Holm Isle, Belle Isle, or Curwen's Island, as it is sometimes
called from the name of its present proprietor, formerly belonged
to the Philipsons of Calgarth, an ancient family in Westmorland.
It is the largest island in Windermere, lying obliquely across
the lake, just above its narrowest part called the Straits, and
opposite to Bowness. It is of an oblong shape, distant on one side
from the shore about half a mile, on the other considerably less,
while at its northern and southern points there is a large sheet
of water extending four or five miles. It is about one mile and
three-quarters in circumference, and contains nearly thirty acres
of land. Its shores are irregular, occasionally retiring into bays,
or breaking into creeks. A circular structure surmounted by a
dome-shaped roof was erected upon it in 1776, which is so planned
as to command a prospect of the whole lake. The plantations,
consisting of Weymouth pines, ash and other trees, are disposed so
as to afford a complete shelter to the house, without intercepting
the view. The grounds are tastefully laid out; and the island is
surrounded by a gravel walk, which strangers are permitted to use.
In the middle are a few clumps of trees; and a neat boat-house has
been erected contiguous to the place of landing.
When the ground underneath the site of the house was excavated,
traces of an ancient building were discovered at a considerable
depth below the surface; among which were a great number of old
bricks, and a chimney-piece in its perfect state. Several pieces
of old armour, weapons, and cannon balls were also found embedded
in the soil. In levelling the ground on the north part of the
building, a beautiful pavement formed of a small kind of pebbles,
and several curious gravel walks were cut through. These were
probably some remains of "the strong house on the island," in
which Huddleston Philipson is said to have left the family treasure
under the care of his brother "Robin," while he was absent in the
Royal cause at the siege of Carlisle.
During the civil wars these two members of the Philipson family
served the king. Huddleston, the elder, who was the proprietor
of this island, commanded a regiment. Robert held a commission
as major in the same service. He was a man of great spirit and
enterprise; and for his many feats of personal valour, had obtained
among the Oliverians of those parts the appellation of _Robin the
Devil_.
After the war had subsided, and the more direful effects of public
opposition had ceased, revenge and private malice long kept alive
the animosities of individuals. Colonel Briggs, a distant kinsman
of the Philipsons, of whom, notwithstanding, he was a bitter enemy,
and a steady friend to the usurpation, resided at this time at
Kendal; and under the double character of a leading magistrate and
an active commander, held the county in awe. This person having
heard that Major Philipson was at his brother's house, on the
island in Windermere, resolved, if possible, to seize and punish a
man who had made himself so particularly obnoxious. With this view
he mustered a party which he thought sufficient, and went himself
on the enterprise. How it was conducted the narrator does not
inform us--whether he got together the navigation of the lake, and
blockaded the place by sea, or whether he landed, and carried on
his approach in form. It is probable, as he was reduced to severe
privation, that Briggs had seized all the boats upon the lake,
and stopped the supplies. Neither do we learn the strength of the
garrison within, nor of the works without, though every gentleman's
house was at that time in some degree a fortress. All we learn is,
that Major Philipson endured a siege of eight or ten days with
great gallantry; till his brother the Colonel, hearing of his
distress, raised a party, and relieved him; or, as another account
says, till his brother returned from Carlisle, after the siege of
that city was raised.
It was now the Major's turn to make reprisals. He put himself
therefore at the head of a little troop of horse, and rode to
Kendal. Here being informed that Colonel Briggs was at prayers
(for it was on a Sunday morning), he stationed his men properly in
the avenues, and himself, armed, rode directly into the church. It
is said he intended to seize the Colonel and carry him off; but
as this seems to have been totally impracticable, it is rather
probable that his intention was to kill him on the spot; and in the
midst of the confusion, to escape. Whatever his intention was, it
was frustrated, for Briggs happened to be elsewhere.
The congregation, as might be expected, was thrown into great
confusion on seeing an armed man, on horseback, make his
appearance amongst them; and the Major, taking advantage of their
astonishment, turned his horse round, and walked quietly out.
But having given an alarm, he was presently assaulted as he left
the assembly; and, being seized, his girths were cut, and he was
unhorsed.
Another account says, that having dashed forward down the principal
aisle of the church, and having discovered that his principal
object could not be effected, he was making his escape by another
aisle, when his head came violently in contact with the arch of
the doorway, which was much lower than that through which he had
entered; that his helmet was struck off by the blow, his saddle
girth gave way, and he himself, much stunned, was thrown to the
ground.
At this instant his party made a furious attack on the assailants,
who taking advantage of his mishap, attempted to detain him; and
the Major killed with his own hand the man who had seized him,
clapped the saddle, ungirthed as it was, upon the horse, and
vaulting into it, rode full speed through the streets of Kendal,
calling his men to follow him, and with his whole party made a
safe retreat to his asylum on the lake, which he reached about two
o'clock.
The action marked the man. Many knew him; and they who did not,
knew as well from the exploit, that it could be nobody but _Robin
the Devil_.
In the Bellingham Chapel, in Kendal Church, is suspended high over
an ancient altar tomb, a battered helmet, through whose crust of
whitewash the rust of ages is plainly to be discerned. Whether this
antique casque belonged to Sir Roger Bellingham, who was interred
A. D. 1557 in the tomb beneath, and was exalted as a token of
the distinction he had received, when made a knight banneret by
the hand of his sovereign on the field of battle, or was won by
the puissant burgesses of Kendal from one of the Philipsons, and
elevated to its present position as a trophy of their valour, it
is, strangely enough, called the "Rebel's Cap," and forms the theme
of the bold and sacreligious action recorded of Robert Philipson.
As for "Robin" (who has also, though unjustly, been calumniated
and accused of having murdered the persons to whom the skulls at
Calgarth belonged, and who figures, it is said, in many other
desperate adventures), after the final defeat at Worcester had,
by depressing for a time the hopes of the royalists, in some
degree restored a sort of subdued quiet to the kingdom, finding a
pacific life irksome to his restless spirit, he passed over into
the sister country, and there fell in some nameless rencontre in
the Irish wars, sealing by a warrior's fate a course of long tried
and devoted attachment to his king; in his death, as in his life,
affording a memorable illustration of the fine sentiment embodied
in these proud lines--
"Master! lead on and I will follow thee
To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty."
During the Protectorate of Cromwell, Briggs ruled in the
ascendancy; but on the accession of Charles the Second, he was
obliged for a long period to hide in the wilds of Furness.
Two hundred years have rolled away, since the generation that
saw those events has vanished from the earth, and every tangible
memorial of the island hero has been thought to have perished with
him. Nevertheless, time has spared one fragile, though little
noticed relic; for in the library of that most interesting of
our northern English fanes, the Parish Church of Cartmel, whose
age-stricken walls, so rich in examples of each style of Gothic
architecture, rise but a few miles from the foot of the lake, in
the centre of a vale of much beauty of a monastic character, there
is retained upon the shelves a small volume in Latin, entitled
"Vincentii Lirinensis hæres, Oxoniæ, 1631," on one of the blank
leaves of which is this inscription in MS., the signature to which
has been partly torn off:--
"For Mr Rob. Philipson.
Inveniam, spero, quamvis Peregrinus, amicos:
Mite peto tecum cominus hospitium. R----"
It is pleasing to dwell on this enduring testimony of regard for
a man, whose portrait, as limned on the historic canvas, has
hitherto been looked upon as that only of a bold unnurtured ruffler
in an age of strife. Seen under the effect of this touch by the
hand of friendship, a gentler grace illumes the air of one, whose
unwavering principles and firm temper well fitted him to encounter
the troubles of a stormy epoch, while, as long as the island itself
shall endure, his heroic shadow rising over its groves, will cast
the enthralling interest of a romantic episode upon a scene so
captivating by its natural loveliness.
That the individual so addressed, was our Robin of Satanic
notoriety, there cannot reasonably be a doubt, as the pedigree of
the Crook Hall Philipsons does not recognise any other member of
the family of that name, living between the time of the publication
of the book, and the death of their last male heir. Neither is the
genealogical tree of the Calgarth branch enriched with the name
between that and 1652, when Christopher Philipson (of the house of
Calgarth) who, amid the bitter struggle of parties, seems to have
been devoted to the cultivation of letters, and who is supposed
to have presented the book, along with others, to the library at
Cartmel, died. Therefore to the successful soldier, whose actions
gave to himself and his cause so chivalrous a colouring, alone,
must the inscription be applied, the evidence it affords furnishing
another illustration of the saying that "the Devil is not always
as black as he is painted." But whether it be questionable that
it was directed to the royalist Robin, or not, the probability is
sufficiently great to justify what has been said on the subject.
Recent research through public archives has ascertained that the
family of the Philipsons was established in Westmorland at least
as far back as the reign of Edward III., for in an inquisition
relative to the possessions of the chantry on Saint Mary's Holme,
taken in 1355, the name of John Philipson is recorded as tenant to
certain lands belonging to that religious foundation.
This family owned not only Calgarth Hall and extensive domains
which reached along the shores of Windermere, from Low Wood to
Rayrigg, consisting of beautiful woods and rich pastures, but also
Crook and Holling Halls, with much of the surrounding country, as
well as the large island in the centre of the lake, opposite to
Bowness, in documents of the 13th century especially designated
"Le Holme," but the earliest name of which was Wynandermere
Isle, afterwards changed to the "Long Holme," which latter word
signifies, in the old vernacular, "an island or plain by the
water side," and in which they had a mansion of the old fashioned
Westmorland kind, strongly fortified, called the Holme House.
Their alliances having connected them with many of the chief
families of the county, they fixed their principal dwelling places
at Holling, and at Crook or Thwatterden Halls; which latter abode
in the time of Queen Elizabeth again became the seat of a younger
branch of the house at Calgarth.
With Sir Christopher Philipson, the last heir male of the family
of Crook Hall, who, according to Mr. West, lived in the Holme in
1705, and who died in that year, the race was extinguished. Their
mouldered dust lies beneath the pavement in Windermere Church, and
their homes, for the most part but grey and naked ruins, know them
no more.