Our future programme 2019

12 Sep The 1st Battalion of the Border Regiment at Stuart Eastwood 2019 the Battle of Arnhem, 1944 27 Sep Bernard Bradbury Memorial Lecture. Castles Professor Richard 2019 and Conquests: castle-building and the Oram August 2019 8pm control of , 1092-1237, Cockermouth Tickets £4.50 Contents Civic Trust, with Cockermouth Heritage Group from Kirkgate On display are the oldest and L&DFLHS. Kirkgate Centre, 8pm Centre, Sept. mechanically powered boat in the 10 Oct 25th Anniversary Lecture. Lordship and Professor Angus Future Programme world, the oldest yacht, the oldest 2019 Manor: the Norman imprint on the Society’s Winchester Our Autumn Outing 1 steam screw yacht in England, area of interest Our Programme 2 workshops for restoration and repair, 30 Oct Autumn outing by coach to the Windermere Contact Tim Two foundational lectures 3 artefacts relating to the site’s industrial 2019 Jetty Museum and the Armitt Library Stanley-Clamp on Society News past, and ’s rowing boat. 01900 336542 Forthcoming book 4 14 Nov Roman Roads through the lakes Dr Paul Hindle Subscriptions in 2020 4 2019 Additions to the website 4 Talks are at the Yew Tree Hall at 7.30pm unless stated otherwise. Visitors £3. Please do not Request for information 5 park to the left of the entrance (looking from outside) as the road is narrow.

Meeting Reports Officers and Committee 2018/19 Talk: Viking longhouses in Cumbria 5 Outing to Yanwath Hall and Penrith 6 President, Professor Angus Winchester Financial examiner, Peter Hubbard

Talk: A social history of Charles Lambrick 01900 85710 Tim Stanley-Clamp 01900 Loweswater 8 Chairman Vice-chair 336542 The new museum has received Talk: Cumbria's explosive coast 9 Outings many glowing reviews – one at Dr Derek Denman 01900 829097 Christopher Thomas 01900 https://www.familyadventureproject.o Articles Secretary derekdenman@bt Treasurer 822171 rg/windermere-jetty-museum-review- Taking a pew in 1827: the new internet.com best-lake-district-activities/ gives an chapel in Loweswater 11 Lena Stanley-Clamp 01900 336542 Mike Bacon Richard idea of its appeal - and we believe it will The Inebriates at Hassness 18 Membership [email protected] Fiona Lambrick Easton provide a stimulating and entertaining Hugh Thomson Committee day out. members Autumn Visit to the The Armitt Museum has

Windermere Jetty Museum enormous appeal and our visit will and Armitt Museum coincide with the last days of the very Diary date , well received exhibition Langdale; In a Time of Change. Wednesday 30 October 5 October. Cumbria Local History Federation Annual Convention. AGM, displays and conference, with the theme ‘All at sea’. At the Helena Thompson Museum, The Society’s second visit of the year Workington, 10am-4pm. Cost £12 including lunch. will be to the brand-new Windermere Jetty Musuem. Opened very recently The next Wanderer will be published on 1 November 2019. Please send items to on the site of the former Steamboat Derek Denman, by early October. Museum, the new building seeks to recreate and celebrate the splendid era Published by the Lorton & Derwent Fells Local History Society, 19 Low Road Close, of a century or so ago where industry Cockermouth CA13 0GU. Osprey, 1902 and leisure cohabited on the shores of http://www.derwentfells.com …continued on page 3 https://www.facebook.com/Lortonlocalhistorysociety Windermere at Bowness.

1 2

… from page 1 September Professor Richard Oram will Forthcoming Book on our loved place. More than that, it teaches The arrangements for the day: present the Bernard Bradbury us how to look at landscape afresh and Depart Cockermouth: approx. Memorial Lecture on Castles and area through a deeper understanding of its 9.30am - tbc Conquests: castle-building and the history appreciate it all the more. It is always a pleasure to see that a Arrival: 10.30am control of Cumbria 1092-1237. This You will find yourself looking at ‘Conservation Conversation’: will be followed on 10 October by new book by our Society President, the magnificent scenery of the Lake 11.00am where we find out more about Professor Angus Winchester’s 25th Professor Angus Winchester, is District in a completely different way. the restoration and conservation work. Anniversary Lecture Lordship and imminent. This time it is particularly Museum: from 11.00am timed entry Manor: the Norman imprint on the welcome because he makes our ‘patch’ Release Date: 1 November 2019 session. We anticipate the time to fully Society’s area of interest. the subject of his latest study. The Price: £10 explore the galleries and boathouse will As the Romans did before them, book will be available in November and Publisher: Handstand Press, East be around one and a half hours. the Normans created a division we will advise in our next Wanderer on Banks, Dent. Heritage boat trip (optional): between south and north Britain, how to obtain a copy. Meanwhile, we 11.45am for those who would like to becoming England and Scotland. That include the advance publicity: Subscriptions in 2020 experience a steamboat ride from the division, at first unstable, provided a Derek Denman very earliest years of the last century political and military context for the The proposal to make an increase in (max 12, extra cost of £10 on the day) civil and religious control of the existing The Language of the subscriptions was discussed in the May Lunch: 12.30pm and developing population of north- Wanderer. Following the AGM the Landscape: a Journey into Lake Arrive Armitt Museum, Ambleside: west England. The two lectures will Committee has confirmed that the 2.00 pm provide a foundational overview of the District History subscriptions from 2020 will be £10 per Return: arrive Cockermouth 4 pm events and structures which defined by Angus J L Winchester annum for full membership and £8 for the local history of our area. an additional member at the same Reserving a place Richard Oram will cover the period ‘If we can learn its language, the address. There are a few existing The cost will be £22.50 for the coach from William Rufus's seizure of Carlisle landscape has much to tell us, ‘country members’ who pay £5, and admission to both museums. to the treaty that ended Scottish kings' through its place-names, through without the talks. Lunch will be extra, and as noted claims to England's northern counties. tangible features and through the The Committee expects these above, those wanting a nineteenth ‘This talk explores the planting of accumulation of memory reflected new subscriptions to allow the Society century steamboat experience will pay castles in Cumberland and North back from particular places’ Angus to maintain the current full programme an extra £10. (We must book this in Westmorland, from Brough Winchester and the extended Wanderer for several advance. So be sure to indicate clearly and Appleby to Cockermouth and Inspired by a life-long connection years, as well as allowing occasional if you want to book this.) Egremont, looking at their siting and with a Lakeland valley, Angus special projects to be funded. Please send your name and a purpose, and their changing form as Winchester draws on extensive Derek Denman deposit of £10 per person, as soon as their owners tried to accommodate research to discover something Secretary is convenient, to T Stanley-Clamp, 3 often conflicting demands for defence, intangible – the effect of place on our South Lodge, Simonscales Lane, residence, administration and lordly imagination. Accompanying him on a Additions to our Website Cockermouth, CA13 9FB. Cheques display into their buildings.’ journey from Cockermouth through the by Derek Denman payable to ‘L&DFLHS’. Angus Winchester will explore the Vale of Lorton, to Crummock Water and

For more information, or to manorial, religious and civil structures Buttermere, part of the he With the creation and development of reserve a place, call Tim Stanley-Clamp developed in Cumberland over this has known intimately since childhood, our Facebook page, the website is on 01900 336542 same period, taking this forward into we learn how clues to the evolution, becoming more of a respository of the creation of manors, parishes and history and culture of the Lakeland historical work, sources, and townships. The focus will be on the land landscape may be found in the names Society News information. The Facebook page is the and people dominated by the castle- given to its farms, becks, villages, place where our current programme towns of Cockermouth and Egremont, fields and boundaries The language of and historical topics are discussed, Two Foundational lectures which of course includes all the the landscape can ‘speak’ to us, not linking to website content as townships covered by our Society. only in place-names but also in tangible appropriate. You can read this without This Autumn provides a unique These two lectures will provide a features and through layers of memory having a Facebook account, but you opportunity for society members to unique opportunity to examine the and meaning built up across the will need one to participate. gain an insight into the Norman Norman imprint in our area. centuries. https://www.facebook.com/Lortonloca conquest and civil settlement in our Derek Denman This book is a personal journey in lhistorysociety area of western Britain. On 27 search of the essential spirit of a much- 3 4

The publications page on the subsequently been called Walker’s settlements in Cumbria and proved Summer Outing to Yanwath website, www.derwentfells.com, will Gully. especially useful in identifying Hall and Penrith - 22 May increasingly contain or link to the work Any photos of farming at Low or dwellings of Scandinavian origin. of our members, and you can now read High Gillerthwaite Farms prior to the Much of the talk described the or download our book, Wordsworth and arrival of the forestry.’ findings from an excavation at Bryant’s The Society’s outing in May to Yanwath the Famous Lorton Yew-tree, which has Gill, in the Kentmere Valley, an upland Hall and to Penrith took place on a been out of print for many years. Would anyone who can help please site set in the middle of a prehistoric lovely breezy early summer’s day. It Our features page includes the contact Stephen on landscape which after intensive was very ably organised by Tim text and images of various talks given [email protected] analysis was found to have strong Stanley-Clamp, and for the 25 on local historical subjects, including similarities with sites of the same members who participated it is likely to the recent talk on Loweswater. Meeting Reports period found in Norway. stand out vividly in their memories as Our sources page now contains a About 500 square metres of turf a particularly interesting day. collection of booklets produced on the were removed to reveal the outline of In the morning, we were very churches in our area, plus the Talk: Viking Longhouses in a building which has unmistakable fortunate to have the opportunity of fascinating will of Richard Robynson, Cumbria - 9 May Scandinavian features. Carbon dating visiting Yanwath Hall, by kind clerk, died 1549, with a transcription suggested two dates for this structure, permission of David Altham who lives by Roger Asquith. Steve Dickinson’s highly detailed, from c.760-800 AD and from 800-975 there and runs the adjacent farm. The More will be included. Please stimulating talk last May provided a AD. In all likelihood, the building was Hall is not open to the public but is an watch out for new additions and let me compelling account of recent constructed first in timber and then outstanding example of a fortified have any suggestions for content. discoveries by archaeologists at a site dismantled to be rebuilt in stone. house, and considered by Matthew in Kentmere which have added Several important artefacts were Hyde in the second edition of the Request for Information significantly to our knowledge of discovered, including a cornelian gem Cumbria volume of Pevsner’s Buildings Scandinavian settlement in Cumbria. stone, iron slag from metal work, of England to be ‘Arguably the best of We have received an enquiry from He balanced a principled reluctance to honestones and spindlewhorls which all Cumbria’s towered houses, Stephen Reid, who asks: engage in abstract speculation about had been lathe-turned and were made providing generously for comfort and ‘I am just getting in touch as I am the mysteriousness of Viking from shale. It seems that the Kentmere self-sufficiency as well as defence. It writing a history of climbing on Pillar settlement in this area with an Valley provided the Viking settlers with stands on the steep S bank of the River Rock. I hope to have this ready to infectious enthusiasm in showing his a familiar environment, furnished with Eamont at that most strategic spot publish in 2026 which will be 200 years audience what is securely known, the minerals and physical resources where all the N-S routes cross between after the first ascent of Pillar Rock. I thanks, it must be said, in large part to they needed to ply their ingenuity and Westmoreland and Cumberland’. wrote the latest FRCC guidebook his own work as an archaologist. establish a prosperous, successful Although the Hall and associated (2007) to Pillar and probably know the One of the problems faced by community. There is no way to be buildings can enticingly be seen across crag and climbs on it better than historians of the Viking presence in the certain but it appears that this area the roofs of modern barns when anyone else. Northwest of Britain is that all the was settled and worked successfully travelling by train a little south of I am trying to track down a contemporary accounts of the relevant well into the medieval period. Penrith, it is otherwise rather hidden number of things and wondered if you period were produced by Anglo- Many in the audience will have away. Nevertheless, members or your members might be able to help. Saxons. The Scandinavians left been struck by the sheer difficulty of managed to find their way and duly Any early mentions of Pillar Rock virtually no written history of their life in this period, in this landscape, gathered in the farmyard at the prior to Wordsworth’s poem, The early arrival in and settlement of when we compare it to the altogether appointed hour. Having been Brothers. Britain, and this problem is felt most in softer environments the Danish welcomed by David Altham, we The burial place of John Atkinson Cumbria where there is very little settlers found east of the Pennines, let listened to his introduction to the of Croftfoot, Ennerdale who made the evidence of their presence. alone to the lives we lead today. Steve history of the Hall as we stood in the first ascent in 1826 (and indeed, any To add to the challenges faced by Dickinson’s talk illuminated and three-sided courtyard to its north. Its information about him). historians, there is little to link celebrated the knowledge, skills and origins date from the turn of the th th The burial place of Thomas particular sites to the Vikings, probably character which those early settlers 14 /15 Century. After he had pointed Walker (17yrs) of Whitehaven who was because they seem to have frequently from Scandinavia brought to this out some of the external architectural was killed on Good Friday 1883 when made use of earlier Roman and wilder, less forgiving part of Britain. features, we were ushered inside he fell the length of the gully splitting Neolithic settlements. Studies of the Tim Stanley-Clamp where we learnt more about the the North Face of the crag which has known Viking villages at the Brough of building’s history while standing in the Birsary, on Orkney, and at Jarsholf on actual hall. Already, a strong sensation Shetland helped guide the search for of stepping back in time was apparent, 5 6 and this became increasingly Arms. Apart from explaining its history two baronies and how land ownership so as members explored the and its association with King Richard in the vicinity of Loweswater tower rooms set one above III, Professor Mullet drew amusing subsequently devolved over the the other. Having noted attention to points of ambiguity to be following four hundred years. He made interesting internal seen in the armorial above the principal the point that in the mid twelfth architectural details, door. He rounded off the all-too-brief century what was then the chapel of members were all agile and tour of the centre of Penrith with a Loweswater and the adjacent Kirkstile intrepid enough to climb the short history of Robinson’s School, (now the Inn) were in common narrow and steep spiral which later became Penrith Grammar ownership. The economic life of the staircase to reach the roof of School, the original site for which is inhabitants was focused on sheep the tower from which a situated at the north end of Middlegate. farming throughout the mediaeval greater understanding of the After Professor Mullet had been period. Indeed, that has continued to Hall’s strategic position set warmly thanked for a most interesting be a common thread connecting pre- above the Eamont could be guided tour, some members proceeded Conquest times with the present. appreciated. to walk through Little Dockray into Derek turned next to the Tudor The sense of history at Middlegate in order to make their way and Stuart periods, when land Yanwath Hall was very to Robinson’s School building which ownership began to become more manifest, partly because it has now houses the Penrith Museum. The diverse. The Reformation had a direct remained in private hands largely Examining the Giant’s Grave significance of some of the exhibits in impact on ownership of land in unaltered for many centuries and the it could be appreciated all the better as Loweswater. He cited as a striking tower has been uninhabited since the west tower is of 13th century origin, the a result of what Professor Mullet had example King Henry VIII’s forfeiture of 18th century. The absence of warning body of the church is early 18th imparted to us during the afternoon’s land formerly belonging to the powerful signs and guard rails etc, so prevalent century, reminiscent of the baroque tour. Percy family and sale to a prominent in other historic buildings, was very style of Hawkesmoor or Wren. The outing more than lived up to local figure, Richard Robynson. Among refreshing, and certainly didn’t deter Professor Mullet provided us with an its promise, and I’m sure I can express other interesting aspects of this period, members – rather the reverse, in fact historical overview and drew attention on behalf of all members who Derek drew attention to Robynson’s – from exploring the interstices and to, among other points of interest, the participated very grateful thanks to Will, a facsimile of which plus upper parts of the building. paintings at the east end by Jacob Tim Stanley-Clamp for having arranged transcription by Roger Asquith, Having expressed grateful thanks Thompson. the day so well. together with other facsimiles of to David Altham, members went by car The party then proceeded to walk Charles Lambrick important Loweswater-related the short distance to the Yanwath Gate through the Market Square and Angel documents, were on display in the Hall. Inn for lunch. The party was well Lane to the Two Lions Inn which, Talk: A social History of These included the significant having been unused for a long time, is looked after there, and following Loweswater – 14 June agreement made 400 years ago in suitable refreshment proceeded to the in the course of renovation. The 1619 whereby local people purchased centre of Penrith to park prior to the building is a fairly substantial one, more secure tenant ownership rights. Following the Society’s Annual General afternoon’s guided tour of some of the having as its origins the New Hall which The third period of Loweswater’s Meeting on 14 June, Derek Denman town’s historic buildings. had been purchased by Gerard Lowther social history covered by Derek was the addressed a full Yew Tree Hall on a Tim Stanley-Clamp had arranged in 1584. External features were noted later 18th century onwards. He referred subject of immediate local interest: A for the eminent historian and Penrith and although access to the interior was not only to the development of early Social History of Loweswater through expert, Professor Michael Mullet, to be not possible, members were able to tourism in the area, but also to the Three periods of Change. It was the party’s guide. We met him outside peer through the windows and get a impact of the wealthy John Marshall of pleasing that he continued the tradition St Andrew’s Church where he provided sense of its layout. Leeds who in the early 19th century that, if feasible, a member delivers this an admirably clear and concise Professor Mullet, whose erudition purchased the manors of Loweswater, particular Talk in the Society’s annual exposition by way of an introduction to and pithy turn of phrase was much Thackthwaite, and Brackenthwaite. He programme. It was notable that the some of Penrith’s interesting history. appreciated throughout the tour, then wanted to plant much woodland, and in subject attracted many visitors. Having examined the ‘Giant’s Grave’ in led the party through the passage at 1819 drew up plans for proposed The first period covered was the the churchyard, a composite the east end of the Two Lions Inn into changes for his manors. However, he post-Norman ‘political’ settlement in monument of the 10th century which Great Dockray. Here members clashed with the tenant owners about what became part of Cumberland. includes hogbacks and two crosses, gathered outside the 16th century the planned changes and stalemate Derek explained how large tracts of and learnt something of its history, we building formerly known as Dockray between them ensued until his death in land had initially been split between entered the church. While the massive Hall and more recently The Gloucester 1845. The consequence was that little 7 8

Talk: Cumbria’s explosive coast – 11 July

The talk given by Bill Myers on

the 11 July dealt with a previously overlooked but significant part of Cumbria's history. The excellent and often rare accompanying photographs indeed set the tone for the evening by starting with one of a controlled explosion on Drigg Beach. The end of the nineteenth Century had seen mounting anxieties with the military might of nations like Germany, hostile to British interests. In 1897 Vickers Sons and Maxim, formed through a merger with the Barrow Naval Construction & Armament Company, obtained firing rights over the foreshore near Bootle, establishing the The explosive manufactured was firing range was taken over by the Henry VIII on the grant of the manors Eskmeals artillery range This enabled TNT (Trinitrotoluene) which was military. WW2 saw Barrow come under of Loweswater and Thackthwaite to the guns of all sizes that Vickers replacing the much more expensive attack on several occasions, but the Richard Robynson in 1546 manufactured for army and navy and dangerous Lyddite in general use in ranges and munition factories survived. contracts (and including weapons of the forces. The plant for production of The nearest incident which could have in the landscape or in the sheep friendly nations) to be individually test TNT was complicated by the series of been a disaster was the explosion of a farming way of life in Loweswater fired out to sea. The coastal section of stages involved in adding oxides of burning train load of depth charges changed. Indeed, during the following the railway allowed branch line spurs nitrogen to the toluene base, each which occurred just outside Bootle but 200 years little has altered because into the facility allowing even the stage in the process being carried out with only one unfortunate casualty, due enclosure only took place in the 1860s, largest weapons access to the range. th in a dedicated building separated from to the quick thinking of a railway and in the 20 century the preservation During the war, Vickers ran the firing the others for safety reasons. The final employee. movement developed. range and the production of explosives stage involved filling the empty shell After the war the ordinance A transcript of the notes Derek on behalf of the Ministry of Munitions. cases with molten TNT and then factory at Windscale became the site of Denman used for what was a very well- WW1 saw a huge recruitment screwing on the fuse caps. Needless to a plutonium separation plant followed received Talk, along with the slides (in drive and the establishment of say, there were many serious accidents in 1956 by the Calder Hall Nuclear their full form rather than the partial sufficient accommodation for all the over the war years in both wars. Power Station. Part of the foreshore at form displayed during the Talk because workers needed in the range and Peace time brought some return Drigg beach became a depository of of technical problems), can be found on explosive works. Holmrook Hall and to normality and as the country turned low-level Nuclear waste. Apart from the Society’s website at nearby Greengarth Hall were quickly its back on munitions the plant was the Eskmeals firing range, which is still http://derwentfells.com/features/featu taken into charge to house much of the abandoned and became derelict leaving functioning under new management, res.html workforce which in common with other few traces but eventually war nothing of the wartime activities on the Charles Lambrick strategic industries in war time threatened and re-armament saw Cumbrian coast can be seen. contained a preponderance of women. rebuilt and new facilities open at Mike Bacon Eskmeals, Bootle and Calder Hall. The 9 10

Taking a Pew in 1827: the the 12th Century, were in a similar Loweswater had increased by 50% combination of pulpit, reading desk and new Chapel in Loweswater condition to the Loweswater chapel from 294 in 1801 to 440 in 1821, the clerk’s desk) located, in the absence of In 1773, the tiny chapel at new building was constructed on the a chancel, between the first three rows by Hugh Thomson Mosser was rebuilt, after being down foundations of the building which of pews. All these were lost when the

for about 100 years. In 1805 John preceded it, 67 feet long and 27 feet 8 church was modified in 1886.5 In 1824, four local landowners, John Sibson, the curate in Lorton, told the inches wide. It was completed and The committee (John Hudson, Hudson, John Bell, Jonathan Pearson Bishop that ‘the villagers take their consecrated in 1829, and has survived John Bell, Isaac Dodgson and Joseph and Joseph Iredell, forming ‘a lives in their hands’ by entering hs to the present day, though extensively Iredell) raised the money required to committee nominated by the church, and proposed to use a local remodelled in 1884-6. fund the rebuilding and fitting out (said parishioners and inhabitants of the farmhouse for services! According to The entrance was at the west end to be around £1,200, equivalent to chapelry of Loweswater in vestry Sibson ‘the parishioners ... proposed to (the porch on the north wall was added £130,000 today) by selling ‘sittings’ in assembled,’ found Loweswater’s repair the said Chapel and ... took in 1886). The font was placed near the the new church. A faculty approving medieval chapel to be ‘in such a down a part of both the East and West entrance on the south side, underneath this and detailing the allocation of pews ruinous and decayed state that divine ends of the same, when to their great a gallery reached by a spiral stair on is available for inspection in the service could not safely be performed astonishment they discovered that the the north side. Ahead, at ground level, Whitehaven records office. In total, therein.’ Lancaster Dodgson, d.1828, interior part of the walls was filled with there were 13 rows of ‘large, roomy, 190 ‘sittings’ were paid for; 26 seats in the second son of Lancaster Dodgson clay. ... This being the case, a great high-backed pews with doors’ on each the gallery were allocated to the choir, of Shatton Hall in Embleton (Journal part of the said Chapel tumbled down.’ side of a central aisle. These pews were 6 ‘sittings’ were reserved for ‘occupiers 45), after taking his M.A. at Queen’s A faculty was granted, and ‘the re- for the congregation; the choir was of property belonging to the curate’ College, Oxford and a period as curate edification of the said Chapel’ was posted up above, in the gallery. When and there were 42 ‘free sittings.’ of Embleton, had been presented in completed in 1809, followed, ‘at the a Psalm was to be sung, the clerk told Pew rights were controversial. 1811 by the Earl of Lonsdale as Curate expense of the Parish’, by the the congregation to turn around and They were elitist, tending to exclude to Loweswater.1 He had moved on in construction of a tower.2 face the choir. He then marched down poorer parishioners and encourage 1817 to become Vicar of Brough, In 1806, Lancaster Dodgson, as the aisle and blew on a square pitch- them to defect to dissenting chapels, leaving Loweswater to an assistant curate of Embleton, rebuilt the church pipe to give the choir a note.4 but Sir John Nicholl, Dean of the curate, and seems to have played little in Embleton, possibly at his own In the absence of a chancel Arches, held in 1821 that an exclusive or no part in proceedings. The initiative expense, for a total cost of £428-8s-4d (added in 1886), the altar was placed right to a pew could be granted by to rebuild the church came from the (the quality of the work was considered against the east wall, in front of a plain faculty to a parishioner. He observed leading parishioners, not from the ‘inferior’ and this church had to be window. As can be seen in the that ‘[pew] faculties have certainly clerical hierarchy. rebuilt in 1884).3 illustration, the (surviving) board been granted in former times with too 195 years ago, Britain was a The Chapel in Loweswater, a part inscribed with the Ten great facility. ... By the general law ... world power, with a rapidly expanding of the Parish of St. Bees, may have Commandments, flanked by the Creed all the pews in a parish church are the population, an army and navy which been rather better cared for. In 1751, and the Lord’s Prayer, was placed common property of the parish ... for had played a major role in the final according to the Register, the roof had behind the altar, against the east the use in common of the parishioners.’ defeat of Napoleon and an overseas been taken off the body of the church window. The internal furniture, empire which, despite difficulty with and the south side slated with Ewe probably rescued from the original The floor plan of the new Chapel the North American colonists, retained Crag slate. In 1753 the roof was taken church, included a ‘three-decker’ (a Canada, held more than a foothold in off the chancel and a great part of the India and Africa and had already church was plastered. In 1778 ‘the established colonies in Australia. church was ‘ceiled, flagged and pewed, William Wordsworth, now aged 57, was and a new pulpit and reading desk were living at Rydal Mount and fully then made in it.’ reconciled with Coleridge. The West The committee resolved to ‘re- Cumbrian coal magnate William erect and rebuild the Chapel or edifice Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale, had rebuilt intended for a chapel [!] upon the site Lowther Hall. But local churches in of the old chapel.’ Although census West Cumbria, many of them built in figures show that the population of

1 See L&DFLHS Journal 45 for this family. 3 Raymond Hartland, A short history of 2 Cannon Farrer, Lorton and its Church, Saint Cuthbert, Embleton 4 John Bolton, Lorton and Loweswater 80 5 Ames & Edwards, The Parish Curch of St 1946 years ago, 1891, p.17 Bartholomew, Loweswater 11 12

But until 1963 a parishioner could enforce a pew right by an action for ‘perturbation of seat’ in the ecclesiastical courts. Since 1963, a pew right can be enforced only in the secular courts, if at all. The official document gives us the names of the subscribers and enables us to create the plan of the seating arrangements on pages 14&15. 42 individuals and one couple (Jonathan and Jane Iredale) subscribed; two of the subscribers were women. In many cases, subscribers paid for more seats than they and their immediate families would occupy. It is significant that the allocation provides 6 seats for ‘occupants of property belonging to the curate’, showing that a landowner might be responsible for providing seats for his tenants as well as for himself. The document provides a remarkable and detailed insight into the character of Loweswater society in The east window and pews before 1884 1827. This article is intended to introduce the subject: I hope, in future master at Loweswater School if any of articles, to be able to go into further the children did not make their detail on the subject, by exploring the “honours”. The children would character and history of the families complain “She never gave us owt, nut who were present in St. Bartholomew’s a laal apple”.6 church in 1829, when the Bishop of Joseph Skelton was only 53, with Chester presided over the consecration a wife, Mary, aged 50, three young service. daughters and an even younger son, First off the mark as subscribers born in 1821. His great-nephew, were the Hudsons of Kirkhead, Joseph Skelton Wood, 29 years old in 1827, Skelton of Foulsyke, and Isaac was the second son of Joseph’s cousin, Dodgson of Mockerkin, allotted seats in Ann Skelton, who had married a the front pew on the north side, and Reverend Jonathan Wood. Both blocks in double pews in the rows Skelton Wood’s parents and a younger nearest the front of the church. brother died before Skelton was 3 John Hudson the elder and his years old, and he was brought up at wife Fanny were both 82 years old in Godferhead in the household of his 1827. Fanny ‘used to ride a black horse grandfather Richard Skelton, described with a white snip face and went by John Bolton as ‘a portly old regularly to Cockermouth market. She gentleman ... greatly looked up to in wore a cloak with cape and skirt to the parish as a man of experience in keep clean and used to complain to the business matters’.7

6 John Bolton, Lorton & Loweswater, p.18 7 John Bolton, Lorton & Loweswater, p.19

13 14

Isaac Dodgson of Mockerkin is The south elevation of the new Chapel recorded in Parson & White’s Directory (1829) as ‘yeoman’, a lower status According to the mining historian than that assigned to the other John Adams, the vein of lead ore occupants of the front pew, but his between Godferhead and Netherclose youngest son, Henry, born in 1833, ‘was discovered in 1816 during land studied medicine in Edinburgh and drainage, and the mineral rights [were] Paris and became a Fellow of both the leased in 1819 by Messrs. Joseph Royal Astronomical Society and of the Skelton and Skelton Wood.’ Skelton Meteorological Society, as well as Wood inherited Godferhead from Chairman of the Cockermouth School Richard Skelton in 1819, when he was Board and principal of one of the most just 21 years old. Two shafts, the Old extensive practices in Cockermouth. Wheel shaft and the Flat Rod shaft, Isaac was 43 years old in 1827 – his were opened and a building wife Bella was 36. In addition to a constructed, now part of Moss Cottage. single sitting in the front row pew, he ‘Veins of lead ore occur in several subscribed for 6 sittings in the 5th row. places; and have been worked between John Towerson, Joseph Mirehouse Skiddaw and Saddleback, in and John Tyson, yeoman farmers on a Thornthwaite, Newlands, and smaller scale than the Hudsons and Buttermere; but one in the parish of Skeltons, may also have been quick to Loweswater and one below the level of subscribe. They secured allocations in Derwent Lake are the most productive the second-row pew on the north side. … at present in this district’.8 James Robertson Walker, Esq. (a Joseph Skelton owned 2 sittings gentleman rather than a farmer), paid in a front row pew shared with the for 10 sittings in the double pew Hudsons and Isaac Dodgson, and 10 opposite them. Robertson Walker was sittings in a double pew opposite a 44 years old in 1827, the son of James double pew with 10 sittings paid for by Robertson, a Justice of the Peace in Skelton Wood, who also subscribed for Ross-shire. He had joined the Navy in 6 sittings in the gallery, perhaps for the 1801, before his 18th birthday, and benefit of the miners!

8 Jonathan Otley, Description of the English Lakes, 1823 15 16 during a long and distinguished naval to lift a cow from one field to another’.10 The Edwardian Inebriates it was painted by I Mason (see page career, served as fore-castle mate on The Fishers had been the bailiffs during at Hassness, Buttermere 20). Around that time carriage access the Victory at Trafalgar, was involved the Lawson lordship, until 1807. John, from Cockermouth to Buttermere was by Derek Denman in the first attempt to destroy who also subscribed to 6 seats in the made possible by the new road around

Napoleon’s invasion fleet at Boulogne gallery, may have been the last of the Buttermere Hause on Crummock. In Hassness is the only gentry mansion by means of Congreve rockets fired Loweswater Fishers - he died in 1835. 1803 the highway went past the front and estate created on Buttermere. It from small boats, and was blown up on The Tithe Commutation records, door of Hassness, but in 1805 Benson lies about halfway along the eastern a captured French privateer off completed in 1839, 10 years after the obtained the necessary order from two shore, set back from the road and well Guadeloupe. He was lucky enough to consecration of the new church, JPs to divert the highway away from separated from the village and be thrown by the explosion into his own provide a detailed record of flocks and the house, but within his land.2 This Gatesgarth. It was therefore well ship’s boat, ‘not much hurt’. landholdings across the country. Much has been annotated, together with the suited to its use as a retreat for the Robertson Walker acquired the had changed in the country. There was 1844 boundaries of the forty acre treatment of inebriates, from about 141 acres of High Cross and Mill Hill, a new Queen, Victoria. The Reform Act Benson estate, on the OS map of 1863 1905 as The Ghyll Retreat, and later and an addition to his surname, after in 1832, had enfranchised the middle (see page 20). The diversion of the the Ghyllwoods Sanatorium, until in his marriage, in 1824, to Anne, the classes and the publication of the road would improve the suitability of 1915 WWI made other demands on its daughter of William Walker of People’s Charter in 1838 had proposed the property as a retreat in 1905. proprietor. Gilgarran, near Distington, a rich a programme for radical reform. Thomas Benson enjoyed the The Hassness estate has its merchant of Whitehaven. In Loweswater, John Hudson (the property until 1807, but it stayed in origins in an offer by Lord Egremont in The other gentleman to subscribe, elder) had died, as had Joseph Skelton the family into the 1840s, sometimes 1759 to the tenants of customary John Marshall, Esq., aged 62 in 1827, and, at the age of 34, Skelton Wood. tenanted. The only grand house in a tenements in the manor of Braithwaite was a hugely successful industrialist, Production at the Loweswater mine had remote and rustic neighbourhood, it and Coledale, which included who had pioneered the factory spinning ended, soon after Skelton Wood’s would present a challenge as a main Buttermere, to buy the freeholds of of yarn from flax in Leeds, using death. Mining rights were being residence. It’s most famous inhabitant their farm properties. At that time, waterpower and steam. His transferred to a new company, of at this time was the fictional Squire before tourism, the remote and involvement with Loweswater has been outsiders, who continued working a Sandboys in Mayhew’s 1851 or the inaccessible lake of Buttermere was documented by Derek Denman.9 new level in Kirkgill Wood. Although adventures of Mr and Mrs Sandboys not a desirable habitation for the Marshall’s wife had met Dorothy efforts in Kirkgill, Mosedale and and family who came up to London to gentry. The Gatesgarth estate, which Wordsworth when Dorothy was at Coalbeck continued until nearly the end enjoy themselves and see the Great included the land for Hassness, was school in Halifax, and his family’s of the century, and the processing of Exhibition. owned by the Senhouse family, and friendship with the Wordsworths lead ore continued in the field outside Eventually, Hassness was the offer to purchase the part-freehold contributed to his interest in the Moss Cottage until 1896, Loweswater purchased by Frederic John Reed, was not taken up until 1783 by Joseph landscape of the Lake District. He escaped the prospect of major 1808-88, as his country seat. His Tiffin Senhouse of Calder Abbey, by purchased Loweswater manor in 1814, industrialisation through lead and iron which time Buttermere was much in 1823 bought Netherclose, with its working. Hassness in 1910 better known.1 land overlying the Loweswater mine, My intention, in future articles, is Thomas Benson, and Pottergill farm in 1824. Marshall, a to attempt to build a more complete 1742-1807, a dissenter, subscribed for 10 sittings in picture of Loweswater society in the Cockermouth attorney a double pew on the south side below early years of the 18th century, by from an Egremont brewing the third window from the front, which investigating the family histories and family, was agent for Lord his tenants and employees shared with landholdings of all the families who Egremont, having married John Fisher of Cold Keld. subscribed for sittings in the new the daughter of the Fisher was 77 years old in 1827, church. We know how they arranged previous agent, Robert According to John Bolton, ‘he was a themselves in church. What were their Baynes. Thomas Benson large, fine-looking, good type of lives like, and what can this tell us was able to purchase part Cumberland statesman. It was said of about our past at the dawn of the of the freehold Senhouse him that he could hold a horse by its modern age? estate. The mansion house hind leg, and that he had been known is shown on Crosthwaite’s map of 1800, and in 1803

9 L&DFLHS Journal 48 10 John Bolton, Lorton & Loweswater, p.19 1 DLec./Box 9, No.56 2 DLec./Box 81, Copy order 89/5, 1805 17 18 connection with the area lady superintendent. That was the was through his extent of the resident family, the marriage in 1835 to Mary two boys being at St Bees School, Ann Wood, daughter of and also the extent of the medical John Wood of Low House staff. There were fourteen in Brackenthwaite. She patients and two visitors, the rest may have influenced the being staff and servants. purchase, but she died in All the patients were men, 1856 leaving Reed in ranging in age from 21 to 54, with ownership until his death an average age of 37. Five were in 1888. He was buried at gentlemen with no occupation, Lorton. two were physicians, two were Reed’s extensive manufacturers, plus a master additions to the house, mariner, miller, engineer and cigar on the 1910 photograph, inporter. The staff were also mostly Hassness, by I Mason, 1803 are not shown on the male, including two young bedroom 1863 OS survey. The OS map of 1898 assistants, and the staff were mostly the medical journals, suggesting that shows the estate and house as Reed Part of the Hassness estate in 1898 not of local origin. The grounds offered many patients were recommended by left it, with a notable icehouse. When extensive recreational facilities for the their physicians. The war required advertised for sale in 1900, the estate partnership was ceased, after which patients. The retreat/sanatorium surgeons for more pressing roles than had 141 acres of land, with much of Cooper continued as the sole seemed to be self contained and the treatment of inebriates, and this the Buttermere shore and the house proprietor. The name was changed to separate from the local community, use of Hassness had to cease. After had twelve bedrooms.3 But it was still the Ghyllwoods Sanatorium, and it allowing a high degree of supervision. the war there was a fire, following a difficult location for a large continued successfully until Cooper The sanatorium appears to have which the house was rebuilt. So the residence, and was not sold, but let. took a commission in the army in been flourishing at the time of its current building is not recognisable as 1915. His son Hugh also joined when closure, advertising regularly in Benson’s original mansion house. The Ghyll retreat old enough and both are remembered The possible social isolation of this on the Buttermere Roll of Honour.4 location, which might cause a problem The retreat was clearly run on for a country gentleman and his lady, strict medical principles, because in would be a benefit in a retreat for 1913 Cooper was able to publish his inebriates. They would have some book Pathological inebriety, its causes status and wealth, but lacked the and treatment in 1913, based on his capability to cope with the required work at Ghyllwoods. social drinking of Edwardian society. The work of the retreat and the There would be a need to keep the identity of its paying patients would inebriates away from the company naturally be kept private and and the temptations of the Buttermere confidential, except that no such hotels, one mile away, but that would institution was exempt from the be the only problem with the location. Spanish Inquisition of the census in The Ghyll Retreat was a 1911. We therefore have just one partnership between Dr James detailed snapshot of the staff and Woodman Astley Cooper and Major inmates at that time. George Magill Dobson, RAMC, d. 1919 On census night there were 34 aged 58. He retired as an army people at Hassness, 31 in the house surgeon in 1905, while Cooper was and three in the gardener’s cottage. aged 35 at that time and had practised Cooper was identified as the medical in Sheringham, Norfolk. In 1908 the superintendent and his wife as the

3 Liverpool Mercury, 22 May 1900, p.6 4 I am grateful to Walter Head for information on their war service 19 20