Part 12

Even taxes did not, it is to be feared, prevent some of the Cumbrians occasionally throwing in their lot with, or assisting, the vagabonds who were the cause of all the trouble. "It was often found impossible to track the robbers to their retreats among the hills and morasses, for the geography of that wild country was very imperfectly known. Even after the accession of George the Third, the path over the fells from Borrowdale to Ravenglass was still a secret carefully kept by the dalesman, some of whom had probably in their youth escaped from justice by the road." Such is the record which may be gathered from Gray's "Journal of a Tour in the Lakes" in 1769.

Coach travelling was an expensive luxury, and those who undertook the journeys between London and the north did not do so solely for pleasure. From an advertisement, nearly a column in length, which appeared in the London _Star_ at the end of 1795 the following is taken:--

SARACEN'S HEAD INN. SNOW-HILL, LONDON. SAFE, EASY, AND EXPEDITIOUS TRAVELLING. With every accommodation that can lessen the fatigue, or add to the pleasure of the Journey, to most parts of England and the Principal Towns in Scotland, by the following NEW AND ELEGANT COACHES:

Carlisle and Penrith rapid Post Coach, goes with four horses, and a guard all the way, passes through Brough, Appleby, Gretabridge, Richmond, Catterick, Boroughbridge, Wetherby, Alberford, Doncaster, and Grantham (the nearest way by 18 miles) sets out every morning, and performs the journey with the greatest ease and convenience. Passengers desirous to stop on the road, have the advantage of their seats being secured in the next Coach (with only six Coachmen).

WILLIAM MOUNTAIN and CO. respectfully acquaint their Friends and the Public that, still emulous to deserve as well as preserve their invaluable esteem, they have provided Lamps and Guards, that travel throughout with all the above Coaches.

N.B. The Proprietors of the above Coaches from the above inn, will not be accountable for any Parcel, Luggage, Goods, &c., of more value than Five Pounds (if lost) unless entered as such and paid for accordingly.

An earlier advertisement which appeared in the Cumberland newspapers of 1775 shows that the journey to London was done in three days, at a cost of £3 10s. per passenger. The notice ran:--

"Carlisle Post Coach.--In Three Days for London.--Sets out from the Bush Inn, Carlisle, every Sunday evening, at seven o'clock precisely, by way of Burrowbridge, being well known to the public to be the nearest and best road to London (and is also calculated for more ease and satisfaction to the passengers than any other coach). It also sets out from the Bell and Crown, Holborn, every Wednesday evening, at eight o'clock. Each inside passenger from Carlisle to London to pay £3 10s. From the George Inn, Penrith, £3 7s. 6d., and threepence per mile for all passengers taken up on the road. Each passenger to be allowed 14lb. luggage; all above to pay 4d. per pound; small parcels at 3s. each.... Performed by J. Garthwaite and Co."

Locomotion was still more difficult and costly in the early part of the seventeenth century. In the Household Books of Naworth, extending from 1612 to 1640, are found such significant entries as the following:--"March 22, 1626. Hewing a way for the coach beyond Gelt Bridge, 2s. 3d." On one occasion, Sir Francis Howard, being sick, hired a coach for his journey from London to Bowes, which cost £18. Lord William Howard's journeys to London were always taken on horseback, and he was generally ten or twelve days on the road, the travelling expenses varying, according to the number of his retinue and the direction of the route taken. A journey by way of Shiffnal and Lydney occupied eleven days, and cost £30 7s. 1d.; whilst the expenses of another, from Thornthwaite to London with twenty-four men and twelve horses in his train, came to £20 15s. 4d.

In addition to the coaches, people often travelled by what were termed "expeditious wagons," which carried goods. One notice dated November 24th, 1790, concerning these vehicles may be quoted:--

"In ten days from Carlisle to London, and the same in return by way of York every week. Messrs. Handleys respectfully inform their friends and the public in general that they have erected stage waggons which leave Carlisle early on Tuesday morning and arrive at York on Thursday night, and Leeds on Saturday morning (where goods for all parts in the south are regularly forwarded by the respective carriers), arrive at the White Bear, Bassinghall Street, on Friday night, and set out every Monday morning, and arrive at and leave York on Tuesday morning, Bedal, Richmond, Barnard Castle, Burgh, Appleby, Penrith, and arrive at Carlisle on Friday evening, where goods are immediately forwarded to Wigton, Cockermouth, Workington, Whitehaven, and any other place in Cumberland; also to Annan, Dumfries, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and all other principal towns in Scotland. They hope by their attention to business to merit the favours of all those who please to employ them. N.B.--Their waggon leaves Sheffield on Saturday, and Leeds on Monday. For further particulars apply to Robert Wilson, book-keeper, or J. Birkett, innkeeper, Carlisle."

A writer in 1812, on the manners and customs of the people of Westmorland during the preceding century, stated that wheel carriages were very little used for private intercourse or trade; for persons of both sexes made short journeys on horseback, the women being commonly seated on pillions behind the men. Very few made long excursions from home, except the manufacturers of Kendal, many of whom travelled on foot in quest of orders for their worsted stockings and linsey-woolsey. Carriers did not employ wagons, but drove gangs of pack-horses, each gang being preceded by a bell-horse, and the owners reckoned a young woman equivalent to half a pack in loading their beasts of burden. The predilection for transporting all kinds of commodities on horseback was so general, that the fuel consumed in Kendal came to the town in this manner. Coals were brought in sacks upon galloways from Ingleton, and the turf or peat was conveyed from the mosses in halts. These were a pair of strong wicker hampers, which were joined by a pack-saddle, and hung across a horse's back. They were put to various uses in husbandry, which offices are now performed by carts. Halts gave way to carts in the progress of general improvement. These vehicles were ill-contrived, particularly the wheels, which consisted of two circular boards fixed without spokes immovably to the ends of a cylinderical axle. The injudicious nature of the construction required the axle itself to revolve beneath the cart, where it was kept in its place by two pairs of parallel wooden pins, that projected downward from the frame of the bottom.

A question concerning these old "tummel wheel'd cars" was asked in the _Carlisle Journal_ a few months ago, and a correspondent supplied this answer:--"I have seen at least two of these old-time machines of locomotion. They had then been many years out of use. I speak now of a date say 58 years gone past. One of them was stored in an open shed in the farmyard of its venerable owner--the other had less respect shown to its remains, for it stood in a neglected and unsheltered corner. Of course, I never saw either of them in use. The wheels were funny, not to say clumsy, looking affairs. Without spokes or felloes, they consisted of three segment-shaped blocks of wood, fastened together rudely but strongly with 'dowels' of the same material, so as to form a circle. The wheels again were similarly fastened to the axle, and the whole revolved in one solid mass. The harness consisted mostly of ropes or girthing with loops at the ends, and having cleets like the modern 'coo-tee' to hold them in position. Very little leather was used, and but few buckles. Here is Mr. Dickinson's description, 'In old times the horse was yoked to the cart by a rope from the shoulders, and an iron ring sliding on the shaft held by a pin. This was hammerband yoking. The tummel wheelers referred to were seen by me in the Lake District (Ullswater) in the early forties.'"

Before turnpike roads were made, or wagons came into use, the merchandise of Kendal was transported by the following pack-horses:--

One gang of pack-horses to and from London every week, of about 20

One gang from Wigan weekly, about 18

One gang from Whitehaven, about 20

From Cockermouth 15

Two gangs from Barnard Castle 26

Two gangs from Penrith twice a week, about 15 each 60

One gang from Settle twice a week, about 15 each 30

From York weekly, about 10

From Ulverston 5

From Hawkeshead twice a week, about 6 12

From Appleby twice a week, about 6 12

From Cartmel 6

Carriages three or four times a week to and from Milnthorpe, computed at 40 horse load 40

From Sedbergh, Kirkby Lonsdale, Orton, Dent, and other neighbouring villages, about 20 ---- Total 294

Besides 24 every six weeks for Glasgow.

Less than sixty years ago the pillion was in constant use in the two counties, and only the well-to-do yeomen thought of taking their wives and daughters frequently to market in the "shandry cart." It is only a quarter of a century since the old pack-horses ceased to traverse some parts of Westmorland and its borders. Mr. H. Speight, in one of his books,[20] deals with a state of things which existed, not only in the Hawes district, but considerably northward of that place. Handloom weaving was an old local industry, and when a sufficient number of pieces were ready, they were gathered up and conveyed by teams of pack-horses over the mountains to the various West Riding towns. Discharging their loads they would return laden with warp, weft, size, and other articles. When the traffic ceased, hundreds of these sonorous pack-horse bells were sold for old metal, and the brokers' shops for a time were full of them. Each bell weighed from 1lb. to 2lbs. An old resident in North Westmorland not long ago recalled very vividly the scenes to be witnessed, and confirmed the accuracy of the following description from Mr. Speight's volume: "In the old pack-horse days it was a sight worth remembering to witness the procession of men and horses with miscellaneous goods, making their way out of the Yorkshire dales, to Kirkby Stephen and the north. The drivers from Garsdale and Grisedale came over the moor to Shaw Paddock, and thence on to Aisgill, and to the old Thrang Bridge in Mallerstang, where they were met by strings of pack-horses and men coming from the east country by Hell Gill. It was a busy and picturesque scene, and the Thrang Bridge was well named. Sometimes on special occasions, as during Brough Hill Fair, the thrifty wives and daughters of the dales used to go up to Hell Gill Bridge, and spread out stalls and baskets, stored with cakes, nuts, apples, and bottles of home-made herb beer, and other non-intoxicants, to sell to passing travellers. And a good business they did too, for there was a continuous stream of wayfarers, who were glad, particularly if the day were hot, to linger awhile and hear the gossip of the country-side, cracking many a joke along with many a nut bought from the buxom stall women. Occasionally herds of Highland cattle passed this way, and when the far-travelled animals showed signs of fatigue, it was no uncommon thing to see one of the men who carried a bagpipe play some lively air as he marched in front of the drove. The animals seemed to enjoy the music, and evidently appreciated this relief to the tediousness of the journey, by walking, as they often would, with a brisker step, while some of them that had lain down in the road would quickly rise at the novel far-sounding strains, which brought many a cottager also to his feet from his home in the echoing glen."

Old Customs.

Possibly the custom associated with Westmorland which can claim to be at once among the oldest, as well as having been the most carefully followed, is that connected with the familiar Countess's Pillar in the parish of Brougham. The famous Countess Anne of Pembroke erected this structure in 1656, as the still perfect legible inscription on the southern side tells us, for a laudable purpose: "This pillar was erected in 1656 by Anne, Countess Dowager of Pembroke, etc., for a memorial of her last parting in this place with her good and pious mother, Margaret, Countess Dowager of Cumberland, the 2nd day of April, 1616, in memory whereof she has left an annuity of £4, to be distributed to the poor of the parish of Brougham every second day of April for ever, upon the stone placed hard by. _Laus Deo._" The custom is scrupulously observed, the money being distributed on April 2nd as directed, except when that day falls, as this year, on a Sunday, and then the little ceremony is conducted on the following day. When asked as to the regularity of the observance shortly before this year's distribution, the Rev. W. S. Salman, the venerable Rector of Brougham, said the details were carefully attended to; and, he added, "we should soon hear about it if they were not."

How far the custom of rush-bearing goes back there is nothing in local records to show, but there are some very old entries in the registers concerning the practice. In spite of the Puritans the villagers were keeping up the festival at Kirkby Lonsdale; there is this item among the churchwardens' accounts for 1680: "Paid at the rush-bearing in drink, 3s." Although the ceremony had in each place the same general features, different parishes varied the proceedings. Flowers as well as rushes were carried by the children, many of the blooms being made into garlands. After the sermon, the roses and rushes brought the preceding year were taken out, and the fresh ones put in their places. An old writer made the following suggestion as to the origin of the custom: "That our forefathers appointed a day on which they rendered public thanks to the Almighty for His kindness in causing the earth to bring forth fruit for the sustenance of man and beast, and that on these occasions they brought rushes, or other productions of the soil, to the sanctuary, which they spread out as a memorial before the lord." The theory is doubtless correct, as is proved by the fact that at Warcop and other places where "rush-bearings"--minus the rushes--are still kept up every summer, the service and other proceedings are in the nature of a public thanksgiving.

Nut Monday has passed into the region of forgotten things, even at such places as the schools, where it was once a popular observance. It was, however, kept so recently as 1861, when September 12th was held in Kendal as a general holiday, almost every shop being closed. Possibly the failure of the nut crop in several successive years was a factor in changing the holiday to another time, and thus the day losing its distinctive character. This, it will be noted, had nothing in common with another custom observed in some other parts of the country--Crack Nut Sunday. The latter was simply a desecrating practice, without a single good feature.

"Sunday observance" had more than a nominal meaning in bygone days, though there is nothing to indicate that the people of the two counties had any particular liking for the restrictions imposed. It was the practice in nearly every town and village for the churchwardens to leave the church during service time and walk through the town in search of people who ought to have been at church, and special attention was paid to licensed premises. Possibly, by the time the hostelries were reached, the churchwardens felt the need of liquid refreshment; at any rate, they frequently obtained it. Carlisle, in 1788, was divided into districts, through each of which two constables and two of the principal inhabitants, who took it in rotation, patrolled the streets from ten in the morning till one, and from three to five in the afternoon, during which hours the doors of all the public-houses were kept shut, the patrol having first visited them to see that no person was tippling in them. "So much respect is paid to this regulation," wrote a chronicler of the period, "that during these hours no person is seen in the streets but those who are going to or returning from some place of worship." Fines were occasionally imposed for non-attendance at church; that does not seem to have been the rule, moral suasion apparently sufficing to meet most requirements. The Corporation of Kendal took powers to inflict what were then--three hundred years ago--heavy fines for selling ale during service hours.

Among the customs and beliefs noted as prevalent at Whitbeck, in West Cumberland, in 1794, were these: "Newly-married persons beg corn to sow their first crop with, and are called corn-laiters. People always keep wake with the dead. The labouring ox is said to kneel at twelve o'clock at night, preceding the day of the Nativity; the bees are heard to sing at the same hour. On the morn of Christmas Day breakfast early on hack-pudding, a mess made of sheep's heart mixed with suet and sweet fruits. To whichever quarter a bull faces in lying on All Hallows' Eve, from thence the wind will blow the greater part of the winter." It has been surmised that the hack-pudding resembles sweet-pie, which is not unlike a mince-pie on a large scale, mutton being used instead of beef, and the ingredients not finely chopped.

Here, as in other parts of the country, beating the bounds, both of parishes and manors, was a popular, though oft-times toilsome, observance. In a few registers, records have been preserved of the old-time landmarks, a precaution of special value in days before the Ordnance Survey was thought of. Dalston registers not only supply this information, but a description of the ceremony of perambulation. Curiosities of divisions are not lacking. An old man, once a parishioner of Dalston, told the Rev. J. Wilson[21] that he had a vivid recollection of taking part in the ritual of beating the bounds many years ago, and throwing a rope over a house, part of which stands in Castle Sowerby, in order to mark the division of the contiguous parishes. The walls of the house exist still, though unroofed, where the inhabitants were wont to say, half a century ago, that they always slept in Dalston and breakfasted in Castle Sowerby.

"Furth" was a word used by the inhabitants of Orton long ago. In those days, before the era of coal burning, most of the houses had what were called hearth fire-places, with big open chimneys but no fire-grates. Householders had the privilege of getting turf on the moors, and during the winter nights neighbours used to assemble in one another's houses in succession. Orton and Ravenstonedale were famous places for knitting, and the folks all sat round the blazing turf fire knitting away at top speed. Both men and women were thus occupied, and made a peculiar rattling noise with so many needles working at once. The conversations at these Furth Neets were very amusing, the talk ranging from the state of the crops, such as they were in those days of what would be called low farming, to the prices of produce and the latest doings of Mary Baynes, the local witch.

Formerly some of the inhabitants of Orton had what were called penthouses in front of their dwellings. It was a custom on Candlemas Day for those who had money to lend to appear under the sheds or penthouses, with neckcloths tied round their heads, and if the weather was cold, while the money-lenders were shivering beneath the scanty shelter, the borrowers frequented the public-houses, where there was much carousing. This curious custom has long been discouraged, and only one penthouse is now standing.

Reminders of Border service remained in the two counties long after the Act of Union had been passed. Thus the secluded hamlet of Kentmere was divided into sixty tenements for the maintenance of as many soldiers, and so recently as the middle of this century it was written: "The vestiges of this ancient regulation still remain, for the township is divided into four parts, and each of these parts into fifteen tenements. For each tenement a man serves the office of constable, and pays 2s. per annum to the curate."

Public affairs in the village of Torpenhow used to be managed by "the sixteen men," elected by the householders in the four quarters into which the parish was divided, the vicar and churchwardens being apparently _ex officio_ members of this early Parish Council. The last nomination of the sixteen took place about 1807; they had a great variety of duties, carrying out functions that are now discharged by School Boards, Parish, District, and County Councils. So far as is known, the most detailed information concerning the duties of the "sworn men" is given in the Orton (Westmorland) registers, where, following the fourteen names of "the sworne men of Orto' anno d'ni 1596," is this statement, so far as it can be deciphered:--

"_Imprimis_ that thes be diligent and careful to see and provide that the people be ... and behave the'selves honestlie ... feare of God according to the Holie word of God and the Good and wholesome laws of this land. _Secondlie_ to see that the Churchwardens be careful and diligent in executinge their office, ioyne with thes in suppressing of sinne and such as behave the'selves inordinatlie to reprove and rebuke those who be found offenders, and if they will not amend to p{e}sent the' to be punished. _Thirdlie_ to se that the Church and Churchy{d} be decentlie repaired and mainteyned. Also we as agreed y{t} everie p'sonnis beinge found faultie by the Churchwardens and p'sented to the sworn me' shall paie xij{d.} to the poor ma's box. And that whosoever doth not come p'sent the'selves lawfull warning being given either of the xij or Churchwardens to the place appointed shall lose xij to the poore ma's box without a sufficient cause to the contrarie whereof thes are to certifie the rest assembled at ... appointed to their meetinge. Lastly that the Churchwardes ... and take the sam forfat ... p'sent the offenders."

Another kind of Parish Council existed at Helton, near Lowther, about a century ago. A chronicler of seventy years since gives this account of it:--"At Helton, at the end of the Tythe Barn, was formerly a stone seat, where the inhabitants met for the purpose of transacting their parochial affairs. He who came first waited till he was joined by the rest; and it was considered a mark of great rudeness for anyone to absent himself from the meeting. After conferring on such matters as related to the parish they separated, and each returned home."