At Carlisle and several other places the rules for the watch were among the most interesting and important items in the whole of
the rules concerning local government. On the coast at times very vigorous action was both required and taken. At Whitehaven, in
February, 1793, a meeting of the authorities was held "in consequence of the daring attempts made by the enemy in other places and
the dangers to which the port was formerly exposed." Orders were issued for mounting all the heavy guns, and for procuring am-
munition and other stores. Thirty-six weapons were mounted in six batteries; governors of these batteries were appointed, with other
officers. A nightly watch was set, and every precaution taken to prevent a surprise, or to resist any attack which might be made on the
port. Fortunately the precautions were not put to the test.
[Pg 20]Coming down to a much later period, but still connected with the protection of the two counties, a curious incident may be
recalled, if for no other reason than that it is impossible for such a contretemps ever to occur again. In 1807, after a ballot for the
Cumberland Militia, Penrith being the headquarters, an order arrived for the recruits to be marched up to the regiment. They were,
wrote an eye witness, accordingly mustered for that purpose in marching order, and, followed by many of the populace, arrived at
Eamont Bridge, where the sister counties of Cumberland and Westmorland divide. Here there was a sudden halt. They would not
cross the bridge without their county guinea. After some altercation, and promises by Colonel Lacy and other gentlemen that they
should be paid on joining the regiment, which promises were of no avail, they were counter-marched to Penrith. For three succes-
sive days they were thus marched, and still halted at the division of the counties. The lower orders of the populace took part with
the soldiers, and a riot ensued, in which Colonel Lacy, the commanding officer, was very roughly handled. The consequence was
that a troop of Enniskillen Dragoons was sent for from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and[Pg 21] arrived in Penrith on the morning of the
third day. A hard black frost was set in at the time, and the horses being "slape shod," they were falling in every direction. They were
marched along with the recruits, who again stopped at the bridge. The populace was still unruly; the dragoons loaded their firepieces;
the Riot Act was read, and the word "March" was given; but it was of no avail. A general cry was then raised that they would be
satisfied with the promise of Colonel Hasell of Dalemain, but of no other man. Mr. Hasell came forward, and in a short, manly ad-
dress, gave his promise that they should be paid on joining the regiment, and with cheers for the Colonel, they at once marched off.
[Pg 22]
Fighting Bishops and Fortified Churches.
THE ecclesiastical history of Cumberland and Westmorland is curiously interwoven with that of secular affairs. This to a large extent arises from the geographical position of the diocese of Carlisle--and particularly of the diocese before its extension in 1856, up to which year it was the smallest in England. The Bishop of Carlisle in bygone centuries had always to take a leading part in fighting schemes, and as the churches would be the only substantial structures in some villages, they naturally came to be put to other uses
than those of worship.
The bishopric was indeed a unique district. Carlisle was the great Border fortress of the West Marches; the Bishop was invariably a Lord Marcher, and often Captain of the Castle. In copies which Halucton (Halton) caused to be extracted from the Great Roll of the Exchequer, frequent references are made to expenses incurred during a siege. These are believed to refer to 1295-6, when the Earl of Buchan and Wallace assailed the city, and when the Bishop was[Pg 23] apparently Warden. The ecclesiasts during many hundreds of years must have been almost as familiar with the touch of armour as with that of their sacred robes. Writing on this subject over a century ago a Cumberland authority said:--
"As an example of the prevailing humour of those martial times, what sort of priest must we suppose Cressingham to have been, who never wore any coat that is accounted characteristic of a profession, but that in which he was killed, namely, an iron one. Beck, the fighting Bishop, was so turbulent a mortal that the English King, in order to keep him within bounds, was obliged to take from him a part of those possessions which he earned in battle, and in particular the livings of Penrith and Symond-Burne. But not to mention Thurstan, who fought the battle of the Standard, there are sufficient reasons for believing that most of the priests in the northern parts of England had a double profession, and they are so often mentioned as principals in these continual wars that one
7
cannot help concluding that the martial one was more attended to. When the pastors are such, what must the people be?"
There was a very interesting quarrel--the facts being too numerous to be stated here--concerning the manor of Penrith, and
those in some other parts of East Cumberland. They were in the possession of John de Baliol, by virtue of an agreement come to
between the Kings of England and Scotland, but afterwards Edward the First quarrelled with Baliol, seized his lands, and[Pg 24]
granted them to Anthony Beck, the military Bishop of Durham already mentioned. That prelate had assisted the King at the battle
of Falkirk, with a considerable number of soldiers, and was greatly instrumental in obtaining the victory. When the Parliament met
at Carlisle, however, the grant was disapproved, and as the Bishop did not attend to show by what title he had taken the lands, they
were adjudged to belong to the Crown.
The manuscripts of the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle contain many references to the knowledge of war required by the early Bishops. When Linstock was the episcopal residence, it lay exposed to the incursions of the Scots, whose respect of persons, as Mr. C. J. Ferguson has reminded us, was small. In April, 1309, Bishop Halton excused himself from obeying a summons to Parliament, plead-ing both fear of a Scots invasion and bad health as reasons. Later correspondence showed that the Bishop had been employed by the King as his deputy in suppressing outrages in the West March, and desired to be freed from some of his duties. The King therefore absolved the prelate from the duties to which he objected, but begged him to assume the[Pg 25] remainder of the offices in his commission, so as to restrain the lawlessness prevailing on both sides of the Border.
The difficulties of defence, or the constant annoyance, became so great that in 1318 Edward the Second obtained from the Pope the
appropriation to the bishopric of Carlisle of the church of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, to be a place of refuge for the Bishop and his
successors during the ravages of the northern enemy. Thomas de Lucy, upon the invasion of the Scots in 1346, "joined his strength
with the Bishop of Carlisle [Welton], and so alarmed the enemy in the night-time, by frequent entering into their quarters, that at
length they fled into their own country. And a truce shortly after ensuing, he was again joined in commission with the same Bishop
and others to see the same duly observed." The Bishop was soon afterwards constituted one of the commissioners for the arraying
of men in the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland for the defence of the Borders, the French then threatening an invasion.