rubble
of the walls has been covered with cement.

Above, there have been two floors with private apart-
ments having fireplaces and square windows, some with
mullions and handsome hood mouldings coved in cavetto
with carved terminations of the same description as prevail
throughout the rest of the edifice. TJiis tower is now a
roofless shell, with a great rent in its east wall.

My belief is that the addition of this tower was an after-
thought in the renovation of Blencow Hall, effected by
Henry Blencowe in 1590. He first finished the oblong main
block attached to the old pole, which formed a compact sub-
stantial dwelling-house complete in itself, with hall, kitchen,
and necessary apartments. But Henry Blencowe was a man
of importance in the county ; he had married Grace, sister of
Sir Richard Sandford of Howgill Castle in Westmorland, He
improved in position during the time of James I., from whom
he received the honour of knighthood, and he was twice High
Sheriff of Cumberland. It is possible therefore that some
years later Blencowe conceived the idea of further extensions
for domestic accommodation, and in carrying out the plan he
seems to have been governed by the desire of producing
symmetry in the elevation, which in the Jacobean period had
come to he considered as essential in architectural design.
Hence in projecting a wing from the opposite side of the
central block, with its advanced style of internal planning
and capacity, he imitated the external features of the old pele
lower, so thai the two towers might be symmetrical and
balance each other, ''■

* Dr. Taylor's conjecture U rei;aril( ihe credion of the pfeient hal
lirniEil by the following tUtemcnl made by Kdmund Sandfiird in
"Cunury ReUtion oFthc Antiquilici ani Familyej of Cuinheilanil, wi

-' A little abon Urastock Castle si

a south of Carlisle and fi

294 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

The range of buildings attached to this tower, formin.ej the
south enclosure of the courtyard, was constructed at the same
time. On the ground floor was the new kitchen, i8 feet by
1 6 feet, with large fireplace and oven under a built-up low
segmental arch, with wide open chimney, and adjoining were
the usual store rooms and offices, and above were the
servants' dormitories. This wing is pierced with a wide semi-
circular archway through which is the road to the extensive
outside farm offices ; the mullioned and labelled windows are
in due proportion and harmony with the style prevailing
throughout the entire structure.

The remains of a small chapel still exist, situated on the
west side of the courtyard, a portion of the east window has
been preserved in the gable end facing the quadrangle ; it
consists of an acutely pointed arch, recessed with round and
hollow mouldings, divided by a chamfered shaft into two
pointed lights, without cusps or tracery.

JOHNBY HALL.

Johnby Hall is a small dependent manor of the Barony of
Greystock, and stands on the verge of the eastern boundary
wall of Greystock Park. At the very beginning of the present
century Charles the eleventh Duke of Norfolk, added i,ooo
acres to the old park of Greystoke Castle by throwing into it
large pastures from the Johnby and Greenthwaite estates,
which he had recently purchased, so as to form a vast in-
closure of about 6,000 acres, surrounded by a wall 9 feet
high.

Within a short distance is the hamlet of Johnby, in which
still exist some remains of ancient yeomen homesteads. A
remnant of the forest and mosslands constituting part of the

hereupon Blencowe ; an ancient Sq. family ; and one knig^ht of late. Sir Henry
Blencow, grandfather of the now Sar. Blencow made it a very fair house of two
towers, r.nd married Grace Sandford, sister of the first Sir Richard Sandford, of
How^'^ill in Westmorland ; and a younp^er branch of the Sandfords of Askam
Tower nye hand ; and Cristcr Blencow married Mary Robinson of Rooby Hall,
Yorkshire, and the now Squire Blencow married Anne Lavton, eldest daujjhter to
Sq. William Layton of Ualemain; 300 p. an. Thomas Lkes.

JOHNBY HALL. 295

forest of Englewood, which comprehended the rough wild
country to the north, is found close by in the moor and scrub
of Johnby Wythes, the famous fox-cover. The old pro-
nunciation of the place name, Jwo-anby^ is preserved in the
vernacular of the district.

The environs of the hall embrace an extensive cluster of
seventeenth century erections indicative of the agricultural
weal and activity of the period ; great barns, byres, stabling,
and outbuildings, with mullioned and labelled windows, and
inclosures of high " massy walls and brave stone dykes '* for
gardens and orchard.

Within an inner courtyard stands the dwelling-house.
The original hall consists of a rectangur oblong block, sub-
stantially but plainly built of freestone rubble in regular
courses, ^ith dressed stones at the coins and openings : it is
in three stories, with a hipped roof, without a parapet.
Jutting out of the south-east corner of the main building, with
a projection of loi feet, there is a small rectangular tower
I2i feet in width, which presents at the re-entering angle
the main entrance to the house. This gives to the plan the
L shaped formation, which was adopted very frequently in
the period which succeeded the pele tower epoch, and which
was perpetuated for a long time in countty mansions,
especially in Scotland.

Our attention is at once attracted by the carved panel and
inscription over the entrance. The treatment of the door-
way is unique in detail. The opening is square-headed,
shewing a Renaissance character, the lintel and jambs having
a bold roll on the angle, and surrounded by a bead and
hollow moulding. Besides which there is a bold ornamental
moulding carried alongside the jambs over ihe head of the
doorway, forming an ogee arch, inclosing a blank tympanum,
with the curve produced upwards in the contrary direction
to join the horizontal string course on the wall of the tower.
Within the space thus included there is a stone panel, on
which are carved the coat of arms and an inscription. In
this carving there is a remarkable anomaly in the disposition
of the ornaments placed over the shield. The helmet stands
direct without bars and a little open, denoting a knight*s

296

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

degree, furnished wilh msnllirg and tassels, but without
wreath or crest, and below the head-piece clasping the collar
are two gauntlets grasping an annulet, a very unusual place
to find the crest of the Musgraves. On the shield there
are: — ist 6 annulets, 3, 2, and i, charged with a martlet, (for
Musgrave), 2d barry of six, a bend sinister, (for MariindaU),
3d lion rampant, (for Tilliol) 4th 3 swords in triangle with the
points outwards, (for Stapldon). The shield is surrounned
with a roundel, with the motto in raised Roman letters : —

((

O GOD GIVE ME VISDOM TO KNOVE THE,

If

and in a line below, the date 1584. Below there is carved
the following inscription in eight lines : —

WILLIAM
ISABEL

15

USGRAVE
ARTENDAL.

83.

NICOLA S MVS

GRAVE • MARET MARGARET .
TILLEL HEYRE THOMAS
HIS SONE • MARETE LISAHET DAC
RE . WILLM HIS SONNE HERE . NO
VE . DVELL • MARET IZSABEL . HE
YRE . TO . MARTENDAL 10 GOD . I . PR
AVE BE WITH VS . ALVAIE.

It was quite the mode at this period for the founder to insert
such a tablet over the entrance to his building setting forth
his coat of arms and some quaint record of its erection. We
have had opportunities of viewing many examples of such
carved panels over doorways of about the same date, for
instances, those set up by Vaux at Caterlen, 1577; by Sand-
ford at Askham, 1574; by Crackcnthorpe at Newbiggin, 1533,
by Cliburn at Cliburn, 1567 ; and Blcncow at Blencow, 1590.
The whole length of the ground floor is vaulted in three
divisions, each forming a cliamber traversing tlie breadth of
the building ; each compartment is arched over with the

Qmii

JOHNBY HALL.

JOHN BY HALL. 297

identical semicircular tunnel-vault which had for centuries
been employed in the basement chambers of castle-keeps and
f)eles. The walls have a thickness of 4 feet.

In the compartment to the west, which is the largest, in
consequence of the inclusion of the passage, there is a fine
chimney-recess surmounted with a segmental arch of 10 feet
6 inches in span, with a bold bead of the arris. This was
undoubtedly the old kitchen ; its measurements are 24 feet
by 20 feet. At one angle there is a narrow newel-stair
leading to the lord's parlour on the first floor, and opposite
there is a passage running the length of the building in front
to the main staircase of the hall. There is communication
also with the other cellars, which, no doubt, served as buttery
and storehouse. All the window lights on the basement are
small rectangular openings, these being one to the front,
three to the back of the house, and two in the gable, all very
small, with the object of security. All the internal doorways
are square-headed, and have a bold half-round moulding on
the edge.

The present external entrance to the kitchen-cellar is an
insertion and has incised on its lintel, 1747, the date
probably at which all the vertical windows in the front of
the house were substituted for the early mullioned windows,
of which examples are seen in other parts of the building.
The windows in the turret are original, one of two lights with
a single mullion, lighting the staircase high in the wall, and
another in a small apartment in the top story, a fine window
of three lights, with moulded mullions and transoms ; both
have dripstones moulded in cavetto, with short returns termi-
nating in caps. There is a good three-light window of a
similar description in the gable lighting the east end of the
hall. At the back of the house there are remaining two
single mullioned and labelled windows, and a numbef of very
small square openings.

This building is interesting in so far that it presents an
example of late domestic work, of the date of which we are
assured, exhibiting a transition character ; in the main the
place retains many of the features of the pele tower type,

and shews the persistence of the desire for strength and

00

ago THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CVMBF, BLAND.

security even at this date. This is evinced in the vaulted
substructure with its small narrow openings, in the great
main apartment on the first floor, and the small winding
stair leading to it at one angle from the basement.

The entrance stair however is not now as formerly dark,
narrow, and steep, compressed in the thickness of the wall,
hut is tolerably -.vide, easy, and well lighted, accommodated
in a separate tower. This example, shews us the slowness and
the difficulty there is at all times in shaking off the influence
of old usages and style in domestic architecture, and the per-
sistencs in perpetuating old types and features, even during
the ascendancy of new inspirations.

The main doorway in the turret leads into a small entrance
lobby, from which there is, at right angles, a passage con-
tinued along the front of the basement, giving access to the
three vaulted chambers. The wide well-staircase leads to
the hall and ascends no higher, and it presents a peculiar
feature. The stone steps unite to form a newel, and the
central column is continued above the upper step of the

JOHNBY HALL. 299

landing, and is branched out into eight moulded arched ribs,
which form the groining to a roof-vault above. At their
impost with the pillar and at their terminations these ribs are
corbelled out into caps and balls, so as to express a degree
of gracefulness in the treatment. This feature of the radiat-
ing out of the newel into arched ribs for vaulting occurs not
unfrequently in the north, as at Cockermouth Castle for
example, and in some of the Northumbrian castles, as in
Belsay, Warkworth, and Edlingham.

From the landing on the stair one enters the principal
apartment or the hall, which exclusive of its recesses,
measures 36 feet by 30 feet. The great chimney fireplace is
projected into the room from the centre of the south front,
but its span is now concealed by being built up ; on each side
of it a vertical window has replaced the old openings; the
original mullioned windows on the north side and east gable
still remain. At the north-east angle of the apartment,
opposite to the main entrance, there is a small wheel-stair-
case included in the wall, giving access to the upper story.
At this end of the hall there are two stone segmental arches
resting on buttresses and on a central pier thrown across the
breadth of the room, leaving a lighted corridor or recess
behind them. This is the part of the hall known as the
" Screens t'' and was doubtless used as a service-room or
pantry. A little back-stair in the wheel-form communicates
with the cellar and kitchen, by wiiich the dishes and drink-
ables were brought up, and passed by a hatch to the guests
seated in the hall.

At the nortlpwest corner there is another corkscrew stair
leading to sleeping rooms on the second story, and at this
point there is a passage through to the usual parlour or with-
drawing room of the Tudor period. The floor of the hall is
paved with squared flagstones set diagonally, and the flat
ceiling is supported by three oak moulded beams resting on
stone corlxjls.

The withdrawing room, which adjoins the hall on the same
level, presents now nothing peculiar.

The floors on the upper story are laid with oaken boarding,
and the space is divided into bedchambers by partitions, but
they present nothing worthy of notice.

300

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

Now this central block seems to have served the require-
ments of the family for a period of over forty years, when it
was probably found that the accommodation on the base-
ment was insufficient and inconvenient for the requirements
of kitchen and offices. Hence we find that one of the last of
the Musgraves who resided here set to work to build a low,
two-storied wing as an extension, at the west side of the
courtyard.

This range of buildings presents the horizontal, labelled,
and bcvilled mullioned windows of the period. The base-
ment, now partly used as kennels and boiling-houss contained
the new kitchen. It has a doorway with the obtusely angled
recess in the lintel of the Jacobean date, with a mop.lded
square frame over it, of which the panel is gone. The
access to the first floor which contains three small rooms,
lighted back and front with mullioned windows, is by an
outside stair, and over the entrance there is, within a cor-
belled label, in raised letters : —

W M

C M

^'637

On one of the outbuildings there is a tablet, with letters in
relief: —

w

\V : B

1675

* William Mu^^^rave married Catherine Sherburne, dauj^hler of Sir Nicholas
Slu il»iirnc. -Whcelan's Cutnlirldfitl, p. 207.

t William Williams, steward of Greybtoke, married liarbary Halton of Gicen-
thwaite, June <'»th. 1666.

JOHNBY HALL. 3OI

And over the old garden door in graven letters : —

D.H. D.W. 1687.

The arrangements at Johnby Hall exhibit exclusively the
style and feeling predominant in the new houses of the
northern country gentry during the middle third of Eliza-
beth's reign. It ^vas about this time that the new fashion of
house-building crept up to the north. In this part of the
country there had been for a long period a great gap in the
way of house-building; comparatively little had been done
for a hundred years to supersede the dark, stinted domestic
inconveniences of mediaeval structures. In the southern
counties under the early Tudor kings, a great impetus had
been given towards the erection of mansions and residences
in the palatial style, exhibiting the prevailing Italian in-
fluences. The domestic peace enjoyed by the country, the
enlargement of agriculture, the flourishing state of the trade
in wool, and above all the effect of the Reformation in
secularizing Church lands enriched the new nobility and
gentry who had sprung up, and supplied funds for the great
development of domestic architecture. But the old squire-
archy of the Lancastrian north continued to suffer too direly
from the exhaustion caused by the contentions of the Roses,
and the subsequent strifes of border warfare, to be rich
enough, even if they had the desire, to substitute for their
moated fortalice or grimy pele, a new order of things.

When the impetus of the new style did approach Cum-
berland and Westmorland in the early period of Elizabeth,
a great building epoch was developed, which continued
throughout the greater part of her reign, not only as applied
to castles and manor-houses, but to the residences of " states-
men '' and farmers, and to the habitations of the commonalty
both in country and in towns.

* These 1 think are the initials of Duiothy Halton (widow of Miles Halton of
Greenthwaitc), who died at Johnby Hall in I7i9» and her j^randdauffhtcr
Dorothy Williams, who in 1696 marned Edward HaMll. Thomas I«eks.

302 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

As has been observed in the course of this work, in almost
every pele tower, the lord had been engaged about this period
in making extensions and ameliorating the condition of his
place to the altered requirements of the times. In this
immediate neighbourhood Vaux was busy at Catterlen,
Hudlestone at Hutton John, Blencow at Blencow, Mawson
at Tymparon, and others built new houses on fresh lines, and
amongst these was Musgrave of Hayton, who reared his
mansion at Johnby.

The William Musgrave who built this house was the
grandson of Nicolas, the third son of the famous Thomas de
Musgrave, of Harcla Castle, who fell on the scaffold, 1464,
and whose tomb is in Kirkby Stephen Church. It was by
the marriage of this Thomas with Johanna, one of the two
daughters and co-heirs of Sir William Stapleton, of Eden-
hall, that the manor of Edenhall was transferred to the
Musgraves, and by reason of which alliance you find the 4th
quarter of the shield charged with the arms of Stapleton.
The second and third ^ons of Thomas de Musgrave married
two sisters, co-heirs of the name of Colville. but who were
nevertheless the direct representatives in the female line of
the once great family of Tilliol. With Margaret, the younger
sister, came to Nicolas Musgrave her moiety of the Tilliol
lands, embracing the heritages of Scaleby, of Hayton, near
Aspatria, and Johnby. Nicolas Musgrave dying in the year
1500, was succeeded by his son Thomas, who married Eliza-
beth," a daughter of the Lord Dacre of Gilsland, and their
son William succeeded in 1532. This William Musgrave of
Hayton and Johnby, married Isabel daughter and co-heir of
Martindale, the last of the name as lord of Newton in
Allerdale, whereby other ancient lands in the west of Cum-
berland devolved to the family. William, with whom we are
concerned as the builder of this house, died in the year 1597.
Subsequently the small demesne and manor of Johnby was

• In the pcdij^ree of Laton, Tilliol and Musj^rave, owners of Hetlon, pven at
p. 215, vol. i, of Surtec's History of Durham, this Klizabcth is slatfd to hv
"hasedaur. of Lord Dacrt?, sister to Thomas Dacre of Kaiiccrost." Slir would
also be sister to jidni Dacre the list Provost of Cjreystoke and lii.st of tlie new
line of Hectors. THomas Lkes.

JOHNBY HALL. 3O3

apportioned to one of the younger sons of the Musgraves of
Hay ton, whose heir, female, married Mr. Wyville of the
county of York. Johnby was afterwards sold by one of the
Wyvilles to Mr. William Williams, who came from the
county Glamorgan, and settled at Greystoke ; he died in
1679, and lies interred in Greystoke Church.'-' The family of
Mr. Williams consisted of three daughters, the eldest of
whom, Dorothy, married Sir Edward Hasell of Dalcmain
and for her portion had Johnby Hall and the neighbouring
manor of Thwaite Hall. The property seems to have con-
tinued in the Hasell family for a century until it was sold, in
1783, to Charles, loth Duke of Norfolk, who then held the
Greystoke estates.

You will notice that it is fairly set forth on the tablet over
the doorway that Nicolas Musgrave married Margaret Tilliol.
The Tilliols, or Tilliolfs, were a very ancient family, and dis-
tinguished in the early history of the county. Their great
ancestor, ** Richard the Rider, " whose name was Tilliol,
having received the lordship of Carlisle from Henry I., settled
himself at Richardbyy or Rickerby, and had granted to him
most of the lands now occupied by the suburbs of the city —
Harraby, Etterby, Botchardby, etc.

By royal grants and profitable marriages the possessions of
the family became augmented in successive generations, in-
cluding Scaleby, Threapland, Blennerhasset, and many other
manors. So much importance had the family attained in the
county, that after Edward I. consummated his wise and
fruitful scheme of a regular summons of the lesser baronage
as representatives of counties to a great council of the realm
at Westminster, we find the first on the list as the two
knights of the shire, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign, the
names of John de Wiggeton and Robert de Tilliol. In
almost every successive Parliament which was called, up to
the ninth of Henry V., a period of a hundred years, are to be
found the names of Robert, Peter, Richard, and Geoffrey de
Tilliol constantly recurring. By the marriage of one of these

* Sec monumental tablet in Greystoke Church.

304 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

Tilliols, Piers, in the time of Henry VI. with the heiress of
Mulcastre of Hayton, the possessions near Aspatria war
acquired.

Some years after this the family of the Tilliols ended i
two daughters, which cabsed a division of the inheritance
one of them married a Colville, which family also in th
second generation ended again in two daughters, co-heiressei
causing a further division of the Tilliol lands. Margarc
Colville, with whom went the heritages of Hayton an
Johnby, married Nicolas Musgrave (the cadet of Edenhall t
whom we have referred), and whose name appears over th
doorway. The grandson William — who erected the tablet-
had good reason to advertise his grandmother as bearing th
name of Tilliol, she being really a Colville, seeing that th
Colvilles had been enjoined to assume the patronymic (
Tilliol in order to maintain their title against claims set u
by a collateral male heir.

When or how the demesne of Johnby first became veste<
in the Tilliols I cannot tell, or who the original holder was
fail to discover any further than in the thirtieth of Edward ]
one Robert de Joneby appears as one of the representative
of the shire in Parliament. But it may be that the Robei
de Tilliol who had been chosen by the gentry and freeholder
as their representative in 1301, might have been the same ir
dividual who was returned as member the following year a
Robert de Joneby, using the title of his estate instead of hi:
surname of Tilliol.

GREENTHWAITE HALL.

This perfect little example of its period is situated about ;
mile from Grey stoke Castle on the edge of the park on it
south side and the great wall built by the Duke of Norfoll
skirts its enclosures. This place was the scat of the ancien
•family" of Halton. There was a Halton of Grcenthwait<

•The derivation of the place name Greenthwaitc is simply from Greena A.S
preen j we have the old pronunciation of the word retained in the neighbourinj

a. Doorway Coat of Arms.
h. Wiadtmt converts^ nnc dean

Ground Plan.

GREENTHWAITE HALL.

GREENTHWAITE HALL. 305

Hall and manor in the time of Richard II., but I cannot
ascertain that any remains exist in the vicinity to indicate the
site of their early dwelling place ; certainly nothing of an
early structure can be found incorporated in the building
under view.

This little mansion was the last work of the Haltons, about
1650. The original home of the Haltons was in Tynedale in
Northumberland, and the consequence of the family in Cum-
berland may probably be traced to the famous John, Bishop
of Carlisle, in the time of Edward I., who had a long and
distinguished episcopal reign, from 1293 ^^ 1324, besides
being a busy man in political and secular concerns.

The Haltons continued their residence and interest in
Greenthwaite until after their migration into Derbyshire
(which occurred in 1678), but finally the Greenthwaite lands
were sold to the Duke of Norfolk in 1785, and a considerable
area was absorbed in Greystoke Park. The cause of the re-
moval of the family came about in this way : — Immanuel
Halton, in whose time the present hall was built, was born at
Greenthwaite, and was educated at the Grammar School of
Blencow, and was afterwards a student at Gray's Inn,
whence he was called by the then Duke of Norfolk to his
service as steward. Halton seems to have been transferred
to the charge over the Duke's Derbyshire estate of Winfield.
This Winfield property only came to the Howard family in
1616, by the marriage of Lord Arundel with one of the co-
heiresses of the seventh Earl of Shrewsbury. Finally
Immanuel Halton in 1678 purchased from the Duke of Nor-
folk the famous old manor-house of Winfield, and the Duke's
share of the Winfield property. Immanuel Halton died at
Winfield in 1699; it is said that **the last years of his life
were spent in the studies of music and mathematics, in which

pasture farm of Grcena Craj;. Thwaite (N. thveitr) denotes a piece of ground
stubbed free from roots of trees and separated. The suffix Thwaite is common
in Cumberland and Westmorland, and is very frec^uent in Greystoke parish and
adjoining; parts, as in Thackthwaite, Urackenthwatte, Southwaite, Smathwaite,
Micklethwaite, Calthwaite, Kraithwaite, etc.

PP

306 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

noble sciences he attained great perfection. '* * In the mean-
time the family still retained possession of Greenthwaite Hall
until the representative descendant, Wingfield Halton, Esq.,
of Winfield Manor, in 1785 sold to the Duke of Norfolk the
old ancestral Cumberland home.

We have presented to us here an edifice which has been
erected all at one time, in which the lines follow an original
design, and which, at the present time, is really very much
the same as when it was first built.

It is on the L shaped plan. An oblong block of two
stories presents a frontage to the south of 82 feet, with a
small wing attached to the west side, which with a range of
farm buildings to the north, inclose three sides of a quad-
rangular courtyard. Within this court is the main entrance
through a porch which has been projected 9 feet from the
main wall, at about the centre of the building, and carried up
rather higher than the building itself. The plan and eleva-
tion present a design and features which prevailed long
anterior to the date of 1650, which is given on various parts
of the edifice. In fact the whole structure exhibits a
thorough Elizabethan feeling, and some of the details are
well worth examination — particularly the carved stone hori-
zontal panels over the windows, which may be regarded as a
survival of a favourite form of Tudor ornamentation into the
late Jacobean period. The principal windows are low, wide,
horizontal openings under a dripstone, divided by one, two,
or three chamfered mullions. Above the line of the windows
both of the ground and first floor, there is projected along the
face of the building a horizontal string course, boldly rounded
on the upper surface and coved beneath. Over the large
window in the porch tower, and over two of the principal
windows on the ground floor, above the lines of the string
course there is extended a square frame or hood moulding so

•Some of his mathematical treatises are printed in the Appendix of Foster's
Mathematical Miscellanies, and an "Account of the Kclipsc or the Sun observed
at Winfield," in Phil. Trans, for 1676. In the parish church of Winfield there
are some monuments to the Ilalton family. Immanuel Halton, who died in
KhjO, married Mary daughter of Mr. John Newton of Oakcrthorpc ; Immanuel
Halton Esq. 17S4: Miles Halton M.A. 1792.— Lyson's Dcrlyshirvy p. 292.

GREENTHWAITE HALL.

307

as to inclose a long horizontal panel containing ornamental
carvings. The patterns wrought on these slabs are all dif-
ferent. One has the design so well known in Elizabethan
woodwork — the alternating circle and lozenge, connected
by a short straight band. In the panel over the window in
the tower the space is divided into two stages of six square
compartments. In the upper line these are pierced into
circles, with bosses in the centre, variously treated, and
below the square spaces are filled in with a variety of foliage.
All this embellishment shows a laudable pride in the
builder. Miles, the predecessor of Immanuel Halton, in the
consummation of his edifice, neither did he neglect to follow
the prevailing custom of the age of setting up, over the
entrance, his coat of arms and a sententious legend. The
main doorway has bevelled jambs, and bears a heavy square-
headed lintel stone recessed to the breadth of the chamfer,
on which appears in raised Roman capitals, the following
sentence : —

PHKIGKINOS HIC NOS

KHPVTAMVS

1O50

H
M D

** Here (on earth) we reckon ourselves pilgrims,''

* These are the initials and arms of Miles Halton and his wife [)orothy>
daughter of — Wyberjg'h of Clifton. Miles was born in 1599, was sheriff of
Cumherland, and died in 1652. A cross to his memory is placed in the middle
of the south aisle of the Parish Church. Dorothy seems to have been a stronjr.
minded woman, and a quaint story has been handed down by popular tradition
concerninjr her— how she enticed the red deer from Greystoke Park (then unen-
closed) on to her own land by .ccatterinj^r of green oats, and then shot them with
a cross-lxiw for food for her domestics, who in consequence protested ag'ainst
Ijeinj^ fed on what they called "black mutton" for more than four days in the
week. I'he story pfoes on to say how she was summoned at the Assizes at
Cockermouth, to answer for her p(»achin^ proclivities. When she entered the
court the counsel for the prosecution, one of the well-known Fletcher family,
exclaimed, ** Mere comes Madam Malton with her tiaps and her gins ! " and she
promptly replied, "There sits Counsellor Fletcher with his packs and his pins,"
alluding sarcastically to the commercial pursuits by which the Fletches had risen
tf> eminence. How the case ended is not related.

Miles and I3orothy Halton had a numenius offspring, five sons and five
daughters. An interesting article on the family will be found in The Rttitfuarif,
Octol>er, 1864, contributed by C. H. & lliompson Cooper, the Historians of
Cambridge.— Thomas Lies.

308 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

At one side there is a small shield with a lion rampant
gardant, and on the other the initials |^Hq and the date,

1650.

Immediately above this, ten years later, there was set up
another tablet bearing the full achievement, a shield, with
the arms of Halton, party per pale, a lion rampant, and three
bars between three mullets, two and one. The crest : — a
demi-lion holding a spear, on a helmet with wreath and
mantlings. At the top of the tablet stands out the date
1660 ; the carving is well executed, and in good preservation,
except the motto on the scroll, which has weathered off.

The mason work throughout is of very good character,
being of the fine-grained Greystoke sandstone, in well-laid
courses of rubble, with chiselled ashlar at the openings.

The interior of the porch forms the vestibule to the house ;
it is well lighted by a double mullioncd window on a level
with the first floor, and by a little square look-out on each
side near the door. Originally, it contained the principal
staircase of the mansion giving access to the upper floor ;
the stair is now gone, but the rising of a straight flight of
steps may be noted on the right hand wall.

On the ground floor the main block contained the hall, a
small parlour, and the withdrawing room. The dimensions
of the hall in its original state were 29 feet 4 inches by 18 feet
6 inches ; it was well lighted by three low mullioned windows
to the south, and one with a 6 feet 6 inches aperture towards
the courtyard. The great width and depth of the chimney
block in this room is remarkable; the great fireplace opening
embraced by a segmental arch of 10 feet 8 inches span, and
the reception in the thickness of the wall of a great locker
or cupboard. But modern innovations have entirely de-
stroyed the proportions and attributes of the apartment, for
the three-mullioned window on the south front has been cut
to aflord an entrance door on that aspect, and the partitioned
passage from it traverses the breadth of the hall.

Contiguous to the hall there is a little room, 13 feet by 13
feet — the lord's little parlour or private roon;, and beyond, at
the east end of the block, there is an apartment, 18 feet 6
iuches, which is now used as a dairy. This was the with-

GREENTHWAITE HALL. 309

drawing room of the mansion : it is well lighted back and
front by mullioned windows, and is furnished with a Tudor
fireplace. The short wing on the west aspect, which forms
the limb of the L ^^ the plan, is occupied by the kitchen and
its appurtenances, there is a communication with the low
end of the hall ; at this point there is a corkscrew stair for
service to the apartments on the next story. On the upper
floor there is a long passage partitioned off on the north side,
giving access to the bedrooms, five in number, very much as
in a modern house ; over the wing there are dormitories for
the domestics.

At the top of the porch tower there is an additional story
containing a Httle square chamber, with a single mullioned
light into the courtyard, in which may be noted a square
ambry in the wall on the east side. In the porch-tower
houses of the time of Queen Elizabeth the room thus situated
was usually dedicated to the use of a chapel ; we have seen
it at Hornby Hall and other places ; there is nothing however
here to indicate devotional purposes.

About this period, and indeed for a hundred years before,
in this part of the country, in making a floor in the upper
stories, instead of laying down naked boarding on the joists
it was a very common practice to use laths, and to cover
them with a layer of alabaster, or hall-plaster, as it is called
in the north. You may see this application of plaster adopted
in the flooring of the passages and rooms in the upper part
of this house. The practice is a local one, and may have
originated in the facility of procuring the material, as
numerous deposits and p>ockets of native alabaster or gypsum
occur in the Eden valley not very far off", where the mineral
has been worked from distant times.

310 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

GREYSTOKE MID-FARM.

This is a quaint little mansion situated at Greyslokehead
on the road leading to Greenthwaite Hall. This residence
seems in some way to have been connected with the Halton
family, whether as a dower house or not I cannot tell ; it is
very characteristic of the period at which it was built, 1649,
and is w^orthy of notice on account of the arms over the
doorway.

It consists of a long low single tenement of two floors,
with a wing projected from the west side giving the L pl^n.
The entrance is on the north side facing the road, at the re-
entering angle from a little court formed by the wing, through
a square-headed wudely chamfered doorway. Over ihe door
there is imposed a very ornate and well-carved heraldic
tablet on a stone which is supported by two spirally-fluted
columns with Ionic volutes on the capitals, and carrying a
classic cornice. The shield is surrounded with the full
ornaments of mantling, wreath, esquire's helmet, and scroll,
and bears on a bend three escallops with an annulet for
difference, {Netv Layton of Dalcmain), impaling a fesse between
six cross crosslets fitchy {Old Layton). Crest : — A lion's head
gorged with a collar, charged with three bezants. The scroll
IdcIow the shield is so much weathered that the motto is
effaced, but it has been given by Jefferson as : *' Tarn pace
quam bcllo,'' ■' On the upper part of the tablet is the date
1649.

The door enters directly into the old dming-place or hall,
originally 18 feet by 16 feet 8 inches, but the space is now
split by a partition. This constituted the living room of the
residence, and it is noticeable chiefly as containing a large
fireplace recess, with a little square-headed look-out in the
ingle-nook, with an elliptic chimney arch of 9 feet span with
a bold round and hollow moulding. It is well lighted on
both sides with low horizontal windows with moulded nml-
lions, one being high in the wall. As usual, adjoining there

•Jefferson's Lratfi Jf'aril p. 369.

GREYSTOKE MID-FARM. 3II

is a parlour of very small dimensions ; the wing would con-
tain the kitchen, and the upper floor would be devoted to
bedrooms. There are heavy moulded dripstones to all the
windows. The place has been converted into two cottage
houses.

THWAITE HALL.

This is another old manor-house held under the Barony of
Grcystoke, which is situated about three miles from Johnby
in the township of Hutton Roof. The modern renovation of
this place, as the residence to a large farm, has destroyed its
character as a sixteenth century building, which it presented
some years ago. There are still remaming some low hori-
zontal windows with chamfered mullions, and in what iVas
the old hall or dining place, a fine old chimneypiece, bevelled
on the edge, stretching across at one end of it.

Sandford in his MSS. says: — **This place was anciently
called Hutton Ralph, a younger branch of Hutton John."
From the Huttons it passed by marriage to the Dalstons,
who sold the estate about the year 1680 to Mr. Williams of
Johnby.

HUTTON JOHN.

About a mile above Dacre Castle, up the beautiful valley
of Dacre, on the left bank of the stream, is the mansion house
of Hutton John, the residence of the family of Hudleston.

This is a place of very ancient foundation, and is interest-
ing as showing the survival of the original structure, and the
succession of changes in the manor-house up to the present
day.

In the first place the core of the building on which have
been clustered the subsequent additions, is a square castel-
lated pele of quite an early date. By an inquisition, in the
thirty-sixth of Edward HL, it was found that the "villa de
Hoton John " was held by William de Hoton by homage and

312 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

suit of court and 20s. cornage, from the Baron of Graistock.
Being a military tenure, it may reasonably be assumed that
the stronghold was at least as old as that date.

The above is cited by Burn and Nicolson. But in point of
fact, there is evidence of the attachment of the Hotons to the
estates at Hoton John a hundred years earlier than the above
date. For there is a collection of original documents
amongst the muniments at Hutton John, where earlier inqui-
sitions are cited which refer to the existence of the Hotons
there in the year 1282, in the tenth of Edward I. So that
really the family of Hotons may be traced back a hundred
years earlier than is accorded in the county histories.

Hutton John continued with the family through the time of
Cuthbert Hutton, who died in the second year of Queen
Mary, to his son Thomas, who died without issue.

This Cuthbert had for wife Elizabeth, one of the daughters
and co-heiresses of Sir Robert Bellingliam of Burneshead in
Westmorland, which Elizabeth Hutton was "Mother of the
Maids'* at the court of her country neighbour and connection
Lady Katharine Parr, who became the wife of Henry VIII.
It was at Hutton John that Marie Hutton was born, and the
Princess Mary (afterwards Queen) was her godmother.
Marie Hutton married in 1564 Andrew Hudleston, a younger
son of Sir John Hudleston of Millom Castle, Cumberland,
and thus was founded the branch of the Hudlestons of
Hutton John, in which family the place has continued to the
present time.

Thomas son of Cuthbert, being childless, transferred the
property to his nephew Joseph Hudleston, son of his sister
Marie and Andrew Hudleston, in 1615, when King James I.
gave his license (now at Hutton John) for the transfer, as by
a tenant **in capite."

The family descent in these three generations was : —

Andrew Huddleston = Marie Hutton.

_l

I
Joseph Hudleston = Kllinor Sisson.

I

Andrew Hudleston - Doraihic Fleming.

,

, I

HUTTON JOHN. 313

The tower lies in a secluded dell surrounded by wooded
heights not far from the river : it is rectangular in form and
stands four square with the points of the compass : it measures
over the walls at the base on the south front, 38 feet 3 inches,
and on the east front, 30 feet 3 inches : the walls batter
slightly, and vary in thickness from the base to the string-
course under the battlements from 8 feet to 5 feet 6 inches.
The height from the base up to the string-course and gur-
goyles is 33 feet 1 1 inches ; the battlements rise 6 feet
6 inches higher. The walls stand on a splayed phnth, which
rises to the height of 2 feet 8 inches from the ground. The
masonry is in rubble of ruder construction than that of the
towers of Catterlen, Yanwath, or Askham. On the eastern
wall there is a buttress six feet wide, with a projection of
three feet to give space for firehearths and flues.

The original entrance was on the ground level near the
north-west angle, by an arched doorway which led into the
vaulted chamber of the basement, and also to the spiral stair
in that corner in the thickness of the wall.

This stair presents the following dimensions : —

Diameter of the turnpike .. ... ... 7 feet.

Length of each stair from newel to circumference, 3 feet.
Diameter of the newel ... ... ... i foot.

Each stair is of one piece, with the corresponding section of
the newel. The well is lighted with narrow vertical loops.

The height from the earthern Hoor (probably original) of
the basement to the crown of the vault is 10 feet. The
original lights were narrow slits widely splayed inside ; two
of these have been enlarged to form openings, one 31 inches
by 13 inches, with a mullion ; the other 13 inches square.

The first story of the tower originally comprised a single
main room, roughly 26 feet by 18 feet, but the space is now
cut up for modern habitation. In the thickness of the north
wall there is a closet or sleeping cell, 10 feet by 4 feet, with a
vaulted roof, and within the south-west angle a garderobe,
8 feet by 3} feet. The well stair is within the north-west
angle and winds upwards to the roof. The windows are
insertions of the eighteenth century. qq

314 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

The second story of the tower presents a similar arrange-
ment. The vaulted sleeping cell and garderobe in the thick-
ness of the wall occupy the same relative position. In the
littJe mural chamber is disclosed an original window, indeed
the only one left in the tower, which was laid bare during
some alterations twenty-five years ago. This is a small
circular-lieaded single light, 18 inches by 10 inches ; in the
sill are the remains of sockets for a vertical and cross bar
iron stanchion.

The parapet is battleniented ; there are five and three
embrasures on the alternate sides ; there is evidence of there
leaving been a corner turret capping the top of the turnpike
stair, although it has now vanished.

There are no remains of any other buildings contemporar}'
with the tower ; but additional ranges have been made on
the west and north faces of it at different times, which give
to it now the [_ shaped plan.

The block attached to the west face is much the earlier of
the two, and though it bears no date, and has been restored,
it may be assumed from the style that it was of early Tudor
limes, ami probably rcprt-smtcd originally the dining hall of
thir pcricMJ.

The later aiidition, built on llu^ north side of the tower,
which now constitutes tli'' cast front, '* was built by Andrew
and Dorothic hib^ Wile, A.H. liVri,'' as is inscribed on a
stone on the face- of the win,<^^ which also bears the arms of
lludleston and Fleming iinjxdeil.

These builduii^s constitute a line block in the style then
coming into xo^^ue with Italian features, and have been
adapted into .idinirable suits oi rt'oiiis for modern recjuire-
ments.

Some interesting discoxeries were m.ide by Mr. lludleston
when internal repairs were being made some twenty-years
ago. There were found built up in the headway of an
opening through the tower wall, which had been cut when
the win*' was addetl in 1662, some curious carved stones.

Dorothy, bCCiTul daughter ol l)atr.t-I Fleming;, uf Skirwith, hs(|.

HUTTON JOHN.

315

Mr, Hiidleston informs me that these stones when found
wore trlcarly not in situ ; they were lying on an oak plank or
beam face downwards, one on the other, and plastered up m
the roof of an opening cut through the tower wall from ihe
first story in the north wing, and had been so placed as lo
support the superincumbent masonry of the lower wall.

The first carved stone seems to have been the head of a
small window opening, and bore the initials S^ ^ in black
letter characters, with some rudely cut representations of the
cushion and tassels of Ihe Huttons, with the emblems of the
heart, the pellcls, and quatrefoil.

iDSL^^PQ^Ottlflsi

SCUr.PTl'RKI) DOOR-HKAIJ SI.AII. Hurio.v, f H''^'l'»"»

HMTTON JOHN FOWT-K. \!!!^'^tHfii. { \''nZ''r"-''ll"a7".

The other stone is a flat recian^ular freestone slab, which
measures 44 inches by 30 inches, and is surrounded by a
half-round bead moulding. At one end is carved a shield
bearing (iiiartcrly, Hutton of Hutton John, a fesse between
three cushions, each charged with a fleiir-dc-lys of the field ;
and a chevron between three i)ears' heads muzzled, which

3l6 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

accords with Barwise of Langrigg Hall, Cumberland. *
On the other end of the stone is carved a heraldic bird of

strange device, with outspread wings and talons, with the

hinder half of a fox apparently.

Along the top of the stone runs this legend : —

S^tjis ma^b Stomas,

in Old English characters, deeply carved in high relief,
presents the style of the fifteenth century, though possibly it
may be earlier, f

In the course of the same operations there was found also
built in and plastered up in the wall a square rudely hollowed
block of stone measuring 13 by 12 by 12 inches, somewhat
resembling a holy water basin. It bore on three sides re-
spectively a device of four pellets 2 and 2, a branched stem,
and other rude ornaments, and on the fourth side the socket
of a holdfast, by which it had evidently been fixed to a wall.

These stones do not seem to fit with any part of the tower ;
they probably have appertained to some earlier addition to
the tower which was cleared away when ** Andrew and
Dorothie" set to work in 1662.

On the fjjahlc of the wing at Iliittctli John there appears the
omMcni of a cross patee with the date 1662, and the words
underneath : —

HOC SIGNO VINCES.

Over the garden door of the ^^ Plcasauncc'^ there is a finely-
carved lintel with three shields and the crest of the Hudlcs-
tons, with this inscription : —

• Mr. Hudleston writes to mc— *' But no marriapc of Hutton and Barwise has
l»ecn traced. This quartering" is shown in an old drawing of arms of Hiidkston
t>f Hutton John next after llutton, and blazoned: — Sable a chevron bt-tween
thret* bears' head:> »/ //muzzled Or."

» Mr. Hud!estt)n notes: "In the first of F.dward I\'. and fouileenth of
hMward I\'., j^rants of an annuity of ^5 and loos. respectively were made to
1 hvwiKi^ Hoton de Hoton John by Warwick the KinpfmaKer, and * Crookback '
Kichard i»t Ciloucester (Richard 3d) out of the revenues of their Lordship of IVn-
n-th tor j^ihhI service: the orijjinals of which j^rants under hand and seal are now
at Hutton John; and this may have !)een the ' Tomas* named in the Lejjend,
which sccm>« tv> Ik- imitated from that of Ho^er de Clifford at Brou^h?rn (?a>tle :
* 1 HIS MAl>K R(>t;KR.' "

HUTTON JOHN. 317

^nbr^as Hubl^ston Hoc ITim Jfttii
.^oli 9^0 Honor et (gloria 1662

The three shields over the garden door bear respectively — *

1. Hudleston with Hutton on a scutcheon of pretence.

2. Hudleston and Hutton impaling 3 bendlets.

3. Hudleston and Hutton (as in No. 2) impaling the
Fleming shield. The Hudleston crest surmounts the whole
group of shields on the headstone.

•The arms of the Hudlestons : — Gules, frcttfce, Arjjent ; crest, two arms em-
bowed, vested, Ar^^^, holding in their hands, a scalp Proper, the inside Gules.

(3i8)

CHAPTER XII.

OLD MANORIAL HALLS IN THE VALE

OF DERWENT.

On the partition of Cumberland by Henry I., the barony
of Allcrdale-below-Derwent was granted to Waldeoff, the
son of Gospatrick. This great barony was further aug-
mented by William de Meschines, baron of Egremont,
making over to Waldeoff the land between the Cocker and
the Derw(*nt, which became known as the honour of Cocker-
mouth ; so that this family ruled over the whole district of
the valley of the Derwent.

From the first Waldeoff, the barony passed through his
son Alan to a second Waldeoff, and his sister Octreda, who
carried the inheritance to her husband, Fitz-Duncan Earl of
Murray. It is reputed that the Waldeoffs had a residence
on the commanding site of the T^oman town at Papcastle,
near Cockcrmouth, and built a castle there; of this no
vestige remains. Early in the thirteenth century Cockcr-
mouth Castle was founded, which became the subsequent
residence of the lords. The great estates came to be divided
among the three co-heircsses of Fitz-Duncan, and the
honour of Cockcrmouth eventually fell to one of the family
of Lucy, baron of Egremont. The Lucys continued in
lx>ssession until 1386, wh(^.n the marriage of the heiress
brought the lordship to Percy, Earl of Northumberland.
V\om the Percys the estates descended, first to the Sey-
nxnirs, and then to the Wyndhams, and are now owned by
t:*o Karl of Leconfield. '•'

\ jxHiion of the parish of Crosthwaite and the land above

• >.'i J* Avwunt of the Barons of Fpreinont ond Cockcrmouth, sec Chancellor
*s.\-. >«.*.• >. "■" » ■> <>' Ciimlrrlcindt the Denton's MSS., and the exhaustive
M,^.x •. .V tji!o William Jackson, Ks(|., in Transactions of the Cumlvrland
t - «■ *i. .\':ti>iuanan and Archeplofrical Society^ \o\s. x^i 3ii\d \\.

OLD MANORIAL HALLS IN THE VALE OF DERWRNT. 3I9

Keswick were out of the bound of Allerdale barony. Before
the Norman Conquest there ruled here a very ancient family,
descended from Danish or Saxon ancestry. What was their
patronymic does not appear, but they were allowed by the
Normans to retain their domain in peace, and they adopted,
from the place, the name de DerwentwaUr. This family sub-
sequently acquired possessions in Westmorland and else-
where, and in the time of the Plantagenet kings took a
leading part in the affairs of the shire.

The original residence of the Dervventwaters was situated
in the vicinity of Castle Lonnin, on the high ground at
Castlerig, to the east of Keswick, but all traces of it have
dihappcared. In the reign of Henry V., about 141 7, the
marriage of the heiress of the last male of the race carried
the possessions to Sir Nicholas Radcliffe, of Dilston, in
Northumberland. His son and successor built the mansion
on Lord's Island, on Keswick lake, which survived until the
end of the seventeenth century. Owing to forfeitures during
the Commonwealth, and the political troubles of 1715, which
wrought the extinction of the RadcUffes, the place had so
fallen into decay, that it was dismantled and the materials
carried away, so that a few mounds and heaps only indicate
now the foundations of the house of the Radcliffes. *

I proceed to describe the old manorial halls and other
dwellings in connection with the Derwent valley, which
may have retained any noticeable features of old domestic
Architecture.

• Mr. |. Fisher Crosthwaite, in a pi|>er published in 1S74, entitled The last of
the />rMfw/M*fl/rr.< has jfiven much intercstinjf local information concerning the
family. This is of special value, as we are presented with a copy of an nrij^inal
(Irawm^ in his r>osssession, showin}^ a plan of tne house on I^rd s Island, made
by josi-ph Pocklinjfton, Ks<|., in 1796. Ihe plannin;; however is that usuil to a
mansion of the sixteenth century, which must have sup'^rsideJ, m-jre or Icis, the
early structure of the period of Henry V.

320 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

MILLBECK HALL.

This interesting little place, though not a manor house, is
worthy of notice, and is situated two miles to the north of
Keswick, in the township of Underskiddaw, between Der-
wentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake, or the ** Broadwater,"
as it was sometimes called in old writings. The property is
in the possession of Lord Ormathwaite, whose predecessor,
Sir John Benn, created baronet in 1804, assumed the name
and arms of Walsh, by sign manual, in comphance with the
will of his maternal uncle. The second baronet was raised
to the peerage in 1868, as Baron Ormathwaite, a title taken
from the hall and estate in the adjoining village of that name,
which formed part of the inheritance.

A mountain beck which courses down a ravine on the
steep slopes of Skiddaw has for long been utilized for driving
flour and other mills at this spot, and runs past the west
front of Milnbeck, or Millbeck Hall. The hall for a long
period has been used as a farm residence, and has a court-
yard and adjuncts of farm buildings. The material used in
the construction is the grey slatey rock of the country,
covered with roughcast, except the coignes and openings,
which are of worked freestone. This house is not all of
one age.

The earliest habitation was, doubtless, a square tower or
pole of the fifteenth century. At the south-east corner the
indications are plain where the early structure was in-
corporated with the later buildings. The battlements are
gone, but there still exist the remains of the narrow newel
stair in the thickness of the wall, which led to the upper
floors ; at the foot of this stair would be, of course, the
original entrance to the early domicile. But afterwards, in
Elizabethan times, there came to be added to the west side
of the tower a range of buildings and a long wing, so as to
present an [_ shaped plan. These additions comprised, on
the ground floor, a kitchen, a dining hall, and continuous
with them a large barn, all facing to the west. On this
aspect is the main entrance. The jambs of the doorway are
plainly chamfered, and support a massive lintel stone, the

under surface of which is bevelled and worked into the out-
lino of a very obtuse triangle, the sides of which are perfectly
straight, except at the anples at the impost. On the face of
this stone there is carved, in raised Roman capitals, the
inscription to which reference wiil presently be made. Above
the dcxjrway there is a little lookout window, about a foot
square. The walls are four feet thick. The dining hall
consists of a spacious oblong apartment, lighted by square-
headed horizontal muUioned windows on each side. The
lintel over the fireplace is of oak, slightly arched ; the open-
ing is singularly large and deeply recessed, the walling of the
chimney projecting con-^idcrnbly nn th'' r■.^^] c^.Tblc, on which

- .\ ;"c .-.il:-;v

_--?.-.scx .

^'^'^"^^H
^^^^1

■

KT

1

^^^i'

abuts the adjoiamg barn. The fireplace recess is now closed
in. The floor is flagged with rough slabs of blue slate ; the
wooden panelling and fittings to the walls, evidence of the
fastenings of which still remains, are all gone. This part of
the building was completed probably about the time recorded
in the tablet, i.e., 1592, and on the whole it affords a fair
example of the usual plan adapted by the statcsmtn and
smaller gentry in the sixteenth century in enlarging their
earlier al>odes. br

322

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

The chief interest however about the place is the inscrip-
tion over the doorway, which reads as above.

The legend will bring to our remembrance a similar motto
which was placed by Henry Blencow over his doorway at
Blencow Hall: —

"QVORSVM 1590.
VIVERE MORI . MORT VITiE."

The translation of the latter motto has more than once been
the subject of disquisition in our society, having engaged the
attention of two distinguished scholars. Professor Clark and
the Rev. Thos. Lees. * Nicholson Williamson had doubtless
seen and appreciated the conceit of the sentence set up by
Blencow, and he copied it over his own doorway two years
after, with this difference, the repetition of the verb vivere^
in place of the substantive dative vita. In Williamson's
version the translation must be ** Whither? (i,e,, to which
way or end) to live to die (supply or), to die to live (eternally)/'
As there are no arms displayed about the house it may be
concluded that the family were not entitled to armorial
bearings, and except in parish registers there are scanty data
to trace their descents.

On the dissolution of the monasteries there was a dis-
persion by grants and sales of the lands in the parish of
Crosthwaite, which had belonged to Fountain's Abbey in
Yorkshire. It is found that Henry VIII., by letters patent
in the thirty-second year of his reign, grants out to one John
Williamson, to be held of the king in capite, by the service
of one-twentieth part of one knight's fee, sundry lands in the
tenure of divers persons, amongst whom occurs the name
of Nicholas Williamson. The names of John and Miles
Williamson are also found as tenants of lands in Crosthwaite, .

Transactions of the Cumierland and fVvstmorlantl Antit/uanan ami
A'chicotojrical Sicieti/, voK i., p. 334; vol. vi. p. 289.

MILLBECK HALL. 323

in a grant of Edward VI., in the second year of his reign.
Writing of this district, Sandford says, " And here a very
ffair house of ancient gentle family of Willyamson, the birth-
place of that most ingenious mons'ir Sir Joseph Williamson,
now principal Secretary of State. A pregnant scholar : past
through his degrees at Queen*s College, Oxford : when sur-
rendred went over sea, got divers languages, and there came
back into the King's service, and well beloved, for I never
heard any great ill of him.*' * The name of Williamson is

associated also with a house in the valley of St. John's, called
Lowthwaite Hall.

Sir Joseph Williamson was secretary of State in the reign
of Charles II. 1674-78, and was one of the plenipotentiaries
at the treaty of Nimeguen and of Ryswick, in which latter
mission he was atttended by Sir Richard Musgrave of
Hayton. \

Sir Joseph was born in 1633, being the son of the Rev.
Joseph Williamson, who was instituted in 1625 to the living
of Great Broughton, in the vale of Derwent. Some time
after this period, Millbeck Hall would appear to have been
acquired by the family of Brownrigg, who had resided on
different farms in Great Crosthwaite before they finally
settled at Ormathwaite Hall, which house was erected by
the Brownriggs in the eighteenth century. The last of the
family at Ormathwaite was Dr. William Brownrigg, a dis-
tinguished physician and philosopher, who died there in i8oo,
aged eighty-eight years. J The lands of Millbeck and of
Ormathwaite in his possession were willed to Sir John Benn.

•Sandford, concerning Crosthwaite, says:— "No ereat gentry hereabouts:
but many substantial monsires, and many of the Williamsons: and of some of
these Tribes." K. Sandford MS. (circa 167^). A Cursory Relation qf all the
Antitfuitiex and Families in Cumberland. Tract series, No, 4.

t Luson*s Cumberland, p. i6.

X The Brownriggs of Ormathwaite. By J. Fisher Crosthwaite. TrtLns,
Cuml'. and H'est, Assocn. No. xiii.

324 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

WYTHOP HALL.

The ancient roadway or track from Keswick to Cocker-
mouth, instead of skirting, as it now does along the western
edge of Bassenthwaite mere, coursed obliquely from Thorn-
thwaite up the steep banks of the fell by Wythop Hall, into
the vale of Embleton. In the map of Cumberland in Cam-
den's Britannia, the demesne of Widehop is represented ringed
in as a park, and the fell was doubtless then a forest and
covered, as it still continues to be, with thick woods descend-
ing to the shore of the " Broad {bred, D.) water." The name
Wythop, or Wythorp, is evidently derived from the Danish, as
being the thorpe or village of the Wythes, or willows.

These lands were a parcel of the waste of AUerdale above
Derwent, and consequently within the barony of Egremont,
and continued in the Lucy lords until the death of John Lucy
in the eighth year of Edward H., when they passed into the
possession of Hugh Lowther, with the reserve of certain
dower rights to the widow of John Lucy. It would seem
that there was a habitation on Wythorp at that period,
which was deemed worth /lo a year, when Christian, the
widow, impleaded Lowther for her dower there. In the
twelfth of Edward II., A.L). 1319, Hugo de Lowthre had a
Hcence to creiiellate this house, " mausiim suiim de Wythehope
in ... . Derwentfelles, Cumhr." ''■'• The manor de-
scended in the issue male of the Lowthers for a long time,
until 1606, when Sir Richard Lowther sold it to Richard
Fletcher, of Cockermouth. Sandford writes: — Above the
woods a pretty lodship called Weydrup and ancient hall
house, bought by Sir Riclid. Fletcher of old Sir Richard
Lowther of Lowther." f

The Fletchers had become a very strong family at this
period ; engaged in trade as merchants in Cockermouth from
father to son during the whole of the sixteenth century, they
had actjuired great wealth, which they invested in land.
\'aiious branches of them founded the families of Fletchers

* I- 10m the l*;ilint KdIU.

WYTHOP HALL. 325

of Moresby, of Talentire, of Clea, and of Hut ton in Forestia.
This same Sir Richard who purchased Wythop, amongst
other valuable estates bought also from the ancient family of
the Huttons, the manor of Hutton-in-the-Forest, as now
enjoyed by Sir Henry Ralph Vane, Bart.

Of the old house of the Lowther lordship nothing now
remains that can be identified. The old place had doubtless
long ceased to afford a residence for any of the family, and
the manor had been probably of value mostly as a sporting
forest and from the contingent strength in arms it might
supply from its customary tenants. The existing structure
is occupied as a farmhouse, with a large courtyard, sur-
rounded by extensive ranges of rough stone farm buildings
and offices. The house consists of a square block of two
stories, presenting a frontage of thirty-six feet ; recessed nine
feet, from which there is a low intervening building containing
the main entrance and the passage, bisecting the ground
plan ; and on the opposite side there is a wing sixty feet by
twenty-one feet, at right angles, containing the kitchen and
its dependencies and what is now used as stabling. The
main block presents to the front two rows of three wide low
wmdows, set uniformly above each other, each being of three
lights, separated by plainly chamfered mullions, with coved
hood mouldings, which are continued horizontally along the
walls as strings and terminate in short returns. Within,
there is a low ceiled square dining hall, with a little parlour
beyond divided off by a wooden partition, into which is
fitted the square-topped, carved oak cupboard or dressoir
which was usual at the period. A scale stair leads to the
little sleeping rooms above. This portion of the house, from
its architectural features, may readily be referred to the
middle of the sixteenth century. The entrance doorway in
the porch records a different date, but that has been inserted
at a later period ; it presents an architrave with rounded
mouldings and a classical cornice, and on the lintel is
carved : — F.V.F. 1678.

326 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

CRAKEPLACE HALL

In the parish of Dean, about a quarter-of-amile from
Ullock, there is a little farmhouse called Crakeplace Hall, *
which possesses some interest as exhibiting very little do-
mestic alteration since the time it 'was built. The title of
the place is another instance of derivation from the Nor-
wegian " Krakr,'* (a rook or crow), which has already been
illustrated in the place names of Craco, Crackenthorpe, and
not very far from this spot we have also Blindcrake and
Crakesothen, or Graysothen.

The house stands on the brow of an elevated bank above
a little stream which contributes to form the river Marron.
The planning of the building is that which prevailed in the
latter part of the sixteenth century and onwards, on the
primary and simple L wiodel ; the main limb is forty-five
feet long, and contains the small dining hall; a straight stair-
case to the upper rooms, and a larder or dairy ; the shorter
return wing consists of kitchen and offices. The low hori-
zontal windows are all surmounted with coved dripstones,
some of which end in a short square return, whilst in others
the moulding is curled over a corbel carved into a human
head. Most of the windows are divided into three lights by
two plain splayed mullions. The interior presents nothing
remarkable : the chimney opening in the kitchen is embraced
by a semicircular stone arch of thirteen feet span, with a
plain chamfer ; there is a brick oven attached to one side and
a recessed cupboard on the other ; a wooden framework par-
tition, in long panels, separates one end of the hall from the

staircase.

The chief point of interest about the place is the carved
laMi't* with its quaint legend over the doorway. At the
u' i-nliMini; angle of the [_ i" the plan, a lean-to projecting

♦ li .ipi^aiN bv the insciiption that the house was built by one Christopher
ii.ikvpl,u\. a lumr unknown in county records, and probably a person ot
intviivM lank. Nandtoid spells the name as Craples. In describing his route
lu'in I v'\\VN>\atvi he ^ays : — "And down in the bottom you have Craples Hall
luvl \illav;e. lhv»Ui:h they were very ancient jrentry, I never heard them of any
j^u.il u'lii.ikke. ' . ■■■v' M • ;» s .\". I, p. S-

\ I

CRAKEPLACE HALL. 327

porch has been built, giving the front entrance to the interior.
There is proof of this erection having been an afterthought
and an addition to the pre-existing EHzabethan building.
The mouldings of the doorway, consisting of three members
of shallow quarter rounds and beads, are characteristic of the
early Jacobean impulse, as is also the treatment of the deco-
ration of the carved stone over the lintel. The tablet con-
taining the lettering is enclosed with a heavy projecting
frame, which is worked on three sides, whilst the bottom
stone has a simple bevel only. The ornament used is a short
circular billet arranged in three rows, the intervals and the
billlets in the different rows being placed interchangeably
with each other. This detail of decoration was an essay at
revival of Norman billet-work, which, along with the adop-
tion of a bold half-round moulding broken into a battle-
mented outline, became much in vogue in the time of James I.
The inscription, in raised Roman capitals, runs thus: — 1612.
Christopher Crakeplace built the same when he was servant to Baron
A It ham.

I S E L HALL.

The ancient tower of Isel, with its later residential adop-
tions, stands on the north bank of the river Derwent, about
three miles above the town of Cockermouth. The name was
formerly written and pronounced ** Ishall," and was probably
derived from the circumstance of the place being in great
measure surrounded by water.

We have early notice of Isel, for Alan the son of Waldeoff,
in the reign of Henry H., gave to Randal Engayne, a
Norman, the demesnes of Ishal, Redmain, and Blencrake;
and so for a time the Engaynes were lords of Isel, as well as
of Burgh, Herriby, and Kirkoswald. Through Ada Engayne
the inheritance passed to the Morvilles and Multons, and in
Edward II.'s time, through Margaret, a daughter of Multon,
Isel fell to the family of the Leighs. This Margaret, in the
thirty-third of Edward III., being the widow of Sir William

328 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

de Leigh, had a licence from Bishop Welton ** for a chaplain
for her private oratory within the manor of Isale." *

The presence of the Leighs at Isel seems to have lasted
for a period of over two hundred and fifty years, until towards
the end of Elizabeth's reign, t Thomas Leigh, the last of
the race, gave the succession to the estates to his second
wife, Maud Redmain, who afterwards marrying Sir Wilfred
Lawson, brought Isel to the family of the Lawsons. |

The situation of the hall is most picturesque, in the midst
of a charming, undulating, and well-wooded country. It
stands on a considerably sloping bank, close to the deep and
rapid waters of the Derwent, which here bend round its
southern face ; and it is bounded on the west by a mountain
beck, which falls into the river. The position was no doubt
originally chosen for defence, and the old keep, which still
remains in its entirety, presents a good example of a border
pele tower still in a habitable condition.

The defences of the rudimental fortalice were strengthened
by a moat on the land side. The depression formed by the
ditch is fairly traceable on the east side of the tower, and on
the north side the line would be continued through the bell,
which afterwards came to be converted into a pleasaunce
and terraced garden. It is supposed that the mediaeval
approach to the place was by a drawbridge over the moat at
this part. On the west side all vestiges of the ditch have
been obliterated by the carriage drive and avenue from the
high road, and by later improvements. So far as can be
made out of the scarp of the moat was distant by several
yards from the tower. It is is very rare to meet in the north
with instances of these tower-built houses in which the moat
was carried round the place close to the foot of the walls,

• Burn and Xichitlsoiit vol. 11, p. 3.

f Durinjr this period the name appears as one of the kniphts of the shire for
Cumberland as follows: —

Henry IV., 1st and 3rd— William de Lejrh.
2nd, Henry V.— William de I^ph.
2nd and 38lh, Henry VI.— William de Lejjh.
ist, Mary— John Leig^h, Esq.
2Sth, Klizabeth — Henry Leigh, Esq.
And also several times in the list of hiji^h sheriffs for the county.
X For the story, see Denton's MSS. Tract vrr/Vv, No. 4.

il

ji

ISEL HALL. 329

though examples of this are frequent in the more southern
districts, as at Nunney. Castle, Somerset, Ightham in Kent,
and Tattershall in Licolnshire. In such cases the outbuild-
ings and stabling must have been of necessity outside the
moat. There can be no doubt that most of these border
peles had an external courtyard connected with them, con-
taining stabling, kitchen and various offices, for the most
part wooden erections, with a wall of enceinte or some form
of inclosure on the inner side of the moat, when such a
defence existed. In some instances the foundations of these
stone inclosures or the walls themselves remain, as at Dacre
Castle, Yanwath, Burneside, Scaleby, and other places, but
for the most part these outer walls have been demolished to
make way for additional buildings.

This pele is of the usual oblong plan, measuring over the
walls forty-three feet by twenty-seven feet, the longer sides
facing east and west. The masonry is of well laid freestone
rubble, with dressed stones at the corners and openings ; it
presents no plinth nor offset, but the parapet is projected on
a horizontal string-course ; at the south-west corner it is borne
out further by small corbels. The parapet wall is embattled
with five embrasures on the longer sides, and three on the
shorter, and is coped with splay and round moulding.
Gurgoyles arc absent : the three single-flue chimneys on the
west side are ornamented with corbelled cornices.

On the basement there is the usual stone barrel-vault, with
an original small square opening to the west. The main
entrance to the tower appears to have been on the level of
the first floor by an external stair, or possibly by removable
wooden steps, on the south side. There is no trace of any
newel staircase ; the upper chambers and the top of the
tower are reached by a short flight of steps, then a passage,
and finally a straight flight leading up inside the east wall of
the tower. There are two windows on the west front to the
upper rooms, each being divided by a mullion into two
lights with segmental heads, within a square dripstone ending
in a short return. These two windows are original and dis-
tinctly of the fifteenth century : the other windows are late

insertions.

ss

330 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

These pele towers are often so plain and devoid of orna-
ment, that it is sometimes very difficult to determine their
exact age. There are no characteristics about this building
to induce one to assign it to the fourteenth century. It was
probably erected about the middle of the fifteenth century, in
the reign of Henry VI., by one of the Leighs, to supersede
some decayed or demolished housing of the Engaynes or
Multons.

A covered space connects the south aspect of the tower
with an imposing range of three-storied buildings, presenting
a frontage to the court of forty-two yards. These run
parallel with the river bank, and are set on not at a right
angle but rather askew in respect to the tower. There is
evidence that this addition has been built at two different
dates. The division next the tower is a block on the double
plan, with rooms both to front and back, containing kitchen,
hall, parlour, and public apartments. The entrance doorway
is here, shewing a depressed Tudor arch ; the windows are
square-headed with double muUions and transoms. On the
garden front the wall is strengthened by four buttresses
stepped in stages. All this may be of the period of Henry
Vni. In the same line on the river front there are remains
of old walling and more buttresses. There is a country
tradition that a wing existed towards the west, which is very
probable, so as to complete as was usual three sides of the
courtyard. As it now exists the range is extended in the
same plane by another row of buildings, which have clearly
been an addition ; the ridge of the roof is lower, the level of
the floors is not the same, the windows are without transoms,
and the plan is that of a single house, the width being only
twenty-seven feet. The long array of mullioned and labelled
windows set regularly in three tiers, though giving to the
elevation the feeling of amplitude, is in effect somewhat flat
and monotonous. All this second part is late Elizabethan
or Jacobean.

The line of walling under the eaves is broken by a form
of ornament which occurs nowhere else in Cumberland, but
of which a parallel example may be found on the walls of
Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, an edifice of about the same

Mini

■Hi

Bi

^Hi "

^

■"■■^'■fje^s^

-ff^rfmrniii

ISEL HALL. 331

date. This display consists of erections superimposed on the
top of the wall of stone ribs placed m the form of a stirrup
or stilted arch, from the crown of which arises a pyramidical
shaft terminating in a conical pinnacle. There are seven of
these to the front, and some also to the back of the house.
A tablet with a coat of arms high over the front door is so
weathered as to be undecipherable. There are two coats of
arms of Lawson, built into the south wall.

The rooms used at present as drawing rooms, dining room,
and den are all wainscottcd. All have been painted white
except the main drawing room, which was cleared of paint
by a former tenant. Part of the panelling in the dining
room is of the ** shirt-pleat " pattern ; the beams where
exposed are moulded. There is a carved mantel in one of
the rooms. The legend is as follows : —

W.L. & J.L. 1631.

HUTHWAITE HALL.

This place anciently was held by the family of de
Huthwaite, and came by marriage of an heiress to a Swin-
burne. The Swinburnes were an ancient family, ancestors
of whom are known as associated with Bewcastle, and also
with the early lordship of Askham Hall in Westmorland.
Huthwaite Hall is situated close to the old road, about two
miles from Cockermouth, leading up the Derwent Valley to
Ousenstand Bridge.

The house is purported ostensibly to have been built by
John Swinburne in 1581, but some portion of the edifice may
be even older, and it possesses considerable interest, as the
characteristic features of the period are well preserved. It
comprises a square block with a front of forty-five feet to the
south, the main door being in the centre, flanked by a
window on each side ; with three mullioned and transomed
windows on the upper floor. It is forty-eight feet deep, as
from the north end gable there is projected backwards a
short wing about twelve feet beyond the width of the central

332

THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

block. The windows have entirely an Elizabethan character ;
they have shallow, hollow mouldings, and are divided into
three lights, with segmental heads, by two heavy mullions,
the side of which are scooped or chanelled ; above there is a
bold dripstone coved in cavetto, with square substantial plain
returns. The jambs of the doorway shew a bevel only on
the arris ; above there are two tiers of carved tablets with
ornate embellishment. The enrichment consists of |>erpen-
dicular work with crocketted niclies, and pinnacled canopies.
Tlie doxter side contains the figure of a bishop apparently
with a crozicr, and the sinister a figure with a baron's
coronet, and a book under the right arm. The inferior slab
is divided into two con>partincnts, each containing a shield.
The first is charged with three fleurs-de-lis, one and two,
quartering three lions passant regardant, with supporters
which seem like two boarhounds collared and chained. The
other compartment exhibits a shield inverted, charged with
three cinquefoils, two and one. Immediately above these
carvings is the tablet containing this inscription in old
English letters :

|obn : ^tognburn

(Esquire : ^ (BU^abrtb

bx5 Wi^h : bib malxt

cost of tbis : toork

in tbe bats of tb^r ICgfe :

^no. Bmi. 16S1 : ^no. Utt.

U

At the north back of the house there is a window in its
original state, which might pertain to the period of Henry
VII. It is divided by a thick mullion into two lights, with
pointed arched heads, trefoiled and cuspcd. It has also a
transom. On the outside the mullion is chamfered ; in the
interior it presents a square face, on which is worked a
vertical fillet ; some battlemcnted ornament appears on the
transom. I'^our iron crooks remain on the inside, on which

HtlTHWAlTE HALL,

333

were hung shutters in two leaves to close the lower com-
partment, as was usual at that time. On the basement the
door of entry opened originally directly into the dining hall
to the right ; to the left was the private parlour, and behind
was the kitchen.

The little black oak staircase in two flights, lighted by the
decoraled window, is perfect ; it has worked balusters and a
square handrail. Some Elizabethan oak panelling in small
squares and moulded styles still remain, as do also the
panelled doors into the four small chambers upstairs; on
these are to be seen examples of the wooden sneck and
tiumib'hole still remaining in use.

334 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

RIBTON HALL.

About five miles west from Cockermouth, between Matron
Junction and Camerton, is Ribton Hall ; it stands on the
north bank of the Derwent, not far from the river. All the
lands in this vale of Derwent were granted to Waldeoff,
first baron of Allerdale, who bestowed various manors to his
kinsmen and followers. To Waldeoff, the son of Gilmyn,
and to his sister Uchtreda, were apportioned Great
Broughton and Ribton. The latter manor was settled by
Waldeoff upon a younger son, Thomas, who took the local
name of dc Ribton, The lordship passed by a long descent
through the same family, and in the thirty-fifth Henry VI IL
it is found that John Ribton held it of the King, as of his
manor of Papcastle, by the usual items of service. The
Ribtons formed honourable connections with the local
families, but never acquired the distinction of the equestrian
order. After the Ribtons, the manor was purchased by
Thomas Lamplugh, who was born at Beverley in Yorkshire,
and came into this country during the civil wars ; he died in
1670. It was his successor, Richard Lamplugh, or Lampley,
who built the present mansion. Sandford says, writing
about 1675 : ** Then you come down the river to Broughton,
and so along to Ribton : an Ancient Squire famelies ceite of
the same name : but lately sold to one Sir Thomas Lampley,
and he sold it to the now Lawyer Lampley's father, who now
injoes it and his dwelling house and habitation: and haith
buildcd a very fair house at it." This Richard Lamplugh of
Ribton served as High Sheriff of the county in the third
William III. He married Frances, daughter of Sir Christo-
pher Lowther of Whitehaven, leaving two daughters; and
the estate was sold to Sir James Lowther of Whitehaven.
There exist no remains of the old residence of the Ribtons.

The present edifice, of the time of Charles II., is a large,
roomy oblong structure on the double plan, with apartments
both to back and front, and well lighted with numerous lofty
windows. The front is built in regular courses of smooth
ashlar masonry, the joints of which are channelled in plain
rustic work. The elevation comprises three stories, present-

<

T
O

S/iV ", * «y/-*— ./ ..-KMrjir

'-^tJ^^H

^^i]

^

^ *

RIBTON HALL. 335

ing to the front three rows of seven apertures set regularl}' ;
those on the second or principal floor having larger pro-
portions in regard to height than those on the basement, and
those on the third story being smaller and nearly square.
A moulded blocking course, broken b^^ return under the
great central window, separates the first and second tiers.
These apertures are high and vertical, and though exhibiting
the Italian embellishment are divided by the stone mullion
bars and double transoms, which were prevalent in native
work at the end of the preceding century. On the ground
floor the architraves present a straight cornice, with classic
mouldings, and those on the principal floor carry a semi-
circular moulded pediment, that over the large central
window being more pronounced, and with a broken arch, and
supported by flat Corinthian pilasters. The edifice has been
built all at one time, and the design exhibits the study of
symmetry and balance. For a great many 3'ears it has not
been occupied in any other manner than as a farmhouse,
but in its prime, from its pleasant surroundings and situa-
tion and architectural merits, it must have been a very
delightful country mansion.

During the disturbances of the reign of the first Charles,
and the asperities of the Protectorate, there had been a
stagnation in the work of construction ; but with the Restora-
tion a fresh era of activity set in, and new country mansions,
not only of the nobility but of the lesser gentry, arose in
great numbers. Under the inspiration of Inigo Jones, the
Palladian and Italian style of architectural composition took
possession of public taste and ideas, and the new school
found in the north country some ardent admirers and prose-
lytes. One of the earliest examples of the Italian practice,
as revived by Wren, which we find in the northern counties
is this new mansion which Lamplugh built for himself at
Kibton. The expenditure must have been large in respect
to the carrying out both the planning and external features,
as well as of the internal finishing and decoration.

The doorway has a central position on the south front
under the great window, and presents mouldings in sym-
metry with the other openings, and gives an entry on the

336 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

ground level. The door opens directly into a square lobby
or entrance hall, flagged in freestone squares, set diamond-
wise; it contains an ornamental fireplace, the stone jambs
and lintel are moulded with round and hollow ; there is a
flat cornice and mantel-shelf. All the chimney pieces
throughout the house present the bold round and hollow
mouldings of the Jacobean period. To the left of the hall is
an apartment, probably used as the dining room, which
retains more of the original finishings than any other room
in the house. There is a wooden dado framed and panelled
in chestnut, reaching four feet high round the room, and
some old stained glass in the window-panes, which it is diffi-
cult to decipher. The windows being all built with stone
mullions and transoms, the lights are all leaded and glazed
in the lozenge form ; many of them however are now blocked.

A very fine broad staircase of oak, with massive well-
turned balusters, and heavy moulded handrail, is extended
in several flights to the separate floors.

Upstairs, on the principal floor, the western end is devoted
to the large reception or drawing room, with other rooms
which communicate en suite. The principal doors for the
most part are double in two leaves, and are in chestnut wood,
framed, and in long panels, as in the time of Charles II.

COCKKRMOUTH CASTLE.

It is conjectured, that after the settlement of the baronies
in this part of Cumberland in the reign of Henry I., that
the '* caput " or stron^^hold of the Lords of Allerdale was
situated on that prominent jilateau nigh Cockermouth, which
had been occupied by the Romans as their defensive town,
and now called Papcastle.

The name is evidently derived from Gilbert Pipard, a man
who filled various public offices of importance, who married
Alice, one of the descendants of the Meschines, to whom
vlovolvod a share of the lordship of Allerdale, and who is
NUp^vsed to have erected a stone fortress on the site of the
v^vl KvMuan town. Soon afterwards however, at the very

COCKERMOUTH CASTLE. 337

beginning of the thirteenth century, the remarkably strong
position of the prominent ridge, encompassed by the junction
of the river Cocker with the Derwent, was chosen for the
erection of a very strong fortress by the then lord of the '
barony, which continued to receive additions under the
successive lords of the families of de Fortibus, de Lucys, the
Percys, and Windhams, during the Decorative and Perpen-
dicular periods, and became recognised caput of the Honour
of Cockermouth. The architectural details of Cockermouth
Castle possess great interest, as showing the special arrange-
ments and characteristics of these various periods ; but the
whole subject has been already treated to a full extent by
Mr. G. T. Clark in his great work on ** Mediaeval Castles,'*"^'
and by Canon Knowles and the late Mr. William Jackson, f
In an old house in Cockermouth, near to the Castle, may
be seen a curious plaster ceiling, similar in its mode of orna-
mentation to that described in Gerard Lowther's house at
Penrith. It covers the roof of a small room on the first floor,
and the dimensions are thirteen feet by ten feet ; the space
is divided into quatrefoils, skilfully separated from each other
by octagonal figures. In the centre cjuatrcfoil is the Tudor
rose ; opposite to this and surmounting the arms over the
chimney-piece is the crescent of the Percys on a wreath ;
whilst in a corresponding position on the opposite side is the
Flower de Luce, referring to the Lucys. There are various
devices in the quatrefoils and in the connecting figures ; in
one of the latter are the letters f^ and ^ united by a true
lover's knot, and in the corresponding octagon the date
1598. Over the chimneypiece are the arms of the Earl of
Northumberland, surrounded by the Garter. The arms are
quarterly; the blue lion of the Percys and the three silver
lucies of the Lucys, surmounted by an earl's coronet on a
wreath as described above. The initials H and ^ one
letter on each side of the arms, indicate Henry Northumber-

• Vol i., p. 410.

f An Hhturical and Drscriptirr Account of (Wkermouth Castle. Refer to
'J'r n n. sue lions of thr Cnmi-ertanU ami H'rstntorland Archretttof^icat St:cicti/, vol.
iv., p. 109.

TT

338 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

land ; there are the usual sup[>orters, a lion rampant on each
side. Below the whole is the motto and slogan of the line,
** Esperance en Dieu.'*

LAMPLUGH CASTLE.

Within this Derwent division of Cumberland were many
other tower houses ^nd fortified places of ancient Cumber-
land families, which are either obliterated, or retain such
fragmentary portions of the old structures that they call for
no special attention.

Amongst the most important of these was probably Lam-
plugh Castle, which stood near the old Roman road leading
from Egremont to Cockermouth. The Lamplughs held it in
the time of Henry II., and the old hall continued as the
residence of the knightly family of the Lamplughs down to
the period of the Civil War. The old tower of Lamplugh
was a bulky square building with high ramparts, and ex-
tremely massive, with walls nine feet thick. At the be-
ginning^ of the present century the tower was still standing
with some of its loopholed walls and surrounding buildings,
until in 1821, it was ruthlessly destroyed and replaced by a
farmhouse. Tiie very handsome gateway, dated 1595, with
the Lamplugh arms sculptured over the entrance arch,
remains in excellent preservation. The arms of Lamplugh
were : Or, a cross fleury, Sable.

Branthwaite, in the parish of Dean, was anciently the
manor house of the Skcltons.

Old Camerton Hall, a seat of the Curwens, on the banks
of the river Derwent, has disappeared.

The tower of Lorton, on the bank of the river Cocker, has
been modernised.

The stately and commodious mansion of Workington
Hall, the seat of tlie very ancient and knightly family of the
Curwens, although containing some remnants of its castel-
IjLted character, is for the most part of a date subsequent to
:S: p«^rioil of the Restoration.

(339)

CHAPTER XIII.

INGLEWOOD FOREST.

In early times the great central plain of Cumberland was
in a state of natural forest ; and continued to be a preserve
for wild animals during the middle ages, when it was known as
the Forest of Inglewood. It was disforested in Henry VIII's
reign. At the Norman settlement this track of country
remained in the hands of the Crown, although many manors
were granted from time to time out of the Forest. Amongst
the most important of these was the Manor of Hutton,
which was appropriated as early as the reign of Edward I. to
the family of de Hoton, afterwards Hutton, who took their
name from the place ; they bore for their arms a bugle horn.
To the holders of the manor were attached the services of
keeping the forest of the Hay (Haia) of our lord the king, at
Plumpton, and of holding the stirrup of the king's saddle
when he mounted his horse in the Castle of Carlisle.

In the year 1605, Thomas Hutton sold his possessions to
Sir Richard Fletcher, Knight, of Cockermouth. From the
Fletchers it passed, by the marriage of the heiress, to the
family of Vane of the county of Durham.

The present mansion of Hutton-in-the-Forest is a noble
pile, principally of the Renaissance period of Charles II.,
with much Elizabethan and Jacobean work, which has been
incorporated around a border pele tower of the usual type.
Sir George Fletcher, M.P. for Cumberland from 1661 to
1697, brought the house to pretty much its present shape.
His architect was Inigo Jones, whose is the present front,
while the garden facade is by Salvin. A view by Knyff,
engraved by Kip, shows long wings projecting from either
side of the central block ; one only of these wings now exists,
and it is probable the other was never built.

Amongst other minor manorial halls which have fallen into
decay, and which may be noted as having been ancient seats

340 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CITMBERLAND.

of Ciimberland gentry, may be mentioned Hicbhead Castle,*
the scat of Ihe Richmonds, rebuilt by the Broughams in the
last century; Habdricg Hall, in the parish of Skelton, a
sixteenth century house, the seat of the family of Southaic ;
Scales Hall, the seat of the Broughams ; Hawkesdale
Hall, of the Nicolsons ; Armathwaite Castle, a tower house
on the banks of the Eden at Armathwaite, at one time the
chief seat of the ancient family of Sifelton ; Cardew and
Warnell Halls, of the Dentons; and Croglan Hall, of
the Towrys.

But the most important domain in the forest was Rose
Castle, which has served for many centuries as the chief
episcopal residence for the bishops of Carlisle. The founda-
tion of Rose Castle goes back prior to the date of 1300, few
it is mentioned that Edward I. sojourned there in Bisho{>j
Halton's time, and issued writs from thence. Bishop Irtoii<
dates a deed relating to the church of Addingham : "Apud\
Rosam v. idiis Jiilii anno gratia in'cc" oclogestmo sccundo." — Leiters
from Nortliem R(gisl(rs, p, 252. The most ancient part of Rose
is the pele tower, which goes under the name of the Strick-
land tower, and was probably rebuilt by Bishop Irton on an
earlier foundation, and again rebuilt by Bishop Strickland.
One peculiarity of this tower is that on plan it is a square
of t wen ty- nine feet ; another is that the original entrance, as
at Linstock, was at the level of the second floor, and that
the cellar vault, as at Linstock, is slightly pointed, Many
alterations were made in Rose Castle from time to time; it
has been encompassed by moats, and fortified by additional
towers, gatehouses, and walls oi enceinU, but the architectural
and historical description of Rose Castle has already beetli
fully dealt with by Mr. Charles J. Ferguson, F.S.A. t In
plan it is a concentric Edwardian castle, and in this shape
was probably due to Bishop Kirkby, who in 1336 had a
license to crenellate.

I

•See Trausaclioni -if Ihi CumtrrlaHd and Ifeslmorland Auli^uc

Archmlogital Sotitlu, vol. «., p. 105.

i In a paper entitled, "The Development of Dumestic Architecture : R
CaslleanS Dalstun HBll.-r™iMnr/t.,». ../ the C«mlfrlaml amt H'c'tmorU
Archiiila^ciil Socicli/i vol. ii., p. 151.

INGLEWOOD FOREST. 34I

Another manor hall, which still retains interesting remains
of its former glory, is Dalston Hall, formerly the residence
of the ancient and knightly £amily of the Dalstons. This
" hall house '* consisted of a pele tower, with a ring of office
buildings to the east, and with further additions of a later
date to the west. The Dalstons were a family of high posi-
tion, and had a long reign of prosperity, both in the counties
of Cumberland and Westmorland. Of this interesting place
a full account, with plans and elevations, has also been given
by Mr. Charles J. Ferguson, F.S.A.

(342)

CHAPTER XIV.

ESKDALE AND CUMBERLAND WARDS:

GILSLAND BARONY.

There is no part of Cumberland which possesses more
interest to the antiquary and the historiographer than this
northern division of the county. It is traversed throughout
its length by the stupendous works of the Romans, which
have afforded a fertile source of archaeological exploration
and speculation. In Lanercost priory and the cell of
Wetheral, we have the remains of the earliest conventual
buildings in the north. In the castle of Naworth, the off-
spring of the Dacres, and the fortified stronghold of Lord
William Howard, we have the last perfect example of the
residence of a great Border chief. I must pass over in this
volume the subject of Naworth Castle, which has already
been amply described by others, and in all its aspects,
historical and architectural, by the Worshipful Chancellor
Ferguson, F.S.A.,'-' and by his brother, Charles J. Ferguson,
F.S.A.t

LINSTOCK CASTLE.

In the year 1133 Henry 1. constituted the lands of Carlisle
into the Bishoprick of Carlisle. At an early date the parish of
Crosby, and the lands of Linstock were given to the
Bishoprick, and have since remained amongst the possessions
of that see.

The manor, or, as it was sometimes called, the Barony of
Linstock, lies on the north bank of the Eden, to the north-
east of Carlisle ; and the village of Linstock is situated about

♦ History of Cumberland. " Barony of Gilsland and Its Owners," and other
pipers, in vol. iv. of the Transactions oj the Cumlerlattd and IVestmorland
Antufuana7i and Archcpological Society,

t " Naworth Castle,'* in same volume.

I

LINSTOCK CASTLE. 343

two-and-a-half miles up the river from that city. Here stood
the only palace possessed by the bishops of Carlisle until the
year laag. The size and importance of it in those days may
be estimated from the statement that about the year 1293
Bishop Haltou is said lo have entertained here for a consider-
able time, Johannes Romaniis, Archbishop of York, with his
train, which amounted to above three hundred persons.

The sole remnant of the ancient Linstock Castle is an ivy
clad pele tower, with inhabited rooms, having attached to it
at right angles a long low two-storied building of late
fifteenth century, with later additions, which contains the
farm residence. The lower portion of the tower presents
indications of very early construction, but the upper portion
has undergone considerable alteration. It consists of a
rectangular tower of three storeys, without any turrets or
sets-otf, measuring at the base 35 feet by 37 feet. It pos-
sesses a plinth 4 feet from the groiind level, with a projection
of 6 inches, and topped with a chamfered slope. There is an
entrance at the ground level by a doorway, 3 feet 6 inches
wide, into the vaulted chamber of the basement; it is through
an acute pointed arch with a pointed dripstone and cham-
fered jambs; the walls are 5j feet thick; there is a tunnel
behind the door for a drawbar; the interior arch has a round
head. The vault of the chamber is slightly pointed, as in the
Strickland tower at Rose Castle. The dimensions of the
vault inside are 14 feet by 21 feet; it is lighted by two loop-
holes at the height of 6 feet from the ground, 2I feet long and
9 inches wide externally, and widely splayed within ; they
are stepped up to by five steps.

Here, as at the Strickland tower at Rose, the main
entrance to the tower has been at the level of the first Hoor,
which forms one room ; there has been no newel stair, but
the communication with the next upper floor is by a narrow.
straight flight of steps, in the thickness of the wall. The
upper, or second floor, is divided into two rooms. The tower
was formerly one story higher, with a battleniented parapet
and flat roof; the present gable roof was put on about a
century ago. The site has been moated ; a huge and ancient
pear tree, probably as old as Bishop Halton, grows in front
of the castle.

344 I'HE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

DRAWDIKES CASTLE

Is situated on the Vallum of Hadrian's Barrier, not far from
Linstock and two miles from Carlisle; it was built in 1676 by
John Aglionby on the site of an old fortress, and has the alter-
nate semicircular and triangular pediments, and the windows
characteristic of the seventeenth century ; what remained
after 1676 of the old fortress was pulled down in the last
century, to make way for a modern farm house. Three
hideous stone busts of the time of William IIL, adorn the
parapet. There is a fine Roman sepulchral slab, brought
from Carlisle, built into the back wall of the castle, and there
should also be a centurial stone, but it is missing. There is
also a mediaeval inscription, probably brought from Carlisle.

SCALEBY CASTLE.

In the article on Johnby Hall, p. 303, of this volume, we
had occasion to mention the very ancient family of the Til-
liols, or the Tilliolfs, as having received various Royal grants
in the north, and that their great ancestor, ** Richard the
Ryder," received lordships from Henry I. in the neighbour-
hood of Carlisle, and settled himself at Richardby, or
Rickerby.

Scaleby Castle lies six miles N.N.E. from Carlisle. The
manor was given by Edward I. to Richard Tilliol, and the
Royal license was granted to Robert Tilliol in the year 1307,
to castellate his mansion of Scaleby, in the marches of Scot-
land. The name of this powerful family was associated with
Scalei^y Castle until the year 1435, when the last Robert de
Tilliol died without issue, and the great Tilliol estates
became divided between his two sisters, co-heiresses. Con-
sequently Scaleby passed to the Colvilles, and the Musgraves
of Hayton, and subsequently to the Gilpin family.

The environs of Scaleby Castle show that it has been a
large and extensive defensive place from an early time, and
deserves a full and detailed description, which my rather

SCALEBY CASTLE. 345

hurried visit does not enable me to give on the present
occasion.

The approach to the castle is along an avenue, planted
with oaks, about half-a-mile from the village. One pecu-
liarity about the place is the system of defence by means of
wet moats. Of these there arc two ; the outer moat, which
has been drawn round the place, probably at a late period,
encloses an area of five acres, whilst the inner moat ranges
closer to the castle buildings ; they were crossed by two
draw^bridges, now converted into stone bridges. The Oldest
part of the structure is a massive pele tower, of which the
walls remain, but the roof and three floors are all gone. The
walls, which rise from a heavy plinth, are 7 feet thick, and
present three sets-off in the elevation, with a narrow buttress
for support on the west front ; the windows, fireplaces, and
other openings are all square-headed. The dimensions out-
side the walls are about 40 feet by 30 feet. The basement is
a barrel- vaulted chamber, about 24 feet by 15 feet, lighted by
two narrow loops, as usual widely splayed inside. This has
been a very strong structure, and was the work of the Til-
liols, and probably that whicli is referred to in the license of

1307.

The next period of building at Scaleby Castle was in the

fifteenth century^ and would probably comprise the erection of
the dining hall abutting on the east side of the old keep. The
dimensions appear to have been 29 feet by 24 feet, if we may
judge from the lines now existing. In the screens there are
a series of corbel stones, which seem to have supported a
vaulted roof. There are two entrances into the hall through the
screens, one from the inner courtyard by a pointed arch door-
way, and another into an outer courtyard ; also a third with
a pointed arch leading to the octagon tower on the gatehouse
front. The west front consists of fifteenth century work; it
comprises an imposing gatehouse with a s(piare castelated
tower to the right and warden's apartments, and an octagonal
tower, 36 feet in diameter, to the left. The whole are sur-
mounted by battlemented parapets and a rampart walk.
The gateway is six feet wide, and provided with a portcullis

chase ; the arch on the outside is circular, and on the inside

vv

346 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

presenting to tlie courtyard, it is acutely pointed. The
quadrangle within is enclosed by residential buildings which
have been erected at later dates.

The view given is that of the outer gateway leading into
the quadrangle.

BEWCASTLE.

The parish of liewcastle, which lies at the extreme north of
the county of Cumberland, is contiguous with the boundary
of Scotland, where this is demarcated by the Liddel Water
and the Kershope Burn. It is a rough wild country with
lofty hilly pastures and bleak moorlands ; the Maiden Way,
leading from the Roman station of Amboglanna, or Birdos-
wald, proceeds through it in its course towards the north.

On an eminence, not far from the parish church of Bew-
castle, from which is a fine prospect of the wilds towards
Liddesdale, there are the remains of a British camp, subse-
quently occupied by the Romans and afterwards by a
mccli<rval ciistlc. History represents that at the time of the
CoiKiucst, one l>cuth, a Saxon or Dane, resided here and was
overlord of the country. When the Normans came north
and parcelled out the territory, Robert, son of Hubert de
Vallibus or \'aux. Lord of Gillsland, entrapped and seized
Gillies, the son of l>euth, and made short work of him.

The lands of Newcastle were granted by Henry H. to
Hubert de Vallibus, and from the Vaux tliese lands descended
by marriage to the Multons, lords of Burgh. During the
reign of the three Edwards it was held by some generations
of Swinburnes.

rile manor and castle again came to the Crown, and it was
i^i anted by Edward IV. to his brother Richard, Duke of
Vtloucester.

I:*. li\e troublous times of Henry VHI. and Elizabeth,
.\;\\vvn 1-lngland and Scotland, a notorious Border swash
'v'vi. vnr jack Musgrave, was captain of liewcastle, and
^ ,.^ l.iddestlale border. The garrison was reduced by
1 ^'^ his accession to the English Crown.

^ V \

BEWCASTLE. 347

The Castle is entirely a ruin, nothing but the massive shell
remains ; it is encircled by a deep and wide moat of an oval
figure, at a varying distance of from seven to twelve yards
from the base of the walls.

On the north, south, and east, the scarpings are sharp and
well defined. The excavation from the moat probably
afforded material for raising the mound in the interior, and
the work may have been executed long antecedent to the
erection of the present fortress. In fact, the aspect of the
section of the mound within the fosse may represent the
remnant of a Saxon "burn," on which was planted the
stockaded bulwark of Beuth, the lord of the country at the
date of the Conquest.

The Castle, as it now stands, is as near as possible square
in plan, about ninety feet external measurement, without
angular turrets or any other projections, except one square
tower added on to the western side. The walls are on the
average 6^ feet thick, composed of rough rubble masonry,
but with some regard to regular courses, and are filled in
with cobble stones, gravel, broken bricks, and mortar. The
Roman stones of the station have also been used.

The wall to the south presents a huge expanse of dead
surface, standing 30 feet high, with no openings up to the
level of the second floor, where there appears the fragment
of a window. A projecting plinth, with a bevel upon it, is
continued horizontally along the base of the wall at a varying
height of from six to nine feet, according to the level of the
ground. The greater part of the east wall has fallen in ;
the greater portion of the north wall is standing, and presents
on the first floor three openings, which may have been the
principal windows of the hall. On the west side the wall is
standing with no opening, except fragments of a window in
the upper story and a drain hole.

At this end a square tower has been added to, but not
thoroughly bonded to the wall of the main building.^ This is
the gatehouse tower ; it measures 36 feet by 18 feet externally,
and stands 48 feet from the north wall, and 12 feet from the
south wall. The entrance is six feet wide, and passes under
a segmental arch with deep rebates for a heavy door, but

34^ THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

without any chase for a portcullis. A peculiarity here is that
there are tunnel holes for two draw-beams for this outer
door, one above another, and one of these runs right through
the wall to the outside. The gateway opens into a square
space which has had a wooden floor above it ; there is no
stone vaulting here. To tlic right of the gateway, a few steps
lead to a straight stair in the thickness of the wall, which
leads to a gardcrobe, and to the upper apartments. The
opening is flat-headed, with the corbelled lintel or Carnarvon
arch.

The castle wall is pierced at this point by the only en-
trance into the inner enclosure, which is surmounted by a
flattish four-centred arch; a form which will bring the date of
it within the period of the fifteenth century.

The interior of the enclosure shows only grass grown
mounds of rubbish, and no foundations or cross walls can be
be seen. That there were ranges of stone buildings against
three sides of the walls of enceinte is evident. On the first
floor of the west wall there are two fire-place recesses, and
on the second floor there is one. We have here an example
of a smoke hole, which is deserving of notice. The vent is
sloped from the hearthstone in a slanting direction upwards
through the thickness of the wall, narrowing and contracting
to a hole pierced in the masonry outside. This was the hole
for tlie escape of the smoke instead of having a built up
chinmcy; this was one of the early contrivances for getting
rid of the smoke. The fireplace was furnished with a hood
projecting into the room over the hearth, and was sloped
upwards to catch the smoke.

These hoods being often con.structed of wood, covered with
mud, daub, or plaster, here perished, but the smoke hole
through the wall is often met with. There are two to be
seen here, and another example I know of is to be seen in the
solar in the old part of Millom Castle in Cumberland.

We must consider this fortress to have been built more as
a defensive military outpost to contain a garrison, than as a
domestic residentiary place ; it has never been such. The
basement would be occupied for the most as stabling and for
stores ; on the first floor there would be the barracks of the

TRYERMAIN CASTLE. 349

soldiers, and on the upper story th6 apartments of the superior
officer ; a common hall would stand on the north side, with
windows both to the outside and to the courtyard.

The whole structure is so plain and devoid of mouldings,
that there is very little detail existing to enable us to fix the
date of it with any pretence to precision. It is not Norman,
nor is it Edwardian ; the masonry is significant of neither.
There is indeed no vaulting, nor buttresses, nor turrets, nor
loopholes that can carry us to an earlier date than the year
1400, and the low depressed arch of the inner gateway shows
somewhat the Perpendicular influence. There is a great
similarity in plan and arrangement with that shown in Pen-
rith Castle, which was built about the year 1420, and for the
very same purpose of affording a ^^ point d'appiW to repel the
incursions of the Scots. Richard III., when Duke of
Gloucester, was for five years Warden of the West Marches,
and as he built towers and added to Penrith Castle, so he
may have done here by constructing the gatehouse tower to
the previous fabric of Bewcastle.

TRYERMAIN CASTLE.

The remains of this castle are very scanty ; it was a total
ruin in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and of what was left
great part fell in 1832 ; the materials were used for farm
buildings. The site was moated, and the castle was a quad-
rangle, like that at Bewcastle, with square turrets, or towers,
standing against its eastern and western ends, through one of
which the entrance would be. It stands close to the Maiden
Way, and was **a very convenient place," says Leonard
Dacre, "for both annoying the enemy and defendiag the
county thereabouts." The castle was probably built by the
Vauxs (a name well known in connection with Tryermain),
and the materials were taken from the Roman wall.'*'

•5>ee " Two Border Fortresses." Tntusncliitm: of the Ctimbcrhittd and ffe^f-
mortuml Anfitju:irian ami Archfroln^icat Societi/, vol. iii., p. 175.

350 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

ASKERTON CASTLE.

Thomas Lord Dacre built this castle in the reign of Henry
VIL, or early part of Henry VHI., to supersede Tryermain,
which was then falling into decay. The building itself is one
of great interest. It occupies three sides of a quadrangle, of
which the fourth, or the east side, is completed by a curtain
wall, which has been much modernised. There are towers
at the south-west and south-east angles. A large hall once
occupied the western side of the quadrangle, and its fine
massive original roof remains, but the battlements which
once surmounted it are gone, though the staircase to them at
the north-west angle still in part remains. The towers at the
south-west and south-east angles are very curiously placed ;
they are not so broad as the building which connects them ;
the eastern one is set so as to range exactly with the front of
this building, and the western one so as to range exactly with
the back ; the recesses thus formed are corbelled across the
angles, and in the corbelling are the shoots of several garde-
robes. The building connecting these towers is much cut up
by modern partitions ; the doorway and ground floor win-
dows are modern, and the floor levels have been altered, but
the massive roof remains. The interiors of the towers have
been dismantled. The northern side of the quadrangle is now
a stable, with hayloft over it ; the hayloft has fireplace and
windows, and would be the barrack room, where the men-at-
arms would live over their horses. The design of the whole
building is obvious ; a quadrangle, in which the whole garri-
son, horses, and all could be stationed ; the gates shut, and a
short siege stood until rescue from Naworth or Carlisle was
forthcoming.-^'

• " Two Border Fortresses." At Hid.

SHANK CASTLE. 35I

SHANK CASTLE.

Shank Castle, in the parish of Stapleton, stands on the
Raeburn, near its junction with the river Lyne, and not far
from Solport Mill. The manor of Solport was anciently the
property of the Lord of Levington, from whom it passed to
Tilliols, Colvilles, and Musgraves. Sir Edmund Musgrave
sold it to Lord Preston, from whom it descended to the
Grahams of Netherby, with whom it remains. Shank Castle
is a parallelogram, of 52 feet by 29 feet external measurement,
the longer dimensions running from north-east by north to
south-west by south. There is a breach at one corner, which
has been sufficiently repaired to stop further injury. The
walls are about five feet thick. The building consists of
four stories, and is divided into three compartments verti-
cally by two inner cross walls. The basement is entered by
a door at one of the narrow ends of the building, square-
headed externally ; a plain roll runs across edge of lintel
and down the jambs. In the thickness of the wall the arch
is vaulted ; within are tunnels for running wooden bars
across the door. The floors have been of wood, and the
inner walls have been plastered. The entrance to the upper,
or first floor, is by a door in one of the longer sides of the
building, about ten feet from the ground ; the floor now in is
not the original one. The great fire-place measures 9 feet 4
inches in width. A staircase at its corner has once wound
down to the lower or basement story. The entrance to the
first floor has tunnels or sockets, similar to the door below.

There are several fireplaces of smaller size in the upper
storeys and in the various compartments, also garderobes and
mural chambers. At the end of one cross wall is a circular
closet with door. The lower story has no windows,, only a
slit or two ; but in the long sides of the building are three
rows, each of four small windows for the three upper storeys ;
the windows are rabbitted for glass. The parapets only
project a few inches, and are not machicolated, but have had
embrasures. The castle has had no history, but it was the
the mansion house of Sir William Hut ton of Penrith, tempore
Queen Elizabeth.

352 THE OLD MANORIAL HALLS OF CUMBERLAND.

KIRKANDREWS-U PON-ESK.

Here is a small pele tower, which Bishop Nicolson calls
an old tower-house, which was lei to the rector of the parish
at a moderate rent as his residence. It is now part of the
farm buildings.

DRUMBURGH CASTLE.

Half-way between Burgh and Bowness on the Roman wall
was the seat of the Le Bruns, who had a license to crenellate
it in 1307. On their becoming extinct it fell into the hands
of the chief lord, the Baron of Burgh, and Thomas Lord
Dacre, K.G., built a fortified manor house upon the old
ruins, using stones from the Roman wall. His arms, quarter-
ing Multon, Vaux, and Morville, all within the Garter, are
over the door to the front floor, or hall, which is now
approached by a flight of steps, which covers an arched
entrance into the ground floor. The hall has a large fire-
place at the eastern end, and is now partitioned into several
rooms. The castle went with the barony to the Lowthers,
and John Lowther apparently did up the house ; his initials,
with the date 1681, are on the hall door lock. There is a
curiously panelled and painted bedroom, apparently his work.
The castle is now a farmhouse.

WULSTY CASTLE

Was a fortified castle belonging to the Abbey of Holm
Cultram, used as a place of security for their evidences and
treasures in time of danger. Part of it fell in 1632, and it
was dismantled in the Civil Wars l)y order of Colonel Fitch,
and the most valuable materials, including the gates, sent to
Carlisle. Nothing now remains but a few stones, and a wide
and deep moat full of rushes, which includes a space of
about 65 yards by 60 yards. The magical books of Michael
Scot, the Wizard, who was a monk of Holm Cultram, are
said to have l)een long preserved at Wulsty.

(353)

CHAPTER XV.

LEGENDS AND INSCRIPTIONS OVER
DOORWAYS OF OLD HOUSES IN CUMBERLAND

AND WESTMORLAND.

The entrance, or gateway, or doorway has ever been the
part of a building which has received the largest share of
architectural skill and decoration ; and it has been a very
prevalent usage at all times, that over the entrance there
shall have been displayed some token or distinctive indication
of personality or ownership. As early as ever an ensign or
emblem was borne as a mark of distinction in the field of
battle, the banner of the knight floated over the front of his
fortress wall, and possibly a wooden shield, blazoned with his
device, would be hung over the gateway. The sculpturing
the shield in stone was a later practice : the earliest instances
are found on monumental effigies in the thirteenth century,
and it was not until the import of heraldry expanded, and the
significance of armorial bearings assumed a wider range, that
the insignia came to be carved in stone on the castle wall.

The remains of these carved escutcheons are found
abundantly on the castles and halls of Cumberland and
Westmorland, but in this paper I cannot pretend to deal
with the heraldic aspect of the enquiry, but will exemplify
only such mottoes, epigraphs or legends, which occur outside
the heraldic achievement, or appear on independent tablets
by themselves.

XIII. CENTURY.

. The earliest example in our district of an inscribed external
mural tablet in domestic architecture, is that which is now
presented over the outer gateway at Brougham Castle, near
Penrith. The inscription is in raised Old English characters,
and runs thus : — ww

354

LEGENDS AND INSCRIPTIONS OVER DOORWAYS

This Stone is about 20 inches square, with the panel sunk
three inches within a chantfered frame ; it is not in its
original site, but was removed to this place over the outer
gate, during repairs to the castle, about thirty-five years
ago. It has been a contested point of discussion,* as to the'
date of this stone, and as to who this particular Roger was.
For this reason : there were two Rogers de Clifford, and both
of them made great additions to and alterations in the old
Norman keep of Brougham. The first Roger, the first of the
Cliffords in Westmorland, acquired the heritage by marriage
with Isabella Veteripont in 1268. It was this Roger, who in
the beginning of the reign of Edward I., added the range of
buttressed structures which abut on the northern aspect of
the keep, and what is now the inner gateway with its groined
vaulted archway. The Countess of Pembroke, in her me-
moirs, asserts that in her day this stone stood in the wall
over this inward gate ; it is almost certain that the inscription
commemorates the fabric which the first Roger raised at the
end of the thirteenth century.

XIV. CENTURY.

The second Roger, the grandson of the former, was Baron
here from the 25th of Edward III., for thirty-nine years, and
he made further extensive additions to the castle on the
south and east, and he also erected the forebuilding, with
decorated windows and an outer gateway, and it seems, he
set over his gateway his coat of arms carved in stone. This
shield is gone, but it was seen and described by Hutchinson

•Sec paper on ** Brougham Castle," by the Rev. Canon Simpson, Cumber-
laud mid ffrsttnnr/and AntitjUfirinn and Arcfutoloj^icnl Transactions, vol. i. p. 60.

IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND. 355

in 1766, though the charge was probably much effaced, as he
mistook the cheeky as representing the arms of the Vallibus
or Vaux family, in consequence of the obliteration of the
fesse, which divides the cheeky escutcheon of the Cliffords.

No doubt the usage may have obtained in this country,
of setting up a stone shield, carved with the device of the
knight, over the entrance to his castle or hall, but if so the
remains of these have disappeared, and I am not prepared
with any examples of this period either of heraldic or other
inscriptions.

XV. CENTURY.

But in the fifteenth century we find that the pretensions of
heraldry had assumed a wonderful amplitude : its import to
denote not only personality and hereditary descent, but also
alliances and marriages, became extended, and the escutcheon,
instead of exhibiting one coat only, as it did originally, was
often impaled with a multiplicity of charges. The assumption
of heraldic emblems for architectural decorative purposes
progressed a pace. Shields and armorial devices were im-
ported everywhere into the details of the Perpendicular
period ; not only externally, into the spandrels of doorways
and windows and stone panelling, but in the woodwork of the
roof and wainscotting and furniture of the time.

There was a curious stone found a few years ago in the
wall of the tower of Hutton John, where it is still preserved.
This tower is a Border pele of probably fourteenth century ;
it belonged to a family of the name of Hutton, who are traced
back to the reign of Edward III., and who became extinct in
that of Elizabeth, when one of the co-heiresses married a
Hudlestone. i'he stone in question is a flat slab, about 40
inches by 20 inches, and has a half round bead moulding. In
one corner there is presented a shield with the arms of Hut-
ton, a fesse between three cushions charged with a fleur-de-
lys, quartering a chevron between three bears' heads, which
I take to be Barwis of Langrigg. On the face of the stone
there is carved a figure which represents an eagle with out-
spread wings and talons, with the hinder half a fox apparently,
and along the top line of the stone runs this inscription : —

35^ LEGENDS AND INSCRIPTIONS OVER DOORWAYS

Zb^B made Zomas

in Old English characters, deeply carved, which present the
fifteenth century style, though possibly it might be later.

On the tower of Dalston, near Carlisle, there is an inscrip-
tion, somewhat mutilated, with Old English letters all re-
versed, which has been described as : — *

5obn H)alston jeU3abetTOl(pbema&e ^s bglbsna

This relegates the erection or re-building of this pele tower
to the early part of the fifteenth century, in the reign of
Henry IV.

It has been described that the arms of John Clifford and
his wife were carved over the gatehouse of Appleby Castle,
which would fix the date thereof about 1418 ; his son Thomas
built the hall, chapel, and great chamber here, and at the
bottom of the chapel window was this inscription : —

150 Cbapple was butlt bg UbcmaB

Xorb Cltfforb Hnno Domnt ®ne XEbouBanb 400. 54.

XVI. CENTURY.

When we come into this century, the custom of carving the
family arms, often with the full external heraldic embellish-
ments, over the hall door was universal, and the remains of
tablets of this date are of frequent occurrence. From about
the middle of this century a great building epoch commenced
in Cumberland and Westmorland ; there was quite a passion
to extend and enlarge domestic buildings. The accommoda-

• Hutchinson's ('uwlcrlatnl, vol. ii., p. 44S, with a woodcut piling a Juc
simiU' illustration.

IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND. 357

tion afforded by the gaunt grey walls of the Border pele
tower no doubt had been felt to be insufficient for domestic
requirements even a hundred years before ; hence we find a
dining hall was added to the pele tower in many instances
in the fifteenth century, as at Yanwath, Sockbridge, Kirkby-
thore, and other places. But it was in the Tudor period, and
particularly during the reign of Elizabeth, that the erection of
a more extended scale of domestic structures, amongst the
manor houses in the north, became the mode.

Besides the elaborately sculptured arms over the gateway,
or porch or entrance, it was very usual to carve an inscription,
testifying the name of the builder and date, or a rhyming
legend often quaintly expressed. Of these, I will give such
examples as have come under my notice.

Amongst the earliest of these tablets is one set by Chris-
topher Crackenthorpe in the 25th of Henry VIII., over the
entrance to a goodly range of buildings, which he attached to
a Border pele of an earlier date at Newbiggin in Westmor-
land. The legend runs thus : —

Cbristopber • Cracftantborpc • tbu5 • se . me • calle •
Mbpe • (n • mp • tpm bgbc • builb • tb(5 • balle •
XCbe • scr • ot • cure • lorbe • wbo • Vsst • to • 5C •
a • /D • tgpc • bunbreb • tbgrtp • anb • tbrec •

There is a fifteenth century pele tower in the neighbouring
parish of CHburn, which was held by a family of the name
of Cliburn, since the time of Edward III. One Richard
Cliburn altered the tower and put up a range of buildings
and offices inclosing three sides of a courtyard, all having the
character of the Elizabethan period. Over the entrance he
set a stone, not however now in its original place, on which
are carved the arms of Cliburn, three chevronels interlaced
at base, quartering Kirkbride, a cross engrailed. The shield
is flanked with the initials R.C., with this inscription under-
neath in Old German letters : — • .

358 LEGENDS AND INSCRIPTIONS OVER DOORWAYS

1R(cbar& • (Blebur • tbu5 • tbe? • me • cawl •
Mcb innvs' tpme • batb • beal&c& * ss • t)all
TLbc • scar • ot • cure • Xor& • Oot> - wbo • lS5t •
jpor • to • neam • • 1567 •

• : • 1R • H) . /Das5on .

The last line is difficult to decipher in consequence of the
weathering of the stone. But the rendering of ** Who lyst
. . . for to neam *' is likely to be correct, as an index is
afforded by comparing it with the ending somewhat similar
of " Who lyst to seCy'' in the foregoing inscriptions at New-
biggin Hall. It seems that Richard Cliburn copied his
neighbour Crackenthorpe, and wrote the word name as
** neatHf'* in the very way it is pronounced in this country
to the present day. Cliburn allowed the ** mayson " the mild
conceit of perpetuating his initials on the stone, and a very
good ^^ mayson " he was, as his handiwork is well executed.

One of the largest of the tower built houses in the neigh-
bourhood of Penrith is the very imposing structure of Ask-
ham Hall, the ancient seat of the Sandfords, the lords of the
manor. Here again the tower, probably late fifteenth
century, forms the core of a numlx^r of buildings which have
been grouped round it. The entrance to these is by an
arched gateway. Here again you have the full achievement
carved in stone, and containing the arms quarterly of Sand-
ford, English, Crackenthorpe, and Lancaster, and under-
neath this inscription in capitals curiously conjoined and con-
tracted : —

THOMAS • SANDFORD • ESQVYR.
FOR • THYS • PAYD • MEAT • AND • HYR
THE • YEAR • OF • OUR • SAVYORE
XV • HUNDRETH SEVENTY FOUR.

The cluster of old structures at Catterlen Hall, near Penrith^

IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND.

359

affords a good illustration of the changes of style and accom-
modation which have been successfully developed in domestic
architecture. The Border pele, with its embattled parapet
and its projecting gurgoyles made to resemble cannon,
probably stood alone for 150 years ; then to this, in the six-
teenth century were added the hall and kitchen, and again in
the middle of the seventeenth century an imposing building,
with classic features, with an external flight of steps leading
to a new dining or guest chamber.

Over the dripstone of the entrance to the Elizabethan hall
we find enclosed within a hood moulding a shield bearing a
fesse a cheeky betwixt six garbs, quartering a cross flory.
They are the arms of the then owner Vaux and his alliance
Delamore. Around the shield, within a garter, occurs this
quaint legend, cut in old-fashioned Roman capitals in relief: — *

"LET MERCY AND FAITHFULNESS
NEVER GOYE FROM THEE."

Underneath is the following inscription : —

AT THIS TYME IS
ROWLANDE VAUX
LORDE OF THYS
PLACE AND BVIL
DED THIS HALL Yr
OF GOD. 1577.

Again the doorway to the later building is surmounted with
a tablet ornamented with Ionic pilasters containing the
armorial insignia of Richmond and the lady of the hosue,
the heiress of Vaux (the alliance between whom had just
taken place) with the date — 1652.

• During the latter part of this century the style of lettering these inscriptions
underwent a chancre. Instead of the small German characters, Roman capitals
came into use; with the letter /^ crossed at the top, and the D retaining the tail
of the small German ^.

\- C\tK I CORWAYS

jLVANTE."

:: in which marriages are
s ai Johnby Hall. There
;:" Musgrave, Martindale,

:r. .\ garter, inscribed : —

:\V BELOVE • THE.

v.- A RET
MAS

. ISA BET- DAC
NNE • HERE- NO
: ISISAHEL. HE
.: • 10 GOD - I- PR
vl.LVAlE -

w.iite Hall, in the parish

ic -

. Mr ^vvrk
^ >^,^ ::crXv>fc:
*.. . •<; a-: «ir 23.

<^B -•

■.\iiish of Allhallowcs. are

V ■N

a: kelp

V. LP

■ SN).

IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND.

361

In the neighbourhood of Greystock there is a fine example
of an old manor house, consisting of two embattled towers,
connected together by an intervening building, containing a
dining hall. The main tower is however in a ruinous state.
It is Blencow Hall, and it was the seat of the ancient family
of the Blencowes. Over the principal doorway in the court-
yard there are shields bearing the arms of Blencow and
Crackenthorpe, and the initials H.B., and below the curious
legend, which runs thus : —

QVORSVM

VIVERE MORI
HENRICUS

1590
MORI VITJE

BLENCOW

The correct interpretation of this composition as it stands
here is enigmatical ; it is not very obvious, and it has given
rise to some disquisition in our society (see Transactions of
the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaological
Society, vol. i., p. 335). It so happens however that the
motto has been re-produced elsewhere, with a slight varia-
tion. Shortly after Blencowe had made his domestic altera-
tions, one Nicholas Williamson was engaged in building
Millbeck Hall, on the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake, at
Under-Skiddaw. Williamson had probably seen the legend
at Blencow Hall, and appreciated doubtless the moral
sentiment of the conception. So that he adopted an echo of
the adage, and set it up over his doorway, where it still
exists, at Millbeck Hall, with this variation in the Latinity : —

1592. QVORSUM M-W

VIVERE • MORI • MORI • VIVERE •
NICHOLAVS WILLIAMSON

XX

362 LEGENDS AND INSCRIPTIONS OVER DOORWAYS

With this reading the meaning of the inscription becomes
evident, and it may be construed as follows : —

'* Whither ? " (" are we going ") ** to live (is) to die,"
" to die (is) to live '* (" eternally.")

XVII. CENTURY.

In the first quarter of this century a good deal of building
still continued in these counties, as may be seen from dates
inserted here and there, and also from the style and mould-
ings in vogue during the Jacobean period, as exhibited in
stone work in chimney pieces, &c., and in the wooden panel-
ling and wainscotting. At Crakeplace Hall, in the parish of
Dean, there is a stone over the doorway with the following
legend and date : —

1612
CHRISTOPHER CRAKEPLACE BVILT THE SAME
WHEN HE WAS SERVANT TO BARON ALTHAM.

But it is seldom that we find inscriptions bearing dates of
the second quarter of this century. The disturbed state of
country during the troublous times of Charles I. and the
Commonwealth hindered engagement in works of domestic
building. But after the Restoration another great era set
in ; and from 1650 to the year 1700, examples of inscribed
dates over doorways are everywhere numerous. The carving
is always in Roman capitals, and consists generally of the
initial letters of the Christian names of the husband and
wife, with that of the surname above and between them, and
also the date. Those entitled to arms set up their shields,
but not always with the external ornaments of the escutcheon,
as was the prevalent custom in the preceding century. If
there were a legend it was almost always in Latin, and
embodied some trite aphorism or moral sentiment.

Thus, at Greenthwaite Hall, near Greystoke, the Halton
of that date put up a panel under the dripstone of his porch
with these words :-

IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND.

363

U

PEREGRINOS HIC NOS
REPVTAMVS 1650.

H
M D

enunciating the pious sentiment " Here we consider our-
selves sojourners." Ten years after this, in 1660, Halton
ventured to display carved in a tablet above this panel his
full escutcheon with crest, mantling, and scroll.'^

The old vicarage house at Barton, in Westmorland, has
this inscription over the doorway : —

L- D
NON MI HI SE D
SUCCESSOKIBUS

1637-

This parsonage was built by Dr. Lancelot Dawes, vicar
here for forty-five years : and Bishop Nicolson, in his Visita-
tion, refers as follows .to the circumstance : — " That he might
reasonably tell the world that it was designed for his suc-
cessors, and not for himself, since he alwaies resided at the
hall on his paternal estate, which was also chiefly of his own
building.** The same old vicar put up over the entrance of
the hall alluded to this pious sentence . —

D

L A

NON EST Hi«C REQVIES

1628

On a gable at Hutton John there is the emblem of a cross
pat6e,. with the date 1660, and the words ** Hoc Signo
Vinces'* underneath.

* Arms :— P^uty per pale, a lion rampant, quartering three ban betweeo three
myllets.

364

LEGENDS AND INSCRIPTIONS OVER DOORWAYS

HOC

SIGNO
VINCES 1^

The Hudleston at this time was an adherent to the old
religion.

At the same place over the doorway of the ^^pleasaunce *'
there is a finely carved lintel, with three shields and crest,
and this inscription and motto : —

ANDREAS HUDLESTON FIERIFECIT SOLI
DEO HONOR ET GLORIA. 1662.

Over the entrance of Rottington Hall, near St. Bees, the
abode of the ancient family of Sandys, there was at one time
time this adage: —

FELICEM TIBI DET DEVS INTROITUM.

Over the door of an old house at Eainont Bridge, within a
panel on raised letters, the following is displayed : —

OMNE. SOLVM. FOR
TI PATRIA. EST.
H P. 1571.

This is a quotation from Ovid.'-'

• I was told by the late W. Jackson, F.S.A., the following" curious circumstance
in connection with the above motto : — General Ludlow was one of those who
sifi^ned the death warrant of Charles I., and who on the Restoration, mistrusting^
his safety, expatriated himself and established himself at Lausanne. Over his
door he put the above Latin quotation, doubtless claiming* the personal aptitude
of the signification, **To the resolute man every soil is his country."

IN CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND

365

The motto, ** Fear God," seems to have been not unusual ;
it occurs in the following way over the doorway of a tene-
ment at Westnewton : —

F.V. : FEAR GOD

16

75

And, again, on a little old house in the centre of the village
of Blennerhasset, in the parish of Torpenhow, it stands
thus: —

GOD

J. I. N. I. 1686 FEARE

as if the sculptor had lost room for the last word, and finished
it on the space above.

On the old grange house of Demains, near Kirkoswald
Castle, there is a panel with two lines divided thus: —

K
B

THOMAS.

BARTRA.

DEVS
VVLT

BENET. 1622
BARTRAMF:**

This inscription is intended to be read in three perpendicular
columns thus: — " Thomas Bartram and Benet Bartram made
F{ecerunt) (this house) A.D. 1662." " God wills (* it/ '*)

At Pelutho House, in the Abbey Holme, over the door-
way there is the following parental monition. It is carved
in raised capitals on the lintel,. which is surmounted with a
handsome hollowed dripstone.

366

LEGENDS AND INSCRIPTIONS OVER DOORWAYS

REMEMBER • SON • WHEN • I
AM • GON • I • WAS • THE • FOVN
DER • OP • THIS • STON • PER • G

i6

OD

85

PS • IS • AS • IS • D

On a house at Bustabeck, in the parish of Castle Sowerby»
there is this inscription : —

I.L. * E.L. 1684.

0 • THAT . I COVLD • SO LEAD • MY • LIPE • HEAR • THAT

1 • MIGHT. ENJOY ETERNITY- HEARAPTER • FEARE •
GOD . AND • KEEP • HIS COMMANDMENT.

Although the execution of the carving in relievo was fairly
good, yet the masons at this time were not particular as to
the disposal of the terminal letters of a word at the right
hand end of the panel, for, on want of room, they put them
above or below the line indifferently.

About the end of this century, one Robinson, a merchant
in London, built and endowed a charity school for poor
children in Penrith, and over the doorway of the building,
which is a good example of the style of the period, he thus
recorded the fact that it had been built at his cost : —

EX : SVMPTIBVS : ON •

WIL : ROBINSON CIVIS LOND ANNO

1670

The letters were at this time always cut in relief in Roman
capitals. The practice in thus cutting the initials and date
was universal, even in the commoner houses, not only over

IN Cl'MBERLANI) AND WESTMORLAND. 367

the doors and chimney pieces, but on all the heavy articles
of finely carved oak furniture, which were made all over the
country in great profusion during this period. The cup-
boards, dressers, long settles, and chairs of the best carving
and workmanship, belong to this age, and these occupied
not only the manor houses, but the granges, farmhouse
hostelries, and dwellings of meaner pretensions. The best
pieces are from 1660 to 1698.

But after the end of this century, the practice of carving
in relievo the date and monogram, or a legend, over the
entrance, fell into disuse in the more sumptuous houses ; and
examples after 1700 occur chiefly in those of the commoner
sort, and the work is altogether of an inferior description,
and is cut into the stone, or in intaglio.

The causes of the suspension of the custom are not far to
seek. After the downfall of the Stuarts, a national feeling
of discomfiture crept in towards usages which pertained to
that dynasty and to former times. The desire of parading
the pretensions of heraldic prerogatives fell away with the
decline of the practice of that art, and the architectural style
of domestic buildings assumed a new model. The low
mullioned window, with its graceful hood, moulded in
cavetto, the doorway with its bevilled jambs, its recessed
lintel, and moulded dripstone, were held to be vulgar and
old-fashioned, and the adoption of the Italian style of
frontage became the rage. The form of the enrichment of
the entrance was now adverse to the display of shields, or
tablets, or of lines of lettering. Voluted brackets and
consols supported a classic entablature with its frieze and
cornice. The pediment with the broken arch was a favourite
adjunct here during the Queen Anne period. Finally, there
appeared the columnar ordinance as an application to the
dooorway, and the projection of the pro-style portico of the
Georgian era.

(369)

INDEX.

Abbey of Shap (Heppe), 1 17
Aglionby, 24

AgricoUy his Campaig'n.s, 2
Angles, their advance by the Roman
Way, 5

colonisation of, 7

Antoninus Pius, the Itinerary of, 3

Iter II. and Iter V., 3

Appleby Castle, 27

fortified earthwork, 14

never a Roman station, 123
derivation of name, 1 24

Armathwaite Castle, 340
Armorial Bearings : —

Askham Hall, Sandford, English,
Crackenthorpe, and Lancaster,

Bellingham, 154, 202

Blencowe, 154

Bradley, 205

Burneside Hall [17 coats of arms as

stated], I So
Catterlen Hall, Vaux, and Dela-

more ; Richmond and Vaux, 278,

359
Cliburn, no

— ; Quartering Kirkbridc, 357

Clifford, John, and wife, Appleby

Castle, 356
Crackenthorpe, Bank Hall, i sob is;
Newbiggin Hall, 154/15. See 358
Curwen, 205
Dacre, Badge of, 75

Lord, Dacre Castle, 28 1

quartered with Lennard,

Fiennes, Dacre, and Multon, 281
Dalston of Acorn Bank, 9^, 154

impaling Fallowheld, 99

Dawes of Barton Kirke, 70
Deincourt, quartered with Strick-
land, 186, 1 88, 192
English, 3j8
Fallowfield, 99
Fenwick, 116
Fethcrstonhaugh, 154
Fleming at Hutton John, 317
Gilpin, Kentmere, 220
Halton Hall, 308, 363
Hartsop Hall, Embellishments at, 75
Hornby Hall, Coat of Arms at, 83
Hudleston and Hutton, 317
Hutton of Penrith, 252

Armorial Bearings, continued
Hutton of Hutton John, 315
Hutton quartered Barwisc, 315, 355
Johnby Hall. Musgravc, Martindale,

Tilliol, and Stapleton, 360
I^bourne, of Cunswick, 88
I^mplugh, 33S
Lancaster of Howgill, 144

of Sockbridge, 58, see 35S

I^yton of Dalemain, 310

livens, dc, 205

I^wther, 97

Lucy (three silver lucies), 337

Machel of Crackenthorpe Hall, 12S

Martindale, 296

Middleton, Middleton Hall, 23S

Moresby, 1 16

Musgrave, Asby, 137, 138, 154

William, Johnby Hall,

296, 360
Melkinthorpe Hall,

quartering Ward and Stapleton,

,,98,99
Neville, 188, 192

Percy, the blue lion of, 337

Pickering, 116

Pool-de-Peak in Derby, 88

Preston, 205

Redman of Low Levens, 205

Richmond, Christopher, Highhead

Castle, 276

Richmond and Vaux, Catterlen, 278,

^ 359
Salkeld, 117

Sandford of Askham, 90/f r, 358

Sand forth, 154

Stapleton, 296

Strickland, 186, 188, 192

Swinburne, 91, 92

Tilliol, 296, 360

Thornburgh at Low Levens, 205

Thielkeld, 1 16, 15A

Tunstall, Thurland Castle, 238

Upton, 240

Vaux, Catterlen Hall, 154, 274, 275,

278, 359
Ward, 188, 102

Wharton of Kirkbythore, 140, 154

Whelpdalc, 12^, 259

Wybcrgh ArmsinCliftnn Church, 77
Arnsidc Tower, 217
Asby, derivation ot name, 135

lory, IjS

CranEc, i.

Askerton Castle, 150

Askham Hall, S«t of Sindfords, 83

■ ■ Church (S. P«er), 8S

-^ Peic Tower. 89

^Ihe Parish Slocks, rji

— llie Cross, 1)1

Alkinun, I IS

Aydon Cuat'e, He]ih>.m, 40

Backhouse, Family of, 103
tiamboruui;)! Castle, 145
Hampton, 1 !?

^— Hall, u8

Hank Hall, KlrkUnd, 150
ltflrr..ivs. pr..hi«or[c i-Bmains, ..is
Barlon Church, 62H>. 170

Carlclon, John At, of Caricton, 5o, 760
Carlisle, the lanJ of. M|)3ta(dd from Scot-
land in 1092, I

Bishops of, Ihcir official resi-
dences, ng

Andrew de KarcU, Earl of, 160

Carnarvon Arch, drawing of, 44
Cartmel, Promontory of, I
Cislley, Westmorland statesman, 118
Catterlen, the name, the Hall, British
Tama adjoining village, 371

barrow at Mossthoin, 171

Ceiling, Plaster Work, Barton Kirk«, 71,

Barw

: Hall

■ish, j:

.inaled, 1

Becbet.

Beelham Hall, _

Bellingham ot Over Leven<

Belay. Northumberland, P

Betha. ri.cr, near Becthair

Beuth, Saion I hane of Gil

Bewcanle

Bewley Caslle (built IJth c

Bicdun, Bectham, ill

BIrkbcch oF Miltii?e, S? ; of Orion, 132

■ Thomas, of Hornby Hall, H-i

Bishop's Hesidcnccs. Bewley Castle, 1 1

Bleaie Hall, 229
Blencow Hall, :3S, iSg

Inscription, iSy

Blenkinsop of Helbeck, 131

Branthwaite, manor
Breaks Hall, Ij5
liriiranles, Ihe, durii
— = after Rom.

"^

— Coekermouth, h

357,,

e near CasUe,

Utile Strickland Hall, tat

f entith, Gerard Lawthet's Hnuso,

155- 3'"

Siicrnh Castle, 191

Churchvahd Crosses, 11 1 —

Bechermel, Bewcastte. Dearham,
Gasfotth. Penrith. Rockcliffe
ChuRCHYaKD Crosses, fragments of, 11
Aspatria, UriEhatn, Cross Canonby,
Kirkby Stephen, Lowther. S. Bees.
Chronicon Cumbrii found at Wetheral.

Clark' Westmorland statesman, TiS
Cliburn Hall. 105

itolKrlde. 10s

Clifford, Baron, of Appleby, 30

I^rd Menr)'. tbc Shepherd l^rd,

255

Clifton Hall, 77

Pele *l owcr. 7S

- Church (St. Culhherfs), Si

-Castle, 35

- Clifford, Roger, the 1

Brythons of Strathclyde. 7
Buille, de, of Bewky Castle. 1
Burn, Richard, Virar of Urton
Burneside Hall. 17G, 177

Crack

thorpe,

- Hall, I

Crakeplacc Hall, 326

Crakr, Scandinavian, gS

Crosby Hall, lafi

Crosby Raycnsworlh Hall, 115

Crosby Ganet, ijS

Croglin Hall, 340

Cumberland recognised 35 an En|;lish

county, I, jg

Ward, ]4=

Cunswick Halj. zia
Curwcn, Family of. iiS
Coekermouth Castle. 3311
Ci-ckermouth. Plaster Ceiling at house

near Caslle. 337

Uacre Castle, near Penrith, 40. 178

— — Ihe Moat, iBo

licence to crrnellste, >S6 ,

Dalston of Temple Sowerby, gS

— Coat of Arma, go

Uali,34i

INDEX.

371

Danes, ravages by, 9

Dawes, Lancelot, Vicar of Barton, 69

Derwentwater de, of Castle Lonnin, of

Saxon descent, 319

Keswick lake, 320

Dolphin, son of Gospatrick, at Cai lisle,

1092, 17, 18
Dolphin and Dolphinby, 244
Doomsday Survey, 1
Drawdikes Castle, 344
Drumburgh Castle, 352

Elamont Bridge, indulgence granted to

those who assisted in building it, 51

Inscription

Earthworks, Fortifii^d:—

Aldingham Moat in Cartmel, 14

Appleby Castle Hill, 14

Askham Tower, 14

Black Burton, 14

Brough Castle Hill, 14

Carlisle Castle Hill, 14

Castlehow, Kendal, 14

Tebay, 14

Denton Hall, 14

Down Hall, near Aikton, 15

Fgremont Castle Hill, 14

Halton, Vale of Lune, 14

Hornby, 14

Irthing^on Moathill, 14

Kendal Castle Hill and Castle Howe,

.14

Liddle Moat in LiddlesJale, 15

Melling, 14

Pendragon Castle Hill, 14

Penrith Castle Hill, 14
Kast Ward, Westmorland, 1 2;^
Effigies (stone) : —

Alnwick Castle, 153

Carnarvon Castle, 153

Dalton-in-Furness, 153

Newbiggin Hail, 152
Egromont and Cockermouth Baron, 31S
Engayne, de, 19, 6«i
Eskdale Ward, 342
Eure or Hewer, Hevcrsham, 209

Fallowfield, 98

Coat of Arms, 99

Ferguson's History of Cu ml'erland, 1 7, 19
Franceys of Meaburn Hall, 1 12
Furncss; denvation of name, 1

Gamel, Thane of Hackthorpc, 97
(jarlhorn Hall, 137
Gilpin of Kcntmerc, 220
GiUland Barony, 342
Gospatrick, son of Orme, 19, 117
Gothic Window, sometimes the solar, not

the chapel, 142
Grayrigg Hall, Ducket of, 229
Greena Crag, 305

Greenthwaite Hall, 304
Greystoke Castle, 287

Licence t j ca stellate, 287

Mid-Farm, 310

Barony of, 287

Greystoke, Eliz. de, removed by stealth
from Brougham Castle, 264

Hackthorpe Hall, 96

Hadrian, Wall, of, 3

Haki of Hackthorpe, 96, 98

Haldane, the Saxon, of Catterlen, 272

Hall, 1 18

Hall, residence of Thane, described, 12

Halton of Greenthwaite Hall, 305

Miles, of Greenthwaite Hall, 301

Dorothy, of Greenthwaite Hall,

301

John, Bishop of Carlisle, 305
Madam, Anecdote of, 305

Hardrigg Hall, Southaic, 340
Harcla, Earl of Carlisle, 160

Castle, see next entry

Hartley Castle, 159, 160

Hartsop Hall, manor house, parish of

Bart:m, 74
Hasell, Edward, 301
Hawkesdale Hall, Nicolson, 340
Hazelslack Tower, 215
HeavensHeld, near Hexham, Battle of, 5
Helbeck Hall, 157

dc, 60

Heppe (Shap) Abbey, 117
Heversham Hall, 209
Entrance to dining

room. 210
Highhead Castle, Brougham, 340
Hill, John, of Appleby, 136
Hilton Hall, seat of Hiltons, 126
Hiorn of Hornby, 244
Hiogni, Honey-pot, it.
Holme, 118
Hornby Hall, 81

Head of Newel Stair, 29S

Howgill Castle, 65, 142

Hudleston, Andrew, and Dorothy, of

Mutton John, 314

of Huttonjohn, Pedigree, 312

Hudson, 118
Huthwaite Hall, 331

Staircase there, 333

Hutton Hall, 252

Sir William, 254

Hutton Sir William, of Penrith, 351

John, 311

* Topiary * Garden at, 31 1

Military Tenure, 312

Hutton-in-the- Forest, 339

Illustrations, list of, xiv, xv
Ing-lewood Forest, 339; disafforested in
reign of Henry VIIL, it'.

372

INDBX.

Inscribed Stone, Catterlen, 374
Inscriptions : —

AUhallowes (Salkeld), 360

Appleby Castle, 356

Askham Hall« 35S

Barton Kirke,j59, 71, 363

Blencow Hall, 389, 361 ^

Blennerhasset (old house In village),

365
Broufrham Castle, 353

Bustsd)eck, 366

Catterlen Hall, 274, 359 bis,

Cliburn Hall, 106, 109, no his, 358

Crackenthorpe Hall, 127 ^

Crakeplace Hall, 327, 363

Demains, near Kirkoswald, 365

Drawdtkes Castle, 344

Eamont Bridge, 76 bis, 364

Greenthwaite Hall, 307, 363

Hornby Hall, 85, 86

Huthwaite Hall, 360, 332

Hutton John, 315* 3»6, bis, 317, 356,

IselHaIl,3^i

lohnby Hall, 396, 300, 301, 360 bis

Lowther Castle, 96

Meaburn Hall, 1 14

Millbeck Hall, 321, 322. 361

Newbigmn Hall, 154, 357

Newby Hall, 104

Orton Petty Hall, 133

Pelutho House, Abbey Holme, 365

Penrith, 254, 259, 366

Rottington Ha'l, 364

Westnewton, 365
Iscl Hall, 327

Licence for chaplain, 328

Inscription at, 331

Johnby Hall, 294

Head of Newel Stair, 29S

the Screens, 299

Robert de, M.P., 304

Kaber, manor house gone, 158

Kelt has left traces of language and

occupation in West Ward, 50
Kendal Barony, 1 , 65, 1 73

Castle, 175

Hill, previously *burh*

ot pre-Norman Thane, 175
Kentmere Hall, 219
Ketel of Ketelside, 244
Killington Hall, Pickering, 238
Kirkandrews-upon-Esk, 352
Kirk harrow Hall, 76
Kirkbride, 118

Kirkbv Stephen, derivation of name, 159
Kirkbythore, 3

Hall, 139

Kirkoswald Castle, 262

Kirkoswald Castle, Ikence to. castel-

late and impark, 363
masons' marks in village

houses, 265
Knipe Hall, 118
Knock, 155
Krakr, a Norsemen, 14S

Lamplugh Castle ; family arms, 33S
Lancaster, William de, in reign of Henry

III. male line failed, 65 ; descent of»

by inheritance of daughters, t^.
Roger de, of Barton and Pak-

kerdale, 65

Christopher, of Barton, 65

John, grandson cf Roger, of

Howgill Castle, 65 '
Lanercost Priory, 342
Langley Castle, 41
lawson, Sir Wilfred, 338
Layton William, of Dsuemain, 294

Anne, of Daleraain, 294

Leconfield, Lord, of Cockermouth, 3 18
L^ends and Inscriptions, 353
Leigh, Thomas, of Isel HaU, ^28

' Margaret de, had licence for

chaplain, 327-8
Levens Hall, 199

'topiarv* Gardens, 303, 304

Nether of Low, 305

Leybume of Cunswick HaJl, 332
Leysingi of Lazonby. 244
Linstock Castle, 342
Little Strickland Hall,

^.

ntrance Door

and Courtyard, 100
Lonsdale, Viscount, 113
Lorton, tower of, 338
Lowther Castle, 93

Inscription, 1630, 96

Sir John, gS, 1 13

Sir James, 113

Gerard of Penrith, 254

Sir Hugh de, 60

Sir Richard, Lord Warden of

Marches, 106
Lucy, Baron of Egremont, 31S
Luguballium or Carlisle, 3

Machell family of Crackenthorpe, 127

Maiden Way, 139

Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, 1, 7

Mallerstang, Vale of, 33

Mansions, Roman, absent in Noith of

England, 3
Marquis and Lumbley Fees, 65, 143
Mayborouph, 243
Meaburn Hail, 1 12
Mauld's (Meaburn Matilda;),

112

King's (Meburn Regis), 112

Melcanthorpe, de, 98

INDEX.

373

Melkinthorpe, the name ; the Hall, il'.

Melmerby fell, 130

Meschines, Kanulph de, Carl of Chester,
18

Middleton Hall, 232

Gatehiuse, 234

the Dining- Hall, 235

Milburn, Manor of, 65

Moated Mounds (Burhs), 129

Morecamhe Bay, 1

Morland Hall, 105

Morville, Roger de, 1 1 2, 262

Hu^h, concerned in murder of

Thomas d Becket, 19, 112; his es-
tates confiscated, but in reign of
John regranted to issue of heiress of
de Morvilles, 19

Mottes, burhs (moated mounds), 13

Mounsey, iS

Multon, Lord, marriage with I^rd
Vaux's heir, 269

Multon of Kirkoswald Castle, 262

Murton Hall, 126

Musgrave Hall, 9S, 15S, 255

jack, 346

Coat of Arms,9S, 137, 13S, 154,

29')

Family of, 105

John, of Musgrave Hall, sheriff

of Cumberland, 255

Naworth Castle, 342

Nether or Low, livens Hall, 205

Window of the Dais, 207

Neville, Cicely, her portrait in painted

glass in Penrith Parish Church, 251
Nevison's Pedigree, 103
^— ^— — Mrs. Julia, married Earl of

Suffolk in 1774, 103
Newbiggin Hall, Westmorland, 147, 148
Newby Hall, 103

Photograph, 103

Noble, 118

Norman Kings, i

Keeps ahmg highway from

Carlisle to York, 145

settlements in North, i

Pedrogyl, the Petteril river, 271
Pele Tower, Mediaeval, 39

generally oblong form, 42

Pele Tower, general description of, 42, 43

its development, 47, 48

Pembroke, Anne, Countess or, 24
Pendragon Castle, 14, 33
Pennington, Camel de, 131
Penrith Castle, 244

licence to crenellate, 25J

Honour of, 243

— ^— Manor of, 252

■ Portrait of Cicely Neyille in

painted glass in Parish Church, 251

«<

'Two Lions' Inn,* or * Gerard
Lowther's House,* 254
Pipe Rolls of Cumberland," 1/
Petty Hall, Orton, 133
Place names, instances of Danish and

Norwegian suffixes, 130
Prudhoe Castle, 41

Radcliffe, Sir Nicholas, of Dilston, 319

of lord's Island, 319

Raisegill Hall, Orton, 135

Reagill Grange, 116

Red Hill, Penrith Beacon, 243

Redlands, Roman camp, 139

Redmain, Maud, of Isel Hall, 328

Ribble, the, i

Ribton Hall, 334

Richmond Fee, Barony of Kendal, 65,143

Roman Camps, 3

domestic architecture, 3, 4

Road, Old Penrith to Brougham,

271

over Newbiggin Moor, 139
— over Ousby Fell, 139
over Redland, 139

Norwegian Vikings, 8

names m Westmorland, 130

OldCameiton HaU, 33^
Orme, Scandinavian family, 155
Ormside Hall, iV*.
Orton, a Saxon village, 131
Petty Hall, 133

Papcastlc, 33O

Roman town, 31S

Parish, system or organisation of, 7

Rose Castle, 340

Licence to crenellate, 340

Rosgill Hall, 117

de, 60

Rowlandson, 118

Salkeld. Sir Hugh de, 117
Sandford, Edmund, of Askham, 60

Sir Richard, of Howgill, 294

Hall. 157

Scaleby Castle (Tilliol), 344

licence to castellate, il'.

View of outer Gateway, leading

into quadrangle, 346
Scales Hall, Brougham, 340
Scottish raids, 39
■ claims, Hnally disposed of under

Henry 111., ih.
Screens— .<^e Words
Selside Hall, 226
Shank Castle, 351
Shap Abbey, founded by Thomas son of

Gospatrick, 19

374

Siierfrh CaJille. 1S3— 199

iSrt; lapcslrv, 185;
190: tlnnt slory, 11
wing«, 197
Sketsmereh Hall. 3ij
Smardalc Hall, 163
Sockbrldge Hall and Ml
[i«n^ liy IjncaiJr
James I.. G5. *hfn
tinct In dauK''ters

Lowthcr, 65; hai
south bank uf Che i
- Pclo T

nor. 64, 65:-

iage by Henry
Evamont, <is

Vettripont. Baron of Anpleliy, 10. f<%
VJponj, Thomas. Rishop n( dariisl?. lis
VorcHa, or Old Peniith. 3. 271
Waldruf. Ijioflwathby, 244

PapMslle. 318

Warcop of Smardale Hall, 1 »

Hall. 15J

Wards ol WesImorUnd, 1
Wark Castle (pels tower). 41
Warn II Hall. Dei>toi»or, .140
Welt n, Biihop, 318
Westmorland, Barony nf, i, 49

SoUi

;or,M

|j?rd's Chambei. 11.
at Burneside Hall, 79
Calterl --

at Calterlen. ijj

atHutton Hall. ;„

Soulby Halt. ijS

Stephenson, 1 [3

Stone EffigifS, sei EffiKiei

Strickland, Sir Ihomas. 97

; William. Bibhop of Carlisle.

Taltbols, Ivodc, Baron of Kendal, 1

William dc, look nam<

Lancastre, 65
Taylor, M. W,. In Memotiam m

Thomas, wn of Cospalrick, 1 1 7
Thornthwaile Hall, iiS
Threlkeld. S.r Uncelot. of Crosby
Rsvensworth Hall. IM

hia pedigree, th.

William de, of Yanwath. 59

Richard, the Rider : Robert. 303

Topiary Gardens at Levens, 104

— 1— i- Huttor.John.3M

Tosti, Earl o( Northumberland, i
Trout, grey, of the Lake District. 60
Tryeimain Castle, 349
Two Uons' Inn, or Gerard Lowlhcr's

house, 244
Udford, or Uddersford. S2
UnderifioiindWay, Brougham CBille.169

Holme Cultram. 170

Kirkoswald, 269

Naworth Castle, 170

Vauli, Barons of Cilsland, 2ji
Vaux, of Catterlen, 174
Vemons of Meaburn Hall, 111
Vertcra:, or Broueh-over-Stftincnv

ings in Cumberland, 341
Whartun Hall. 16s

Machct's IJewriptlon 1

Pennant's Description m, n

Sir Thomas, hii pedigree, i6j

Coat !,f Arms, 172

Whelp, or Hialp, Lord of Kirkbythun

139. 140

Castle, [39

Whelpiale. tohn, arms of, :si

Winder, Ii3

William the Conqueror, [

never in Cumberland. 17

-RufusinCirli

! logj. 17. I

of 5icutland i
England, 19
Williams, Dorothy, 301

William. 300 _

Williamicon. Sir Joseph, of Millbectrfl

Winder Hall, 71
Windsore, Family of, 105
Wood>, lifcnce to impack, 1,

Words :-

Bakslsne, on which

baked, 104
Beck, streams so called in Wnlmor*'

land I So
Burh, a mualed mound, 13
Bum in Westmorland does nut meia 1

nvadcal

t cake bl

By, or Byr, Danish cuRix for hi

stead. 8
Ceather (Hibe mo- Keltic)

ranjjle. 171
Dobbic, or Klaying Stone, a nirioM

relic, usually lound in byrei or

slablo, IS I
Drengage, or Drenches, tenure a|^

elicd (u such as at coming of
unqueror, being out of their ea-

1. ^ restored,ISfi

. ._ _ -irgh. i.e., Ab
's altar, 183

(Cmsby), a

Gerard, ijS

Erah, sufl
Sigeiith

INDEX.

375

Words, continued

Grange, i.e., the efr2L<*?c ^^ ^^
manor, 137

Haki, in Hackthorpe, 14S

Ham, a Saxon villafre, 6

Hoff, or Temple, 136 ^

Ings, Ingas, appdiatlon of king-
ship, 7

Kirkby Stephen, the church town
on the Eden, 159

Krakr, a crow, (Danish prefix), 14S

I^ana, of the marsh or riverside
ground, 271

Mell Doors A-S. from mellan, be-
tween or intermediate, 10 1

Motte, a moated mound, or burh, 13

Oatcake, formerly the great staple
food, 104

Pedrogyl, the Pet'eril river, 271

Kannel Balk, beam of wood running
across chimney opening, 134

Screens, 236, 2S2, 209

Solar, or Kmg's Cnamber, 12, 61 ,
142, 253, 273

Spirtle, flat btaded iron instrument
used in making oatcake, 104

Words, continued

Thorpe, Danish, a collection of

houses, 148
Thure, or Tuer, Kirkbythore from

thor, a highway, 159
Thwaite, (Danish), denotes a clear-
ing, a piece of ground stubbed
free from roots of trees, 305
Ton (A.S.)« villacje, community, 6
Wythop, from the Danish, 324
Wythes, willows, H\
Workingrton Hall, 338
Wulsty Castle, 352
Wybergh, William de, 60 .
Wythop Hall, 324

Yanwath Hall, 14th century manpr house,
the pele built for defence, 52;
52 ; derivation of name, 54 ; gate,
54 ; the courtyard, 54 ; present
gateway into the courtyard mod-
el n, 55 ; the pele tower, 56 ;
dinine in "ye hall," 58; the
solar, 61 ; the lady's chamber, 62

York, in Roman tim^s, the head-qiaiters
of North, 3

(377)

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HiNE, Alfred, J. P., C.C, Park Hill, Maryport.

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