The Travels Through England of Dr. Richard Pococke
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THE TEAVELS THROUGH ENGLAND OF DR. RICHARD POCOCKE. Wigan, June 2d, 1754. ON the 25th of May I embarked at Dublin for Flukeborough, near Lancaster, and arrived in the bay on the 27th, about 4 in the after- noon, and went ashore near a small village called Barnsey. We had sail'd by the Pele of Foudrey, an old Castle on a rocky Island at the entrance of the bay of Lancaster ; it was built by an Abbot of Forness Abbey, in the time of Edward the third. The Abbey near it I saw in 1750, in the way to Scotland. A litle within the head of land at the Pele is a small mount call'd Mote Hill. I went two miles to Ulverston, and about half way pass'd by Coningsein, an Ulverstone. old seat formerly of the Doddings now of the Bradeels, from Port- field near Waller, who acquired this estate by an intermarriage. Ulverstone is a small neat market town, but no Corporation, nor is there a justice of Peace in it ; they have a handsome market house built of a reddish freestone brought from near the Abbey or the Mannor as they call it. There is a great trade here in Corn, especially oats, chiefly for exportation, and they weave some Camblets and Serges. On the 28th, crossing the Sands, we went four miles to a small village called Flukeborough, having passed by Holker, a Flukeborongh, fine wooded seat of Sr Wm Lowther, who lives there ; it came to him by marriage with an heiress of the Prestons. I went two miles farther to Grange, and crossed the Sands into Westmoreland, and came to the mouth of the River Ken or Kent, on which Kendal stands. In two miles we came to Milthrop, on the small river Milthrop. Bela, where there are paper mills for white and brown paper. A CAMD. SOC. B VOL. II. 2 THE TRAVELS THBOUGH ENGLAND OF mile above it, at Betham, is a waterfall of about fifteen feet. In a mile we came to Hirsom, very pleasantly situated ; here I was informed is a Free School, which is a foundation to a College in Cambridge, as are several other schools in this county, the Cum- berland men going to Queen's College in Oxford. We travelled Levens. through a very fine country on the Ken, and soon came to Levens, the seat of the Earl of Berkshire, with a pleasant park on the river, which is very beautiful in the views of hanging ground and wood on each side ; a litle above the park there is a fine.waterfall of about 10 feet. I passed in sight of Sisergh on the other side, an old Castle and seat of the Stricklands, who are Roman Catholicks, of which family, if I mistake not, was the remarkable Prelate of that name, who was Bishop of Namure. I went near Waterbrook, supposed to be the ancient Concangii, which I saw when I travelled last through this country. We came to Kendal, which I have also described. Oh the side of the hill to the South of the town, is a Mount, of which they have a tradition, that it was raised to batter Kendal. the Castle, which is half a mile to the north-east; the Castle is finely situated on a rising ground, and defended by a deep fossee. On the west side are some arches, and to the South a tower, with a curious pointed arch in it, which from its shape is call'd the Oven. They are building a Chapel in the heart of the town, with shops and vaults under it; and it has more the appearance of a store-room than of a place for Divine worship. They have a manufactory of a sort of frieze call'd Cotton, at eight pence a yard, sold mostly for the West Indies, for the use of their slaves, and Linsey Woolseys, made of thread and yarn, mostly strip'd, and much used for waistcoats; they have also a manufacture of knit stockings from 2s. 6d. to half a guinea a pair, and lately they weave coarse white silk stock- ings at 7s. 6d. a pair. At Black Barton they have a marble like that of Kilkenny, but not altogether so black. On the 29th I turned Southward, and went over the hills called Kendal Fells, passing near Sisergh, and leaving it on the left, descended into a fine Yalley between the hills, in which the small river Winster runs; DR. EICHAED POCOCKE. 3 it is beautifully improved, and the rocks on the top of the hills and the wood have a fine effect. Two miles from Kendal is a small estate of towards two hundred pounds a year, call'd Conswick, which belonged to the Leybournes, a Eoman Catholick family, and was forfeited in the year fifteen, not by actually joyning the .Rebels, but by some improper conduct. It was put to publick sale, and as the country favoured the old Proprietor in the purchase, it was understood that a person of the name of Cruel bid for him, who made the purchase very cheap and kept it for himself, and the family now enjoy it. I went along the valley and came to the other side at Crosthwaite Church, from which the hills have the name of Crosthwaite. Crosthwaite Fells,and beyond this they are called Cartmell Fells, and we soon came to a Chapel of that name, where there are remains of some good old painted glass. We then came to a very small town called Cartmell, pleasantly situated on the small river. This place is famous for its Priory, the lands of it having been given by King Egfrid to St. Cuthbert. In 1188 William Mareschall the elder, Earl of Pembroke, founded a Priory here of Regular Canons of St. Austin, dedicated to the Virgin Mary; the present parish Church belonged to it, which is like a Cathedral; the Choir part is Saxon architecture, and was, without doubt, the Church of the old founda- tion, but has been raised. There are remains of very fine paintings in the East window, the Virgin Mary in the middle and God the Father on the left, represented as in very beautifull niches adorn'd with Gothick ornaments exquisitely fine; there is also a figure of a Bishop, probably St. Cuthbert's. On the South side is an ancient monument with two couchant statues, and another in the Isle as Cartmel. belonging to it; the top is crowned with a very bad and probably a very ancient bas relief, which I conjectured might be the Salutation. On the other side of the Quire on a flat stone is an inscription round a long Cross, part of which I made out in these words— WILELMVS DE WALTON PRIOR DE CARTMEL The Stalls of the Quire were adorned with carv'd work about the THE TRAVELS THROUGH ENGLAND OF beginning of the last century, by one of the family of the Prestons of Holker hall near; which estate is now in the Lowther family, by marrying an heiress, and is the seat at present of S1 William Lowther. There is a tower in the middle of the Church about fifteen yards square, and another built on it within, the angles of which come to the middle of each side of the other, which is very particular. An old gateway remains, in which is the Free School. This place is two miles from Flukeborough, which I had passed in the way from TJlverston to Kendal. I left that place about a mile to the west, & going to Tempton & Wraysholm tower, I crossed a marsh to the Holy well which they call a Spaw; it is at the end of a point of land called Gowborn head, which is a very fine rocky cliff, out of which many trees grow in a most beautiful & extraordinary manner, & particularly the yew, which are so shorn with the wind that they turn up against the rock and grow like a hedge. This water abounds with a marine Salt, but it is resorted to in the summer by people who lodge at the neighbouring places, and come to it by the Strand, which is the best way. From this place we went a mile and a-half Grange. by the Strand to Grange, which place we had passed in the way to Kendal, a most .delightfull situation, commanding a view of the Strand, of the country to the north, and of that on the Lancashire side. The hilly part of all this country consists of a sort of rock, which seems to be a limestone marble, but is full of flaws, tho' it rises very large, and is used for small bridges, shambles, and the like. On the 30th we crossed the Sands, and consequently the river Ken, seven miles, having to the north a point of land, which, if I mistake not, extends between the Ken and the Bela, mentioned before, which last river is not marked in Speed's maps. On this land I saw a Castle or Tower, called Arneby Tower, in the map Wharton. Arnesyde, and we came to the shoar near Wharton, to which place I went; it is a very small town like a village ; the mannor belongs to the King; they are customary tenants, pay a shilling an acre, and double rent on the change of a life. There is nothing remark- able in the Church except the monument of one Cole, who it is said DR.