such buildings could not have been frequent. At Ravenstonedale, where
numerous customs peculiar to the parish or immediate district prevailed,
the people had a strong belief in home rule, and insisted on having it. In
the old church there were two rows of seats below the Communion table,
where the steward of the manor and jury sat in their Court of Judicature
in the sixteenth century. The malefactors were imprisoned in a hollow
arched vault, the ruins of which were to be seen not much more than a
quarter of a century ago on the north side of the church. There was so
much wrangling over cases, and the manifestation of such a bad spirit,
which the parishioners felt was unbecoming and unsuited to such an
edifice, that they petitioned Lord Wharton, the lord of the manor, to have
the trying of cases removed to a house belonging to him which stood near
the church. This was granted, and subsequently the Court was held in the
village inn and other places.
"A gentleman who carries out archidiaconal functions," is the familiar,
though vague, definition of an archdeacon in our own time, but a couple of
centuries ago that church official had very definite duties and powers. As
Mr. G. E. Moser, solicitor, Kendal, once reminded the members of the two
counties' Archaeological Society, the visits of the Archdeacon of Richmond
to Kendal--where he sentenced offenders from his chair of state erected in
the High Quire--were looked forward to with awe and reverence. The
churchwardens' books contain the following among other entries:--"Paid for
bent to strawe in the High Quire against Sir Joseph [Cradock] came."
"Paid to the Churchwardens, which they laid out when they delivered their
presentments to Sir Joseph Cradock." "Paid for washing and sweeping the
Church against Sir Joseph's coming to sitt his Court of Correction, which
was the 7 July, 1664." "At the peremptory day, being the 18th day of
October, 1664, the general meeting of the churchwardens, whose names are
herunder written doth order that Geo. Wilkinson shall keep the clock and
chimes in better order, and shall keep swine out of the churchyard, and
whip the dogs out of the church in time of divine service and sermon, and
remove the dunghill and the stable-door which opens into the churchyard
before the next peremptory day, and reform all abuses belonging to his
office, or else the Churchwardens will make complaint so that it shall be
referred to the ordinary."
Chancellor Ferguson told the members that he had found in some documents,
relating to an unnamed Cumberland church, an order that no swine should be
allowed in the churchyard unless they had rings in their noses! There are
many reminders available of the days when rushes or other growths were put
on church floors, by such entries as that in Waberthwaite registers,
dated 1755:--"Bent bought, 12d." At Millom there are charges for dressing
the church. Between 1720 and 1783 there are several entries in the
Hawkshead registers with reference to "strawing the church"--meaning the
covering of the floor with rushes. There are also here, as at Penrith and
some other places, allusions to payments for collecting moss, with which
the rain was often kept out of the churches.
It was, even within the last half century, a common occurrence for dogs to
accompany their owners to church, but the officials did not appreciate the
custom. Mr. John Knotts, in 1734, left an estate at Maulds Meaburn for the
use of the poor of the township, from which five shillings yearly had to
be paid for keeping dogs out of Crosby Ravensworth Church. The legality of
the will was disputed on a technicality, and the heir-at-law paid a sum of
money instead, which was invested, but how long the crown was paid for
anti-dog purposes is not known. The Rev. J. Wilson wrote in his parochial
magazine a few years ago:--"In the olden days in Dalston there was an
officer whose duty it was to whip dogs out of church during service time,
and, strange as it may seem, the custom under another name and in
somewhat altered guise existed till the old church was demolished in 1890.
The parish dog-whipper had L1 a year for his salary during the latter
portion of the 18th century, when the duties of the office were extended
to other matters. In the parish accounts the following entry occurs: 'May
3, 1753 John Gate for whipping the Dogs out of church, opening and
shutting ye sashes, sweeping ye church &c. for one year, L01 00 00.' The
same entry occurs regularly every year till 1764, when his widow
undertakes the job: 'May 6th 1764 Wid: Gate for whipping ye Dogs out of ye
church, opening and shutting ye sashes, sweeping ye church L01 00 00.' The
office of dog-whipper continues to be mentioned every year till 1774, when
it disappears, and the entry is changed to: 'May 1, 1774, Wid: Gate for
cleaning ye church L01 00 00.'" The church records show that at Penrith an
annual payment of two shillings was made for many years to the
dog-whipper. Among the items bearing on church expenses contained in the
Torpenhow registers in 1759, was an annual allowance of 5s. to the sexton
for whipping dogs out of the church, and that he might the more
efficiently do his work he was granted an extra allowance of 3d. for a
whip and 2d. for a thong. There is an item in the Waberthwaite records
which runs:--"According to the canons laitly sett down, four sydmen
[synodsmen] are to be appointed every year, one of whose duties is to
keepe the dogges out of the chirche, 1605." At Hawkshead a dog-whipper was
provided from 1723 to 1784. If the following paragraph, which appeared in
the _Cumberland Pacquet_, in January, 1817, may be believed, there was at
least one dog which would not incur the wrath of either parson or
dog-whipper:--"Mr. William Wood of Asby, parish of Arlecdon, has a cur dog
which for these four years past has regularly attended church, if within
hearing of the bells; and what is more singular, the animal never misses
going to his master's seat whether any of the family attend or not."
Manorial Laws and Curiosities of Tenures.
No doubt because of the proximity of the district to the Border, the
tenures by which certain properties were held in Cumberland and
Westmorland must be regarded as quite local in their character. The
observances are, of course, all the more interesting on that account, and
even in cases for which parallels are to be found in other parts of the
kingdom, little peculiarities may sometimes be seen in local instances
which throw light on the former habits of the people. Lords of manors were
once individuals possessed of great powers. The lords of Millom held their
property for hundreds of years, and had _jura regalia_ within the
seignory, in memory of which a modern stone erected at Gallow, half a mile
below Millom Castle, has the inscription,
"Here the Lords of Millom exercised jura regalia."
The lord of the manor of Troutbeck, Windermere, is also believed to have
formerly exercised a jurisdiction over capital offences.
Where such powers existed, it is by no means surprising that the homage
exacted from tenants and servitors on various occasions was of a character
that in modern days would be regarded as extremely degrading. Thus when a
free tenant went to his lord's residence to do homage according to custom
and duty, he was ushered into the presence of his superior without sword
or other arms, and with his head uncovered. The lord remained seated, and
the tenant with profound reverence knelt before the great man. With his
clasped or joined hands placed between those of the lord, the homager
repeated the following vow, which seems to have been in practically the
same terms in various manors:--"I become your man from this day forward,
for life, for member, and for worldly honour, and unto you shall be true
and faithful, and bear you faith for the lands that I hold of you, saving
the faith that I owe to our Sovereign Lord the King." The lord, still
sitting, then kissed the tenant, as a token of his approbation. In
Cumberland and Westmorland there are several villages named Carleton, this
being one of the reminders of the days of serfdom. The carls were simply
the basest sort of servants--practically slaves.
The former servile condition of the poor in the neighbourhood of barons'
houses is also preserved in such names as Bongate, or as it was always
written in old documents, Bondgate, at Appleby. In the great trial between
the Cliffords and the burghers, when the former claimed the services of
the freemen, it was decided that neither Robert de Vetripont nor any of
his heirs ever had seizin of the borough, where the burgesses lived, but
that King John gave to him "_Vetus Apilbi ubi villani manent_"--"Old
Appleby, where the bondmen dwell." The bondmen, or villeins, were probably
of the same social standing as those known as drenges, the Cliffords
having very many drengage tenements in various parts of their Sheriffwick.
"The drenges were pure villeins--doubtless Saxons kept in a state of the
vilest slavery, being granted by the lords of the manor, with a piece of
land, like so many oxen. In fact they were as much the property of the
lord of the manor as the negroes in the West Indian Colonies were formerly
the property of the sugar planters. It is probable that the drenges were
employed to perform all the servile and laborious offices at Brougham
Castle; for in 1359, Engayne, lord of Clifton, granted to Roger de
Clifford, by indenture, the service of John Richardson, and several
others mentioned by name, with their bodies and all that belonged to
them."[8]
In the reign of Richard the First there was given to the church of
Carlisle, "lands in Lorton, with a mill there, and all its rights and
appendages, and namely the miller, his wife, and children"--apparently
clear evidence of the servitors being regarded as part of the property.
Several manorial lords claimed for their tenants the right to go toll-free
throughout England. This was the case with Armathwaite, while the
privilege also pertained to the prioress and nuns at Nunnery. The manor of
Acorn Bank, near Temple Sowerby, used to have the right, or rather the
privilege was claimed. In the time of the late Mr. John Boazman (the
immediate predecessor of Mr. Henry Boazman, the present owner), the
following was written:--"The lords of this manor can still claim and
exercise for themselves and tenants all the privileges granted to the
Knights Templars, the most important of which is exemption from toll
throughout England. The tenants when travelling carry a certificate,
signed and sealed by the lord of the manor. This certificate, after
reciting part of the old charter, concludes as follows:--'Which charter
[that of Henry the Second] was confirmed by King Charles of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, in the fourth year of his reign, in witness whereof
I, the said John Boazman, as lord of the manor, have executed and set my
manorial seal.'" The burgesses of Appleby also possessed under their early
charters privileges of a like character, and these would doubtless be of
very appreciable value.
The ancient family of Hoton, or Hutton, were by Edward the Third, in
consideration of the service rendered to him by Thomas de Hoton in the
wars against Scotland, restored to the bailiwick and office of keeping the
King's land or forest in Plumpton, which was first bestowed upon them
prior to the time of Edward the First. It is believed that this led to the
family taking a horn as their badge. Besides the monetary payment of
something under L2 yearly, it was found in the reign of Henry the Seventh
that the lands were also held by the service of holding the stirrup of the
King's saddle while his Majesty mounted his horse in the Castle of
Carlisle. The adjoining manor of Newton Reigny was held in the early days
of the Lowthers by the service of finding for the King in his wars against
Scotland one horseman with a horse of the value of forty shillings, armed
with a coat of mail, an iron helmet, a lance, and a sword, abiding in the
war for forty days with the King's person. At a later date the terms were
varied; there was then the paying of two shillings per annum for cornage,
and the providing, for the King's army, "one horseman with habiliments,
one lance, and one long sword." Penrith and five other manors were once
held by the Kings of Scotland by paying one soar-hawk yearly to the
constable of the Castle of Carlisle, with some privileges concerning
rights in Inglewood Forest. The manor of Cargo, near Carlisle, was held
for many generations by the family of de Ross, by the rendering of a hawk
or a mark of silver yearly. When the same manor was the property of the
Lacys, it was held by cornage, and afterwards by the Vescys for a mew'd
hawk yearly in lieu of all services.
In the manor of Gaitsgill and Raughton were twenty-two freehold tenants in
1777, who paid 28s. 8-3/4d. yearly free rent, did suit and service at the
lord's court when called upon, and paid yearly to the Duke of Portland as
chief lord of the Forest of Inglewood L2 13s. 2d., besides sending a man
to appear for them at the Forest Court at Hesket every St. Barnabas's
Day, and that representative was to be on the inquest. This manor was at
the Conquest "all forest and waste ground," and was enclosed by one
Ughtred, who held of the King "for keeping the eyries of hawks which bred
in the Forest of Inglewood." The posterity of Ughtred took their surname
from Gatesgill, and adopted the sparhawk for their cognisance. The
neighbouring manor of High Head (Higheved) was held of Edward the Third by
William English by the service of one rose yearly. Later, in the time of
Henry the Eighth, it was held by William Restwold as an approvement of the
forest by fealty and the service of rendering at the King's exchequer of
Carlisle one red rose yearly at the feast of St. John the Baptist.
In the reign of Philip and Mary, Alexander Armstrong was granted a
considerable amount of property, including a mill, in the parish of
Gilcrux, at a very low rental, on condition of finding and maintaining
five horsemen "ready and well-furnished, whenever the King and Queen and
the successors of the Queen shall summon them within the county." In
documents belonging to the abbey of Holme Cultram, whereby Flemingby (now
known as Flimby, between Maryport and Workington) was handed over to the
monks, Gospatric, the donor, inserted a clause that he would himself do
for the monastery "noutegeld and the like due to the King; and also to the
lord of Allerdale of seawake, castleward, pleas, aids, and other
services." The nutgeld tax--an impost apparently peculiar to the Border
counties--was even last century frequently enforced in Cumberland and
Westmorland.
The custom of providing for gilt spurs was of a practical kind, the
articles being peculiarly useful to the grantor. "Every knight (who served
on horseback) was obliged to wear gilt spurs; hence they were called
_equites aurati_." The reservation, by Gospatrick, of homage to be
performed by William de Lancastre has provided some interesting questions
for past generations of historians and antiquaries. William de Lancastre
the second gave thirty marks to the King that he might have the privilege
of fighting a duel with Gospatrick, and the theory propounded was that
this contest was caused because "the tenant's proud spirit could not brook
such a humiliation as that of doing homage." Remembering the conditions of
life, the supposition is not at all improbable, for what man of good birth
would care to submit to perform the service described in the second
paragraph of this chapter? In the same parish of Kirkby Lonsdale, William
de Pickering had the manor of Killington granted to him for the yearly
payment of a pair of gilt spurs, or sixpence, at the feast of Pentecost,
and the service of the twentieth part of one knight's service when
occasion should require.
Alice Lucy, a member of the once very powerful family of that name,
reserved out of Wythop a penny rent service, or a pair of gloves; and a
long time afterwards it was found that Sir John Lowther, knight, held the
same manor "by homage, fealty, and suit of court at Cockermouth ... and
the free rent of one penny or one red rose." The manor, now held by Sir
Henry R. Vane, Bart., Hutton-in-the-Forest, was subsequently sold to the
Fletchers under the services just mentioned. In addition to a heavy fine,
and a rental of L10 yearly, Thomas de Multon paid "one palfrey for the
office of forester of Cumberland," granted to the family by King John. One
of Multon's ancestors, Richard de Lucy, also gave money and a palfrey in
order to obtain the grant and other privileges.
At Hesket, yearly, on St. Barnabas's Day, by the highway side under a
thorn tree (according to the very ancient manner of holding assemblies in
the open air), wrote Nicolson in 1777, was kept the Court for the whole
forest of Inglewood, to which Court the manors within that vast
circumference (above twenty in number), owed suit and service; and a jury
was there impannelled and sworn for the whole forest. It is a shadow or
relic of the ancient Forest Courts; and here they pay their compositions
for improvements, purprestures, agistments, and puture of the foresters,
and the jurors being obliged to attend from the several manors, seems to
be part of that service which was called _witnesman_. "Improvements" in
this case means permission to take up open lands belonging to the manorial
lord.
Horn tenures, locally known as cornage, were common. At Brougham Hall is
preserved the old and quaintly fashioned horn which was sounded by the
former owners of the estates in complying with the requirement to blow a
horn in the van of the King and his army, when the monarch went into
Scotland, or at other times when the Scots made incursions to the southern
side of the Border. An interesting relic of the same description is
possessed at Carlisle--the "Horn of the Altar." The Charter Horn has thus
been described by Archdeacon Prescott:--"In the year 1290 a claim was made
by the King, Edward the First, and by others, to the tithes on certain
lands lately brought under cultivation in the Forest of Inglewood. The
Prior of Carlisle appeared on behalf of his convent, and urged their right
to the property on the ground that the tithes had been granted to them by
a former King, who had enfeoffed them by a certain ivory horn which he
gave to the Church of Carlisle, and which they possessed at that time. The
Cathedral of Carlisle has had in its possession for a great number of
years, two fine walrus tusks, with a portion of the skull. They appear in
ancient inventories of the goods of the cathedral as 'one horn of the
altar in two parts,' or 'two horns of the altar' (1674), together with
other articles of the altar furniture. But antiquaries came to the
conclusion that these were identical with the 'ivory horn' referred to
above.... Such Charter Horns were not uncommon in ancient days."
Blackmail used to bear a significance not fully understood by the modern
use of the word. In the north of England it signified, especially in
Cumberland, a certain rent of money, corn, or other things, anciently paid
to persons inhabiting upon or near the Border, being men of name and
power, allied with certain robbers within those counties, to be freed and
protected from the devastations of those depredators. By 43 Elizabeth,
cap. 13, it was provided that to take any such money or contribution,
called blackmail, to secure goods from rapine, was made capital felony, as
well as the offences such contribution was meant to guard against. Tenants
in those old times had nearly all the privileges of paying; their
opportunities for getting anything without cash or labour were few. One
such concession which they enjoyed was "plowbote," being the right of
tenants to take wood to repair their ploughs, carts, and harrows; and for
the making of such articles of husbandry as rakes and forks. Fire-bote was
the term applied to a right enjoyed by many tenants, being the fuel for
firing, and obtainable out of the lands granted to them. Timber-lode was a
service by which tenants were to carry to the lord's house timber felled
in his woods. The Dean and Chapter of Carlisle were formerly obliged to
provide the tenants of the manor of Morland with wood for the reparation
of their houses. This was released by an endowment of L16 per annum,
being given by the Dean and Chapter to the school.
Boon services of all kinds were common in all the manors along what is
known as the eastern fell side--the base of Cross Fell, and north and
south thereof. Before they were enfranchised by Sir Michael le Fleming,
the tenants of Skirwith had to supply such boons as reaping, mowing,
ploughing, harrowing, carrying coals, and spinning a stipulated number of
hanks of yarn. Up to the latter half of last century each tenant of the
manor of Threlkeld was obliged to find half a draught for one day's
ploughing; give one day mowing, one day shearing, one day clipping, and
one day salving sheep; one carriage load once in two years, but not to go
above ten miles; and to dig and lead two loads of peats every year, the
tenants to have sufficient meat and drink when they performed these
services. The cottagers were to perform the same services, only instead of
half a plough they were to find one horse with a harrow, and a footman
instead of a carriage load. The tenants were also bound to the lord's
mill, pay the fortieth corn, and to maintain the wall and thatch of the
mill. The tenants had house-boot (wood for repairing their houses) as set
out by the lord's bailiff; peats, turves, ling, whins, limestone, and
marl, with stones and slate for building. About 1764, half the tenants
bought off these services at a cost of five guineas each, the mill service
only excepted. The tenements paid twopence each yearly as greenhue rent,
an impost which was once a common payment by Cumberland and Westmorland
manorial tenants; along with it in the Eskdale and Mitredale manors of the
Earls of Egremont was a due called "door-toll." What may have been the
origin of the latter seems to be now unknown.
At Parsonby, near Aspatria, the tenants had to give to the parson each one
boon day yearly at reaping. In the neighbouring parish of Blennerhasset
the tenants, besides being subjected to heriots, each provided one day at
mowing, shearing, ploughing, and meadows dressing, and two days leading
coals. Higher up the fells the score of tenants at High Ireby and
Ruthwaite, under Mr. Fletcher, had to give one day a year, or pay
threepence; one would suppose the most economical alternative was to pay
cash. At Egremont the burgesses who had ploughs were obliged to till the
lord's demesne one day in the year, but every burgess was required to
find a reaper. In one of the manors of the parish of Wetheral, the
tenants, in addition to their monetary payments, had to render to the
Aglionby family, of Nunnery, boon days shearing and leading corn, with a
certain quantity of oats called foster oats, six pecks being equal to four
of Carlisle measure. Various attempts have been made within recent years
to ascertain definitely what was the origin and meaning of the term.
Nicolson says it was "perhaps heretofore for the use of the foresters,
this part being within the forest of Inglewood." That this was probable is
also shown by a rule which existed in the barony of Greystoke, which was
held of the King _in capite_ by the service of one entire barony,
rendering L4 yearly at the fairs of Carlisle, suit at the County Court
monthly, and serving the King in person against Scotland. The lord's
tenants, of whom there were some hundreds early in this century, had to
pay "a 20d. fine on the death of lord or tenant, and a 30d. fine upon
alienation; also to pay foster rents, foster corn, mill rents, greenhue,
peat silver, and boons for mowing and leading peats."