SOM E RECORDS TWO LH K ELH N D TOW NSH IPS H T ( BLAW IT AN D N IBTH W AI E , ) Chie ro m ri i l um t fly f o g n a doc en s . A B Y P. R DSO . N . F o orsan et h aec oh m M emzm sse juv ab zt . Th e o o s o f t h e e se n lie e e in t h e as and no in in r t pr t d p p t , th g t h e pas t is de a d to t h e m a n wh o wo uld le arn h ow th e pre se n t ” co me s t o b i i - e a t s S t b . wh t . ub s I L L US TR A TE D . in e b . H OL M E S U N L AN CS . Pr t d y W , LTD LVERSTO , 8 21 CO N TE N TS . - E AR LY S I . DAY — K I G H T I I . N S ( I . William de Lancaster e ( I I . ) Gilb rt Fitz Roger Fitz R e infre d ( I I I . ) William de Lancaster I I I . I — ; D E S CE N T o r H OR o r L R I I . T E MAN U VE STON FAR AS 1 1 RELATE S 1 0 B LAWITH — M N K IV . O S — 1 N AN D V . K G s QUE E N S ( I . ) Nibthwaite ( I I . ) Blawith — VI . PR !E T E R I TA e ( I . ) Foresta d Blawith (a sketch ) 9 0 to 1 00 (I I . ) Birk Row Mill (a sketch ) 95 e e ( I I I . ) Nibthwait and Riv r Crake 99 — VI I . ECCLE S IASTI CA ( I . Blawith Church . Th e ( I I ) Curates of Blawith . T ’ VI I I . H I N G S NE W AN D OL D ( I . ) The Scenery ( II . ) Summ er Winter — IX. AppE N D 1 x 1 8 1 6 1 ( I . Trespass on the Waste Lands , 5 4 6 . 8 . A 1 601 . 1 ( I I Local Law Suit , 1 666 1 1 . t h e l ( I I I Grant to Duke of A bemarle , 7 IV . 1 1 ( Grant by Phillip and Mary , 557 74 V . 60 1 I . 1 ( ) Grant by J ames , 9 77 1 VI . A 1 6 1 ( ) Grant , 7 79 V 1 82 I I . &c . ( ) Lists , STRATION S L IST O F IL LU . PAGE H . C ARCOAL BURNERS , CONISTON LAKE FRONTISPIECE ' MAP FAC E PR E E ACE G ENERAL VIEW OF CONISTON LAKE FACE 9 EFFIGIES OF KN IGHTS IN FURNESS ABBEY 1 6 KENDAL CASTLE FACE I 9 A NORMAN KNIGHT 2 4 I I I 0 S EAL OF WILLIAM DE LANCASTER . 3 OL D M U ARKET PLACE , LVERSTON FACE 3 9 THE HARRINGTON MON UMENT IN CARTMEL CHURCH 4 0 S EAL OF FURNESS ABBEY 4 7 FURNESS ABBEY FACE 4 7 A CISTERCIAN MON K 4 8 THE CLOISTER COURT FURNESS AB BEY FACE 50 A S MITHY 52 PEEL ISLAND FACE 55 A FOREST HERMIT 6 3 ROLLS OF RECORDS 6 8 A CONVEYANCE IN 1 6 1 6 74 CO N I S H E AD PRIORY 8 2 ANCIENT WATCH TOWER AT CON I S H E AD PRIORY 88 AN O L D TREE AT S TABLE HARVEY 90 THRANG CRAG WOOD FACE 9 2 S ITE OF BIRK ROW MILL 9 5 A PLAN OF NIBTHWAITE FURNACE IN 1 74 6 99 NIBTHWAITE WEIR ON THE CRAKE 1 00 PLAN OF THE RIVER CRAKE IN 1 74 5 1 0 2 BLAWITH O L D CHURCH 1 0 8 BLAWITH AND THE N E w CHURCH 1 1 6 BLAWITH S CHOOL 1 1 8 VIEW FROM PES H o w 1 2 0 B E C K S ID E 1 2 4 COLTON CHURCH 1 3 0 LOWICK BRIDGE AND MILL 1 3 3 W ATE R Y E AT 1 34 G R E E N H OL M E G 1 6 FARM , BLAWITH , NEAR REENODD 3 B O UT H R AY BRIDGE 1 3 8 NIBTHWAITE QUAY I 4 3 G REAT KNOTT FARM FACE 1 4 6 B O UT H R AY BRIDGE IN 1 777 1 50 CHARCOAL BURNING AND COALING FACE 1 50 S WILL MAKING 1 5 2 ’ CHARCOAL BURNER S HUT I S4 CONISTON AND THE OLD M A N 1 58 OL D 1 6 1 I AN DEED , 7 79 PRE FACE . r A considerable po tion of this book , especially in the early part , consists of matters which may not appear to belong exclusively to one district more than another in this neighbourhood . One of the obj ects of the book , how h o w ever , is to Show the records of remote districts bind themselves closely with the larger life of the history of England . I also wished , if possible , by extending the th e subj ect , to give more than a purely local interest to book . A large part of the book is the result of long hours Spent f in the Record O fice in London , and in the British Museum , and some of it is derived from the old deeds of the different . t60 properties in my possession I am indebted , , to many r kind f iends , who have cheerfully responded to the tire some queries o i a searcher into the antique . ' My special thanks are due to my friend Mr . Alfred Fell , encour of Belle Vue , Ulverston , who has given me much a em ent n g , and who , by ungrudgi gly placing at my disposal information acquired in the compilation of his own book , has afforded me much valuable and otherwise unattainable b rner . Ash u knowledge ; to the Rev J . , Vicar of Blawith , for giving me access to the Parish books of Blawith and to the Rev . T . P . Hartley , Vicar of Colton , to the Parish books of Colton . To Mrs . Gaskell , of Water Yeat , a member of an old local family , for leave to make use of many old documents in her possession ; to the Librarian of the Coniston Mu seum for inspection of old books and papers there to Mr . 8 PREFACE . S . Taylor , of the Lancashire County Council and Mr . - Compton Hall , the Lancashire County Bridge master , for information and plans . To the District Overseers of Colton and Blawith for the s M c th . a Car use of list to Mr C . P . y for photographs , n Specially taken ; to Mr . jonathan Bell , of Conisto , for information as to the traffic on the Lake . I trust the reader will not omit to inspect t h e transcripts e of documents in the app ndix , as they constitute the most t e i th e h . valuable , and certainly most original pa t of book By permission of Messrs . Black , and Mr . Heaton Cooper , I am enabled to reproduce the picture by th e latter of the Charcoal Burners on Coniston Lake . By Messrs . Methuen , the seal of William de Lancaster e II I . and by M ssrs . Archibald Constable , the Forest Hermit . ue e My thanks are d to Mr . W . G . Collingwood for l ave to print the extract on the scenery of Coniston Lak e from his ” book Thorstein of t h e Mere . Some Re c ords o f Two L ake land T nshi s ow p . I . EARLY DAYS . To an Antiquarian , who is also a Geologist , a wide field f for inquiry and research o fers itself in the Lake District . But to a writer of a book mainly depending for its in t ere st ea his or affOI dS on documentary records , rly t y but little material , other than what is to be gained by an imagi e nativ faculty , combined with scientific skill not for him is it to attempt to delineate the Palaeolithic period when men wandered as savages over this North country , armed with flint implements , and dwelling in caves , with mam nd moths , mastodons a elks ; nor yet the Neolithic Era when the human race had progressed somewhat , and Showed a S light acquaintance with some of the elements of civili z ation by fashioning articles of stone ; nor the Bronze age , when a very distinct step forward was made by the use of bronze for weapons of war , for ornament , and for hunting , agricultural , and household use . For the same reason he must pass over the epoch of the Roma occu a io i n p t n of Britain , wh ch lasted for the first four centuries after Christ , especially as , though many di evidences of Roman han work in the Shape of roads , encampments , and forts , are very abundant in High and Low Furness , yet neither in Blawith nor Nibthwaite is e any r liable trace to be found . 1 0 SOME RECORDS OF O Up on the bleak moorlands ro und Conist on Lake lie m - ysterious remains , stone circles , stone heaps of bee hive Shape , gigantic graves , and ancient enclosures , betokening the former presence of a dim and ancient race , who lived on the high dry ground of the Fells , with the thick tangled forest and underwood in the valleys below ; these people the B ri were , it is surmised , a branch of the Celtic race , e gant s the aborigines of Britain .