Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland

The information contained in the following pages has been derived from many sources during the last twenty years, and in a considerable 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 archæological 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

INDEX 257

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 Robert 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 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.