There is a curious story attaching to some of the woodwork of Greystoke Church. The misereres under the choir stalls are very quaintly carved, and one of them, "the pelican in her piety," was for many years used as the sign of an inn near the church. From this circumstance the hostelry lost its old name, the "Masons' Arms," and acquired the modern one of the "Pelican."
Although schools in churches were very common, the holding of Courts in such buildings could not have been frequent. At Raven-
stonedale, 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[Pg 59] 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 belong-
ing 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[Pg 60] 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."
15
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[Pg 61] 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[Pg 62] 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
PS1 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, PS01 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 PS01 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 PS01 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 Tor-
penhow 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[Pg 63] 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."
[Pg 64]
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[Pg 65] 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