1999-2000. No, 1 THE MOURHOLME MAGAZINE OF LOCAL HISTORY. 1999-2000, No. 1 Price 50p I €¤m·=¤¤> Pm 0f Hi Tl-IE DOBBY CALL 1 A Joan Clarke A THE ROCKY ROAD THROUGH WARTON PAPJSH 4 Michael Wright .-. F ,. VYN THE LORDS MOUNTEAGLE OF HORNBY (Pm 3) I2 :. Neil Stobbs ___ _ _ yy WARTON PARISH CHAR1TlES(Part 4) 23 ·. mm Huawei -¢» g gv| §, Society Newsletter 30 Mourholme , ‘$ ‘°T011“? Mourholmc Society Archive listing- AR2l-AR28 · Mourholnu Local History Society (Charity Reg. No. 512765) COVCTJ the Old Parish afWarton containing the Towruhips of Warran-wIlI1·Ltnd¢t}:, Silverdale, Berwick, Fries! Hutton, Carrgfbrrh. Yeulaml Conyers am! Yealand Redmayne. 1 I IHL DOBBY g`AL,[d I i Joan Clarke Aye, Miss Ma.ri0rL l`ve heerd un I`ve heerd the Dobby call, l‘ve heerd un, I` ve heerd un An’ gone out beyon’ the wall For Dobby he shouted loud An’ he called far out over th` sands an` I An` what he called what for he cried [ Were a stone caim built by our hands. An’ we built un th' stone caim wheere Th` cliffs stand at top ol`Cow`s mouth it’s T But never been right for un thecre An` be calls from th' West to the South An' aye, Miss Marion. l’ve heerd un An` l`ve . you mam`t say as not ` l‘ve heerd the Dobby call An` wots more l`Il tell you wot. Vw/`iiérl Julm T¤ylur'> Eslhcx was sunk l` th’ quicksands far out i` th` bay Then Dobby he wakkened an’ cried An’ shouted as loud as he may An` folk tainted becos` o` th` sound An` thowt ‘twas the judgement day That his anns they be crossed on his breast Yo’ can ask Isaac Hall the rest _ and Aye, Miss Marion, l’ve heerd un l’vc heerd th' Dobby call all ‘long th` bay. 3 2 suggesting that at some time there was a more complete version of history. lt would be of great interest to know more about Can any reader help clarify this poem? Who it is written her Miss. Parkin. Does any reader remember her'? Her papers show by? Wnoino noonlo monnonoo in n oro? that in l953 and l954 she was living, or at anyrate receiving post, al B"ad$l*¤‘VS¤Y° l—0¥$» $ilv¢rd¤l¢» The poem itself is preserved in the Lancashire Record Office among the papers of Miss Enid Parkin of Silverdale (Ref Other ¤¤r¤¤s ¤r¤p up in the papers and might sive a clue. DDXi408). on site write at herein site was by way of img 3 Monaghan, Townslield, Silverdale wrote a letter in 1953 poet. Filed with her papers is abocklet ofpoems, (`oumry Songs giving an account of her father, who was bom in Bottoms Farm by Enid Parkin, no dmc) but tho Dobby is not among and was Vtcar`s Warden for years. Terence Frawley of mos: pnntod poems, and tho nrosowod oony ofn is unsigned In -48 "Westtie|d" Silverdale, wrote in 1953 to givc the date of the tho Dobb), 8 , n now on n Sonnmo niece ofnanor Sno Says nm was · transfer of Lmdeth from Wanon Silverdale Parish Council. An Sailor washed ashore and bnnod on tho top of Jock Sooon but to E¤*¤r¤¤d L¤¤<* wr¤¤¢ ¤¤ *954 rskrrrts *¤¢r to ¤¤¤¤¤l>¤¤¢ an ¤¤i¢l¤ siiveraaie mitatmams so rar questioned have not awa of me on her method of collecting material for the Parish Cuunwl legend nor is n monnonoo in Dnvid Powys In and Review of which he was Honorary Editor. Mrs. Walker sent an Snoerdulo A account of her memones of the Rev. W. Sleigh, one of the most "“°*'°$t*'*S Ends *****0**8 thc P¤P¢F$- lt Enid Parkin engaged is plain from her papers that was I in writing a history of Silverdale. There is an interesting Dru]: " "This Please **t=lP» introductionfor "the Story of Silverdale , which begins story of Silverdale does not pretend to be a complete history ot the village, but only a cursory survey of its folk and happenings so far as it has been possible to find out...The main intention is to try to tell Silverdale people of the twentieth century something that may hitherto have been by them generally unltown about the folk who in bygone days dwelt in this their domain; those who trod the self-same ground; saw the same lovely countryside; climbed the same limestone rocks..4" lt is very sad that after this admirable beginning so very little got beyond the stage of scattered notes. However some of I 4 5 and . _ KY WARTQN [AR]§H. Peat ' THQ RQQ ROAD THROUGH · · - ¤l1¤viu¤ , Michael Wright. -§,(A N % k‘Beetham_· . .-' |Z ` ` Gl¤°i·"1 I " of `·| · . It is surprising to realise that thc tortuous succession ' ` · d°p°SitS - ·. village to the Yealands, I, lanes that now links Warton ‘ ‘ a main road I , Brackenthwaite Slackhead and Beetham was once ` · Lit¤¤5¤¤¤¢ , link in _ between Lancaster and Kendal. lt was in fact a the main ° · · . west-coast route from Lancashire to Scotland. lj _ thvaite i%§raeke' R°"d° ‘_ Z This winding route only begins to make sense when the ov' " [Burton _` lin times [ _· , Kendal original ground conditions in medieval and early modem ` .` ·· . · I parish \ _ are taken into account. The obvious route through the ,\ _ U ' · • lj was barred \ . · . across the low ground directly north from Camforth yéaiaud ` · · · . flooding.This {I.- neamayne _ extensive areas of soil peat and ground liable to \` ' I by · I, · had to be avoided by diverting to the east or the west(Fig.I.) I; ll _ 1-‘ - · ·_ 7% . I -1*;. ‘,U1..3¤;m¤...¤ A I‘"${‘$§§1l•\ |{°°1¤¤d · _`};of 1818 The easterly route skmed the southem edge of the Keer I I the river at an easy crossing-point and ` alluvial flat and bridged ` ' ‘ l I · · · · and on to .£| _ then continued north past Buckstone House ‘ \ · I · °_ · _| ·_ Burton-in-Kendal. Throughout its course this easterly route lay " - · _' · - , · _· clays. There will I glacial deposits including gravels and stony K ' on .` -' · ‘ ·· - ;f,f;.,`,, _ stretches to negotiate, and no doubt ` -1: have been numerous boggy *` · T if _ the road required regular maintenance, even that meant simply ’ ' ‘ i- ‘ · ( ]i<e'Si~ dumping stone into the wettest places. The great merit of this Bridge route vias its directness and its gentle gradients. · ` ‘ . 2I/ ` ¢< ‘ · 7% '. By contrast the more westerly route through Warton and uae mils in section (Fig. 2). l|——* the Yealauds looks positively mountainous ' ` Ca·é¤;(;`_tH` Even though the vertical scale on this drawing is exaggerated, there are several genuinely steep gradients on this route (up to l pigw.c]_ The two mam nOnh_S0uth muws through wmon Parish 6 7 Conyers and at Thrang End). What commended _ f r B in 9 in Yealand ‘ ° the Warton route to the early traveller was its finn ground. lt _n '°"`°"°_ could hardly have been limrer since much of it lay on bare limestone rock. It was a truly all-weather surface, but at the cost 3 mu_ uu Q [QE of bone-jarring roughness and no doubt a tendency to be very N ii E slippery, especially in wet weather Even this westerly route starts if g. e S s on glacial deposits. The Keer crossing is almost at sea-level and r.r..¤sr.¤ ,,,._.,, then the road climbs a little to get onto the limestone in Warton 3 g- vilage, In Warton Lucas commented that "The Street of this § .."' Town is rocky and uneven, and abounds with Wonnwood 3.,,% j Noi·th of the village the road starts a long climb to Yealand g ; E` Conyers, following the castem edge of a shelf of limestone, and Q <T 0 § overlooking the drumlins ofthe glacial deposits to the east. The E 3 §;Q}§§§ steep hill at the north end of Yealand Conyers appears to take the § g off the limestone for a few hundred yards, but in Yealand road ‘*'·’ ‘·" it it ofthe } § Redmayne it is back on the rock and stays on for most 3 § g· 5- · distance to Slackhead. g ‘ 5 § 5 xxi:. The low maintenance requirements of the westerly route 2 fj { E would be especially advantageous in medieval and early modem g ; times. There was no official mechanism for the care of medieval g § j roads, but some would receive attention from local monastic E é houses if they used the routes regularly, It was only in l555 that E than site mr sm. responsibility for highway maintenance was put upon townships § = Act. This stipulated that each township must § by the Highways i E appoint a surveyor from among its residents. The surveyor was unpaid and untrained, but was expected to supervise maintenance L__‘_m mk of the roads. Residents ofthe township were required to provide mm labour for four days in the year, as well as horses and carts. The two through roads must have placed a considerable burden of ;;; i work on Wart0n’s townships since there was no outside help with :m____: e s . F 9 3 before Yealand Common. She had rejoined the road immediately importance maintenance of roads that had regional or national to Tluang End one of its worst stretches, from Yealand Conyers was a very unreliable mechanism for keeping roads far worse The system she comments that much of it was "stony and steep that and passable. Travellers through Warton parish would soon leam J than lnc Pcnkc ih Dubysnnn if there had been enough rain to soften the damper or more clayey would be best advised to take the rocky westerly wheeled ground they Apart from the few carriages of the wealthy, the route.