Project 's Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland, by Daniel Scott
Title: Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland
Author: Daniel Scott
Release Date: October 31, 2011 [EBook #37891] Language: English
*** BYGONE CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND ***
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BYGONE CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND.
THE LEPERS' SQUINT, ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH, BROUGH-UNDER-STAINMORE.
From a Photo by Mr. George Arkwright, Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S.A.
Bygone Cumberland and
Westmorland
By Daniel Scott
1
LONDON:
WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., 5, FARRINGDON AVENUE, E.C.
1899.
TO EMMA.
Preface.
THE information contained in the following pages has been derived from many sources during the last twenty years, and in a con-
siderable number of cases I have examined old registers and other documents without being then aware that some of their contents
had already been published.
Few districts in the United Kingdom have been more thoroughly "worked" for antiquarian and archaeological purposes than have Cumberland and Westmorland. The Antiquarian Society and the numerous Literary and Scientific Societies have, during the last thirty years, been responsible for a great amount of research. I have endeavoured to acknowledge each source--not only as a token of my own obligation, but as a means of directing others wishing further information on the various points.
I also desire to acknowledge the help received in various ways from numerous friends in the two counties.
Daniel Scott.
Penrith, June 1st, 1899.
Contents.
PAGE
An Unparalleled Sheriffwick 1
Watch and Ward 9
Fighting Bishops and Fortified Churches 22
Some Church Curiosities 38
Manorial Laws and Curiosities of Tenures 64
Old-Time Punishments 91
Some Legends and Superstitions 130
Four Lucks 148
Some Old Trading Laws and Customs 155
Old-Time Home Life 169
Sports and Festivities 188
On the Road 209
Old Customs 223
Old School Customs 240
2
Index 257
[Pg 1]
Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland.
An Unparalleled Sheriffwick.
FOR a period of 645 years--from 1204 to 1849--Westmorland, unlike other counties in England (excluding, of course, the counties
Palatine), had no Sheriff other than the one who held the office by hereditary right. The first Sheriff of the county is mentioned in
1160, and nine or ten other names occur at subsequent periods, until in 1202, the fourth year of the reign of King John, came Rob-
ert de Vetripont. Very soon afterwards the office was made hereditary in his family "to have and to hold of the King and his heirs."
The honour and privileges were possessed by no less than twenty-two of Robert's descendants. Their occupation of the office covers
some very exciting periods of county history, the tasks committed to the Sheriffs in[Pg 2] former centuries being frequently of an
arduous as well as dangerous character.
The Sheriff had very important duties of a military character to carry out. Thus in the sixth year of Henry the Third we have the command from the King to the Sheriff of Westmorland that without any delay he should summon the earls, barons, knights, and freeholders of his bailiwick, and that he should hasten to Cockermouth and besiege the castle there, afterwards destroying it to its
very foundations. This order was a duplicate of one sent to the Sheriff of Yorkshire concerning Skipton Castle and other places. It is not known, however, whether the instructions respecting Cockermouth were carried out or not.
The powers of Sheriff not being confined to the male members of the family, the histories of Westmorland contain the unusual information that at least two women occupied, by right of office, seats on the bench alongside the Judges. The first of these was Isabella de Clifford, widow of Robert, and, wrote the historian Machell, "She sate as is said in person at Apelby as Sheriff of the county, and died about 20 of Edward I." The other case was that of the still more powerful, strenuous, and gifted woman, Anne, Countess[Pg 3] of Pembroke. Of her it is recorded that she not only took her seat on the bench, but "rode on a white charger as Sheriffess of Westmorland, before the Judges to open the Assizes." It will not be forgotten that territorial lords and ladies in bygone times held Courts of their own in connection with their manors and castles. The Rev. John Wharton, Vicar of South Stainmore, in a communication to the writer some time ago said: "From documents shown me by the late John Hill, Esq., Castle Bank, Appleby, the great but somewhat masculine Anne, Countess of Pembroke and Montgomery, seemed partial to Courts of her own. She sat upon many offenders as a judge, and it is handed down that she executed divers persons for treasonous designs and plotting against her estate."
The Memoranda Rolls belonging to the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, show the mode of presenting or nominating the Sheriff for
Westmorland in the time of the Cliffords, his admittance to the office by the Barons of the Exchequer, and his warrant for execut-
ing it. From the Rolls of the 15th, 19th, and 23rd years of Edward the First, when the Sheriffwick passed into the family of the
Cliffords, it seems that the right of appointment[Pg 4] was the subject of litigation between the two daughters and heiresses of the
last of the Vetriponts. This ended in an agreement that the elder sister should "present" to, and the younger should "approve" the
appointment. In this way Robert de Moreville was admitted to the office of Sheriff in the fifteenth year of Edward's reign, Gilbert
de Burneshead three years later, and Ralph de Manneby in 1295, each swearing faithfully to execute his office and answer to both
daughters. On the death of the sisters the Sheriffwick became vested in Robert de Clifford, son and heir of the eldest, and continued
in the possession of his descendants until the attainder in 1461.
The list of Sheriffs is, of course, a very long one, and even allowing for the large number of individuals who have left nothing more than their names, there is much material for interesting study in the histories of the others. The actual work was rarely done by the holders of the office. "The functionaries who performed the duties were simply deputies for the Sheriff, and although we find them
attesting many ancient charters and grants relating to the county, recording themselves as Vice-Comites (or Sheriffs), they[Pg 5] sim-
ply executed the office as Pro-Vice-Comites (or Under-Sheriffs). The attainder of the Cliffords during the Wars of the Roses, until
its reversal in the first year of Henry the Sixth, causes a void as regards their family, their places being filled from among the sup-
porters of the House of York."[1] For a considerable period Westmorland was treated as part of