The name of Egremont seems to be derived from its ancient
possessors, the Normans, and being changed by a trifling corruption
of their language, carries the same meaning, and signifies the
Mount of Sorrow.
The charter of Richard de Lucy, granted to the burgesses in
the time of King John, declares it to be given and confirmed
"burgensibus meis de _Acrimonte_," &c.
William the Conqueror having established himself on the throne of
England, and added the county of Cumberland, which he wrested from
Malcolm, king of Scotland, to his northern possessions; he gave it,
together with the barony of Westmorland, to Randolph or Ranulph
du Briquesard, also surnamed le Meschin, Vicomte du Bessin, elder
brother of William le Meschin. This nobleman was allied to the
Conqueror by marriage with his niece, and was one of his numerous
train of military adventurers. He was the first Norman paramount
feudatory of Cumberland. When Ranulph granted out to his several
retainers their respective allotments; reserving to himself the
forest of Inglewood, he gave to his brother, William le Meschin,
the great barony of Copeland, bounded by the rivers Duddon and
Derwent, and the sea. The latter seated himself at Egremont and
there erected a castle; and in distinction of this his baronial
seat, he changed the name of the whole territory to that of the
barony of Egremont. After possessing this estate with great power
for several years, and dying without male issue, it devolved to
his daughter Alice, married to Robert de Romili, Lord of Skipton.
They having no male issue, these two great baronies descended
to their only daughter Alice, who married William Fitz-Duncan,
Earl of Murray, nephew to David, King of Scots. By this marriage
there was issue a son, who died in infancy, and three daughters
who divided the vast inheritance. To Amabil, the second daughter,
the barony of Egremont came in partition; and by her marriage with
Reginald Lucy, passed to that family. William Fitz-Duncan was Lord
of the adjoining Cumbrian seigniory or honor of Cockermouth, and
of the barony of Allerdale below Derwent, which large estates had
descended to him from his mother Octreda, who inherited them from
her grandfather Waldeof, first lord of Allerdale, to whom they
had been granted by Ranulph de Meschin. Waldeof was the son of
Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar.
Particular mention is made of two only of the name of Lucy in
succession: Reginald de Lucy, who was governor of Nottingham for
the King, in the rebellion of the Earl of Leicester, and who also
attended the coronation of Richard I. among the other Barons; and
Richard de Lucy, his son, who, in the reign of King John, paid a
fine of three hundred marks for the livery of all his lands in
Coupland and Canteberge, _and to have the liberty of marrying
whom he pleased_, &c. He married Ada, one of the two daughters
and co-heiresses of Hugh de Morville; and obtained a grant from
King John, by which he claimed and held the whole property of his
father-in-law, without partition to the other daughter, Joane.
He died before or about the 15th year of King John, leaving two
daughters, between whom the estates were divided, and who both
married into the Multon family.
At that time, and long after, it was a part of the King's
prerogative to interfere in the marriages of his nobility.[24]
The subsequent acts of the widowed Ada de Lucy afford us a fine
illustration of the exercise of this prerogative on the part of
the sovereign in the matters of widows and heiresses. Ada paid
a fine of five hundred marks for livery of her inheritance; as
also for dowry of her late husband's lands; and that she might
not be compelled to marry again. She espoused, however, without
compulsion, and without the king's licence, Thomas de Multon; in
consequence of which, the Castle of Egremont, and her other lands,
were seized by the Crown. But upon paying a compensation, they were
restored, and she had livery of them again. Her second husband, on
his payment of one thousand marks to the crown, was made guardian
over the two daughters, and co-heiresses, of her first husband, de
Lucy: and as a necessary consequence, and, in fact, in accordance
with the permission implied by the arrangement, he married them to
his two sons by his first wife.
These two daughters and co-heiresses of Lucy having married the two
sons of Thomas de Multon, the elder carried with her the lordship
of Egremont; while the son of the younger assumed the surname
of his maternal family, and was ancestor of the barons Lucy of
Cockermouth. The infant daughter of Anthony, the third and last
baron Lucy, dying in the year following his own demise, the barony
was carried by the marriage of his sister Maude with the first Earl
of Northumberland to the Percy family: thence to the Seymours,
Dukes of Somerset; and through them to Wyndham, Earl of Egremont,
by whose descendant, the first Lord Leconfield, it is at present
enjoyed.
Egremont was anciently a borough, sending two members to
parliament; but was disfranchised on the petition of the burgesses,
to avoid the expense of representation. The burgesses possessed
several privileges, but all records of them are lost. The
ordinances of Richard de Lucy for the government of the borough
is a curious record, in which several singularities are to be
observed, which point out to us the customs of that distant age.
By this burgage tenure, the people of Egremont were obliged to
find armed men, for the defence of the Castle, forty days at their
own charge. The lord was entitled to forty days' credit for goods,
and no more; and his burgesses might refuse to supply him, till
the debt which had exceeded that date was paid. They were bound to
aids for the redemption of the lord and his heir from captivity;
for the knighthood of one of the lord's sons, and the marriage
of one of his daughters. They were to find him twelve men for
his military array. They were to hold watch and ward. They could
not enter the forest with bow and arrow. They were relieved from
cutting off the dogs' feet within the borough, as being a necessary
and customary defence: on the borders, the dogs appointed to be
kept for defence, were called _slough dogs_: this privilege points
out, that within the limits of forests, the inhabitants keeping
dogs for defence were to lop off one foot or more, to prevent their
chasing the game; which did not spoil them for the defence of a
dwelling. A singular privilege appears in the case of a burgess
committing fornication with the daughter of a rustic, one who was
not a burgess; that he should not be liable to the fine imposed in
other cases for that offence, unless he had seduced by promise of
marriage. The fine for seducing a woman belonging to the borough
was three shillings to the lord. By the rule for inspecting dyers,
weavers, and fullers, it seems those were the only trades at that
time within the borough under the character of craftsmen. The
burgesses who had ploughs were to till the lord's demesne one day
in the year, and every burgess to find a reaper: their labour was
from morning _ad nonam_, which was three o'clock, as from six to
three.
Egremont was probably a place of strength, and the seat of some
powerful chief, during the Heptarchy, and in the time of the
Danes. The ruins of the Castle, on the west of the town, stand on
an eminence, the northern extremity of which forms a lofty mound,
seventy-eight feet in perpendicular height above the ditch which
surrounds the fortress. On the crown of this hill, it is believed,
there formerly stood a Danish fortification. The mound is said to
be artificial. Tradition goes so far as to assert that it is formed
of soil brought by St. Bega from Ireland, as ballast for her ship.
The miraculous power of the Saint must have been largely exercised
to increase it to its present proportions. It still, however,
retains the virtue given to Irish earth by the blessing of St.
Patrick, and no reptile can live upon it.
This fortress is not of very great extent, but bears singular marks
of antiquity and strength. The approach and grand entrance from
the south, has been kept by a draw-bridge over a deep moat. The
entrance to the castle is by a gateway vaulted with semi-circular
arches, and guarded by a strong tower. The architecture of this
tower, which is the chief part of the fortress now standing, points
out its antiquity to be at least coeval with the entry of the
Normans. The outward wall has enclosed a considerable area of a
square form; but it is now gone so much to decay, that no probable
conjecture can be made as to the particular manner in which it
was fortified. On the side next the town a postern remains. To
the westward, from the area, there is an ascent to three narrow
gates, standing close together, and on a straight line, which have
communicated with the outworks: these are apparently of more modern
architecture, and have each been defended with a portcullis. Beyond
these gates is the lofty mount, which has already been referred to,
and on which anciently stood a circular tower, the western side
of which endured the rage of time till within the last century.
The whole fortification is surrounded by a moat, more properly
so called than a ditch, as it appears to have been walled on both
sides. This is strengthened with an outward rampart of earth, which
is five hundred paces in circumference. A small brook runs on the
eastern side of the Castle, and it may be presumed, anciently
filled the moat. The mode of building which appears in part of
the walls, is rather uncommon, the construction being of large
thin stones, placed in an inclined position, the courses lying in
different directions, so as to form a kind of feathered work, the
whole run together with lime and pebbles, impenetrably strong. It
seems to have been copied from the filling parts of the Roman wall.
An old tradition connects the lords of this Castle with the
Crusades. One version of it given in the histories of Cumberland,
for it is variously related, is to this effect:--"The Baron of
Egremont being taken prisoner beyond the seas by the infidels,
could not be redeemed without a great ransom, and being for
England, entered his brother or kinsman for his surety, promising
with all possible speed to send him money to set him free; but
upon his return home to Egremont, he changed his mind, and most
unnaturally and unthankfully suffered his brother to lie in prison,
in great distress and extremity, until the hair was grown to an
unusual length, like to a woman's hair. The Pagans being out of
hopes of the ransom, in great rage most cruelly hanged up their
pledge, binding the long hair of his head to a beam in the prison,
and tied his hands so behind him, that he could not reach to the
top where the knot was fastened to loose himself: during his
imprisonment, the Paynim's daughter became enamoured of him, and
sought all good means for his deliverance, but could not enlarge
him: she understanding of this last cruelty, by means made to his
keeper, entered the prison, and taking her knife to cut the hair,
being hastened, she cut the skin of his head, so as, with the
weight of his body, he rent away the rest, and fell down to the
earth half dead; but she presently took him up, causing surgeons to
attend him secretly, till he recovered his former health, beauty,
and strength, and so entreated her father for him that he set him
at liberty. Then, desirous to revenge his brother's ingratitude,
he got leave to depart to his country, and took home with him the
hatterell of his hair rent off as aforesaid, and a bugle-horn,
which he commonly used to carry about him, when he was in England,
where he shortly arrived, and coming to Egremont Castle about
noontide of the day, where his brother was at dinner, he blew
his bugle-horn, which (says the tradition) his brother the baron
presently acknowledged, and thereby conjectured his brother's
return; and then sending his friends and servants to learn his
brother's mind to him, and how he had escaped, they brought back
the report of all the miserable torment which he had endured
for his unfaithful brother the baron, which so astonished the
baron (half dead before with the shameful remembrance of his own
disloyalty and breach of promise) that he abandoned all company and
would not look on his brother, till his just wrath was pacified by
diligent entreaty of their friends. And to be sure of his brother's
future kindness, he gave the _lordship of Millum_ to him and his
heirs for ever. Whereupon the first Lords of Millum gave for their
arms _the horn and the hatterell_.
Others relate that it was the baron who remained as hostage: and
that on his release from captivity by the Paynim's daughter, and
after his departure to his native country, urged by her love
towards him, she found her way across the sea, and presenting
herself at his castle-gate, with the hatterell of his hair which
she had preserved as a token, was joyfully recognized by the Baron,
who made her his wife and the mistress of his halls.
It is, on various grounds, an anachronism to refer this tradition
to the period when the Lucies were Lords of Egremont. For,
according to Denton, the great seignory of Millom "in the time of
King Henry I. was given by William Meschines, Lord of Egremont,
to ... de Boyvill, father to Godard de Boyvill, named in ancient
evidences Godardus Dapifer." This accords with the tradition, which
is very old, and is given by both Denton and Sandford, and which
makes, as we have seen, the Boyvills to be very near of kin to the
Lords of Egremont. It also particularises the occasion upon which
Millom was transferred to that family; who took their surname from
the place, and were styled de-Millom.
That some members of the family were engaged in the crusades, we
learn from the record that Arthur Boyvill or de Millom, the third
lord, and the son of Godardus Dapifer, granted to the Abbey of St.
Mary in Furness the services of Kirksanton in Millom, which Robert
de Boyvill, his cousin-german, then held of him; and soon after he
mortgaged the same to the Abbot of Furness, until his return from
the Holy Land.
The crest of Huddleston of Hutton John is, Two arms, dexter and
sinister embowed, vested, argent, holding in their hands a scalp
proper, the inside gules. The tradition of the Horn of Egremont
Castle, which could only be sounded by the rightful lord, and
which forms the subject of a fine poem by Mr. Wordsworth, is
said properly to belong to Hutton-John, an ancient manor of the
Huddlestons, who were descended from the Boyvills in the female
line; Joan, the daughter and heiress of the last of the de-Milloms,
in the reign of Henry III., having married Sir John Hudleston, Kt.;
and thus transferred the seignory into that family, with whom it
continued for a period of about 500 years.
The name of Egremont will remind the poetical reader of the story
of the "Youthful Romili," celebrated by Wordsworth in his noble
ballad "The Founding of Bolton Priory," and by Rogers in his less
ambitious lines "The Boy of Egremond." It seems to be by no means
certain to which generation of William le Meschines' descendants
the tale belongs. Denton says, "Alice Romley, the third daughter
and co-heir of William Fitz-Duncan, was the fourth lady of
Allerdale: but having no children alive at her death, she gave
away divers manors and lands to houses of religion, and to her
friends and kinsmen. She had a son named William, who was drowned
in Craven coming home from hunting or hawking. His hound or spaniel
being tied to his girdle by a line, (as they crossed the water near
Barden Tower, in Craven) pulled his master from off his horse and
drowned him. When the report of his mischance came to his mother,
she answered, "_Bootless bayl brings endless sorrow_." She had also
three daughters, Alice, Avice, and Mavice, who all died unmarried,
and without children; wherefore the inheritance was after her death
parted between the house of Albemarl and Reginald Lucy, Baron of
Egremont, descending to her sister's children and their posterity."
This is Whitaker's statement:--"In the year 1121 William le
Meschines and Cecilia his wife founded a Priory for canons regular,
at Embsay, which was dedicated to St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, and
continued there about thirty-three years, when it is said by
tradition to have been translated to Bolton, on the following
account.
"The founders of Embsay were now dead, and had left a daughter,
who adopted her mother's name, Romillé, and was married to William
Fitz-Duncan. They had issue a son, commonly called the Boy of
Egremond (one of his grandfather's baronies, where he was probably
born), who, surviving an elder brother, became the last hope of the
family.
"In the deep solitude of the woods betwixt Bolton and Barden, the
Wharf suddenly contracts itself to a rocky channel little more
than four feet wide, and pours through the tremendous fissure with
a rapidity proportionate to its confinement. This place was then,
as it is yet, called the Strid, from a feat often exercised by
persons of more agility than prudence, who stride from brink to
brink, regardless of the destruction which awaits a faltering step.
Such, according to tradition, was the fate of young Romillé, who
inconsiderately bounding over the chasm with a greyhound in his
leash, the animal hung back, and drew his unfortunate master into
the torrent. The forester, who accompanied Romillé, and beheld
his fate, returned to the Lady Aäliza, and, with despair in his
countenance, enquired, 'What is good for a bootless Bene?' To which
the mother, apprehending that some great calamity had befallen her
son, instantly replied, 'Endless Sorrow.'
"The language of this question, almost unintelligible at present,
proves the antiquity of the story, which nearly amounts to proving
its truth. But 'bootless Bene' is unavailing prayer; and the
meaning, though imperfectly expressed, seems to have been, 'What
remains when prayer is useless?'"
The accuracy of this account, though admitted to be true so far as
the death of a scion of Romili's house, is however doubted by Dr.
Whitaker, who states that the son of the Lady Alice or Aäliza was a
party and witness to the charter of translation to Bolton in 1154
of the Canons of the Priory of Embsay, founded in 1121 by William
de Meschines and Cecilia de Romili his wife. Besides, as the Boy
of Egremond was alive in 1160, and a partaker in the rebellion of
the Pictish Celts of Scotland, of which the object was to set him
on the throne as the rightful heir, Dr. Whitaker is of opinion that
the story refers to one of the sons (both of whom died young) of
Cecilia le Meschines, grandmother of Lady Alice.
There is however an oversight of some importance in Whitaker's
statement. He altogether omits the second generation of the
descendants of William le Meschines. Alice, the daughter of W. le
Meschines, married Robert de Romili; Alice, her daughter, married
Fitz-Duncan, who assumed the name of his wife, and was William le
Romili. If their son was "the Boy of Egremond," he could not have
been a witness to the charter of translation in 1154. If he was
drowned in the Wharf, his death could not have been the occasion of
the refounding of the Priory at Bolton. If the son of Cecilia le
Meschines was "the Boy of Egremond"; as he might be so styled from
his father's barony; he may have been drowned at the Strid, but
his mother could not have been the second foundress of the Priory;
for, as Whitaker says, the founders of Embsay were already dead.
Tradition, moreover, clings to the name of the Lady Alice, as being
that of the pious dispenser of her goods to sacred and religious
uses. And however history may conflict with tradition, there will
remain, that the Lady of Skipton, Cockermouth, and the Allerdales,
bestowed her lands and goods most liberally upon the Abbeys of
Fountains and Pomfret, and other religious confraternities;
that she, the Lady Alice, seems always to have cherished those
dispositions whose spiritual convictions moved in unison with
the votive religious practices of the age; and although she, for
the health of her dear son's soul (if he it were who perished in
the Wharf) could not have founded near the scene of his untimely
fate, the Priory before mentioned; its legendary history, which
has so enshrined her affections and her sorrows, will continue to
connect in the future, as in the past, the image of the youthful
Romili with her griefs, and the stately Priory of Bolton with his
imperishable name.