In the Chartulary of Furness Abbey, some rude Latin verses, written
by John Stell a monk, refer to a plant called _Bekan_, which at
some remote period grew in the valley in great abundance, whence
the name of Bekansghyll was anciently derived. The etymology is
thus metrically rendered:
"Hæc vallis, tenuit olim sibi nomen ab herba
Bekan, qua viruit; dulcis nunc tunc sed acerba,
Inde domus nomen Bekanes-gill claruit ante."
This plant "whose juice is now sweet, but was then bitter," is
assumed to be one of the species of Nightshade which are indigenous
in the dell and flourish there in great luxuriance; probably the
Solanum Dulcamara, the bitter-sweet or woody nightshade, although
the Atropa Belladonna, the deadly nightshade, also grows among the
ruins of the Abbey. This "lurid offspring of Flora," as Mr. Beck
calls it, the emblem of sorcery and witchcraft, might well give the
name of Nightshade to that enchanting spot. But what authority the
monks may have had for their derivation it is now impossible to
ascertain. Various glossaries and lexicons are said to have been
consulted for _bekan_, as signifying the deadly nightshade but
without effect; "and after all," says Mr. Beck, "I am inclined to
believe that Beckansgill is a creation of the monastic fancy."
Bekan is Scandinavian, and a proper name: and has probably been
localised in this district by the Northmen from the period of its
colonisation. It is said to have been quite in accordance with
the practice of these rovers to give the name of their chiefs not
only to the mounds in which they were buried, but also in many
cases to the valley or plain in which these were situated, or in
which was their place of residence; or to those ghylls or small
ravines, which, with the rivers or brooks, were most frequently the
boundaries of property. Bekan's gill may be associated in some way
with one of the northern settlers whose name has thus far outlived
his memory in the district.
An interesting passage in Mr. Ferguson's "Northmen in Cumberland
and Westmorland" bears upon this subject. It refers to the opening
of an ancient barrow at a place called Beacon Hill, near Aspatria
in Cumberland, in 1790, by its proprietor. Speaking of the barrow,
Mr. Ferguson says:-- "From its name and its commanding situation
has arisen the very natural belief that this hill must have been
the site of a beacon. But there is no other evidence of this fact,
and as Bekan is a Scandinavian proper name found also in other
instances in the district, and as this was evidently a Scandinavian
grave, while the commanding nature of the situation would be a
point equally desired in the one case as the other, there can
hardly be a doubt that the place takes its name from the mighty
chief whose grave it was. On levelling the artificial mound, which
was about 90 feet in circumference at the base, the workmen removed
six feet of earth before they came to the natural soil, three feet
below which they found a vault formed with two large round stones
at each side, and one at each end. In this lay the skeleton of
a man measuring seven feet from the head to the ankle bone--the
feet having decayed away. By his side lay a straight two-edged
sword corresponding with the gigantic proportions of its owner,
being about five feet in length, and having a guard elegantly
ornamented with inlaid silver flowers. The tomb also contained
a dagger, the hilt of which appeared to have been studded with
silver, a two-edged Danish battle-axe, part of a gold brooch of
semi-circular form, an ornament apparently of a belt, part of a
spur, and a bit shaped like a modern snaffle. Fragments of a shield
were also picked up, but in a state too much decayed to admit of
its shape being made out. Upon the stones composing the sides of
the vault were carved some curious figures, which were probably
magical runes. This gigantic Northman, who must have stood about
eight feet high, was evidently, from his accoutrements, a person of
considerable importance."
The situation of Furness Abbey, in Bekan's Ghyll, justifies the
choice of its first settlers. The approach from the north is such
that the ruins are concealed by the windings of the glen, and the
groves of forest trees which cover the banks and knolls with their
varied foliage: but unluckily it has been thought necessary to
disturb the solitude of the place by driving a railway through
it, within a few feet of the ruins, and erecting a station upon
the very site of the Abbot's Lodge. A commodious road from Dalton
enters this vale, and crossing a small stream which glides along
the side of a fine meadow, branches into a shaded lane which leads
directly to the ruins of the sacred pile. The trees which shade
the bottom of the lane on one side, spread their bending branches
over an ancient Gothic arch, adorned with picturesque appendages
of ivy. This is the principal entrance into the spacious enclosure
which contains the Monastery. The building appertaining to it took
up the whole breadth of the vale; and the rock from whence the
stones were taken, in some parts made place for and overtopped
the edifice. Hence it was so secreted, by the high grounds and
eminences which surround it, as not to be discovered at any
distance. The Western Tower must have originally been carried to
a very considerable height, if we judge from its remains, which
present a ponderous mass of walls, eleven feet in thickness,
and sixty feet in elevation. These walls have been additionally
strengthened with six staged buttresses, eight feet broad, and
projecting nine feet and a half from the face of the wall; each
stage of which has probably been ornamented like the lower one now
remaining, with a canopied niche and pedestal. The interior of the
tower, which measures twenty-four feet by nineteen feet, has been
lighted by a fine graceful window of about thirty feet in height,
by eleven and a half in width; the arch of which must have been
beautifully proportioned. A series of grotesque heads, alternating
with flowers, is introduced in the hollow of the jambs, and the
label terminates in heads. On the right side of the window is a
loophole, admitting light to a winding staircase in the south-west
angle of the tower, by which its upper stories might be ascended,
the entrance to the stairs being by a door, having a Tudor arch,
placed in an angle of the interior. The stairs are yet passable,
and the view from the top is worth the trouble of an ascent.
The workmen employed by the late Lord G. Cavendish, state that
the rubbish in this tower, accumulated by the fall of the
superstructure, which filled up the interior to the window sill,
was rendered so compact by its fall, so tenacious by the rains, and
was composed of such strongly cemented materials, as to require
blasting with gunpowder into manageable pieces for its removal.
Prior to its clearance, it was the scene of some marvellous tales
disseminated and credited by many, who alleged that this heap
covered a vault to which the staircase led, containing the bells
and treasure of the abbey, with the usual accompaniments of the
White Lady, at whose appearance the lights were extinguished, the
impenetrable iron-grated door, and the grim guardian genius. Though
many essayed, none were known to have succeeded in the discovery
of this concealed treasure house, much less of its contents. The
inhabitants of the manor house, on one occasion, were roused
from their slumbers by a noise proceeding from the ruins, and on
hastening to the spot, discovered that it was made by some scholars
from the neighbouring town of Dalton, digging among the ruins at
midnight, in quest of the buried spoils.
Within the inner enclosure, on the north side of the Church at St.
Mary's Abbey in Furness, a few tombstones lie scattered about in
what has formerly been a part of the cemetery. One of these bears
the inscription, partly defaced,
HIC JACET ANA F.. ... ......TI FLANDREN...,
and commemorates one of the ancient family of Le Fleming.
Michael Le Fleming, the first of the name, called also Flemengar,
and in some old writings Flandrensis, was kinsman to Baldwin,
Earl of Flanders, father-in-law to the Conqueror; by whom he was
sent with some forces to assist William in his enterprise against
England.
After the Conquest was completed, and William was seated on the
throne of England, the valiant Sir Michael, for his fidelity,
and good services against the Saxons and Scots, received from
his master many noble estates in Lancashire; Gleaston, and the
manor of Aldingham, with other lands in Furness. William de
Meschines also granted him Beckermet Castle, vulgarly at that time
called Caernarvon Castle, with the several contiguous manors of
Frizington, Rottington, Weddaker, and Arloghden, all in Cumberland.
Sir Michael and his heirs first settled at Aldingham. By a singular
accident, the time of which cannot now be ascertained, the sea
swallowed up their seat at this place, with the village, leaving
only the church at the east end of the town, and the mote at
the west end, which serve to show what the extent of Aldingham
has been. About the same time, it is supposed, the villages of
Crimilton and Ross, which the first Sir Michael exchanged with
the monks for Bardsea and Urswick, were also swallowed up. After
this, they fixed their residence at Gleaston Castle; and it has
been conjectured, from the nature of the building, that the castle
was built on the occasion, and in such haste, as obliged them to
substitute mud mortar instead of lime, in a site that abounds with
limestone. Sir Michael, is said, to have also resided at Beckermet.
The little knowledge that we are now able to gather of the first Le
Fleming exhibits him in a very favourable light. He was undoubtedly
a valiant man; and was acknowledged as such by his renowned master,
when, with other Norman chiefs, he was dispatched into the north to
oppose the Scots, and awe the partisans of Edwin and Morcar, two
powerful Saxons who opposed themselves to the Conqueror for some
time after the nation had submitted itself to the Norman yoke, and
whose power William dreaded the most. His regard for the memory
of his sovereign he expressed in the name conferred upon his son
and heir, William. We have glimpses too that in his household
there was harmony and kindness between him and his children.
To the Abbey of Furness he was a great benefactor. There is an
affecting earnestness in the language with which in the evening
of his long life he declares in one of his charters--"In the name
of the Father, &c. Be it known to all men present and to come,
That I, Michael Le Fleming, consulting with God, and providing
for the safety of my soul, and the souls of my father and mother,
wife and children, in the year of our Lord 1153, give and grant to
St. Mary of Furness, to the abbot of that place, and to all the
convent there serving God, Fordeboc, with all its appurtenances,
in perpetual alms; which alms I give free from all claims of any
one, with quiet and free possession, as an oblation offered to
God"--_saltim vespertinum_, he pathetically adds, in allusion to
his great age--"at least an evening one." He adds, "signed by me
with consent of William my son and heir, and with the consent of
all my children. Signed by William my son, Gregory my grandson, and
Hugh." Few gifts of this kind show greater domestic harmony. That
Michael lived to a very advanced age is evident from this charter
signed eighty-seven years after the Conquest; supposing him to be
the same Michael Le Fleming who came over with the Conqueror. He
was buried with his two sons within the walls of the Abbey Church.
His arms, a fret, strongly expressed in stone over the second
chapel in the northern aisle indicate the spot where he found a
resting place; not the least worthy among the many of the nobility
and gentry who in those days were interred within the sacred
precincts of St. Mary's Abbey in Furness.
The lands in Furness, belonging to Sir Michael, were excepted in
the foundation charter of Stephen to the Abbey. This exception,
and the circumstance of his living in Furness, occasioned his
lands to be called Michael's lands, to distinguish them from the
Abbey lands; and now they are called Muchlands, from a corruption
of the word Michael. In like manner Urswick is called Much-Urswick
for Michael's Urswick; and what was originally called the manor of
Aldingham, is now called the manor of Muchland.
From Baldwin's kinsman, the first Le Fleming, the founder of the
family in England, two branches issued. William, the eldest son of
Sir Michael, inherited Aldingham Castle and his Lancashire estates.
His descendants, after carrying the name for a few generations,
passed with their manors into the female line; and their blood
mingling first with the de Cancefields, and successively with the
baronial families of Harrington, de Bonville, and Grey, spent
itself on the steps of the throne in the person of Henry Grey, King
Edward the Sixth's Duke of Suffolk, who was beheaded by Queen Mary
on the 23rd of February 1554. This nobleman being father to Lady
Jane Grey, his too near alliance with the blood royal gave the
occasion, and his supposed ambition of being father to a Queen of
England was the cause of his violent death. By his attainder the
manors of Muchland, the possessions of the le Flemings in Furness,
were forfeited to the Crown.
Richard le Fleming, second son of the first Sir Michael, having
inherited the estates in Cumberland which William le Meschines had
granted to his father for his military services, seated himself at
Caernarvon Castle, Beckermet, in Copeland. After two descents his
posterity, having acquired by marriage with the de Urswicks the
manor of Coniston and other considerable possessions in Furness,
returned to reside in that district. The Castle of Caernarvon
was abandoned, then erased, and Coniston Hall became the family
seat for seven descents. About the tenth year of Henry IV. Sir
Thomas le Fleming married Isabella, one of the four daughters and
co-heiresses of Sir John de Lancaster, and acquired with her the
lordship and manor of Rydal. The manor of Coniston was settled upon
the issue of this marriage; and for seven generations more Rydal
and Coniston vied with each other which should hold the family
seat, to fix it in Westmorland or Lancashire. Sir Daniel le Fleming
came, and gave his decision against the latter, about the middle of
the seventeenth century. Since that event, the hall of Coniston,
pleasantly situated on the banks of the lake of that name, has been
deserted.
Singularly enough, the inheritance of this long line also has been
broken in its passage through the house of Suffolk. Sir Michael,
the 23rd in succession from Richard, married, in the latter part
of the last century, Diana only child of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl
of Suffolk and Berkshire, by whom he had one daughter, afterwards
married to her cousin Daniel le Fleming, who succeeded her father
in the title. This marriage being without issue, on the demise
of Lady le Fleming, the estates passed under her will to Andrew
Huddleston of Hutton-John, Esq., and at his decease, which occurred
shortly after, in succession to General Hughes, who assumed the
name of Fleming; both these gentlemen being near of kin to the
family at Rydal. The title descended to the brother of Sir Daniel,
the late Rev. Sir Richard le Fleming, Rector of Grasmere and
Windermere; and from him to his son, the present Sir Michael, the
twenty-sixth in succession from Richard, the second son of Michael,
Flandrensis, _the_ Fleming, who came over with the Conqueror, and
founded the family in England.
In this family there have been since the Conquest twelve knights
and seven baronets.
The article _le_ is sometimes omitted in the family writings before
the time of Edward IV., and again assumed. Sir William Fleming, who
died in 1756, restored the ancient orthography, and incorporated
the article _le_ with the family name at the baptism of his son and
heir.
Rydal Hall suffered much from the parliamentary party: the le
Flemings remaining Catholic to the reign of James II. For their
adherence to the royal cause in the reign of Charles I., they
were forced to submit to the most exorbitant demands of the
Commissioners at Goldsmiths' Hall, in London (23 Car. 1) and pay a
very great sum of money for their loyalty and allegiance. They were
very obnoxious to Oliver Cromwell's sequestrators, and subjected to
very high annual payments and compositions, for their attachment to
regal government.