Sedbergh, Garsdale, and Dent: Peeps at the Past History and Present ...

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W.Thompson. M.A.

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Se^ber0b, (BarsbalCt anb Dent.

Of this Edition only One Hundred and Fifty copies have been
printed^ of which this is No. w^

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I 89 2.

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SEDBERGH,
GARSDALE, AND DENT

PEEPS AT THE PAST HISTORY

AND

Present Condition of some Picturesque Yorkshire Dales.

BY THE

Rev. W. THOMPSON, M.A.,

Formerly Scholar of Queetis College^ Oxford,
Illustrated with DRAWINGS made expressly for the Work by

J. A. SYMINGTON.

LEEDS: RICHARD JACKSON.
1892.

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TO

Sebberfibiana, ©lb anb l^ouno,

THIS ACCOUNT OF

PLACES EARLY KNOWN AND LATE REMEMBERED

WITH AFFECTION,

30 3n0cribeb

RESPECTFULLY AND FRATERNALLY
BY

AN OLD SEDBERGHIAN,

The Author.

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P RE FACE

THE aim of the following pages is to indicate the leading
features, and the leading features only, of an ancient
and interesting parish — to concentrate in a single focus
whatever is most noteworthy respecting its history, scenery,
institutions, worthies, and present condition. So many things,
which for generations have been associated with our parochial
life, are changing, or have changed recently, that the time
seems opportune for putting them on record, before the
existence of the old is entirely merged and forgotten in
the new.

A limited space is an effectual bar to prolixity ; and
though I have overstepped the bounds originally assigned,
I have been ^obliged to exclude many details which seemed
to possess a fair title for admission. This will explain why^
in the case of documents which are usually set forth in
full, I have contented myself with a summary, an extract, or
an allusion. I have, however, taken some account of all
matters of primary and general interest which have come
under my notice; and I trust that an intimate acquaintance
with the locality has enabled me to select and combine
judiciously, to correct occasionally, and to add something
of my own invariably.

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Dr. Whitaker'S " Richmondshire" is avowedly the basis
of the early history of the Church, the School, and the Manor.
In the case of the School, Miss Platt, while writing her
'* History of the Parish and Grrammar School of Sedbergh,"
had unrestricted access to the Governors' papers, and it would
have been superfluous for me to undertake afresh an exami-
nation which she had already accomplished so carefully. I
have, therefore, in my account of some of the Masters, been
greatly indebted to her labours — a circumstance of which I
desire to make the fullest acknowledgment. Over ground
thus pre-occupied I have, however, stepped with a light foot,
treating the subject from my own point of view, and in
accordance with my own plan, and leaving behind me a
multitude of documents and details undisturbed and intact.

In respect of the Churches at Sedbergh and Dent, I
have had the benefit of a perusal of the Reports of official
members of the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings, and these have been valuable in a province with
which I have no special acquaintance; but the restoration
of both Churches since the Reports were written, has brought
to light several additional features, which I have duly noticed.

Many friends, by loan of books or by answers to inquiries,
have lightened my task ; and I may, in this connection, thank
Miss Sedgwick for the use of a copy of Whitaker's "Rich-
mondshire ;" and Mr. W. P. BOUSTEAD — the enviable owner
of "Sadda's bergh" — for the scarcely less indispensable
"Memoriar* by Prof. Sedgwick. ITie Vicar of Sedbergh,
the Rev. E. W. South, courteously granted me access to the
registers at all times. Mr. T. Dover kindly furnished me

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XI.

with a notice of the origin of manufactures at Sedbergh;
and Mr. J. Iveson had in his possession a sketch of the old
Market Cross, which has been useful. The Rev. D. T. Allton
and Mr. A. Inman obligingly communicated some information
concerning Garsdale ; and Mr. W. NixSON did the same in
respect of Dent-head. But it is to Mr. W. Robinson, of
Sedbergh, that I am chiefly indebted, for the use of old docu-
ments which have helped me to illustrate the social history
of the parish ; and my old friend Mrs. Watson also contri-
buted in the same direction.

Other obligations, of various kinds, are acknowledged in
the text as they occur.

Slips and inaccuracies, which seem almost inseparable
from works of this kind, I am not so sanguine as to suppose
that I have entirely avoided ; but I have striven hard to do
so, and I trust they will be found few and far between, and
of no great importance.

I have appended to the Index a Glossary of Dialect
Words unexplained in the text, which, though familiar to
natives, are elsewhere among the " things not generally
known."

The work has been to me, in a great measure, a labour
of love ; and I shall be well satisfied if the united endeavours
of pen and pencil should be deemed not altogether unworthy
of the subject.

W. THOMPSON.

GuLDREY Lodge, Sedbergh,

November ^ 1 89 1.

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CONTENTS

Chap. I.— Connection with General History. [Pages 17-76.

(i.) To the Norman Conquest,

The Area Defined.

The Celts. — The Brigantes — A Demolished Barrow.

The Romans.— Agricola in the North— The Tenth Iter— Over Burrow and
Low Borrow Bridge Camps, and Traces of the Course between — Probable
Cross-roads — A Supposed Camp : Recent Excavations.

The Saxons.— Withdrawal of the Romans — ^The Saxons arrive — Strathclyde
— Deira — Pope Gregory and the Mission of Augustine — Evangelisation
of the North — Saxon Settlements Indicated by Existing Names — A
Saxon *Burh* Exemplified in Castlehaw Tower — Etymology of Sedbergh.

The Northmen.— Danes and Norwegians — "Wapentakes*' — Ewecross —
The Danish and Norwegian Elements in Place-names — Finkle Street —
The Saxon Earl, Tosti : his Deposition, Exile, and Death.

(ii.) From the Conquest Onwards,

The Normans. — The Devastation of Yorkshire — The Domesday Survey, and
the Inclusion of Sedbergh — Earl Tosti's Possessions — " King's Land" —
The De Mowbrays — ^The Descent of the Manor — Subinfeudation —
Braithwaite Otway and the Enclosure of Bluecaster.

The Church, — Its Probable Origin— Early Patrons: Andrew de Harcla,
Geoffrey le Scrope, Coverham Abbey — The Pilgrimage of Grace — Adam
Sedbar, Abbot — ^A Royal Rebuke — A Marian Mart)nr — ^James I.

The Civil War, — Two Loyal Sedberghians : Sir John Otway and Dean
Barwick — Glimpses of Garsdale and Dent: "Protestation" and
Rejoicing.

George /i?^.— His Tenets and Appearance — Fox's Pulpit and Firbank Old
Chapel — Brigflatts Meeting-house — ^William Dewsbury and the Market
Cross — Retreat of the Highlanders in 1745 — Traditions at Sedbergh.

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Xlll.

Chap. II.— The Church and the Grammar School. [77-162.

(i.) The Church.

Ecclesiastical Re-arrangements — ^The old Archdeaconry of Richmond —
Vicars before and since the Reformation — Giles Wiginton, a Puritan
Innovator — ^Jonathan Rose : his Memoranda — Architectural Features of
the Church — A Peep at Ritual in the days of Queen Mary — Discoveries
and Alterations during Restoration — Rood Screen — Rood Guild — Church
Light — Reminiscences — Bells — Registers — Communion Plate — Monu-
ments — ^The Blands — The Washingtons— Old Yew Trees.

(ii.) The Grammar School,

Its Connection with the Church — Roger Lupton*s Chantry School — Provided
with Scholarships and Fellowships at St. John's College, Cambridge —
The first ascertained Master, Henry Bloraeyr — His Will — Robert Hebble-
thwaite*s Mastership — His Emoluments Threatened — Roger Ascham
Appeals for Aid — ^The Chantry Dissolved— A Friend at Court — The
School Refounded by Edward VI., and Robt. Hebblethwaite Reappointed
— ^The Royal Charter — List of Masters — Good Gilbert Nelson — ^A Parlia-
mentarian Contrast — Litigation, Delation, and Sequestration — Posthumus
Wharton, by Appointment of the Governors — ^The School Rebuilt —
W3mne Bateman, Vicar and Master — ^A Master's House Obtained —
Distinguished Old Sedberghians— Recollections of the School under the
Rev. J. H. Evans— The New Scheme— Progress and Present Condition —
The "Hastings" and other Exhibitions.

Chap. III.— Social and Domestic Life. [163-193.

(i.) In the Fast

Sanctuary-men — An Unrepaired Bridge — Remoteness of Sedbergh — Coaching
Days — ^Tokens — Book Club — ^A Prosecution Association — The Ducking-
stool — ^A Wapentake Court — The Custom of Tithing — Indenture of
Apprenticeship — Farming the Poor — Doles and other Charities — ''Jack
o* Dyers" and the Reading of the Riot Act — Government by Gun-Law —
A Universal Genius — Recollections of some Obsolete Characters.

(ii.) In the Present,

Population — Manufactures — Agriculture — ^The Dalesmen : their Traits, Do-
mestic Surroundings, Occupations, Funeral Customs, and Dialect.

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XIV.

Chap. IV.—The Scenery. [194-220.

Room and to Spare — Wordsworth at Sedbergh — Mountain Heights and
Views — Course of the Rawthey — Uldale — Cautley Spout —Hebblethwaite
Hall— A Family of Artists— Douker Gill Cave— Thorns Hall— Hill
Top — Sedbergh : its Old-fashioned Streets and Modem Institutions —
The Old Vicarage — Down the River — Lord's Dub and its Victims — A
Heronry — Ingmire Hall — Lincoln's Inn Bridge— Curious Field-names —
Howgill Church and its Surroundings — Black Force— Geology and
Botany.

Chap. V.— Garsdale. [221-245.

Situation and Name— The Clough— Grisedale — Rysell Tunnel.

St Agatha's Abbey — The Church — Fitz-Alan's Chantry — The Priest-House :
East Rackenthwaite and the School House— Paradise— Dissolution of
the Monasteries — ^The Chapel Salary Lost and Regained — Dandra
Garth — The Manor — The Tithe Commissioners and Abbey Land —
*' Drunken Bamaby" and Garsdale '* Stingo "—A Recent Flood—
Garsdale Worthies: Dr. Dawson, Dr. Haygarth, and Dr. Inman.

Chap. VL— Dent. [246-274.

Situation and Name — Manorial Vicissitudes — The Dee — Gate — Brackens
Gill— Lea Yeat — A Famous '* Gill-brack" — Marble and Marble Works
— Cowgill Church — George Whitefield— William and Mary Howitt— Gibs
Hall and Hell Caldron— Dent-town in Olden Times— "Terrible Knitters"
— ^James I. and the Grammar School — Remarkable Longevity — The
Church — Recent Restoration — Charities — Old Parish Accounts — Adam
Sedgwick : his Career — ^The Foundation of Cowgill Chapel — Difl&culties
thereanent, and Royal Intervention — Memorial at Dent.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

1 . Frontispiece — Sedbergh . .

2. Vignette — Disused Doorway, Old Grammar School

3. Castlehaw Tower

4. Ingmire Hall

5. Fox's Pulpit, Firbank

6. Old Friends' Meeting-house, Brigflatts

7. Market-place, with Old Cross, Sedbergh

8. Vignette— ^^s, G. Piatt

9. The Parish Church, Sedbergh — Exterior

10. ,, ,, Interior

11. The Old Grammar School, Sedbergh ..

12. The Old Master's Mouse

13 . Salmon Leap, Howgill Bridge . .

14. New Head Master's House

15. New School . .

16. Vignette — Rev. J. H. Evans

17. Stone Hall: An old-fashioned Statesman's House

18. Vignette — Rev. Isaac Green. .

19. Lincoln's Inn Bridge {Text, p, 21}^)

20. View up Cautley

21. Cautley Spout

22. Hebblethwaite Hall

22^, Thorns Hall..

24. Hill Top, Sedbergh

25. Weavers' Yard

26. The Old Vicarage, Sedbergh
2*]. Birks Mill

28. Millthrop Bridge, and the Meeting of the Rawthey )

and the Dee . . . . . . )

29. Lord's Dub

30. Howgill Church

31. Vignette — Dr. Dawson's Monument {Text, p, 2^())
^2. A Peep into Grisedale

17

.. 31

Opposite p. 61

.. 69

72
. . 74

n
..91

102
..137

140

opposite p, 148

159

..161

-. .. 163

.. .. 185

194

Opposite p. 195

197

Opposite p. 199

201

..203

205

.. 207

208

. . 20^

Opposite p, 210

211

.215

221

..22^

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XVI.

33'

PAGE

Old Priest-House, Garsdale 224

34-

Paradise 227

35-

RaygiU 23s

36.

Portrait of Dr. Dawson 239

37-

„ Dr. Inman 242

3^'

Vignette^Vxoiessox Sedgwick 246

39-

Gate, Dent . . . . 249

40.

Gibs Hall 254

41.

Hell Caldron Opposite p. 255

42.

Dent-town . . . . 256

43-

The Vicarage, Dent 260

44.

Dent Church— Interior .263

45.

Adam Sedgwick 267

46.

Memorial of Adam Sedgwick, at Dent 2^2

47.

Monument to Braithwaite Otway, at Sedbergh {Text, p, ^j) .. 274

/^

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Sebberobt ^arsbalCt anb Bent

CHAPTER I.

CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY.

Part I. — To the Norvtan ConquesL

> LOCAL tradition relates that two
men were once endeavouring to
astonish an audience of rustics
by the magnitude of their travels.
"I've been to Middlesex,
Surrey, and Kent,'* said one; and
" I've been to Sedbergh,
Garsdale, and Dent," promptly
rejoined the other. The yokels
were fairly aghast at the extent
of these peregrinations, and were
quite unable to decide whether
of the two great explorers had surpassed the other.

We are about, dear reader, to perambulate together the
tract of country traversed by the latter of these mythical
wanderers — the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Sedbergh, as
it existed before it had parted with portions of its original
contents.

B

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f 8 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Our attention will, therefore, be confined to the cluster of
valleys which converge at the small market-town of Sedbergh
— the said Sedbergh and its appurtenant dales being situated
in the north-west angle of the West Riding of Yorkshire,
among the outposts of the great Pennine Chain, and separated
from the county of Westmorland by the thin partition of
the upper reaches of the Lune. The central basin in which
Sedbergh reposes lies partly on the western bank of the
stream, and if we venture across, as we may occasionally feel
called upon to do, it will be only as a tribute to the contin-
uity of our horizon and the unity of the incidents in which
the dwellers on both sides have shared.

As "order is Heaven's first law," I propose to glance at
our past history in chronological sequence. This method
will give us a clearer view of the transactions in which the
people of this district have borne a part, and will enable
us to examine in their appropriate setting such matters of
history, tradition, or speculation, as, without affecting a too
dry-as-dust mode of treatment, it may seem expedient to
notice in a somewhat cursory but continuous narrative.

So various in the course of history have been the desig-
nations of the district in which we are included, that we
might almost seem to have belonged to different regions at
different periods.

When, half-a-century before the Christian era, " imperious
Caesar," sighting the shores of Britain from conquered Gaul,
was fired with the desire of adding our island to the Roman
empire, he crossed the Straits, but did not penetrate far in-
land from the southern coast, and retired, both on this and
on a succeeding visit, without effecting any permanent lodg-
ment in the country. But at a later stage of the Roman
conquest, we find that the North of England was occupied by

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 1 9

a powerful and warlike tribe of Celts, known by the general
name of Brigantes. Of remains of this period, however, we
have little in our immediate neighbourhood beyond a sprink-
ling of names on moor and stream. We should have been
better off in this respect if the road-makers in the coaching-
days had not thought proper to rebuild the rickety bridges, and
to macadamize the ruts, which contented our much-enduring
forefathers. In 1777, as we learn from Nicolson and Bum's
History of Westmorland, there was near Rawthey Bridge,
where the road from Sedbergh leaves Cautley and enters
Ravenstonedale, " a circle of large stones, supposed to be a
monument of Druid worship." The * Druid worship' theory
of these ancient circles has now been supplanted by another
and more probable explanation of their use as enclosures
of barrows, or grave-mounds, which once served as the con-
spicuous resting-places of British chieftains. Recent researches
have established this explanation as no doubt the true one ;
and if the unoffending megaliths of which I speak had been
suflFered to remain, we should have been able at this day to
point to a most interesting link of connection with the race
which peopled our island at the dawn of history. We might
not have had such a circumstantial view of the habits of the
primitive occupants of the North, as may be obtained from
the successive layers of remains in the Victoria Cave, near
Settle, but we should have felt ourselves not wholly dis-
connected from the dim and distant fortunes of the men who
once roamed and hunted over our hills, and then left their
bones to be entombed in the same wild solitudes. What manner
of people they were, we may partly guess from Canon
Greenwell's explorations in the adjoining parish of Raven-
stonedale, where he opened several barrows, and found that
they had been raised over men of the round-headed type.

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20 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

who were accustomed to the use of bronze, and affected

interment under circixlar mounds. The stone-circle alluded

to disappeared in 1822, a more trustworthy bridge across the

Rawthey being required for the coaches, which, about that

time, began to ply regularly between Lancaster and Newcastle.

Sympathetic archaeologists were then too scarce in this part of

the country to stay the hand of the despoiler, and as

** Oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Makes ill deeds done/*

the venerable survivors of ages were dragged from their
resting-places, and broken or hewn into building-blocks. It
is sometimes averred that the holes from which they were
drawn may still be discerned, but these are wounds which no
intelligent spectator can behold with pleasure.

The Brigantes, we may be sure, did not yield to the
Romans without a struggle to retain their independence. The
brushwood and morasses which, in the then uncultivated state
of the country abounded on every hand, served at once as a
shelter for themselves, and as a vantage-ground from which
to pounce upon their enemies. When, however, the skilful
Roman general Agricola was appointed governor of Britain
in A.D. 78, the subjugation of the Brigantes had made some
progress; but there was still much to be done in completing
and consolidating the conquest. He soon perceived that the
only way to cope successfully with guerilla warfare in im-
penetrable jungles and trackless wilds, was to safeguard the
ground already won ; and this he did by establishing a
system of permanent roads, protected at intervals by stations
in the occupation of detachments of his troops. It is to this
policy of securing the country through which it was neces-
sary for him to pass and repass, by providing a means of
rapid communication between all parts of it, that we owe the

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 21

commencement of that network of roads and cross-roads,
which conducted eventually to the walls and outposts which
barred the advance of the unconquered Caledonian tribes.

The necessity of restraining the predatory incursions of
the Picts and Scots from beyond the frontier, as well as of
holding in subjection the turbulent tribes on this side of it,
led to such a concentration of the Roman forces in the
northern counties as has rendered them a perfect mine of
mementos of those far-off days. What time has buried in
slow but sure oblivion, the spade of modern research restores
to light ; and altars, statues, and inscribed stones, disinterred
from their long repose, set before us in vivid reality the
actual surroundings of the former masters of the world.

Our own connection with this extinct civilisation lies
chiefly in respect of roads and camps, and must at one time
have been very considerable. An important military way —
the Tenth Iter in the Roman road-book of Antoninus — ran
from Chester to Manchester northwards to the Roman wall,
which first between the Clyde and the Firth of Forth, and
afterwards between the mouths of the Eden and the Tyne,
checked the irruptions of the northern hordes. On this road
— ^now popularly known by the name of the "Maiden Way"
[mai dufiy Celtic y the great ridge), from its elevation above the
surrounding country — was situated an important station at
Over Burrow (or Overborough), near Kirkby Lonsdale. Here
numerous relics of Roman occupation were unearthed during
the excavation for the site of Burrow Hall in the earlier half
of last century, and were duly recorded by the Rev. Richard
Rauthmel, in his Antiquitates Bremetoitacenses (1746), Bremet-
onac<B being, in his opinion, and indeed in that of most
antiquaries after him, the Roman name of the station located
at Over Burrow. The existence of such remains at this

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22 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

place had been noted as well-known in the locality long
anterior to Rauthmel. The old topographer, Leland, writing
in the time of Henry VIII., says : —

** Borow, now a vyllage, set in Lunesdale a vi. myles beneth the foote
**of Dent-dale, hath beene by likelyhod sum notable town. The plough-
•'menne find there yn ering [ploughing] la^ides quadratos [square blocks
** of hewn stone] and many other straung thinges ; and this place is much
" spoken of the inhabitants there.*'

Of this station, once so important and famous, nothing is
now to be seen, and a stranger would be quite unconscious
that he was treading on classical ground.

From this point, the road seems to have run straight on
to Low Borrow Bridge, near Tebay, where the conspicuous
remains of a camp may be observed by the passengers, as
the trains on the London and North-Western Railway skirt
it in close proximity. The distance between Over Burrow
and Low Borrow Bridge is about seventeen miles, and though
the ancient track between them is now obscured by new roads
and ploughed fields, which have revolutionised the aspect of
the country, we find indications of its course at several
points. That it came by Casterton [castray a camp) goes with-
out saying. Another trace is Borwens, near Barbon, BorwenSy
or Borrensy generally indicating a Roman site of some kind,
from which the stones have been cleared in the course of
agricultural improvement. There is also in Middleton, not
far from a place called Street, a Roman milestone ploughed up
some years ago, and embellished with a Latin inscription by the
historian Lingard, — the original lettering concisely informing
the traveller that he is "M.P. LIII." — 53 miles — ^from some-
where. To Middleton, the parish of Sedbergh succeeds, and
though visible signs of the track are obliterated, the proba-
bility is, that it is hidden under the present highway, and

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 23

that having crossed the Rawthey near Marthwaite New Bridge,
it held onwards by the Lune, to the eneampment at Low
Borrow Bridge aforesaid. Whether this was the actual route
pursued by Agricola in his famous march to the North, in
the year 79, as is maintained by Mr. Cornelius Nicholson in
his "Annals of Kendal/' — or whether his route lay closer to
the coast, as others surmise, and as the words of Tacitus
would seem to suggest, — is a question which may be left to
the discussion of experts, and the light of future discovery.*
But whatever difficulties may attend the identification of
stations in Britain with the names in the Roman road-books,
it is clear that a road thus piercing the heart of the country,
from Over Burrow to the Roman wall, would be one of great
importance to the conquerors, and the foot of Marthwaite must
often have resounded with the tramp of the Roman legion-
aries as they passed to and fro.

That a station of so much interest as that at Borrow
Bridge should have made antiquaries eager to label it with
a Roman title, is only natural; and the name Alone^ which
occurs among those of Roman stations in Britain, bears too
close a resemblance to that of the Lune (or Lon) to be over-
looked. It was thought that excavations in and about the
camp, under competent supervision, could hardly fail to bring
to light some inscription which would conclusively settle the
question of its identity. This expectation was unfortunately not
realised, when, in 1883, an exploration was conducted under
the auspices of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeo-
logical Society ; and though traces of hypocausts, pavements,

• The rival theories as to the route of Agricola may be found championed in
the "Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological Society,"
vol. ill. (compare Mr. Nicholson's " Annals of Kendal," Appendix) ; and in vol. viii. of
the same "Transactions," there is an interesting account of the exploration of the
Borrow Bridge Camp.

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24 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

and pottery were met with, this well-defined camp continues,
as before, anon)rmous. It has served as a quarry for gene-
rations, and the neighbouring house and bam have been
erected out of its walls. Facing-stones have been stripped
off for fresh uses, but the grout-work still left supplies
abundant proof of its former strength.

The encampment is best known in this district by the
annual sheep-fair held on it in the autumn. The farmers
who then find secure footing on its firm surface of nearly
four acres, capable, it may be, of accommodating a cohort of
480 men, are not likely to interrupt the absorbing computation
of profits and losses with the sentimental consideration that
they may be treading on the bones of centurions and soldiers,
who, in this bleak fastness, succumbed to the accidents of
mortality, sixteen or seventeen hxmdred years ago. They are
as little likely to consider why a number of roads should have
been made to converge at this particular field. But if we
let our imagination wander back to the period of the Roman
occupation, it is easy to realise that from that portion of the
great arterial way which lay between Over Burrow, or Caster-
ton, and Borrow Bridge, there would be cross-roads of minor
importance, branching in various directions. It is very probable
that many old roads still existing were of this nature, and
though our district has not been sufficiently explored with a
view to the connection of its lanes and tracks in this respect,
I think it highly probable that the town of Sedbergh lies
between two of these smaller lines of intercommunication.
From Borrow Bridge there is an old road, still in use, run-
ning in a direct course along the side of the fell, and through
Howgill, to Sedbergh. It would then seem to have held on
its way past Thursgill to Cautley, there crossing the Rawthey
and scaling the side of Bluecaster. The name Bluecaster at

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 2^

once suggests the existence at some time of a camp, but the
site of it is now unknown. From here, the road goes forward
to "The Street" in Ravenstonedale, a place which in its
name announces its original character as a sfra^a ma, or
Roman, way. Next running past Kirkby Stephen to Brough,
it would there connect itself with another great military road,
thus serving as a link of communication between two main
lines of transit — the one from Chester, as observed before, and
the other from York, the head-quarters of the generalissimo
in command of the North. The occurrence of fields with the
name of Borwens, both in Howgill and Cautley, is confirma-
tory of this view. Indeed, the situation of Castlehaw (or
Castle How) which is such a prominent feature in the
landscape at Sedbergh, near the track of this cross-road,
would suggest the probability of its having been a Roman
exploratory mound originally, though this view in no way
militates against its subsequent adoption as the site of a
Saxon stronghold. Such exploratory mounds were not un-
common, especially where the road crossed a stream, and
indeed there is a conical eminence of this kind not far north
of Borrow Bridge, at a ford of the Lune, and bearing, as in
this case, the name of Castle How. Of the utility of the
Sedbergh mound as a look-out, commanding the fords of the
Rawthey and the entrance to the valleys of Cautley, Garsdale,
and Dent, there can be no question.

But let us return to the main road as it approaches us from
Middleton, and there we find another old lane leading in the
direction of Sedbergh, but this time on the south side of the
Rawthey. Near Amit Holme it crosses the Dee, and here there
is a stony eminence, which some have regarded as a relic of
the Romans, and which may well have been intended to guard
the ford at this place. From here the lane continues until it
C

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2b SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

reaches the highroad to Dent, where its course is apparently
interrupted, but may be traced on the other side of the
highway till it joins the old road over the Riggs. Passing
through Millthrop it then probably crossed the Rawthey
somewhere in the vicinity of Sedbergh, and joined the road
through Howgill already described.

Between Sedbergh and Millthrop there is, or rather was,
at the beginning of last year (1890), a rectangular elevation
in a field adjoining the road to Dent, which the Ordnance
Map of 1852 indicates as the supposed site of a Roman camp.
No attempt to ascertain the truth of this supposition had
been made by digging, and when the Town Cricket Club
recently acquired a lease of the field for the practice of
the national game, and proceeded to level the ground, it was
hoped that the mystery which lay hid in the manifestly arti-
ficial parallelogram, would be unravelled. Popular tradition
believed that a castle had stood there, but, beyond this
meagre allegation, it had nothing definite to reveal. The
rectangle having been vigorously assailed with pickaxe and
spade, the discovery of foundations and comer-stones soon
showed that a building of considerable dimensions had once
existed. The clay in the hollow in front of the elevation
suggested a moat, while the discovery of an oval-shaped well,
several feet long, and broad and deep, lined with masonry,
and still full of water, showed how the fluid could have been
obtained to fill it. A few fragments of plain red earthenware
were turned up, and a bunch of screws of elaborate antique
workmanship was found embedded in the clay. Several coins,
chiefly copper, showed that former occupants had put money
in their purses, but had failed to keep it there. Among these,
I was shown a shilling of Henry VII., a farthing of William
and Mary (1694), and another of George III. I am bound

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 27

to admit that I observed nothing distinctly characteristic of
Roman occupation, but it is possible, nevertheless, that a
camp may have been partially cleared and then utilised as a
building-site. Of the latter circumstance — that there has been
a dwelling-house here of some kind — there cannot be any
reasonable doubt. I am inclined to believe that a manor-
house, with its moat, best satisfies the conditions of the
problem; and the name of the field — Hall-garth — seems dis-
tinctly to point in this direction. I have been thus carefiil
to record the results of the excavation, because the level-
ling of the field has almost obliterated all traces of the
previous elevation, and no marked inequalities of the ground
will henceforth tempt the curious inquirer to further in-
vestigation.

But now the scene changes. When the Romans had been
in Britain about 400 years, the increasing pressure of various
Teutonic tribes on their frontiers obliged them to withdraw
their forces to defend their possessions at home. Awake to
the opportunity, the Picts and Scots lost no time before
renewing their raids across the border, and the natives, left to
shift for themselves, and enfeebled by long dependence, were
ill able to cope with their fierce assailants. Saxon pirates,
who had for some time infested the coasts of Briltain, but
who had hitherto been kept at a respectful distance by
Roman pikes, now felt themselves able to land, and look
about a little. The Britons, it is said at their wits' end what
to do, even invited their help against the marauding Picts —
an invitation to which they were not slow to respond. But
when their task was accomplished, and they had gained a
footing in the land, they were loth to leave it, and, in fact,
declined to entertain the suggestion. Fresh contingents of
Angles, and Saxons, and Jutes, kept pouring in from the

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28 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

territory about the mouth of the Elbe; and as the Angles
appropriated the largest share of the country, they naturally
succeeded in bestowing their name upon it, and it thus came
to be known as Angle-land, or England. They occupied the
district with which we are concerned, pushing the poor Britons
to the mountains of the west. The policy of the Romans
had been not to oust the people from the conquered country,
but only to keep them under control ; but the Angles, as far
as possible, swept out the inhabitants with the rigour of a
domestic spring-cleaning, and having made themselves masters
of the situation, comfortably seated themselves in their places.
As we lie just on the borders of the old British kingdom of
Strathclyde, as the mountainous parts of the west in which
the Britons took refuge were called, a mixture of the two races
would hardly be avoidable here. It is probable, therefore,
that we have a few drops of Celtic blood lingering in our
veins, but it is to the Angles, and especially to their successors
the Danes, that we must in the main ascribe our paternity. No
longer bound up with the fortunes of the Brigantes, we now
leave Celt and Roman behind us, and start afresh as Saxons
(more strictly Angles) of Deiray as the country between the
Humber and the Tees was called in the Latinised form of
its name. Up to this time — the end of the sixth century —
the Angles had been heathens ; but some years previously,
as Gregory, the deacon, was walking through the streets of
Rome, his attention was arrested by the white skin and fair
hair of some handsome boys exposed for sale in the slave-
market. Inquiring into their antecedents, according to the
oft-repeated story of Venerable Bede, he learnt that they
were Angles, and he exclaimed that they had indeed angels*
faces. When the information had been elicited that they
were natives of Deira, it was only fitting, he said, that they

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 2g

should be rescued de trd Dei — from Divine ire ; and when he
found that the name of their king was -^Ua, Alleluia! he
exclaimed, should be sung in those parts. Whether these
beautiful Anglian youths were Sedbergh lads, I am unable to
say ; nor am I concerned to defend the elaborate puns of the
pla)rful deacon. In spite of these, Gregory was a lovable
man and a true-hearted Christian, and when he became Pope
of Rome he did not forget those angel-faced youths, but
despatched Augustine to win over the English to the Christian
faith. The direct influence of Augustine's mission, however,
did not spread far out of Kent ; and it was not till after his
time, when Edwin of Deira had become king of all Northum-
berland,* that Paulinus, the chaplain of his Kentish bride,
attempted the evangelisation of the North. Then Gregory's
good wishes began to bear fruit; Deira corresponded with
the interpretation he had so aptly put upon the name, and
Alleluia! was sung in the realm of ^Ua. The good work
begun by Paulinus was obscured for a while, but shone out
again under the rule of King Oswald, whose piety is com-
memorated in the dedication of the church in the neighbouring
parish of Ravenstonedale. This time help came not from the
South, but from the North ; not from Rome, but from the old
Celtic Church of lona. At the request of the king, who had
dwelt as an exile in lona, a monk, named Aidan, was sent to
preach to the Northumbrians, and he did it so effectively that
his mission became by far the most important factor in the
conversion of the North.

But to turn from ecclesiastical to secular matters. When
the cessation of war gave the Anglo-Saxons leisure to devote

• Not the shrunken remnant now called by this name, but the country between
the Humber and the Tyne. Henceforward we will call it Northumbria, to avoid
confusion.

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30 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

themselves to peaceful industry, the village communities with
which they had been familiar in their former homes would
naturally be reproduced in England. Of these family settle-
ments kinship was the bond, and agriculture the usual pursuit.
The descendants of the same ancestor, or in other words, the
followers of the same leader, dwelt together on their separate
plot of country, surrounded by a border of woodland which
served as their mark or boundary. It is not improbable
that we have traces of this at Sedbergh in the names of
Marthwaite (as if Mark-thwaite) and of March Hill, near the
town. Thus arose the totis and hanCs which abound in our
country — Middleton, Casterton, Clapham, Bentham, and the
like. Here and there, instead of the isolated and independent
dwellings of the commonalty, there were larger estates, under
the control and jurisdiction of some lordly thane or other
chief follower of the king. His dwelling was the burh or
stronghold of the place, and judging from remains of this
kind in various parts of the country, the characteristic feature
of it was a conical eminence on which would rest the wooden
house of the lord, while the huts of his retainers occupied the
platform at the base. A judicious environment of palisades
and ditches would give additional security and afford a refuge
for man and beast in times of danger. It is to one of these
Saxon fortifications that Sedbergh owes its chief glory in an
antiquarian point of view. From whatever direction the town
is approached, the green eminence which rears its ancient
head at the eastern end is a conspicuous and striking object,
and gives an air of old-world quaintness to the little town
which probably originated under its protection, and which now
nestles snugly at its foot. It is still fresh and strong after
the lapse of a thousand years, and may even before that date
have served an apprenticeship to the purposes of defence in

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY.

31

Roman days. The mound seems to have been at first a
natural drift-hill, afterwards scarped by the hands of man
into a shapelier form, and the rectangular area below it is
nearly as sharp and distinct as if it had been marked out
yesterday. *

The etymology of Sedbergh is not without its difficulties,
but that it is to be found in connection with this notable
mound is scarcely questionable. Burgh^ burrow^ or borough^
and bury^ are variants of the same original burghy and
our Saxon forefathers have scattered them about the coimtry

• Those who desire to see a more detailed account of a Saxon stronghold should
consult the second chapter of Clark's "Mediaeval Military Architecture in England.**

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32 SEDBERGH, GARSDAXE, AND DENT.

and in our neighbourhood with no niggard hand. They
indicate a fortification [burh) of some kind, and generally
in connection with a hill (beorh) . Burton, Over Burrow, Ingle-
borough, and Dewsbury — all but the last within a moderate
distance of each other and of Sedbergh— exemplify some of
the variations in popular speech which the original burh is
capable of undergoing. Across the border the favourite form is
burghy and Jedburgh, Dryburgh, and Edinburgh readily occur
to the mind as instances. Sedbergh, too, is frequently written
Sedburgh by strangers, and maps and gazetteers to some
extent support their practice. But though the spelling is
tempting, it is by no means to be accepted off-hand as correct.
That it leads to confusion at the post-office with Jedburgh is
perhaps a small matter, but long-continued local usage, which
must always count for much, is dead against it. We can
plead in support of Sedbergh as against Sedburgh the high
antiquity of Domesday Book, and the invariable usage of the
Parish Registers for three hundred years. While, therefore,
existing remains assure us that there was a "burh" at
Sedbergh, and the name might well have been Sedburgh in
consequence, I take it that the spelling "bergh" is not fortu-
itous and unnecessary, but preserves a reference to the hill
{beorh) on which the fortification was constructed. So much
for the latter syllable. The first part of the name, however,
is not so obvious. The spelling has varied between Sad and
Sed in former times; and as Sadda or Sedda is declared to
have been a Saxon personal name, I have met with no
suggestion so probable as that of Dr. Whitaker, who concludes
that Sedbergh means "Sadda's bergh" — the fortified hill of
some Saxon magnate who fastened his name to the place
where he dwelt, but whose fame is not recorded in the page
of history. There is a kind of duplicate of the name, under

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 33

the form of Sedbury, which appears at more than one place
in England associated with ancient earthworks, and in these
cases the explanation "Sedda's burh" is similarly appropriate.
The transference of the name from the stronghold to the town
or country adjacent, is a feature which might be paralleled by
numerous instances.

Sedberghy Sedhurghy SedberwCy Sadboroughy Sadhety Sedber — all
of which are met with in manuscript or printed matter — show
a reasonable amount of elasticity in the form of the name ;
and even Sebber — the ultimate residuum of indolent articulation
— is occasionally heard from native lips. But predominant
usage having at length settled the orthography as Sedberghy
the next problem which confronts the stranger is how to
pronounce the word. He generally exhibits a prejudice in
favour of an unmistakable enunciation of the gy and it is
not until a considerable experience of the native pronunciation
has produced its due effect, that he consents to consign the
perplexing guttural " to dumb forgetfulness a prey." Perhaps
it may diminish the hesitation of our supposed visitor if
we remind him that a silent gh in English words is no
infrequent occurrence. Nobody thinks of pronouncing the
guttural in Mansergh and Sizergh : why should it be impera-
tive to do so in ^Sedbergh'? And have we not numbers of
words like lighty daughtery throughy in which the g is not
heard ? The fact seems to be that h was itself a guttural
in Anglo-Saxon; and when people began to be oblivious of
this circumstance, g was inserted as a crutch to reinforce
the enfeebled sound, and beorh was written bergh accordingly.
But all in vain. Englishmen found out more agreeable uses
for the throat than the production of diflScult sounds. The
invalid and its crutch — the h and the g — came to be alike
disregarded, and now survive only as shadowy phantoms
D

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34 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

from which all resonant vitality has escaped. But this, to
speak in reproachful Carlylese, is "gentle Dulness taking a
turn at etymology." I can only plead in excuse my desire to
establish three things, which are not usually present to every
one's mind at the same time : — that the name of our little
town should be Sedbergh to the eye, Sedber to the ear, and
Sadda's berghy or hill-fort, to the understanding.

After the Angles, Saxons, or Anglo-Saxons, according as
we may prefer to call them, the next great wave of immigration
which set in towards this country, was that of the Northmen
— Danes and Norwegians — ^from whose low-lying or rock-bound
coasts, indented with innumerable creeks and bays, came the
bands of adventurers who for centuries unmercifully ravaged
the shores of western Europe. They were a kind of first-
cousins of the Saxons, being earlier olBF-shoots from the same
stock — " chips of the same block," if we look at their similarly
adventurous character, we shall perhaps be inclined to call
them. They worshipped nearly the same gods as the heathen
ancestors of the Saxons had worshipped; and they spoke a
language not greatly different. Their principal gods indeed
are still enshrined in the names of the days of the week,
which some religionists have scrupled to use in consequence,
lest even so limited a recognition of their existence should
be too great honour to bestow on Woden and Thor, and their
pagan fraternity. The Danes, we read, began to arrive in
England towards the close of the eighth century, and continued
to do so for about two hundred years, advancing by degrees from
mere plundering raids and occasional settlement to organised
and eventual conquest. They dealt with their Saxon cousins
pretty much as the Saxons had previously dealt with the
Britons ; but when they had at length become Christians, and
provocations to hostility had diminished, similarity of language

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 35

and manners permitted them without difficulty to coalesce with
their kinsmen, and to form with them practically one people.
To the Danes we owe the substitution of "wapentakes" for
the Saxon "hundreds" in those counties where their influence
was predominant. The word itself, which means "weapon-
touching," reminds us of the time when at the appointment
of a new governor of one of these districts, it was the duty of
all who owed suit and service, to assemble at some recognised
centre to take part in the ceremony of touching his weapon
with their own, in token of fealty. The trysting-place would
naturally be some well-defined feature of the country, though
the position of it may not be ascertainable now. The wapen-
take of Ewecross, to. which we belong, receives no mention
in Domesday Book, and may therefore, as Dr. Whitaker con-
jectures, be a later creation on the lines of the earlier divisions.
In ancient charters, Sedbergh and Ingleton are described as in
Lonsdale, which leads him to think that these places, as well
as Burton-in-Lonsdale, were first in the hundred of Lonsdale,
before they found a resting-place in the wapentake of Ewecross^
which he supposes to have been carved out of it. It is just
possible, however, that the name Lonsdale may have been used
sometimes not as indicative of a definite territorial division,
but more generally for the valley of the Lune, and so have
been capable of being applied to all places within a moderate
distance of that river. The name of the wapentake, however,
may still be quoted in illustration of the previous statement ;
for it seems to suggest that the rendezvous of the inhabitants
was originally simply a well-known yew tree or cross — a
preaching station, perhaps, where the people foregathered at
the great Church festivals — just as the wapentakes of Skyrack
and Staincross remind us to this day of the "shire oak" and
the "stone cross," where similar assemblies were held.

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36 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

From Lincolnshire to Cumberland — the Danelagh or Danish
district — the Danes have left frequent traces of themselves in
the names of places. Wherever we find these ending in by
or throp (denoting in either case a village), there we surmise
that Danes once dwelt. From Whitby, northwards, such
names may readily be found on the map until they thin out
to nothing in Cumberland. Kirkby Lonsdale, Millthrop, and
Gawthrop announce the presence of Danes in our vicinity.
But if by is characteristic of the Danes, ihwaite (a forest clear-
ing), beck (a stream), and force (a waterfall), are no less
indicative of the Norwegians ; and while from history we
learn that the Danes reached us from the west, spreading
themselves northward from the region of the Humber, the
evidence of langxiage is equally clear that there must have
been a very considerable immigration of Norwegians from the
east, peopling the coast from Chester to the Solway; and
from the seaboard opposite ourselves, even extending a good
way up the dales of Yorkshire. It is well known that the
dialect hereabouts is saturated with Norse forms, and the
local nomenclature exhibits the same complexion. Our thwatteSy
as Narthwaite, Sarthwaite, Marthwaite, follow each other with
the aptness of a rhyming dictionary; but though becks are
ubiquitous, force is forthcoming only in the solitary instance
of Black Force. Loki, a Norse personal name, may lie at the
foundation of Lockbank ; while a faint memory of Thor, the
Scandinavian storm-god, still lurks in Thursgill.

The Finkle Streets which exist in several old towns in the
Danelagh, such as Sedbergh, Kendal, Carlisle, Richmond, and
York, have tasked the ingenuity of etymologists to account
for them; and it may perhaps be a moot point still whether
the name should be referred to the Scandinavian vtnkely an
elbow or bend. This derivation, however, is as likely as any

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 37

Other that has been proposed ; and our dear old savoury
Finkle — ^less savoury now than of yore, however — conforms
to the custom observable in like cases, and branches off at
right angles from the main street. It is, etymologically, the
Bond Street of Sedbergh.

It was in 876, that a party of Danes took up their quarters
in the lower part of Northumbria, corresponding to Yorkshire
that now is; and, in no long time, they made themselves
masters of the whole. With the varied fortunes of their sub-
sequent history, we need not much concern ourselves ; suffice
it to say that soon after the commencement of the eleventh
century, the whole country, wearied out with incessant in-
vasions, surrendered its independence to the Danish pluralist
Canute, who was at one and the same time King, not only
of Denmark, but of Norway and England too. After another
generation the Saxon line was restored in the person of
Edward the Confessor ; and Danes and English, now treated
impartially, were content to live in mutual amity. The Norman
Conquest reduced both races to uniform subjection, and the
notes of intestine discord ceased henceforth to be heard in
the land.

Before passing, however, to the next great act in the
national drama, we may observe that it was a Danish Earl
of Northumbria, — "warlike Si ward," — ^who, in the reign of
Edward the Confessor, inflicted well-merited retribution on the
murderer of the Scottish King, Duncan, and restored the
fugitive prince, Malcolm, to the throne of his father. But all
this is recorded in the imperishable lines of Shakespeare,
and may be read in the tragical story of Macbeth. After
the death of Siward, the government of Northumbria was
bestowed on Tostig, or Tosti, a son of the Saxon Earl, Godwin.
I am sorry to say that Tosti failed to establish friendly

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38 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

relations with his northern subjects. No doubt they were
rude and barbarous, but it did not mend matters to treat them
with harshness ; and the result was that his Thanes, voting him
tyrannical, rebelled in good earnest, and had him deposed and
banished. Tosti, thus unceremoniously released from his duties,
took a tour on the Continent. Possibly, notwithstanding his
eviction from the North, he may have entertained some
thought of being chosen King of England on the death of
the Confessor; for when Harold, his brother, was promoted
to that high dignity, he seems to have given vent to his dis-
appointment by joining Harold of Norway in plundering the
coast from the Tyne to the Humber, and then sailing up the
Ouse, to the capture of York. But the English forces stole
upon the confederates swiftly and unawares, and Harold of
England won the great battle of Stamford Bridge, while
Harold of Norway, and Tosti the unfratemal, went down in
the fray.

Earl Tosti is interesting to us as a former landowner at
Sedbergh ; for he is presumably the Tosti mentioned in
Domesday as having his head-quarters at Halton, in the
Valley of the Lune, and as being possessed of certain "caru-
cates" here and in many other places in the neighbourhood,
in the time of the Confessor.

Part II. — From the Conquest^ onwards.

But we are now in the presence of the closing scene of
national transformation. Henceforth, the succession of races
is stopped by the arrival of the NORMANS, and the stream
of history runs with greater uniformity and clearness.

On the 28th of September, 1066, a few days after the battle
of Stamford Bridge, Duke William, of Normandy, put in an

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 39

appearance on the coast of Sussex. He landed without
opposition, but was in due time encountered by Harold, at
Senlac, near Hastings. Harold fell, fighting bravely, and the
battle was decided in favour of William. With Harold dis-
appeared the only substantial centre of unity. A feeble show
of resistance was kept up for some time longer, but the im-
possibility of concerted action soon convinced the great men
of the kingdom that it was useless to prolong the struggle;
and accordingly, they discreetly acquiesced in the shadowy
claims of William, and placed on his head the much-coveted
crown.

Though many persons are apt to look upon the Normans
as a superior race of beings, who, in 1066, condescended to
guide the destinies of a low-bom mongrel rabble in England
— a fortuitous concourse of races — they were in reality a
chance-medley of Danes and Norwegians themselves, who,
a century and a half before the Conquest, had acquired a
settlement on the other side of the Channel, just as many of
their countrymen did on this; and the territory resigned to
them, to stop their ravages, came to be known as Normandy^
or the Northmen's Land. The only difference between them
and their kinsmen in England was, that the Normans had
gradually exchanged their native language for that spoken in
their new country, and had concealed their Northern rough-
ness under a coating of French polish. Thus the fact remains,
that as a people we are Teutonic to the backbone, and every
important immigration has served but to intensify the strain.

But to return. Duke William was now duly seated on the
throne of England, but the whole of the country did not
acknowledge his sovereignty, unhesitatingly and at once ; and
when a fleet despatched by the King of Denmark sailed up
the Humber, to dispute the possession of the crown, the people

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40 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

of Yorkshire were second to none in their readiness to co-
operate with the disaffected. If William was brave, he was-
wrathful and revengeful too. He was out hunting when he
heard of the capture of York and the slaughter of its Norman
garrison ; and the ill-timed interruption of his favourite pastime
doubtless accentuated his ire. He swore at large, '*by the
splendour of God," that the Northumbrians should feel his
vengeance ; and he was as good as his word. From York to
the Tees he harried the country unmercifully — pillaging,
burning, slaying everywhere. " From York to Durham," says
an old chronicler, writing sixty years afterwards, "not an
inhabited village remained ! Fire, slaughter, and desolation,
made it a vast wilderness, which it continues to this day."
Such poor remnant of inhabitants as the sword of the Con-
queror spared, famine and pestilence, following in his wake,
consumed. How far we participated in this devastation of
Yorkshire, it is impossible to say. Probably the wooden huts
of Sedbergh would be burned to the ground, and the habit-
able part of "Sadda's burh" destroyed, never to rise again.
Morcar, the rebel earl of Northumbria, became a fugitive, and
his earldom was abolished. The lands of all who had shown
any resistance were confiscated right and left, and conferred
on Norman favourites, or retained in the King's own hands-
A minute survey of the country was instituted, the results of
which were recorded in Domesday Book — that invaluable in-
ventory of owners, tenures, dues of the Crown, and other
statistics, from which much of our knowledge of the people
in the latter part of the eleventh century is derived.

A glance at this national survey discloses some interesting
particulars. Sixteen years had now passed since the Conqueror's
unmerciful desolation of the North, but sixty were not suflB-
cient to obliterate the effects of his fury; and we are not

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surprised to find that in respect of population and cultivation
Yorkshire, in proportion to its great extent, lags sadly behind
the less harassed shires. As we lack in numbers, however,
we must be content to exceed in area; and we see that old
" Evrvicscire " (Yorkshire) boldly crosses the Lune in our
neighbourhood, lays hold of large portions of modern Lanca-
shire, Westmorland, and Cumberland, and with one hand on
the German Ocean and the other on the Irish Sea, claims
possession of all that lies between, and coolly declares that
Kirkby Lonsdale and Kendal, and other such westerly places,
are in his own West Riding. This curious divergence from
modem boundaries, which made Yorkshire much bigger even
than it is now, is due to the circumstance that the three
counties above-mentioned had not yet attained a separate exist-
ence, or become known by their present names. They were,
in fact, fragments of the old British kingdom of Strathclyde,
which, during the gradual process of disintegration, had been
variously distributed among the neighbouring shires. The
southern part of what is now Lancashire, had become attached
to Cheshire; while its northern part, and the bottom of
Westmorland, from its present boundary near Sedbergh, were
not then within the kingdom of England at all, but formed
part of the dominions of the Scottish king, Malcolm Canmore.
Thus while Sedbergh, on the Yorkshire side of the Howgill
range of hills, duly appears in the survey, the adjoining district
of Ravenstonedale, which is on the Westmorland side, and was
doubtless among the possessions of Malcolm, finds no* mention.
It wcis reserved for the Conqueror's son, Rufus, to put back
the "canny Scot" beyond the Solway, to claim Carlisle and
the land about Carlisle as English ground, and to establish
the boundary line between England and Scotland, as it now
exists.

E

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42 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

But looking more closely at the Domesday record, we see
that Earl Tosti had enjoyed large possessions in the valley
of the Lune. From his head-quarters at Halton, near Lan-
caster, he looked out over twenty-two manors of various sizes,
all his own. Then, as we come northwards, Kirkby Lonsdale
{Cherchebt) and Middleton are assigned to one Torfin ; but
presently, Tosti comes in again at Inglestune^ Castretune^
Berebrune^ and Sedberge (Ingleton, Casterton, Barbon, and
Sedbergh), and other places, to the tune of fifteen additional
manors — appendages in some sort of the superior manor of
Whittington [Wttetu7ie\ Possibly, Garsdale may be included
in Sedbergh; but Dent, which is not mentioned here, we shall
see reason to recognise under a thin disguise elsewhere, when
we come to treat of that particular dale. The information
^ven us respecting these places is meagre, being principally
restricted to a statement of the number of carucates in each.
We know, however, that in the background of these carucates
there lies a system of agriculture and a set of social relations
very diflFerent from those which prevail at the present day.
Rent, as we understand it, did not exist, but the land was
held in villenage — that is, the lord of each manor assigned
to a number of dependants such portions of his holding as
he did not himself require, on condition of their furnishing
him yearly with so much produce, and so many days' labour
on his own demesne. The land was uninclosed, but divided,
as to the arable part, into acre or half-acre strips by balks of
unploughed turf; and the uncultivated woodland was pastured
by the cattle of the villeins in common. This arrangement
subsisted, substantially in the same form, for some centuries
after the Conquest ; and in various parts of the country where
no Enclosure Act has been set in motion, the open-field

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 45

system is not even yet extinct.* Survivals of this community
of tillage are not evident at Sedbergh, but the terraces about
Ingleton and Clapham, which owe their preservation to their
indestructibility by the plough, are memorials of it. What,
then, were these carucates or ploughlands? A carucate, we
are told, was as much land as one plough with its normal
team of eight oxen could till annually. From the nature of
the case, it was a variable and uncertain quantity, being
larger where the soil was light, and less where the operation
of ploughing was attended with more difficulty'. In some
places, a carucate was 200 acres, while in others it sank as
low as 80. Thus, though it would be possible to get an
approximation by striking the average, it is plain that we
cannot estimate with precision the amount of land which
was under cultivation in any particular locality. Suffice it
then to say that Sedbergh, with its four carucates, compares
not unfairly with its neighbours, having, indeed, two carucates
less than Ingleton, but one mor^ than either Casterton or
Barbon.

One other point of interest in relation to the Domesday
account may be noticed. It was the policy of the Conqueror
to reward his followers with large slices of the land
which he seized, and the Saxon owners who offered any
opposition to his designs were unceremoniously evicted, to
make room for their betters. The lion's share of the spoil
was, of course, retained in the hands of the King, and this
was the case with the territory about Sedbergh, which is
accordingly described cis " King's Land."

At what time it ceased to be King's Land and was

* " The English Village Community," by Frederic Seebohm, to which I owe my
information on this subject, throws much light on the earlier stages of the tenure and
cultivation of land in this country.

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44 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

granted out to others, is a little uncertain, but the probability
is that it was assigned to Robert de Mowbray, Earl of
Northumberland, soon after the compilation of Domesday;
and when he, on account of treasonous practices, forfeited his
estates, it was transferred to his kinsman, Nigel de Albini, a
doughty Norman, who thereupon assumed the name of Mow-
bray, and seated himself in a castle which superseded the
Saxon *burh' at Burton-in-Lonsdale. Now Nigel de Albini
— or Nigel de Mowbray, as we ought rather to designate him
— had a son, Roger de Mowbray, whom we find in feudal
possession of the whole wapentake of Ewecross in the reign
of Henry I. This Roger was a most valiant man, and when
King David, of Scotland, with a motley host of malcontents,
crossed the border and harried the land as far as North-
allerton, he, having a considerable stake in the " North
countree," as well as being a man of mettle and impatient
of intruders, combined with others of like mind, and at the
battle of the Standard (1138) sent the Scots flying in hot
haste back to Carlisle. Roger was also a munificent patron
of the Church; and as the oldest churches in the wapentake
exhibit a certain family likeness referable to his era, it is
conjectured that he must have had a hand in their erection.
Most probably, therefore, the church at Sedbergh owed its
origin to the generosity of this same De Mowbray. His
greatest achievement in this line was the foundation of the
abbey of Byland, where — if he did not perchance shufile off
this mortal coil on a crusading expedition in a far-oflF land —
his bones may have been laid to rest, as the monks of a
later day, at any rate, were pleased to imagine.

His great-grandson, Thomas de Mowbray, blossomed into
a duke in the reign, and under the favour, of Richard II.,
and was a conspicuous personage in the plots and counter-

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 45

plots of that distracted time. As is well known, he quarrelled
with Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Hereford, and was about
to try conclusions with him by wager of battel, when the
king cut short the performance by summarily banishing both,
— Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, to die of a broken heart at
Venice ; and Bolingbroke to return to wear the crown of
England cis Henry IV.

Hitherto, with slight intermissions, the manor of Burton
and its dependencies had remained with the Mowbrays, but
Isabel, the daughter of the exiled duke, by her marriage with
James Lord Berkeley, carried them to that family. In the
next generation they were sold to Thomas Stanley, the first
Earl of Derby, whose son. Sir Edward Stanley, of Hornby
Castle, led the bowmen of Lancashire at the Field of Flodden
(i5i3)> and for his prowess was created Lord Monteagle by
Henry VIII. His praise is sung at large in the old ballad of
"Flodden Field," supposed to have been written by Richard
Jackson, schoolmaster at Ingleton, about fifty years after the
event ; and something of this has filtered into " Marmion."

"The war, that for a space did fail,
Now trebly thundering swelled the gale,

And — Stanley I was the cry ;
A light on Marmion's visage spread.

And fired his glazing eye :
With dying hand, above his head,
He shook the fragment of his blade,

And shouted * Victory !—
Charge, Chester, charge ! On, Stanley, on 1 '
Were the last words of Marmion."

Two more generations passed away, and the barony of
the Monteagles devolved upon an only daughter, Elizabeth,
who married Edward Parker, Lord Morley. Their son,
William, in the first year of the reign of James I. (1603)

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46 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

succeeded to the title of Lord Monteagle in right of his
mother, and had the good fortune to be the discoverer of the
Gunpowder Plot, in commemoration of which innumerable
bonfires have blazed every fifth of November from that day
to this.

But the chief lords of large districts hoi den directly from
the Crown, had in like manner under-tenants of smaller
portions dependent on themselves, whose connection with the
respective manors assigned to them would be even closer and
more intimate. Such, in relation to Sedbergh and around,
was Adam de Staveley, Lord of Staveley, Sedbergh, and Dent,
in the days of King John. He traced his pedigree to
Aykfrith, a Danish noble, who, if old genealogies say true,
had himself, in the time of Canute, stood in a similar relation
to Askrigg, Sedbergh, and Dent. Adam died in 1225, and
Alicia, his daughter and heiress, married Henry Fitz-Ranulph,
Lord of Ravensworth, with whose descendants, the Fitz-Hughs,
the manors of Sedbergh, Garsdale, and Dent, continued down
to the commencement of the reign of Henry VI. But these
personages, though more or less considerable once, are to us
now little else than names ; and with a hurried nod of recog-
nition we pass on to Sir Thomas Strickland, of Sizergh Castle.
The lordship had become parcelled among a variety of hands —
Roger Otway and Sir Richard Thexton in especial — and in
the 43rd year of Elizabeth, Sir Thomas purchased it of the
joint-owners, and reunited the manorial fragments. With his
descendants, in spite of some lawsuits, it has remained to the
present day, and we are still periodically summoned to the
"Court Leet or Law Day and View of Frankpledge with the
Court Baron and Customary Court of the Lord of the Manor
of Sedbergh," for the payment of divers feudal acknowledg-
ments, as " in the brave days of old."

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 47

One incident connected with the tenure of the manor of
Sedbergh in the last century seems worthy of mention.
Shortly before 1744, the Mr. Strickland of that date took it
into his head to run a stone wall round a portion of Bluecaster,
the ruins whereof are still a puzzle to the uninitiated tourist
who adventures himself on that bleak hill-side. The inhab-
itants were aggrieved at this proceeding, and a lawsuit ensued.
The cause of the complainants was upheld by Braithwaite
Otway, Esq., of Ingmire Hall, who, being learned in the law,
and well provided with the wherewithal, not only conducted
the case to a successful issue, but paid the expenses himself.
How deeply the feelings of his clients had been stirred, we
may partly perceive from the outburst of gratitude which,
" in his lifetime, but without his knowledge," they hastened to
inscribe on a gigantic monument. They placed it, however,
in a quarter not usually selected for such commemorations —
the parish church — where all and sundry may still read how
the good counsellor came to the rescue of the distressed
dalesmen.

'* In the year 1744, Gratitude obliged the Parishioners of Sedbergh to
" erect this Monument in memory of BRAITHWAITE OTWAY, Esqr.. their
** generous Benefactor; whose singular Humanity, Beneficence, and Integrity
** ought never to be forgotten. When BLUECASTER was Inclosed, with
**an Intent to take it from them, and many Impositions took place. He
"voluntarily defended their Cause at his own Expence; and with great
*• Assiduity recovered their Rights, and firmly established them in their
*• antient Properties. A Judicious and noble Patriot of his Country, a
*' strenuous Defender of the Poor, and an ardent Lover of Justice; a bright
** and shining Example to the Rich and Potent, whose amiable Conduct
"justly merits their imitation.''

After this climax to manorial vicissitudes it may be well
to draw breath for a moment, and then turn to a more tran-
quillising subject. Let it be the old Church, whose history,

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48 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

left far in the rear, we will now endeavour to bring forward
a little. It is the opinion of Dr. Whitaker, that it came into
existence "in the great church-building era of Henry I."
(1100-1135), when the parish most likely was separated from
that of Kirkby Lonsdale, and a substantial if not beautiful
Norman edifice arose under the auspices of the munificent
Roger de Mowbray.

To whom the advowson of the Church appertained for a
considerable period after the supposed date of its foundation,
is unknown. But about the year 1300, a gallant knight. Sir
Andrew de Harcla — a member it would seem of the ancient
family of De Harcla, who resided at Hartley, near Kirkby
Stephen — was doing good service for his liege lord, Edward II.,
on the northern borders. In 13 15 the Scots, under Robert
Bruce, besieged Carlisle for ten days with all the resources of
military ingenuity which they could muster, but Sir Andrew,
the Governor, was too much for them ; and on the eleventh
day they turned their faces homewards with such material
consolation as they could extract from the beeves which fell
in their way.

Six years later. Sir Andrew swooped down on the rebellious
Earls of Lancaster and Hereford, at Boroughbridge, as they
were endeavouring to effect a junction with their Scottish
allies, and routed them utterly. The delight of the king was
unbounded, and as a reward for this achievement, Sir Andrew
woke up one fine morning to find himself Earl of Carlisle,
with lands and rents to correspond. Earls were not so plenti-
ful then as now^ and an earldom meant, practically, the general
control of a county, or of a shire at the least.

But the distinction in this case, if splendid, was brief.
The coronet had scarcely had time to settle comfortably on
the head of the new Earl, when the Scots again hurried past

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49-

Carlisle, burning and pillaging all the way to Lancaster, and
even further. How they could have escaped the once vigilant
eye of Earl Harcla seemed passing strange. Suspicions of
collusion were aroused, the Sheriff of Cumberland was autho-
rised to effect an arrest, and Sir Geoffrey le Scrope and other
commissioners completed the business by condemning De
Harcla, as an arrant traitor, to be hanged, drawn and quartered,
with circumstances of the utmost barbarity. The executioners
literally made mincemeat of poor Harcla, the chief fragments
of his dismembered body being handed out to four towns in
the North — Carlisle, Newcastle, York, and Shrewsbury — while
the head, which had been graced with a coronet, was reserved
to grin and blacken on London Bridge, as a warning to all
traitors about to be. The memory of De Harcla, notwith-
standing, has been cherished with kindliness in the North ; his
misfortunes have been regarded with pity; and many to this
day, in spite of all that has been alleged against him, would
fain believe in his innocence!

His possessions, as a matter of course, were forfeited to
the crown ; and among them was one half-share in the advow-
son of Sedbergh Church, which was afterwards bestowed on
Sir Greoffrey le Scrope, a leading member of the commission
which condemned him. This Sir Geoffrey, an offshoot from
the Scropes of Bolton, was the founder of the distinguished
family of this name — the Scropes of Masham. Though bred
to the law, he could flourish the sword as adroitly as he
handled the pen, and he had large opportunities of perfecting
his military experience in the French and Scotch wars of
Edward III. After he had helped to dispose of De Harcla,
his legal promotion followed rapidly. In the succeeding year
he was raised to the Bench, and again, after a few months,
to the Chief Justiceship. The advantage he derived from the
F

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50 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

forfeited possessions of De Harcla, at Sedbergh, was apparently
not confined to church patronage, but had a more tangible
evidence in the estates which, long after, Sir Richard Thexton,
in the time of Elizabeth, conveyed to Sir Thomas Strickland
and his heirs, as commonly called or known by the name of
" Scrope'.s Lands." Sir Geoffrey was not long in meeting with
a suitable recipient for the ecclesiastical plum which had
fallen into his hands. It so happened, that in one of their
incursions in the reign of Edward II., the Scots had fallen
foul of Coverham Abbey, and had so harassed and pillaged
the poor monks, that they were on the verge of bankruptcy,
and were crying out amain. It was, perhaps, not unfitting
that De Harcla's half-share in the advowson of Sedbergh
should go to repair losses sustained by Scottish marauding;
and Sir Geoffrey, the Chief Justice, with the entire approval
of the king, conferred it, together with three "bovates" or
oxgangs of land (about forty acres) and the appurtenances
"in Sadberg in Lonesdale," on the disconsolate monks of
Coverham.

But what had become of the other moiety of the advow-
son ? A fragmentary deed relating to the Abbey of St. Agatha,
at Easby, near Richmond, partly explains. It had been con-
ferred on that house previously to the receipt by Sir Geoffrey
of the other half; and it is thought that it must have been
transferred to that worthy, whose family were undoubted
patrons of St. Agatha's, in order to enable him to make a
handsome donation of the whole to Coverham. Here the
remains of Sir Geoffrey, on their arrival from Ghent, in
Flanders, where he died in 1340, were fitly deposited; and
with this monastery Sedbergh remained united, in matters
ecclesiastical, until the dissolution of the religious houses, the
church being served by some member of the fraternity at a

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 51

not too extravagant rate of remuneration, and the bulk of
the emoluments going* to augment the general income of the
brotherhood. In this way the Abbey must have profited not
a little ; for when Henry VIII. swept the revenues of the
monasteries into his coffers, it was found that the tithes of
" Sedberwe," appropriated to Coverham, were worth ;^ 41 10^.
a year — no inconsiderable sum, when it is remembered that
the purchasing power of money at that date was more than
tenfold its present value. The king, however, had the grace
to make a better use of the income derived to the Abbey of
Coverham from the parish of Sedbergh than he did in many
other like cases; for, about a month before his death, he
endowed Trinity College, Cambridge, and gave to that noble
foundation, what it still retains, the rectorial tithes and the
patronage of the living.

Smaller pickings from Sedbergh found their way to the
Abbeys of Jervaulx and Cockersand, as well as to the Priory
of Conishead ; and this intimate connection of the parish with
the monasteries of the pre-Refomiation times, enables us to
account for the interest which the people of Sedbergh and
Dent exhibited in the great movement, the importance of
which, it seems to me, will justify a little detail.

When Henry VIII. had succeeded in substituting his own
supremacy in church matters for that of the Pope, there was
much spoliation of the religious houses on the ostensible plea
of cleansing the land of popery, but under the powerful motive
also, we cannot doubt, of replenishing the royal exchequer in
the readiest way. The Reformation was a glorious event, and
the parent of incalculable blessings, but the means by which
it was brought about were not always defensible. The stately
homes of religion, nowhere more remarkable than in York-
shire, which had been founded and endowed by the piety of

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5 2 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

centuries — very poems of architectural loveliness, and majestic
even in their ruins — were dismantled without remorse, and
their dispossessed inmates driven forth into the world under
the pretext of crimes, which fuller evidence has, in many cases,
shown to have been the interested exaggerations of the visitors
appointed by the King. No wonder that the thought of the
apprehended destruction of so much beauty, and the pillage
and desecration of sacred vessels and appliances, should have
fired the hearts of the people with a sense of indignation.
And when to this is added that the monasteries afforded
shelter and relief to numbers of the distressed — that the
strong were provided with work, and the aged and infirm
with the necessaries of life in the daily dole to the poor —
the continuance of these establishments must have seemed a
matter of supreme importance to those who dwelt in the
surrounding districts. The people, especially in the North,
were still ardently attached to the old faith, and the principles
of the Reformation had, as yet, made little or no impression
upon them.

Though Henry confined his attention at first to the smaller
houses, whose income did not exceed £200 a year, it was fore-
seen that this was but the thin end of the wedge inserted,
and that the turn of the larger establishments would in due
time follow. There was, too, a suspicion that the same measure
which was being meted out to abbeys and priories, would be
applied before long to the parish churches, and that when
the ** regulars" had been disposed of, the parochial clergy
would, in all probability, be subjected to similar pressure.

It was in Lincolnshire, in the year 1536, that the discontent
which had smouldered for some time, first broke out into a
blaze. Here the people assembled themselves to the number
of 60,000, under a banner displaying the five wounds of Christ

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 53

and a variety of other emblems; but being badly officered
and organised, this vast multitude in a short time melted
away without striking a single blow. The King, however,
seems to have been driven to shifts to raise money for sup-
pressing the insurrection; for we find him requiring Thomas
Cromwell, his vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters, to "tax
the fat priests," intimating that one church dignitary, with
exemplary promptitude, had already contributed 200 marks,
and that Dr. Lupton, the provost of Eton — our own Roger —
had been good for ;^ioo.

But the collapse of the Lincolnshire movement was im-
mediately succeeded by a more formidable outbreak in York-
shire, where the Kingf's receiver had been able to report that
from rents and sales of monastic property he had gathered in
a goodly pile of treasure ; and where the pangs of Dissolution
were felt more keenly perhaps than elsewhere. The people
of the northern counties were ready to rise, as one man, for
the redress of their grievances. The firing of the beacons on
the lofty hills was to be the signal to speed to the rendezvous.
Ingleborough lifted its aerial torch ; Winder doubtless sent up
a responsive glow, and aroused the stout yeomen of Sedbergh
and Dent. Contingents poured in to the "Pilgrimage of
Grace*' — for so the movement was designated — until Robert
Aske, an East Riding gentleman, found himself at the head
of 30,000 men, resolute of purpose and sensible of wrongs,
while Henry's available forces were but a third of this number.
Fortune smiled on the insurgents. Pontefract, Hull, and York
fell into their hands, and the Archbishop himself was com-
pelled to join the cause. Skipton and Scarborough were the
only considerable strongholds in Yorkshire which held out for
the King. The monks who had been driven from their homes
were reinstated, and the solemn chant of the worshippers in

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54 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

the accustomed services was heard again. The situation was
now serious enough ; and the King, though he ceased not to
hector and bully in his lordliest vein, was glad to devote his
best energies to regaining the upper hand. His forces lay at
Doncaster, under the command of the Duke of Norfolk, and
on the opposite side of the Don were the aggrieved commons.
Numbers and enthusiasm made greatly for the people, and if
a battle had been fought at once, there can be little doubt
that the victory would have rested with the Pilgrims. Neither
side, however, were anxious to shed the blood of their country-
men. A conference was held on Doncaster bridge, and a
deputation appointed to submit the grievances of the people
to the consideration of the King. Meanwhile, hostilities were
suspended, and Aske had much difficulty in restraining the
impatience of his followers until the return of the envoys.
Great, however, is diplomacy ! After much dilatory negotiation,
he prevailed on the people to accept the offer of the King's
pardon and the delusive hopes of redress which he held out.
But the King having obtained his point, and finding in
occasional attempts at renewed insurrections a convenient
excuse for retribution, was not slow to inflict it. The Duke
of Norfolk hastened northwards, martial law was proclaimed,
and repeated executions fairly quelled the spirit of resistance.
How many of our dalesmen paid the extreme penalty there
is no means of knowing; but the monks in particular were
**tied up" without mercy, and sometimes, it is to be feared,
without just cause. The Abbot of Jervaulx, for instance —
Adam Sedbar by name — who had been compelled to accom-
pany the Pilgrims against his will, was imprisoned in the
Tower, and eventually hanged at Tyburn. During his incar-
ceration he found opportunity to carve on the walls his
initials and the date 1537, which still remain to remind

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 55

visitors of his miserable fate. He was the last head of the
stately abbey of Wensleydale, and, unless his name is mis-
leading, we may fairly assume that he was a native of
Sedbergh.

It was in the course of the negotiations at Doncaster that
Henry VIII. wrote a long letter* to his disaffected subjects, in
which, replying to the complaint of doctrinal innovations, he
marvels much " that ignorant people would go about to take
upon them to instruct Us (which hath been noted somewhat
learned) what the faith should be!" We do not overlook the
modest little parenthesis, but surmise that the Defender of
the Faith, who had once broken a controversial lance with
Luther, and had since dabbled freely in casuistical theology
on his own account, would give himself a hug of self-appre-
ciation as he penned it. As he proceeds he waxes warmer,
and in language not quite respectful to his petitioners, dubs
them " brutes and inexpert folks ; " and then towards the close,
referring to the suggestion that he should dismiss his evil
counsellors, he becomes decidedly personal and contemptuous.

"Here, in this final point/' he says» ''which ye, our commons of York-
** shire, Westmorland. Cumberland, the Bishoprickof Durham, Richmondshire,
** Craven, Dent, Sedbare, and all other places that have been seduced to
"this insurrection, do desire, and also in the matter of the whole discourse
** of your petitions, — we verily think that the rest of all our whole commons
** of many countries [counties, that is], to whom you be in a manner but a
"handful, will greatly disdain, and not bear it that you take upon you to
"set order to us and them, and especially to us, being sovereign lord to
"you both."

However vehemently "bluff Hal" might bluster, it is
certain that he was not so unconcerned as he would have us

• It is given in full in Lord Herbert of Cherbury's ** Life and Reign of King
Henry VHI."

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56 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

believe ; and one cannot help feeling a surreptitious glow of
satisfaction that the stout dalesmen of our neighbourhood
were among the host which caused the rapacious and re-
morseless despot to tremble in his shoes.*

To pass on. The foundation and confiscation of Roger
Lupton's School at Sedbergh, in the reign of Henry VIII.,
and its re-foundation as the Free Grammar School of King
Edward VI., are scarcely matters of general history, and I
allude to the subject here merely for the sake of the chronology.

With the reign of Queen Mary, of unhappy memory, our
connection was short and decisive. John Bland, the martyr,
bom in Sedbergh, and brought up by Dr. Lupton, the provost
of Eton, employed himself in tuition in his earlier years, and
was, in fact, the instructor of Dr. Faucet, one of the divines
before whom he was cited for heresy. He (Bland) had at
that time become Rector of Adisham, in Kent, to the living
of which he had been presented in all likelihood by Arch-
bishop Cranmer, in whose patronage the rectory was included.
Here he had for a pupil Edwin Sandys, afterwards Archbishop
of York. In that elaborate collection of enormities, so much
prized by our forefathers — Foxe's Book of Martyrs — there is
a long account of his troubles in letters to his father, who
would thus seem to have been of a similar way of thinking.
According to Bland's statement, the first breeze which heralded
the approaching storm arose when his own churchwarden,
who favoured the return of Romanism which Queen Mary
was desirous of effecting, assailed him in church for setting
out the Communion Table instead of arranging for the newly-

• The subject of "Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries," has recently been
investigated by Francis Aidan Gasquet, a Benedictine monk» in the light of illustrative
documents. The manifest fairness of his treatment renders his work an admirable
corrective to the historian Fronde's too flattering estimate of Henry and his motives.

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authorised Altar and Mass. Mr. Churchwarden Austen was
wild with excitement, and threatened to lay the Table on its
face. He also fell foul on his rector for having taken down
"the tabernacle wherein the rood did hang," and other like
matters; and he affirmed that he would have a priest on the
spot to say mass the very next Sunday. Sunday came, but
no priest; but in three weeks more, the churchwarden had
found his man. When the intrusive Romanist appeared in
church the rector proceeded to express his views at large,-
but "the churchwarden and the constable, his son-in-law,
violently came and took my book from me, and pulled me
down, and thrust me into the chancel, with an exceeding roar
and cry." Thus borne down by the spiritual and temporal
arms of the law at one swoop, the silenced Protestant was
securely shut up in a side chapel until mass was done. The
upshot of the matter was that Bland was cited to appear
before various tribunals ; and it was in the course of one of
his examinations that the following dialogue took place. Said
Sir John Baker: — "Bland, ye are, as we hear say, a Scot;
where were ye bom and brought up ? " (Possibly John's
northern accent would account for the supposition. Anyhow,
nmiour had put him too far north.) "I was bom in England."
" Where ? " " In Sedbergh, and brought up by one Doctor
Lupton, provost of Eton College." "Well," said Baker, "I
knew him well. Remain to your bond till afternoon." But
handle him as they might, John Bland could not and would
not swallow transubstantiation in its crude form, or indeed
in any form whatever; and accordingly the last argument of
baffled theologians was resorted to. On the 12th of July, 1555,
faggots and stakes were provided in the street of Canterbury,
the torch was applied, and the immovable and unsubmissive
Sedbergian, with three others of like mind, magnanimously
endured the flames.
G

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58 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

In Elizabeth's reign Protestants took heart again, and in
1569 the old banner of the Pilgrimage of Grace, after thirty-
three years' rest, was once more unfurled in the North, under
the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, with the object
chiefly of rescuing the captive Queen of Scots, and of stem-
ming the advancing tide of reform. Whether the men of
Sedbergh and Dent were again to the fore, I cannot say;
but we may well believe that the sentiments which had
animated them on the former occasion were not yet dead;
and the movement would attract the sympathy of many, if it
did not enlist their active support. However this may be,
the insurrection proved abortive, and after nearly twenty years
of imprisonment, the fair face of Mary Stuart, which had
played havoc with many susceptible hearts, was mangled on
the block.

The reign of her son, James I. of England and VI. of
Scotland, under whom England and Scotland were made one,
and border feuds abated, offers nothing in the way of general
history to which we can attach ourselves. He granted a
charter for the foundation of a Grammar School at Dent,
and netted a little pocket-money by the sale of the manor of
Garsdale. Altogether, our relations with King James were
peaceful and prosaic.

Not so with Charles I., his hapless son and successor.
In his time the great Civil War broke out which rent the
nation into two hostile camps, so that there was hardly a
township where Royalist and Parliamentarian, Cavalier and
Roundhead, the supporters of kingly prerogative and the
sticklers for popular liberty, did not unsheathe the sword in
the interest of King or Commons.

As a rule, the North stood manfully for Royalty, and Sed-
bergh and the neighbourhood were loyal to the backbone.

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 59

No pitched battle was actually fought within a considerable
number of miles of us, but incidents occurred sufl&ciently near
to put the good Sedberghians in a flutter of excitement.
Did not Parliamentary majors, in the merry month of May,
1648, set upon Sir Philip Musgrave and company, at Kendal,
and take from him 300 men, and two banners with the motto
** For God and King Charles " ? And did not Monro's rear-
guard of Scottish veterans, in the following August, stay so
long at Kirkby Lonsdale, that the decisive battle of Preston
was lost and won without it ? Four brothers, Middletons of
Middleton Hall, fought for the king, and three out of the
four spilt their blood in his cause.

Two loyal Sedberghians stand out conspicuously in the
struggle — Dr. John Barwick, a native of Witherslack, and
Sir John Otway, of Ingmire Hall. Probably both — certainly
Barwick — ^had been educated at Sedbergh School, under the
genial Gilbert Nelson ; and community of sentiment, as well
as early acquaintance, drew them together in the perilous
after-days of their London life. Barwick was brought up to
the Church, and Otway to the Law; and when the storm of
civil strife was blown over, and Charles II. restored to his
father's throne, the one was rewarded for his services with the
deanery of St. Paul's, and the other with the honour of knight-
hood and offices of legal distinction in the counties of Durham
and Lancaster.

Sir John was born in 1620, at Beckside Hall, in Middleton.
The old hall has been modernised into an ordinary farm-
house, and shews few marks, externally, of former importance;
but inside there is some carved oak wainscoting bearing the
date 1 61 6, and the letters * rOa ' within an elaborate border —
the initials of Roger and Anne Otway [nie Mayer), the parents
of the future distinguished counsellor and knight.

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^O SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

From Sedbergh, young Otway proceeded to Cambridge, to
St. John's College, of which he became Fellow at the age of
nineteen. He was one of the first to be ejected from his
fellowship by the Parliamentarians, in 1643, but he soon found
honourable occupation as a Reader, at Gray's Inn. Family
alliances brought him into relationship with two men of very
opposite sentiments to his own, for they were both colonels
in Cromwell's army — Colonel Redman ^or Redmayne), who
married Otway's sister, Abigail; and Colonel Clobery, who
married his sister-in-law. Backed up by John Barwick, Otway
never rested until he had so worked upon the minds of these
two officers, whose political bias must have been a sore trial
to him, that he eventually won them over to his own views,
and converted them into staunch friends of the King. Clobery
commanded a regiment in Scotland, under General Monk, who,
like himself, was a Devonshire man, and indeed his kinsman.
Otway had thus the means of getting at the ear of the
General through his brother-in-law, and on one occasion, at
the special request of the King, he undertook a journey to
Scotland for this very purpose. After the Restoration, Clobery's
merits were not forgotten. The whilom Cromwellian colonel
reappears as Sir John Clobery, and does good service against
the Dutch; and again in the following reign, in Monmouth's
rebellion, at the battle of Sedgemoor. He died at Winchester,
in 1687, and was buried in the cathedral, and honoured, as
he deserved, with a monument bearing a copious Latin in-
scription.

The other brother-in-law. Colonel Redman, served in Ireland
under Henry Cromwell, the younger son of the Protector.
He was bom in the parish of Kirkby Lonsdale, and left to
the church there a memorial of his connection with the
Emerald Isle, in the shape of an estate, which he received for

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 6 1

his exertions in capturing a castle at Ballinabola, near Kil-
kenny. The possession, by an English church, of glebe-lands
in Ireland, is probably unique. The estate is represented as
now worth £^0 or £^0 a year. Whether the " rint*' has been
regularly paid of late years, is more than doubtful; but the
good intentions of the gallant Colonel are in no way im-
peached by the present untowardly condition of that " dis-
thressful " country. His popularity with his troops stood him in
good stead when General Lambert was endeavouring to oppose
the march of Monk from Scotland. Redman hastened up to
Yorkshire, from London, and as soon as the Irish soldiers who
had served under him in Ireland caught sight of their old
commander, they vowed they would be led by no other officer ;
and, accordingly, 1500 horsemen followed him without more
ado, leaving Lambert in the lurch, and clearing the road for
the passage of General Monk.

The generous conduct of Braithwaite Otway, son of Sir
John, has already been related. In his later years Sir John
settled at Ingmire Hall, where his virtues are worthily repre-
sented by his descendant, the lady who now owns and adorns
that delightful home. He was interred in Sedbergh Church,
a plain stone, lettered * I. O.,' indicating the place of his burial
near the chancel steps, while overhead a beautiful floriated
tablet of white marble, put up by " his sorrowful Lady," more
fittingly commemorates his fame. It is our only historical
monument, and therefore deserves to be transcribed in full.

** In pious Memory of y« Worshipful S* lOHN Ottway K* Vice : Chan*"
*• of y« Dutchy of Lancast" & Chan«" of y« County Palatine of Durham late
** one of y« Read"* of Grays Inn & one of his Majesty King CHARLES
• 'y« 2d» Councill Learned in y« Law to whom he was very Instrumental in
" his Happy Restauration. He lived much Beloved and dyed much Lamented
"y* 15^ of Oct"" 1693. In y* 74"* year of his Age."

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62 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

I must now trace, in brief outline, the career of Otwa^s
friend, Warwick. He was bom at Witherslack, in Westmor-
land, in 1 612, and died in 1664; and was fortunate in finding
an appreciative biographer in his brother. Dr. Peter Barwick,
Physician in Ordinary to King Charles II., and aforetime,
along with John, scholar at S^dbergh, and member, in due
course, of St. John's. He was the younger of the two, and
when he reached the ripe age of eighty-five, in 1705, he had
outlived his brother more than forty years. He had many
estimable qualities, but I must leave him for John, the greater
hero. The " Life," in Latin, published from Peter's manuscript
in 1721, was followed three years later by an English trans-
lation from the sympathetic pen of Hilkiah Bedford. In one
or other of these volumes, the reader will find an ample
account of this noble Sedberghian, and will meet with many
side-lights on the history of the period which he will in
vain look for elsewhere. The portraits of the two brothers,
prefixed to the book, are striking by contrast, — Peter, the
physician, well favoured and in good liking, sustaining, with
becoming gravity, a voluminous periwig with a cataract of
curls on each side — John, the clergyman, spare and ascetic,
"sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought" and ill-health,
and protecting " the bald polish of his honoured head " with
the attenuated integument of an unsightly skull-cap.

There is, however, a suggestion of resolution about his thin
closed lips, strictly in keeping with what we are told of his
doings and sufferings. The first time we meet with him in con-
nection with the Civil War, is in 1642, when Oliver Cromwell,
member of Parliament for the town of Cambridge, having got
wind that the University was about to send valuable contribu-
tions of money and plate to the King, lay in wait for the booty
on the road where he expected it to pass. The wily Oliver was

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 63

outwitted by Barwick and others ; for the sinews of war crept
warily along by-paths, and the substantial expression . of col-
legiate loyalty was safely deposited in the hands of Charles,
at Nottingham, on the very day he set up his standard, and
unfurled the flag of defiance on the castle. Foiled in his plan,
Cromwell vented his rage on* the colleges, and sent all the
Fellows he could convict of " malignancy," packing. Barwick,
undaunted, betook himself to London, the head-quarters of
the enemy, where, as a chaplain, he was able without exciting
suspicion, to communicate to the King, at Oxford, what it
behoved him to know of the doings of his intractable Commons.
Fortune was unkind to Charles, and after a series of reverses,
he was provided with apartments in Carisbrooke Castle, under
strict surveillance. He managed, however, to ingratiate him-
self with at least one attendant, and by his help, to place in
the hands of Barwick a cipher, of which he took care to
keep a duplicate for himself, in a cranny of the wall. By this
arrangement he was able to enter into communication with
his adherents in all parts of the country, and their replies
he interpreted by occasional reference to the oracular chink.
But in spite of the devotion of his friends, Charles I. termi-
nated "life's fitftd fever" on the scaffold, and Barwick was
plunged into grief and consumption. Still he kept up a
correspondence with the King's son and his ministers abroad,
though he was sufficiently ill to deem it advisable to make
arrangements with his friend Otway, for his decent interment,
in case of his death. In the midst of his prostration, a mean-
spirited fellow who had feigned to be friendly, betrayed him
to his enemies, and he was thrust into a dungeon and treated
with the utmost severity. Neither threats nor promises, how-
ever, availed to induce the stubborn ecclesiastic to reveal his
past doings, or to implicate others. By dint of hard pleading.

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64 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

and not without risk, Otway gained permission from the regi-
cide Bradshaw to visit the sick man, expecting to find him
in the last stage of emaciation and despair. Imagine his
astonishment on discovering that, so far from killing John
Barwick outright, prison fare had improved his health, and
made him quite cheerful. At last a favourable conjuncture
encouraged his friends to make application for his release, and
after two years and four months of close confinement, he was
liberated on condition that he should come up for trial when
called upon to do so. Happily, that time never arrived; for,
greatly owing to the urgency of Barwick and Otway, and
Otway' s relations, the colonels. General Monk led his troops
fi-om Scotland, and after a little mysterious finessing, gave
the Parliament unmistakable notice to quit, and recalled the
exiled Prince to his throne. John Barwick saw the end he
had striven and longed for, and had his share in the general
rejoicing. He was chosen Prolocutor of the Lower House of
Convocation, and was a member of the Savoy Conference
(1661), in which Episcopalians and Presbyterians met in solemn
conclave to discuss differences of opinion as to matters of
religion and ritual, in the hope, on the part of the latter, of
bringing about a kind of *' Scotch mixture," which, however,
was declined by the church party, apparently without thanks.
Berwick received a deanery, and might have been a bishop
if he had cared for preferment. A more disinterested, devoted,
and high-souled man, it would be hard to mention. He
left many bequests, to his native place in especial, but to
us, the most touching of all are £^0 to his old School, at
Sedbergh, and " the immortal writings of the King's Father,
bound in two volumes, as no improper pledge of his love and
gratitude, to his dearest friend, Mr. John Otway, who declined
no labour nor danger, that the King's Son might be restored

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 65

to his throne." One wonders whether these much-prized folios
are still in existence. Few more interesting memorials of the
kind could be imagined, than such a souvenir of the aflfec-
tion entertained by John Barwick towards his "dearest friend,'*
John Otway.

Before we take leave of the Civil War and the Restoration^
there are two little waifs and strays of information, which
give us interesting glimpses of Garsdale and Dent in the
middle of the 17th century. In 1 641, the House of Commons,
solely on its own authority, drew up a Protestation, and sent
it about the country for signature. It was a harmless docu-
ment to look at, for it merely involved a promise to defend
the King, the Parliament, the Protestant religion, and so forth *y
but the real design was to impress the people with the notion
that all manner of plots of dangerous consequence to civil
and religious liberty, were being hatched in and about the
Court. Most persons, hereabouts, were deceived by it, and
signed it readily; but when it reached Garsdale, George
Heber, gentleman, and Abraham Nelson, "chapman," were
shrewd enough to discern its drift, and flatly refused to sign
— ^Abraham "publiquely before the whole dale, in the Church ;"
and George by letter, wherein he stated that he ought not to
swear rashly; but if Parliament would be good enough to
certify him that the paper was "sett out by the King^s
Ma'tie's authority," he would see what could be done to
oblige them. Rather rough this on Parliament, which was
not given to setting out anything "by the King's Ma'tie's
authority" just then !

The other item refers to the rejoicing at Dent after

Royalty had been reinstated and old times returned. When

the rushbearing came round, on St. Bartholomew's Day,

there were great doings in the village, and it was as good as

H

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66 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

a play, if not better, when " Oliver and Bradshaw, Rebellion
and War, were represented, all decked by times with vizards
on and strange deformities ; and Bradshaw had his tongue
run through with a red-hot iron, and Rebellion was hanged
on a gibbet in the market-place. Then came Peace and
Plenty, and Diana with her Nymphs — all with coronets on
their heads — each of which made a several speech, in verses,
of their loyalty to the King."

Is it an instance of the hereditary transmission of ingrained
qualities, that Sedbergh boys still sport their oak-leaves on
Royal Oak Day, and efifectively jog the memories of their
companions who omit to appear with the indispensable sprig ?

From Court and Camp, it is a change, possibly a relief,
to turn to a hero in the domain of religious controversy.
The life of George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends,
extended over the reigns of Charles I. and II. and the inter-
vening Protectorate. The Civil War, besides the political
dislocations which necessarily accompanied it, gave rise to a
great unsettlement of belief in regard to spiritual matters.
The removal of restraint, in one direction, let in a flood of
strange notions and hallucinations, in another. Wild excesses
were committed in the name of religion ; and many eccentric
creeds which then sprang up have had their day, and have
long ceased to be. Amid this chaos it was reserved for
George Fox, in spite of many singularities, to lay firm hold
upon a principle of belief and action which has been a
power from his day to our own. Belief in an inward light
— an infallible guide to all who were willing to follow it
implicitly — rendered systems of church-government, and even
human learning, in his view, unnecessary. A priesthood
supported by tithes was an anomaly which could show no
reason for its continuance. The forms and ceremonies of

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 67

social usage, implying a distinction between individuals which
did not exist, must be got rid of. No hat ought to be doffed
to a fellow-man, nor any titles of social courtesy permitted.
The irrelevancies and insincerities of current speech must be
discarded. The names of the days of the week, and of the
months of the year, with their heathen associations, were to be
replaced by honest numbers; and the plural ^^w, when addressed
to an individual, must be reduced to the unadorned simplicity
of thee and thou. Changes like these, which ran counter to
all the received notions of propriety, were sufficiently startling
in themselves ; and Fox had an aggressive way of combating
the views and prejudices of others which did not render his
innovations more palatable. We can hardly be surprised that
he should have shared the proverbial fate of reformers —
persecution ; and as he persistently refused to take an oath
of any kind when hailed before the magistrates, he became
acquainted with the insides of more gaols in the kingdom
than perhaps any other person of his time, — which is saying
a good deal.

A man of stalwart frame he was, clad in perdurable
leather breeches, and with long hair falling on his broad
shoulders — a man whose piercing eyes flashed with intense
earnestness as his homely, fluent, forcible harangues riveted
the attention of his audience. All this, added to the evident
sincerity of his convictions and his unquailing personal
courage, combined to produce a preacher and a controver-
sialist whom multitudes in our northern dales, at every
opportunity, from miles around, flocked to see and hear.

He has left a copious ** Journal" of his preaching, expeditions
during more than forty years at home and in foreign countries ;
and from this we learn much that is curious about his visits
to law-courts and steeple-houses, his outpourings in fairs and

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68 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

markets and alehouses, and his disputes with judges, magis-
trates, priests and professors of all kinds. We gather also
that he paid repeated visits to our neighbourhood, and that
it was greatly influenced by his teaching. In 1652, as he
was travelling about Yorkshire, he came in sight of Pendle
Hill, " a very great and high hill," which he was moved to
ascend ; and somewhere thereabouts he had a vision of " a
great people in white raiment by a river side, coming to the
Lord; and the place that I saw them in," he says, "was
about Wensleydale and Sedbergh." This augured well for
Sedbergh, and accordingly when, after unimportant visits to
Grisedale and Dent, he arrived here, he went to a meeting
at Justice Benson's, "where met a people that were separated
from the public worship. This was the place that I had
seen" — Brigflatts, by the Rawthey — "where a people came
forth in white raiment. A large meeting it was, and the
people were generally convinced, and continue a large meeting
still of Friends near Sedbergh ; which was then first gathered
through my ministry." "In the same week," he proceeds,
" there was a great fair, at which servants used to be hired ;
and I went and declared the day of the Lord through the
fair. After I had done so, I went into the steeple-house
yard, and many of the people of the fair came thither to me,
and abundance of priests and professors. There I declared
the everlasting truth of the Lord and the word of life, for

several hours After a while, the priests came

up to me, and I warned them to repent. One of them said
I was mad, and so they turned away. But many people
were convinced there that day, and were glad to hear the
truth declared."

From Sedbergh, Fox went to Firbank, three miles away,
and there the proceedings were more remarkable still. On

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Firbank Knott, a high hill on the Westmorland side of the
Lune, overlooking the parish of Sedbergh, Fox had a notable
field-day, much to be remembered in the annals of Quakerism.
" The next first-day," he \vrites, " I came to Firbank Chapel,
in Westmorland, where Francis Howgill and John Audland
had been preaching in the morning." These were Indepen-
dents, it would seem. "They were not parish teachers, but
pretty tender men;" and they were shortly to become zealous
preachers among the Friends. They were holding a service —
for the Chapel seems to have been open to the ministrations
of every one — when they became aware of the arrival of Fox.

They at once cut short the exercise, went off to dinner, and
hastened back. In the interval, Fox •* went to a brook and
got a little water; and then came and sat down on the top
of a rock, hard by the chapel." " Fox's Pulpit " the rock is
now called, and it was, no doubt, an excellent rostrum from
which to address the magnificent congregation which had
assembled on the level standing-ground below. "It was

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70 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

judged, there were above a thousand people;" and when
some of the old folks had made themselves comfortable in
the little chapel, and were looking out at the windows,
"thinking it a strange thing to see a man preach on a hill
or mountain, and not in their church, as they called it,"
George "was moved to open to the people, that the steeple-
house, and the ground whereon it stood, were no more holy
than that mountain;" and that churches, priests, and tithes,
had their place, no doubt, among the ancient Jews, but were
now for ever done away. The result of the discourse was
eminently satisfactory, and several of those who listened to
it joined the Society, and were foremost among its preachers
afterwards.

The scene of this remarkable episode has acquired, in
consequence, unusual interest, especially for members of
Fox's own persuasion. William Howitt, attracted to these
dales chiefly by their association with the founder of the
Society to which he belonged, paid a visit to it shortly before
1837, 3,nd has thus described it in his "Rural Life of
England":—

** There is a little church-of- England chapel perched on the highest point
«*of Kendal Fells, not far from Sedbergh, called Firbank Chapel, where a
''thousand people are said to have been collected to hear him [Fox], and
**at which three hundred people were convinced of the truth, to use his
**own words, at one time. That little chapel is standing yet, perhaps the
'*very humblest fabric in England belonging to the Established Church,
"old and dilapidated, and situated in one of the most singular and wild
** situations. Near the door is a rock, on which, it is said, he stood to
** preach. From its high site you look over dreary moors, and a vast tract
*«of outstretched country, and wonder whence the people gathered to his
"ministry. But his fame was that of an apostle all round this country.*'

This description is no longer exact in every detail. It
resembles the play of Hamlety with the part of Hamlet

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omitted; for the little chapel, which Howitt contemplated
with so much interest, yielded to the force of a wintry gale
and became a ruin, a few years after his visit; and the
congregation, who had been in the habit of carrying their
wisps of straw to protect their feet from the damp floor,
moved down to a lower and more sheltered site, as soon as
the present church was ready to accommodate them. The
ruins of the fallen chapel have been cleared away, but the
tiny burial-ground, by the side of an old road, now seldom
used, and under the shadow of the famous rock, remains.
Two tombstones, legible, or partly legible — the earlier dated
1745, the later, 1816 — gently break the silence of the grave;
a few stunted firs bow their wind-swept heads over "the
nameless dead;" and the whole is a spot favourable in the
highest degree to sober reflection and chastened reverie.

We descend the hill, and on our way back to Sedbergh
look in at the old Meeting-house at Brigflatts, which sprang
up under the stimulus of Fox's presence. In 1674, twenty-
two years after his first visit, he addressed a meeting here,
"to which came most of the Friends from the several
meetings round about, and a great concourse of other people
also; it was thought there were five or six hundred. A very
good meeting it was." It must have been; — and the next
year saw the now venerable meeting-house erected, as the
date over the entrance shows. The simple whitewashed
building is said to be the second oldest meeting-house of its
kind in England. It consisted at first of four bare walls
and an unceiled roof, wind and rain and snowflakes being
partially excluded, as winter approached, by annual insertions
of moss. Still the number of regular attendants increased,
and in 17 11 an oak gallery was put up for extra accommo-
dation. The gallery survives now, rather as a reminder of

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72

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

the past, than as an object of present utility; for — such are
the changes of time and fashion — the handful of worshippers
who now meet there rarely overflows the downstairs floor. A
library of appropriate literature is stored within, and a record
of Meetings for Discipline and other business appertaining
to the denomination, has been kept with unfailing regularity;
while close by, a well-filled burial-ground covers the mortal
remains of numbers who held their own manfully in the
great struggle for liberty of conscience, two centuries ago.

Old Friends* Meeting-house, Brigflatts.

We proceed to Sedbergh, where it will be thought high
time to change the subject which has occupied us so long.
There is another incident, however, which took place about a

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY, 73

year after Fox's inaugural visit to the town, which is inte-
resting on diflFerent grounds. It is described in an old book,
entitled "The faithful Testimony of that antient Servant of
the Lord and minister of the everlasting Gospel, William
Dewsbury/' one of the earliest of Fox*s followers, who had
been convinced in the neighbourhood of Wakefield, and now
seems to have been following in the track of his teacher.
The particular memorandum is signed with the initials of
George Whitehead, the famous Quaker missionary, of Orton.

"One remarkable passage/* he writes, "I often reiTiembcr. About the
'*year 1653, upoti a market-day, at Sedbuiy [Sedbergh], in Yorkshire, as
" W, Dp was publishing the Truth at the Market Cross, some nide persons
" (endeavouring with violence to push him down, and setting their Backs
"against him, they pusbt down the Cross, which, with the fall, broke in
"pieces, many being about it; yet it missed the People, and little or no
'^hurt was done thereby; whereas, if it had fallen upon them, divers might
"have been killed. This preservation, I and divers more observed then as
' ' a special Providence of God attending him in his Labour, though I
'* was then but a youth of sixteen years old, or thereaboutSj being convinced
"of truth about a year before/'

The Cross was set up again after this mischance, and con-
tinued to shed an air of quaint old-worldliness over the
market-place till 1854, when it was removed by some local
wiseacres, who foolishly preferred its room to its company,
and deprived the town of what many would now have regarded
as one of its greatest ornaments. The sheds, or *' shades/* so
called — ^a series of sheltered stalls bordering the churchyard —
were pulled down at the same time. They had become the
questionable haunt of nocturnal prowlersj and we need not
much deplore their disappearance. Portions of the Cross
underwent an ignoble resurrection as gate-posts to a farm-
yard ten miles away. Old people, who have a kindly recollec-
tion of it, say that it consisted of a plain central column^
1

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74

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

rising from surrounding steps, and bearing a large round ball
atop. Weary wayfarers often found grateful rest on its steps;
and sales were announced, and matters of parochial interest
published there, as the congregation filed out of church on
Sundays. I am glad to be able to reproduce its portrait,
from a sketch by the late Mr. Dawson Watson, to whose
pencil many local objects of interest have owed a similar
preservation.

From the day when the roistering blades of Sedbergh
upset the market-cross, and were within an ace of killing
poor William Dewsbury and themselves at the same time, we
seem to have dwelt securely, pursuing the noiseless tenor of
our way for close upon a century. Then the Jacobites became

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CONNECTION WITH GENERAL HISTORY. 75

uneasy, and, not having had enough of the Stuarts, wanted
more. Scotchmen, in particular, were eager to supplant
Hanoverian George with a Prince of the genuine breed; and
two thousand men, of all sorts and conditions, pushed down
into England in 17 15. They kept clear of Sedbergh, however,
and went by Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale, until they fell into
the arms of the King's forces at Preston^ and then quietly
surrendered at, and with, discretion. But on a repetition of
the offence, in 1745 — a much more formidable affair than the
previous one — when " Charlie, my darling, the young Cheva-
lier," at the head of his devoted Highlanders, dashed down
to Derby, and thence speedily retraced his steps to Scotland^
with the Duke of Cumberland hard at his heels, we do seem
to catch glimpses of white cockades and bespattered tartans
and eke pursuing redcoats — meet cause of wonderment and
alarm to peaceful villagers. For tradition is strong, that
straggling Highlanders, not altogether at leisure to choose
their route, struck off through Sedbergh northwards, followed
by a party of the Duke's dragoons yearning for a more inti-
mate acquaintance. One old inhabitant of Sedbergh avers
that his ancestor — a Scotchman — cut himself adrift from the
rebels at Thursgill, lurked about till the coast was clear,
then built himself a hut, and left descendants who are with
us now. Another tradition is, that some of the fugitives
stayed the night at an inn in Sedbergh, but in the morning,
receiving news of the near approach of their pursuers, they
beat such a hasty retreat that a bundle of money, which they
had secreted in the thatch, was left behind, and sufficed to
rebuild the humble hostelry on a more imposing scale. And
had we not formerly a Duke of Cumberland Inn, familiarly
yclept "The Duke's Head," suggestive of special interest in
the hero of Culloden ? Then there are three small cannons — two

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76 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

in the Back Lane and one in the Main Street — of which the
only rational account which anyone ventures to give, is that
they may have been confided to our care by the rebels as
•' left luggage/' not since claimed.

We have now reached the close of a long chapter, from
which it will be seen that we ask to be considered at least
something more than supernumeraries in the evolution of the
national fortunes. In the course of our review, we have
revived an almost forgotten connection with the earliest
inhabitants of the country. We have seen Roman troops
penetrating our neighbourhood and leaving us encampments
and roads to attest their presence. We have noted a Saxon
thane setting up his rest in his hill-fortress in close proximity
to degenerate Britons; and we have found traces of Danes
and Norwegians in local nomenclature, as we shall meet with
them in household words still current among the people.
We have paused at the Conquest to observe William, the
Norman, pushing his difl&cult way through Yorkshire, and
stopping short in his career at Sedbergh. We have beheld
the land in the firm grasp of powerful barons, and have
glanced at the rise of Church and School. We have marked,
with admiration, the people of Sedbergh and Dent, uniting
to oppose the high-handed measures of a sacrilegious and
unscrupulous tyrant, and in defence of their religion and
liberties. Again, we have seen Sedberghians loyally supporting
the throne in one of the greatest internal conflicts through
which the nation has passed ; and then, turning from war to
peace, and from peace to war, we have shared the enthusiasm
of a new-bom sect, and have witnessed the last flicker of
an expiring cause.

Our survey has necessarily been rather discursive, but it
has cleared the ground, and we may reasonably expect the
ensuing chapters to be more parochial and precise.

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CHAPTER II.
THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAK SCHOOL.

''E have already seen that the present county
of York, at the period of the Conquest,
included portions of Westmorland and
Lancashire. Until quite recently, ecclesi-
astical divisions, as, for instance, the dean-
eries of Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale, paid
'Pur/^' ' ^^ regard to the boundaries of these new-

fangled counties. Kendal and Kirkby
Lonsdale were themselves in Westmorland, while some of
their appurtenant parishes were in Lancashire; and, as regards
Kirkby Lonsdale, some others were at home in Yorkshire.
This is proof presumptive that, in this part of the country,
ecclesiastical arrangements preceded the civil; and that while
Lancashire and Westmorland were yet unborn j the old Saxon
parishes of Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale, which were then
part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, had taken charge, the
former of the east side of Morecambe Bay, and the latter
of the valley of the Lune.

There is no mention in Domesday Book of a church at
Sedbergh, but Kirkby Lonsdale appears there, under the form
of Cherchebi — a designation which plainly implies the exist-
ence of a church at that time at that place, and which, with
the specific addition of Lonsdale, points to the extensive area
originally under its supervision. At the time the Domesday
Surv^ey was made, we were in all likelihood included in this

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78 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

great parish, and had not yet attained to the dignity of a
separate existence. But in the reign of Henry I. (1100-1135)
in the early part of the twelfth century, church-building went
on at a merry pace; and it is highly probable, as we have
previously noted, that the origin of Sedbergh Church is to be
referred to this movement, and to the helping hand of the
g^eat baron, Roger de Mowbray, of Burton-in-Lonsdale, among
other places, to whom the tract of country conterminous with
the wapentake of Ewecross had either been granted at first
hand, or had be^n transferred in succession. Thus, within
half-a-century of the great Survey, the spiritual provision,
which had long been established at Kirkby Lonsdale, was
reproduced at Sedbergh. A church was built, a parish with a
separate cure of souls was marked out, and the beneficent
influences which had crept up the banks of the Lune, to
Sedbergh, would in like manner, and after no very long
interval, be extended to Garsdale and Dent.

During this time, and for some centuries afterwards, we
were in the archdiocese of York, and in the old archdeaconry
of Richmond. The Archdeacon of Richmond, in those days,
was a dignitary of almost unlimited power in the vast territory
which owned his sway. From Richmond to the confines of
the Bishopric of Durham, and, in a westerly direction, to the
Irish Sea, his jurisdiction was paramount; and, barring the
distinctively episcopal fiinctions of confirmation, ordination, and
consecration, there were few things in matters ecclesiastical
which he could not do ; while on the other hand, there were
not many things which could be done without his leave. If
a princely duke desired to establish a collegiate church, as
at Middleham, the Archdeacon must be formally solicited to
exempt it firom his ecclesiastical rule; or if the advowson of
Sedbergh was to be conferred on the abbey of Coverham,

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 79

the arrangement must have his entire concurrence. He had
a chief residence in York, and country houses in the three
benefices assigned for his support. One of these was at
Clapham, where the memory of it is still preserved in " Arch-
deacon's Croft," near the church. Frequent visits to Rome,
to confer with the Pope, made it necessary at times to provide
a substitute, on which occasions a commissary was appointed
to look after the synodals and Peter's pence at home. Matters
remained in this state until the Reformation, when Henry
VIII., in 1 54 1, founded the see of Chester and endowed it
with the revenues of our friend the Archdeacon, whose
title was still kept up, though the emoluments were gone.
Thus we came to be in the diocese of Chester for nearly
three hundred years, until 1836, when the see of Ripon was
reconstituted, and the oversight of the present archdeaconry
transferred to it. The Archdeacon of Richmond, at this date,
is the Venerable Edwards Cust — a hale octogenarian, venerable
in more senses than one, and specially esteemed at Sedbergh,
where he was bom at the vicarage; his father, a senior
wrangler, the Rev. Daniel Mitford Peacock (afterwards Cust),
being Vicar of Sedbergh for upwards of forty years. Since
1836, we have not experienced any ftirther diocesan trans-
migration, although we have several times had occasion to
welcome among us a still newer development, the genial
Suffragan Bishop of Richmond.

A church which has borne the rain and sunshine of more
than seven hundred years, may fairly be expected to exhibit
a roll of Vicars of proportionate dimensions. A few of them,
at the beginning and end of the pre-Reformation period, have
fallen irretrievably into "the dark backward and abysm of
time;" but the series is unbroken afterwards, and I am able
to present a list a little more complete than hitherto. It falls

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8o SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

naturally into two divisions — the Vicars appointed by the
Abbot and Convent of Coverham, before the Reformation ;
and the subsequent appointments by the Master and Fellows
of Trinity College, Cambridge, to whom Henry VIII., after
dispossessing the monks, considerately transferred the larger
tithes and the patronage of the living. In the latter division,
the Vicars have been appointed uninterruptedly by the College,
except in two early instances, when Adam Colclough and
Edward Hampton seem to have been presented by the Crown.
The pre-Reformation Vicars, it will be observed, are distin-
guished by the names of the places to which they originally
belonged ; and these designations, when reduced to the modern
spelling of Poppleton, Bowland, Redmire, Linton, Wensley,
Leathley (rj, and Middleham, give us an idea of the localities
from which Coverham drew its recruits. Their personal names,
too, are of scriptural or ecclesiastical complexion, with the
exception of Richard of Middleham, who may perhaps be
excused the deviation in consideration of the partiality
which Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III.,
showed to that place, who, whatever opinion we may entertain
of his character subsequently, was a good friend to Middle-
ham, and the church there.

The following is a list of the Vicars, so far as they have
been ascertained. The dates denote the year of institution ;
c. for circa intimates that the time is merely approximate, and
m, informs the reader that the names to which it is prefixed,
are those of Vicars who have monuments in the church, or
churchyard.

I. — Vicars before the Reformation : —

^« ^350- John de Popilton
c. 1379. Elyas de Boghland.

1399. Cuthbert de Rydmer.
c. 1 4 16. John de Lynton.

1434. John Wenslawe.
c, 1494. T. Leytley.
c, 1528. Richard Mydlam.

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THE CHURCH AND IHE GRAMMAR SCHOOL* g|

IL — Vicars since the Reformation : —

J554, Thomas AlkinsOD.
1579. Giles Wig^inton.
1585, Adam CoJclough,
c. 1597. Edward Hampton.
i6io. George Harrison.
161 J. Joseph Wybarne.
1615- Benjamin Hinton.
1624. Robert Cademan,
1634, Thomas Briscoe.
1660- Leonard Burton.
m, 1682. Jonathan Rose, M.A*

1727- Thomas Lambert, M.A.

174T. Joseph Driffield, B.A.
m, 1746* Wynne Bateman, D.D.

1754. John Meiyett,

1764. Marwood Place, B.D.
m. 1766, William Gawthrop, M,A.

1840, Thomas Riddell, M.A.
ffi, 1S4J. George Piatt, M.A.

1S83. Robert Hebert Quick, M*A.
m. 18S7. Joseph Albert Loblcy. M,A.

i88g. Edward Wilton South, M.A.

The following brief notices will, at leasts give an air of
restored animation to some of these persons.

Richard Mydlam was Vicar of Sedbergh in 1528, in which
year he was a consenting party to the grant to Roger Lupton
of a portion of glebe-land, including the site of his school.

Of Thomas Atkinson I know nothing. He seems to have
glided through the reign of Mary, and well into that of
Elizabeth, without disturbance ; and we may conclude that
though favourably inclined to the old religion, he did not
push his views to an extreme in any direction. Giles Wigin-
ton (or Wiggington) was a person of a different kind. The
Protestants who had fled from the fires of Marian England
to the cooler regions of the continent, returned in great
force as soon as they heard the grateful news of the death
of Mary, and the accession of Elizabeth. The great expect-
ations which they had built on the latter event, and their
intensified opposition to episcopacy and church discipline,
induced them to set about sowing the seeds of puritanism
and nonconformity in good earnest. Giles Wiginton was
thoroughly in sympathy with these ultra- reformers. Unfortu-
nately, they had reckoned without their host ; and Elizabeth
soon let it be seen that she had a will of her own, especially in
I?:

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82 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

matters of church polity, and that she was by no means favour-
ably inclined towards the development of any irregularities.
The brand-new machinery of the Court of High Commission
was set in motion to regulate "prophesyings" and the erratic
zeal of unauthorised religionists. About 1585, Giles Wiginton
had unpleasant experience of the power of this repressive
engine. He was reported to his diocesan, the Bishop of
Chester, for unconformable practices, and underwent the process
of deprivation in consequence, Adam Colclough (a man no
better than he should be, say his adversaries) being substituted
in his place. After a time, however, by the intervention of
powerful friends, he was reinstated; but the engine was still
in motion, and another sweep of its remorseless arm deposited .
him securely in Lancaster Castle. He had fallen under the
suspicion — deserved or not— of having a hand in the notorious
** Mar-Prelate" tracts; and the discreditable scurrility of these
anonymous pamphlets barred prison doors effectually. After
several years of close confinement and suffering he was
banished from the land, and one hundred and forty of those
who had heard him gladly were excommunicated for their
pains.*

Joseph Wybame, as we learn from the Register of Baptisms
under the year 16 14, had a daughter baptized by the unusual
but not unique name of "Nazareth." Possibly he too may
have been a gentleman with puritanical tendencies. Benjamin
Hinton and Robert Cademan also appear, on the same
authority, to have assumed parental responsibilities at
Sedbergh.

In 1652, Fox notes in his "Journal," after the rousing
epistle to "priest Tatham," — "I wrote also to Burton, priest of

*Miairs " Congregationalism in Yorkshire," page 19. Fuller, in his Church History,
also alludes to him.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 83

Sedbergh, much to the same purpose, he being in the same
evil ground, nature, and practice." Probably, we should not
consider Leonard Burton's offences so heinous as they appeared
to his Quaker critic. They seem to resolve themselves into the
collection of his tilhes and the holding of views of theology
different from those of George Fox, As Leonard Burton was
not instituted until i66ojWe must suppose that at the date of
Fox's letter he was acting either as curate or deputy of
Thomas Briscoe, the preceding Vican

We now come to a Vicar, Jonathan Rose, who seems to
have had more originality and force of character than most
of his reverend brethren. He was of the opinion of Captain
Cuttle — ** When found, make a note of;'* and we are grateful
for his memoranda at the end of one of the register books,
setting forth with due particularity of names and dates, how
that :—

** November y* 5 th, Ad no Dommi 1697, — The same day was given a
"red pulpit c Cushion by D^ Charles Ottway» of Ingmer-Hall, properly to
"ye use of Sedbergh Church for ever."

**ffeb. i3th^ 1700.— Then was given a Booke called y* History of y
*' Bible, by M"" Edward Sp eight , to y* use of Sedbergh Church for ever.*'

** March y* 12th, 17 00. — Then was given a large Table Cloaih for y"
"Communion Table, coloured white, by D"" Charles Otwayj to y» use of
" Sedbergh Church for ever; with two Napkins of the same sort afterwards,"

"March y* 26th, 1702,— Then was rec^ Thirty pounds, being y* gift of
** M^ Edw^ Speight J of London, horn att Scroghouse, in Sedberghj given to
" )-* poor of Sedbergh, & lo be divided by y* Vicar and Churchwardens every
'* Lords Day in peny wheat Loaves/'

** That in y^ year 1703^ John ffawcett, of Gateside, in ffrostrow, dec**
"did by his last will give to y* poor of Soolbank and ffrostrow Tenn shillings
' * yearly for ever, ^ y* same to be divided by y* Church- Wardeii &
•' Overseer in pen'y Wheat Loaves to y" poor w*^ia y* s* Hamlett, upon
" St» John's Day in Xtmasj & yc same to be continued yearly for ever
"as abovcs"'"

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^4 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

**That in y* year 1704, D' Otway gave to Sedbergh Church one Silver
"" Salver, & y* same to continue to y« use afores^ for ever.**

** That Charles Atkinson, of Borrad. gave a Velvett Bier-cloth, markt
'*thus — 'C: A: 1716* — to the use of Sedbergh for ever.**

" Our present vicar, Mr. Rose, aged 71 years, been vicar here 43 years,
■"did on May 12 last, put into the Ratha [Rawthey] at the waters meeting
** below Streight Bridge, one hundred live crevisses [crayfish], and this day
**a parcel more above Milthorp Bridge, for a fund to breed of. Witnesse
** my hand, Aug. 4, 1725, Jonathan Rose, vicar, Sedbergh."

The Dr. Otway mentioned in these memoranda, was Charles
Otway, LL.D., son of Sir John Otway, and Fellow of St. John's
College, Cambridge, where he died. — The bread charities, after
being dispensed in the manner prescribed, for nearly two
hundred years, have come to an end while I write, the Charity
Commissioners having just promulgated a scheme for their
administration which diverts them into channels more agreeable
to the circumstances of the times, and as one would hope,
not less serviceable in their application. The Sunday Charity,
before the restoration of the Church, was commemorated by a
few words in black letter on the inside of the west wall, near
where the old persons selected for the purpose have been
accustomed to partake of Edward Speight's bounty. The
St. John's Day Charity, it will be noticed, is directed to be
distributed by the * churchwarden,' not * churchwardens,' as
before, the reason being that it is the custom at Sedbergh to
appoint one churchwarden for each of the hamlets composing
the township. The hamlets of Cautley-and-Dowbiggin and
Howgill-and-Bland, which now resort to churches of their
own, have only within the last few years preferred to manage
this matter for themselves. Naturally, John Fawcett thought
the churchwarden of his own hamlet the fittest dispenser of a
benevolence intended for it alone ; and the overseer would be

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 85

a guarantee that the most needful were not overlooked. There
is a melancholy interest attached to doomed institutions, and
I shall be excused for stating that on the last — positively the
last — distribution of this charity (December 27th, 1890), sixty-
four children (no adults have attended within my recollection)
retired with an average of three loaves apiece. Visible signs
of John Fawcett are now scarce. The habitable part of Gate-
side, in Frostrow, the humble tenement of the rural philan-
thropist, after standing empty for some years, was finally carted
away in 1889, to serve as building material elsewhere.

The last memorandum above, shows that Mr. Jonathan
Rose, amid his pastoral duties, was not unmindful of the bodily
requirements of his flock. Whether the humble but interest-
ing crustaceans, which the worthy Vicar fondly hoped would be
a comfort to his parishioners in after-days, found their environ-
ment unsuitablej or whether they had the Ul-hap to be eaten
up before they had time to think of matrimonial alliances, or
whether, perchance^ aa is not improbable, they were prema-
turely extracted from their hiding-places by inquisitive urchins*
is uncertain, but no vestiges of their ill-fated sojourn in the
Raw they are apparent now.

But besides being a man of good senses in the practical
routine of life, Mr. Rose seems to have been acceptable in
the pulpit, and in some request in other churche,s. A thin
quarto pamphlet, printed in 1755, by Thomas Gent, of York,
may occasionally be met with in Sedbergh. It contains two
sermons by this Vicar, intended to have been preached at
Penrith, on June aist, 1724, when, as the author informs us in
a preliminary epistle, he "had the favour of coming up in
the large, beautiful, new-built church" there* He found a
number of clergymen present on the occasion, and, though
prepared for a two-fold exercise of his ministry, he modestly

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86 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

gave way to one of them in the afternoon, or evening, and
committed his discourses to the press, that the good people
of Penrith might peruse, at leisure, what they had not had
the designed opportunity of hearing in full. His sermons,
judging from these specimens, were not such as would rivet
the attention of a congregation at this stage of the nineteenth
century, but they were solid and orthodox, and edifying, in all
probability, at the time they were delivered.

A plain slab in the church, with a Latin inscription,
recorded the burial of his wife. Jennet, in 17 15, and of him-
self in 1727, aged 73. The Virgilian hemistich, "Dabit Deus
his quoque finem " (God will put an end to this also), applied
in a new sense, was added at the end, and received a curious
comment during the recent restoration, when a falling beam
lighted on the stone, and broke it into numerous fragments.
The inscription was fortunately copied at the time, by the
clerk of the works, and may now be read on a handsome
brass plate, provided at the expense of the Rev. R. H. Quick,
and placed as nearly as possible in the former position.

Joseph Driffield was the only black sheep in the list, that
I know of. He was deprived of the living, after he had held
it for five years, but what was the exact nature of his oflfence
I have nowhere seen stated. As he let the vicarage during
his residence at Sedbergh, he may have been an ill-cared-for
bachelor, who would have been all the better for the domestic
charities of his own fireside.

Wynne Bateman, D.D., was Master withal of the Grammar
School during and after his vicariate, and we shall meet with
him again in that capacity. According to a monument in the
church, he married Rachel, the younger daughter of Samuel
Saunders, D.D., and died May 12th, 1782, aged 68. The church
registers show that he wrote a fine bold hand, which his pupils
could not have done better than imitate.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, By

Marwood Place^ B.D,, was aften\^ards Vicar of Kirkby
Lonsdale, where he rebuilt the \^carage, and was buried in
1791, aged 70.

William Gawthrop, his monument informs us, was formerly
Fellow of Trinity College, He died January 2nd, 1798, in the
64th year of his age, " sincerely lamented by his family, his
friendsj and his parishioners."

Daniel Mitford Peacock, senior wrangler in 1791, and sub-
sequently Fellow of Trinity College, has been mentioned above,
and comes within the recollection of some of the older in-
habitants now living. A flag on the church floor preserves
the memory of an infant daughter, *' Julia Peacock, who was
born on the 14th, and died on the 26th day of April, 18 11/*

Thomas Riddell, whose brief tenure of the living is sand-
wiched between two long vicariates of more than forty years
each, removed to Masham, the living of which is in the same
patronage as that of Sedbergh. Daring his fourteen years'
residence there he won golden opinions, and the Riddell
Memorial Mechanics' Institute is a permanent testimony of the
esteem with which he was regarded- He died suddenly on
September 30th, 1855^ and, to quota the History of Masham,
by J. Fisher, " never did man die more regretted and beloved."

The Rev. George Piatt — I use the reverential prefix because
1 now come within the period of personal recollection — ^was
a model of all that a clergyman should be. A gentleman of
high scholarly attainments, he relinquished the pursuit of
secular studies when he became a parish priest, and devoted
himself heartily to the duties of his ofEce. His indefatigable
activity, unfailing courtesy, and unostentatious acts of kindness
and charity, will not readily be forgotten. In the scarcity of
suitable persons, he consented to act as a magistrate; and, as
chairman of the Sedbergh bench for many years, he dis-

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88 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

played the same painstaJcing desire "to execute justice and
to maintain truth" in that, as in all other engagements
of his life. He was highly esteemed by the late Bishop
Bickersteth, and was made an Honorary Canon of Ripon, in
1876. During his incumbency the new parish of Cautley-with-
Dowbiggin was formed, and its church and parsonage built.
His long tenure of office had caused him to be regarded as
an inalienable part of the parish. He succumbed, however,
to a short illness, at the ripe age of 76, dying, as I have
heard him express a desire to die, " in harness." The crowd
of mourners, of all ranks, who attended his funeral on the
bitterly cold day in March (March 6th, 1883), on which he
was laid to rest near the church where he had ministered so
long and faithfully, bore witness to the sense of personal loss
which was felt by all who knew him. To an older generation
of Sedberghians, the familiar conjunction of the names of
Piatt and Evans is suggestive of the amity which prevailed
between them in their separate, if we ought not rather to say,
their combined departments. A brass tablet in the church
shows that special respect for the memory of Canon Piatt led
friends and parishioners to contribute the simi of ;£i,094 towards
the restoration of the fabric.

The Rev. R. H. Quick arrived at a time when parochial
administration had been stereotyped by the prescriptive usage
of forty years ; and it was difficult for old residents to become
reconciled at once to changes which commended themselves
to an ardent reformer. The result was a little imsettlement
and a little friction which would, doubtless, have died a
natural death as the good qualities and intentions of the
new vicar had become better understood. After about four
years, however, he elected to resume his work as a writer on
education, a subject on which he was a considerable authority.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 89

and in which he had gained distinction of no ordinary kind.
He accordingly resigned the living, and removed to the
vicinity of London, where he could pursue his favourite studies
with greater facilities than in the country. His "Essg.ys on
Educational Reformers," in the judgment of competent critics
evince careful research and wide knowledge; and he was
particularly pleased with the attention which his book attracted
in America. He had seen through the press a second edition,
with the improvements suggested by the reflections of twenty
years, and was on a visit to a literary friend at Cambridge,
when he was unexpectedly struck down by paralysis in the
6 1 St year of his age. He was interred in Sedbergh church-
yard on the 14th of March in this year (1891), and his former
parishioners gathered largely to the solemn leave-taking at
the grave. I am concerned rather with his inclusion among
the Vicars of Sedbergh than with his work as an education-
alist elsewhere, but it is pleasant to refer to the reminiscences
and testimonies of distinguished friends in the "Journal of
Education" for April, 1891, and to "Education," of the same
month and year, which contains an excellent likeness.

One much-needed consummation coincided with his sojourn
at Sedbergh — the restoration of the old church, which had
become a prey to damp in the walls and defects in the roof.
All this was changed in 1886, at a cost of ;^4,ooo. One lady
in the parish generously contributed ;^6oo, and other inhabi-
tants of all denominations gave according to their means, their
efforts being cordially seconded by Old Sedberghians in all
parts of the country. The work was carried out by local
contractors, under the skilful direction of Messrs. Paley and
Austin, of Lancaster, by whom no feature of interest was
sacrificed, while some were discovered and carefully preserved.
The result is a building creditable to the architect and the

L

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90 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

workmen, interesting to the antiquary, and comfortable and
convenient for the congregation who have the satisfaction of
worshipping in it.

Mr. Quick's departure was followed by the arrival of the
Rev. J. A. Lobley, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, after-
wards Principal of the Theological College at Montreal, and
finally Vicar of this parish for the too-short space of a year
and a half. He was an eloquent preacher and a genuinely
good and amiable man, who quickly endeared himself to his
flock by his gentle manners, his ready sympathy, and his
single-minded devotion to their interests. The Mission Room
at Millthrop was built through his exertions, and he interested
himself greatly in the Mission Chapel on the Ingmire estate.
He zealously multiplied agencies beyond the strength of one
man to conduct continually. He became conscious of im-
paired health, and had made arrangements for taking a few
weeks* rest; but on the very first Sunday of his intended
absence (January 6th, 1889), after only a few days' serious ill-
ness, he passed fi-om work to rest, at the early age of 48.
The oak reredos was erected by parishioners as an appro-
priate memorial of his ministry, and the cost of the pulpit
also was defrayed principally from contributions given for
the same object.

We have now passed in review the Vicars for five centuries
and a half, from John de Popilton, monk of Coverham, to the
Rev. Edward Wilton South, the present worthy successor of
good men and true. Let us approach and view the scene of
their ministrations.

The rubble-walled battlemented church, dedicated, like that
of Dent, to the popular saint of North Britain, St. Andrew,
and roughcast and whitewashed early in this century, "by
order of his Lordship," is characterised by the severe simplicity

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

91

of strength and durability, and is by no means prodigal of
structural adornment. Recognition of the patron saint is
nowhere apparent, though the diminutive niche above the
door of the north porch very probably once contained his
statuette. When the reredos was erected lately, this striking
lack of commemoration suggested the placing of the figure
of St. Andrew in the post of honour, with his brother, St. Peter,
on the other side of the Cross — St. James and St. John, the
remaining members of the apostolic group, being unfratemally
separated to admit of this arrangement; and now, last but
not least, the beautiful five-light east window, presented
by Mrs. Dormer, depicting the call of St. Andrew, supplies a
long-felt omission, and crowns the restoration of the church.

^:zin

Besides the niche alluded to, there is another in the buttress,
at the north-east comer, which, in spite of its weathered

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92 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

condition, shows signs of a skilful chisel. The canopied recess,
destitute in like manner of its statue, is capped by a hippo-
potamus-like creature grimly peering over into nothingness. In
looking at these deserted shrines, one feels sure that the walls
of the old church bear testimony to the reforming zeal which, in
the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth, rendered the idol-
atrous or superstitious use of images impossible, by removing
them altogether from the sight of the people.

Here and there, except on the south side of the church,
the fancy of the mediaeval sculptor has run riot in the gro-
tesque heads which form the dripstone terminations above the
windows. Notice, at the east end, a head emerging from the
neck of a bishop, and at the west end, over the window which
lights the north aisle, two curious female faces. From the
mouth of one hangs a tongue of unusual proportions. Pro-
bably no Sedbergh lady ever possessed so large a one; and
it may be that an aggrieved sculptor outlined the unruly
member when smarting from a domestic curtain-lecture of
the severest type. In the other case, the tongue is either
tucked in as far as possible, or else, as seems equally probable,
reduced to a painful stump. What is the moral, or perhaps
we ought to say, what is " the long and the short " of this
business? It is, I imagfine, a sermon in stone, much needed
among ancient Sedberghian gossips — the representation, in
fact, of an incorrigible scandal-monger and her well-merited
punishment. If this is not the true interpretation of the
parable, I am sorry for it, for I think it ought to be ; but I
leave the riddle to a shrewder guesser.

• And here — after premising that the roof-marks against the
wall on the other side of the tower, above the tool-house, are
merely the relics of a small lean-to, which provided instruc-
tion for the poor, before the National School was built — it

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 93

may be well to observe that we are in the presence of some
of the oldest work in the building. You see two flat Norman
buttresses, one on either side of the tower. They seem to
define the germ of the church, before it had acquired the
accretions of a south aisle and a tower, marking the limits of
the main structure, when it was in the embryo state of a nave
and chancel, and one aisle to boot. The north aisle seems to
be coeval with the nave, because the arch of the inner door-
way of the north porch is Norman, and the wall on either
side of it is more than three feet thick, and, therefore, likely
to have been part of the original structure. As we enter by
this doorway, the semicircular arches of this aisle, towards the
west, are referable to the same era ; but when we have passed
beyond this nucleus of the earliest work, the architectural
evolution of the fabric becomes hopelessly perplexing and
obscure. So many alterations have been made in the course
of time, that specimens of all styles, fi-om the Norman down-
wards, may be foimd ; and the result is like a " crazy quilt,"
of which the leading principles of the pattern, if, indeed,
there be any, are difl&cult or impossible to divine. The clustered
respond pier, at the western extremity of the south arcade, is
Early English ; the west window of the south aisle represents
the Decorated style; while the window heads and labels out-
side, on the north and south, and the general aspect of the
church, are characteristic of the Perpendicular. It has been
suggested that the structure, in its later stages, is possibly
not entirely of indigenous growth, but that importations from
other buildings — ^here a capital, and there an arch — may have
been incorporated as the need arose. This opinion derives
some confirmation from a circumstance which, so far as I am
aware, has not been particularly noticed, and which, indeed,
could not have been noticed before the manifold coats of

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94 . SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

whitewash, which encrusted pillar and arch alike, were stripped
off. The occurrence among the ashlar work in various parts
of the building, but chiefly towards the west, of red sandstone
in contrast with the bulk of the masonry — which sandstone
must have been quarried at a considerable distance from Sed-
bergh — suggests such an incorporation on the occasion of some
considerable, but now forgotten restoration. The tracery of the
belfry window is of this stone, as is also the pointed belfry
arch. Above this, in the wall, will be noticed two segments
of an extremely rudimentary arch, which may be the dislocated
remains of a window, or small west door, in existence before
the tower was built. On one of the imposts of the belfry
arch is roughly cut, in relief, the figure of a four-footed animal,
possibly a lamb ; but a more interesting feature is the impost
of the eastern pier of the chancel, in the north arcade, now,
unfortunately, partly concealed by the new vestry screen.
Here we find, in relief, the letters — X Y, with a fleur-de-lis
between them. I hazard the conjecture that the stone is not
in the place for which it was originally intended, but that at
some period in its history it formed the pedestal of an image
of the Virgin, or of the Virgin Mother and Child, and that
the letters are the initials of x^i(frhs riSg, which, with the inter-
vening emblem of the Virgin, may be interpreted as the
ejaculation of a devout beholder, "Christ, son of Mary, hear!"
The ground-plan of the church, if we leave out of con-
sideration the priest's door into the chancel firom the south,
and the north and south porches and the tower, may be
roughly described as a parallelogram, 105 ft. by 52 ft. (inside
measurement), divided, in the direction of the longer dimen-
sion, into three sections — two aisles, and a centre consisting
of a nave and chancel. As in many old churches in the
wapentake, so here, no arch divides the chancel from the

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. g5

nave. Probably both aisles terminated eastward in side-
chapels, and one of them, the southern, became a chantry.
On the south, the piscina, or drain for carrying away the
rinsings of the chalice, and an image-bracket, are extant. The
extremity of the north aisle has long been used as a vestry,
and there is no piscina. It may, however, be hidden in the
wall, as there is still a bracket. The vestry was formerly less
than half the size of the present one, and walled off from the
rest of the aisle. The doorway has now been built up, so as
to answer the purpose of a credence for the sacred vessels.
In the central division, before the east window, stood the high
altar, at which the principal functions of the Roman ritual were
performed. In the south-west angle, until recently, the paro-
chial tribute to the memory of Braithwaite Otway, referred to
before, towered aloft. It has followed the usual course of
migration, and gone westwards. It will be found in the north-
west corner of the south aisle, in a more obscure, but, on the
whole, more appropriate place. It concealed the principal
piscina, which the grateful Vandals of the period had mutilated
to make room for their offering. To Braithwaite Otway we
are indebted also for the dial over the south porch, where, all
unheeded, it vainly strives to compete with the clock in the
tower above. Stone altars went down in the days of Edward
VI., were replaced by Queen Mary, and then finally abolished
in the second year of Elizabeth, when each parish was required
to provide " a decent table, standing on a frame, for the Com-
munion Table." Traces of the foundations of the side-altar,
in the south aisle, were discernible when the flags were taken
up. The oak Table, with its frame — not of much antiquity,
however — now stands in the vestry.

Among the Richmond wills, published by the Surtees
Society, there is a short one relating to a Sedbergh person.

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96 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

It is dated 1558, in the last year of Queen Mary, and gives
us a lively impression of the ritual here, after she had re-
established the mass and undone the reforms of the boy-
king. The revival of the old religion was probably warmly
welcomed in the North, if indeed it had ever been thoroughly
discarded here. Mabel Archer, the testator, a well-to-do par-
ishioner, was a devout Roman Catholic, a^ is evident from
her desire to have mass for the repose of her soul, and a
solemn Dtrtge^ sung at her funeral. Her contributions to
the linen of the high altar, and her bequests to the priests,
who most likely ofl&ciated in the side-chapels, attest the same.
She remembered the poor with a dole, as was usual then —
" the poor of the church row *' she calls them, which I presume
to understand as the poor people in the parish accustomed to
be considered in this way — and there is a world of good
feeling wrapped up in her quaint direction that they should
be ** mended with bygge," or have such a complement of
barley added to their scanty store as should make them think
kindly of, and upon occasion, as in duty bound, pray for the
welfare, of good Mistress Archer. But here is the will: —

'* I Mabell Archer wydow [give my body] to be buryed in the paryshe
** churche yard of Sanct Andrew the apostle in Sedber besydes my husband.
"Also I will have messe and Deryge songe for my soule the day of my
*'buryalle. And I geve and bequethe to the hyghe alter vs. and ij
"kyrchefes. Also I bequethe to iij prests Sir Leonard Fawcet, Sir Ryehard
** Fawcet, and Sir Ryehard Bland xs. Also I will y' Jhames Otwaye have
*'fyve marks. Also I bequethe to every householder from my owne to
*' Rowland Archers a pecke of bygge. Also I will that the poore of the
"churche rawe be mended with bygge at the discretyon of Sir Leonard
" Fawcet, Robert Fawcet, and my mother. And the resydewe of my bygge
'* I will y* my mother and my servant George have yt. Also I will that my
* ' uncle Robert wyfe have my best hate and cappe, and I wyll that my aunt

• The beginning of a Latin funeral psalm, and the origin of the word "dirge."

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 97

•' Roland Archers wyfe have my damaske sieves. Also I will that Richard
"Atkynsons wife have a rayment of my symple rayment. And I wyll
*'y* Jenet Atkynson be niendyd with some of my clothes."

Several points of architectural interest were rendered per-
ceptible in the course of the recent restoration. A portion
of a splayed window of an early type is uncovered at the
west end of the north aisle. It probably helped to light the
original church, and was afterwards cut in two to make room
for the larger window which usurped its place. The rectan-
gfular recesses in the nave above the north arcade, indicate
the position of the old clerestory windows before the long
low building which contained them was heightened consider-
ably, and the superadded wall thickened, to receive the larger
openings which now light the nave. That similar recesses
are not apparent on the south side, may possibly be due to
the circumstance that the whole arcade, being found insecure,
had to be taken down ; and an interesting reminiscence of the
past may thus have been sacrificed in the process.

In other respects the arcade was scrupulously re-erected as
before. It does not match the opposite one, either in the
number or the height of the arches, and is most likely of a
later date. It was this absence of symmetry which prompted
part of the single sentence which Dr. Whitaker bestows on
the architecture of the church, as to which he affirms that
"whether by negligence or whim in the original architect, it
is marked by one deformity, peculiar, so far as I know, to
itself; which is that there is one column [two columns he should
have said] more on the north side than the south, so that at
whatever point the spectator is placed, obliquity and dispro-
portion present themselves." It would not have been strange
if, instead of an additional column in the northern quota,
there had been three; for any one standing near the pulpit
M

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98 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

will see, from the interrupted sweep of two adjoining arches,
that either one column has been dispensed with on the occa-
sion of some alteration, or that a large and obstructive rec-
tangular pier, similar to the one near the south door, has been
taken down. Obliquity extends still further, for the east
window is not in the centre of the wall. But this feature is
of too common occurrence in the ancient churches of this
district to be certainly accidental; and the approximation to
the north has been held to symbolize the inclination of the
Saviour's head upon the Cross.

Those who knew the church before its restoration will be
conscious of a void at the west end, when they look for
the gallery erected in 1760. Being of no particular interest,
and blocking out the shapely arches of the belfry, it was
asked to come down, and give place to the specimens of old
seats which are arranged on the floor over which it stood.
Its removal revealed a gruesome figure delineated on the
plaster — the full-length representation of a skeleton, designed,
it would seem, to impress the congregation with a salutary
sense of the uncertainty of life. A more elegant, if less
striking, reminder of the same fact was disclosed in the recent
restoration of Ingleton Church, where the figure, holding aloft a
scythe or an hour-glass — I am told it is a little uncertain which
— has been left undisturbed, as being fairly within the endu-
rance of modem taste. That both kinds of figure were some-
times in evidence on the same wall, may be seen in the church
of Kirkby Malham, where a skeleton on' one hand, and an
angel on the other, combine to drive home their warnings.

Pre-restoration fiHiends will also miss the snowy expanse
of ceiling with its mysterious rows of strong staples, for sus-
taining the aerial flight of the annual whitewasher. Above
it, the rough oak timbers, which, no doubt, were put up in 1784,

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 99

when extensive alterations and repairs were made in this
quarter, and the old timbers and lead were disposed of in
considerable quantities to meet the expenditure, were pro-
nounced unpresentable, and have been replaced by a suitable
and substantial roof of pitch-pine.

The side aisles had rows of seats running lengthwise, rising
by a gentle ascent towards the outer walls, and diversified, like
the nave, with unsightly high-backed pews, conventionally
appropriated to certain houses. From these a few specimens of
carving have been retained in the vestry and elsewhere. The
reduction of the seats to a uniform height, by lowering and
levelling the floor, necessitated the removal of large quantities
of human bones, which had crowded every part during the
days of intramural sepulture. These were carefully collected
and re-interred in the churchyard, near the tower, but no
memorial marks the ground where they were deposited.

The plan of the architect originally included a chancel
screen, which had to be abandoned in consideration of the
unforeseen expense involved in setting the shaky north arcade
on its legs again. The general eflfect of the interior on the
eye of a spectator is no doubt impaired by this regrettable
omission, as will be admitted by anyone who considers how
much Kirkby Lonsdale Church is indebted for its suggestion
of seemly proportion to this particular feature. Moreover,
the rood-screen at Sedbergh was once a notable object, and
the woodwork about the chancel bore traces of its existence
to the last. A fragment of the old screen, considered by
competent authority to be of the 15th century, is preserved
in the vestry; and the writer takes credit to himself for having
rescued it from premature destruction amid a heap of uncon-
sidered lumber in a neighbouring wood-shed. The rood, or
large-sized figure of the Saviour on the Cross, facing the

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lOO SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

congregation, used to be placed over the screen, on what was
called the rood-loft. There was a Rood Guild at Sedbergh,
endowed with a farm called Deepmire, near Arkholme, afterwards
appropriated to the advantage of the Grammar School. It was
probably a guild of a social and religious character, having
nothing distinctively to do with trades or handicrafts. As
such it would be a benefit-club, and the members would assist
each other in times of need or sickness. They would look
upon themselves as specially under the protection of the Holy
Rood, and would wear a distinctive badge upon public occasions.
The religious complexion of these guilds was heightened by
their habit of making donations in aid of chantries, for the
purchase of masses for the welfare of themselves, and the
benefit of departed members.

There was also, according to the report of the commissioners
appointed to inquire into such matters, a light — a large taper,
kept burning before the high altar — maintained with a sum of
money left by one Henry Blomer.* The symbolism of these
lights is happily explained by Wordsworth ; and what he says
of conventual establishments was true also, in a less degree,
of many parish churches: —

" Even thus of old
Our ancestors, within the still domain
Of vast cathedral or conventual church
Their vigils kept; where tapers day and night
On the dim altar burned continually,
In token that the House was evermore
Watching to God.''

The bidding-prayer, which was in use before the sermon in
pre-Reformation times, admonished the people, among other

• This name has been read Blound, but as we shall presently see that Henry
Blomer (or Blomeyr) left money for this very purpose, I have, little doubt that the
word is Blomer.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. lOI

duties, to pray for those who founded any light in the church,
or gave any useful accessory for the services; and it is plain
that there would be occasions when such a reminder would
be felt to be appropriate in Sedbergh Church.

The part of the chancel now occupied by the choir was,
until the last few years, assigned to the masters and scholars
of the Grammar School ; but the numbers outgrowing the space
they deemed it expedient to migrate to a chapel of their own,
for which purpose the old Grammar School was set apart;
and the church choir thereupon were promoted to their present
position. Previously they sat in the front seats of the
nave, immediately before the pulpit; and two pegs long
denoted the place where, in older days, the presiding genius
used to lay up the bow of his violin when it was not actively
employed in extracting sweet sounds. A barrel-organ reigned
supreme in the musical department when I was a boy ; and I
have a vivid recollection of one or two occasions, when it got
the better of the grinder and persisted in prolonging the tune
when, by all the rules of propriety, it ought to have been silent.
In 1868, it was admitted on all hands that the capricious
revolver was played out, and the present instrument was erected
in its stead. The handsome steps of black marble which the
late Canon Piatt caused to be laid down before the com-
munion rails, craved wary walking, especially after the period-
ical renovation with an oily compound had been performed;
and I shall not easily forget the downfall of a humble member
of society on the slippery surface, who, as soon as he had
become prostrate, manifested a tendency to rotate on his axis.
But the steps are gone — chopped into squares, and inter-
mingled with glazed tiles of a fairer hue. The pulpit, once
a three-decker, had been decapitated before my time. The
reading-desk, with an offshoot for the clerk, stood on the

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I02

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

south side of the nave, before the first pillar below the chancel
steps — the pulpit proper, with its superincumbent sounding-
board, occupying the site where its successor now is. The
surplice was retained throughout the morning service, but the
black-gown made its appearance in the pulpit at eventide.

arisljCW '^Jl^V

Many things now past and gone recur to the memory, and
demand a chronicler. But we must not linger. A hasty
glance at the fine octagonal font of black marble; another at
the carved poor-box, dated 1633, and furnished with three
locks, one for the vicar and two for the churchwardens, as the
84th canon prescribes ; and again another glance at the church-
wardens' stone, initialled and dated (1699), and probably meant
to commemorate some important alterations in the church.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 103

during the vicariate of the Rev. Jonathan Rose ; and then we
will make our way, in imagination at least, to the bells.

The ascent is difficult, and the reader must be content to
be told that they are three in number, each with mediaeval
black-letter inscriptions, undated, as is usual in pre-Reforma-
tion bells, and that one of them is cracked. But even a
cracked bell that has joined in the merry wedding-peal, or
tolled the knell of a departing soul, for more than three hun-
dred years, is entitled to respect. The inscriptions are these : —

^ccc campana ^acva fiat ^vinitate trjeata*
^celovwn ^tB plactat tibi vex »0nn» i^te*
^0ncipien» ^ pia vivao KOilntn vcga*

Which is as much as to say: —

May this bell be blessed by the Holy Trinity.
Christ, King of Heaven, may this sound please Thee.
Pious Virgin, Mother of Christ, Queen of Heaven.

The first two lines, in spite of false quantities, are evidently
intended for hexameters, and even the third, if X be read at
full length as Christum^ has the requisite number of feet; though
no doubt a modern composition master would make much ado
about the spondee in the fifth place. I suspect the line was
correct originally, with pia in the fifth foot, but that a perverse
workman, with a contempt for prosody, mixed the words afresh
at the foundry.

Three other matters invite our attention briefly, before we
take leave of the building — the registers, the communion-plate,
and the monuments.

Our earliest registers, from their commencement to 1688,
are on loose sheets of parchment of various sizes, bearing
marks of having been stitched together at some time. They
have suffered terribly from damp and decay, and I am afraid I

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I04 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DEN1\

must add, from neglect. They are in process of transcription in
the Parish Magazine, and will thus eventually be easily acces-
sible to the public. There is an entry in the book of Weddings
as early as 1594 (Old Style); the Burials begin in 1595, and
the Baptisms cannot strictly be said to begin at all, for there
are some leaves missing, and the record starts off abruptly
with a daughter of John Crowther, in 1605. I apprehend the
year 1597 should be regarded as the real commencement in
all three cases ; for it was then that a patent under the great
seal called upon every parish to provide itself with parchment
registers, and to copy into them such entries as had previously
been made in the paper books. Examination of the register
of burials, to see whether the virulent epidemic which ravaged
the north of England in 1597 has left any traces at Sedbergh,
leads to the conclusion that we escaped with impunity. For
though the number of recorded deaths rises from fourteen in
^595y to twenty-nine in 1596, and thirty-nine in the fatal year,
this phenomenon is probably due to imperfect registration
previous to 1597. After this date the register is defective for
some time, but in 1605 and onwards, the number of burials
is frequently over forty. In 1623, the year when some un-
recorded cause more than trebled the number of interments
at Kendal, and largely increased it at Kirkby Lonsdale, the
register is again defective, but the entries in the preceding
year — forty-six, against an average of thirty-one for two years
before — do seem to indicate that an unusual disturbance in the
bills of mortality had begun to set in. The Weddings and
Burials show some gaps during the Civil War, but rather, I
imagine, from loss than default of entry. The books have
been regularly kept through the Commonwealth, the only
change noticeable being that infants are not stated to have
been * baptized,' but only as 'born.' Kirkby Lonsdale is the

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 05

mother-parish of Firbank, but the greater nearness of Sedbergh
made our offices much in request; and baptisms relating to
Firbank in the 17th century will usually be found here. We
may presume that our forefathers obeyed the law, but we shall
look in vain for any indication of "burials in woollen." On
the whole, at Sedbergh, these records

"Where to be born and die
Of rich and poor makes all the history,**

are eminently laconic and business-like, and are seldom illu-
minated by the side-lights of contemporary annotation.

Where the uniformity is so depressing, one is grateful for
such morsels of orthographical eccentricity as "Expoffer" for
Christopher, or " Crockaloyne " for Crook of Lune. A name-
less "poor man" or "traveller** occasionally crosses our path.
"Little Stephen Fawcett" and "Robert Wilson alias Robin
of Conscience," are welcome variations ; and ladies with such
pretty appellations as Agatha, Mabel, or Christabel, inspire us
with love at first sight. We rejoice greatly when some stately
Augfustine, or Theophilus, or Hannibal, rubs shoulders with
the meaner herd of " milners," " websters," and " cordyners ; "
but our mirth is turned into sadness when luckless wights
are entombed in the coal-pits on Baugh Fell, or get sub-
merged in the Lune or the Rawthey.

Of the plain but substantial silver Communion Plate I need
not say much. It comprises, besides vessels of less interest, a
large paten (1704), the gift of Charles Otway; two cups (17 18
and 1757) and two small patens or chalice covers, of which
one is inscribed "Jonathan Rose, Master of Arts, and Vicar
of Sedbergh, 17 18;*' a large tankard flagon, dated 1757
("Leonard Croft, of Cattle's, gave £\o towards this Plate"),
and one smaller jug-shaped flagon, the gift, in 1761, of
Marmaduke Holme, Vicar of Clibum.

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I06 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Several of the monuments have been noticed already. One
long specimen of sepulchral eulogy, formerly affixed to a pillar
in the chancel, has been relegated to the obscurity of the
vestry. It was, I doubt not, founded on fact, but modem
reticence would regard it as a trifle "too-too." It relates to
a father and a son, both snatched away in the melancholy
month of December, 1750 — one endowed with the euphonious
name of Christopher Comey, and the other content with
plain John.

*'Here rests the Youth, the virtues of whose mind
Shone so benignly good as charmed mankind.

Such virtues gone, the Sire repined to stay,

And spumed with eager haste this earth -bom clay."

But enough — I am reminded that the sight of exuberant
affection is generally distasteful to the disinterested.

Nearly the whole extent of the south aisle is embellished
with "storied windows richly dight" — two of them memorials
of the Head Masters Evans and Heppenstall, and one, opposite
the font, appropriately, but not very artistically, presenting
scenes connected with baptism. This last was the gift of an
anonymous donor. The virtues of Henry Wilkinson, another
Head Master, are commemorated in elegant Latin upon a
handsome tablet of white marble, in the nave ; and the thought-
ful, benevolent countenance of John Dawson, whom we shall
meet again in Garsdale, is of superlative interest to those who
are acquainted with the facts of his life. The bust has been
much admired, and has sometimes, but wrongly, been attributed
to Flaxman. It was really the work of a sculptor of the name
of Sievier, which is inscribed on the marble, out of sight, as
I had an opportunity of observing when it was taken down
in the course of the restoration.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 107

On a brass plate near the chancel steps, eight Latin elegiacs,
signed P. W., apprise posterity that M. W. (Mary Wharton),
who died in 1690, was an epitome of all that is best in both
sexes, and that her sorrowing spouse trusts some day to be laid
by her side, and would even have rejoiced to have died in her
stead. One of the lines is a crux which has puzzled many
respectable scholars, and Dr. Whitaker's manner of printing it
has rendered confusion worse confounded. Good Latin, like
good law, I have always understood should be practically
independent of stops; but when the alternative is a portent
like the second line of

'* Quam vellem supplesse vices si fata tulissent,
Credo mage ast jure et te placuisse Deo/'

it is time to stick to plain English and abjure Latin for ever.
It is only when the microscopical commas which guard from
straying have been detected on the brass, and duly inserted
(** Credo mage ast, jure et, te placuisse Deo "), that we perceive
that an ancient thought about those dying early whom the gods
love, has been worked up into the not inelegant sentiment : —
" Gladly would I have supplied thy place, but thou, I believe,
wert more the favourite of Heaven, and justly too." There are
other indications that the mind of P.W. — Posthumus Wharton,
** descended from the family of Wharton Hall," and " Master of
the Free School in this place for upwards of thirty years " (see
his communicative monument) — did not move easily in the
trammels of metre. But we must not be too critical over a
tombstone ; and it is perhaps more to the point to observe that
Mary Wharton (maiden name Otway), the second of the wives
of Posthumus Wharton, was a daughter of Sir John Otway.
She died at Thorns, September 7th, 1690, at the early age of
thirty-one, having predeceased her distinguished father by
three years. She left to lament her, a daughter, Margaret,.

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lo8 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

who was married to Samuel Saunders, D.D., " also Master of
the said School for an equal period of time" as his father-
in-law. They had two daughters, of whom Rachel, the
younger, married Wynne Bateman, D.D., the new Master of
the School, who wielded the ferule for another thirty years
and more. Thus the blood of the Otways ran in the head-
mastership for three generations successively, and the welfare
of the School was united with that of the principal family
in the parish for nearly a century.

Another family of much older association with the parish
is that of the Blands, whose name, if it were not already
stamped upon Howgill-and-Bland, Blandsgill, Blandsfield, and
Blandses (the two middle names are in the registers), would
be preserved to us on the monument recording the obligations
of two sons and a daughter to the kindness and piety of
their mother. One of the sons here spoken of was the Rev.
Miles Bland, Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and
Prebendary of Wells. He was second wrangler in 1808, his
old schoolfellow at Sedbergh, Adam Sedgwick, the eminent
geologist, being fifth in the same year. Our local Blands
figure largely as Governors of the School, and in parochial
administration of all kinds. They are supposed to have
received their name originally from the hamlet of Bland, in
Howgill, and thence to have spread to Sedbergh, Orton,
Ireland, America, and elsewhere. One of them served Edward
III. in his French wars; another was Sergeant Pelletier to
Queen Elizabeth ; and a third was the Marian martyr referred
to before. The American branch, which struck root in Vir-
ginia about 1645, produced Colonel Theodoric Bland, a fiiend
of General Washington. The Irish branch was founded by
the Rev. James Bland, of Sedbergh parentage, who crossed
the Channel as chaplain to the lord-lieutenant, in 1692, and

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 109

became vicar of Killamey, and archdeacon and dean in due
course. Beyond these notices I must not venture. The intri-
cacies of relationship are unravelled in Nicholas Carlisle's
" Collections for a History of the Ancient Family of Bland "
(1826) ; and Miss Fanny Bland, a lady of literary tastes, has
elucidated the descent of the American colonel, in the fifth
volume of the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmor-
land Archaeological Society.

The mention of George Washington reminds us of the
century of Washingtons (1564- 1665) commemorated by initials
and dates on a flat stone outside the east end of the church ;
and accordingly we hasten thither. The two brothers, John
and Lawrence Washington, who sailed from England about
1658, to better their fortunes in the New World — where did
they spring from, and who was their father ? John is known
to have been the great-grandfather of the President, and
hence the importance of the question. The labour which has
been expended on the solution of this problem has been
enormous. To say nothing of native researches, our American
cousins have explored every will, register, and record which
seemed likely to throw the least light on the subject. The
result of their investigations is to track the parent-family from
Warton, in Lancashire, to Sulgrave, in Northamptonshire, and
elsewhere, finally running the father of the emigrants to
ground at Purleigh, in Essex, and identifying him as the
Rev. Lawrence Washington, who became Rector of that parish
in 1633.* Whether the Warton family threw out an offshoot to
Howgill and Sedbergh, we cannot tell ; but the care which
has been taken to keep our local Washingtons together in
the churchyard, and to chronicle their interments, shows at

• For the latest position of the inquiry, see Harper's Monthly Magazine for
May, 189 1 — *• The English Ancestry of Washington."

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no SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

least that they were well satisfied with their parentage. There
is unfortunately no Lawrence among them, and Simon, which
is indicated three times out of eight, appears to be the favour-
ite name. The stone exhibiting the initials and dates has, I
should suppose, been an after-thought; for when "E.W. 1665 "
is reached, there follows "I. W. 16 . .," as if the said I. W.
had seen to the inscription in his lifetime, as far as he could,
and then had trusted to a faithless posterity to complete the
date of his own decease. Two Upright red-sandstones referring
to the same family keep company with the chronological slab.
One of them has peeled to such an extent that the single
word " Washington " alone is legible in front, but an admon-
itory distich on the edge, without serious obliteration, reminds

us that

** Dangers stand s to the tomb,

And fierce diseases wait around to huny mortals home."

The other is fast following the example of illegibility, and I
transcribe all that remains, and a trifle more: —

'* This stone is erected in further Memory of the an[tie]nt Fam[ily] of
the Washing[ton]s of [Gate]side in Howgill.

Simon Washington departed this Life Oct. 17 : . . .

James son of H . . . . Agnes Washington departed this Life "

Thomas Washington Atkinson, who died in 1890, was the last
person at Sedbergh who bore the illustrious name; but the
crowded state of the graves at the east end precluded him
from being laid among his kindred.

From General Washington to ordinary mortals is a great
drop. But indeed there is not much more to detain us in the
churchyard. The railings were put up in Canon Piatt's time,
before which, I understand, the ground was practically open to
all comers. Playfiil children found in it coigns of vantage
for their gambols, and the footpaths furnished "short cuts"

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. Ill

for their busier elders. The earliest tombstone is dated 1634,
which is nearly a century prior to the oldest legible inscrip-
tion in the parish churchyard at Kendal. Particularity has
recorded upon another the death of an infant "one Quarther
of A year Old;" and the epitaph " 1734 I. I. Saxton" (Sexton),
without further note or comment, has always seemed to me
the perfection of brevity. Close to the north side of the
church is the humble headstone of John Dawson, the mathe-
matician. It agrees with the register in making him a year
older than the later and .better known monument in the
church. Near the same place, a similar stone informs us that
the Rev. John Sedgwick, who died in 1836, aged eighty-seven,
had been Incumbent of the Perpetual Curacy of Howgill for
the period of sixty-four years — his first and only preferment,
which, though only ;^5o a year at that time, he would probably
have hesitated to exchange for a better elsewhere. On the
south side, near the chancel door, a table-tomb (1734) tells us
in halting versicles concerning John Mackereth and Anne
his sister, how that

** Full seventy pounds
These two did leave
Chiefly unto the Poor
To be distributed yearly
Till time shall be no more.*'

Close by lie the remains of Thomas Palmer (1854), who
"founded and endowed six Cottages called *The Sedbergh
Widows' Hospital,' for the reception and accommodation of
six poor widows."

The churchyard is all but full, and will shortly be closed.
Even "the cold north's unhallowed ground," against which
there exists a prejudice in many country parishes, as the
fittest depository of suicides and the unbaptized, shows a

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1 1 2 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

numerous array of tombstones. It will, however, be observed
that these are all of a comparatively modem date. But for
future interments several acres of land, conveniently situated,
have been generously presented to the township by Mrs. Dormer,
and the new Cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of the
diocese on June 12th, 1891.

" Old boys " of the Evans period will remember the yew-
tree which they used to pass before entering the church. It
was the survivor of the two hoary sisters which Dr. Whitaker
notes as moribund about 1820, and to which he ascribes a
high antiquity — "two vast yew-trees, now almost in the last
period of decay, and in all probability coeval with the church
itself." The trunk of the survivor had, before the end, become
a mere shell, but still supported an umbrageous burden of
sombre green. After being shored up for a time, it yielded to
the wintry blasts of the night of January 27th, 1877. Popular
tradition represents George Fox as having stood beneath it
when he harangued the fair folk in the churchyard for several
hours. Many articles of ornament made out of the old tree
are treasured by the townspeople, and the grave of Canon
Piatt occupies the site where it stood.

♦fflp%ERE we pause — but not to enter upon a fresh chapter.
■■•/ jjjQ Church and the School stand in the relation of
mother and daughter; and having described one member of
the family, it is fitting that we should pursue the fortunes of
the other without any unnatural severance. The School arose
on glebe-land, and in connection with the duties of religion.
Its founder was an ecclesiastic ; its first masters were chantry
priests, and its Head Master, until lately, has invariably been a
clergyman. The history of the two institutions overlaps and
intertwines, as we have partly seen. From force of circum-

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 11^

stances, the connection between them may have become
attenuated to a thread, but originally it was close and strong.

On the i2th of August, 1527 or 1528 — at any rate 19
Henry VIII. — Christopher Hilton, last abbot but one of
Coverham, received two important visitors at his monastery —
Thomas Donnington, bachelor of law, Archdeacon of Richmond,
and general commissary, and Richard Mydlam, Vicar of
Sedbergh. Probably the meeting was by appointment — it
could hardly have been accidental. After such cheer as the
abbot's kitchen afforded had been partaken of, business would
be mooted in due course ; and the application of Master Roger
Lupton, clerk, for a lease in perpetuity at a fixed rent of a close
known as School House Garth, at Sedbergh, upon which he had
erected a school at his own proper charges for the benefit of
his native place, and also of a certain messuage adjacent called
the Lofthouse, was duly considered. How long the school had
been built we are not told. It may have been a year or two,
but at anyrate the matter was now ripe for a definite settlement.
Vicar, patron, and ordinary were present together ; and, with the
joint sanction of these three, it was allowable at that time
practically to alienate church property by a lease without limit
of years. The merits of Master Lupton were patent. The
triumvirate took a favourable view of his application, and
unanimously confirmed to him the School House Garth and
messuage aforesaid, at the annual rents of ggrf. and £^ 2s. od.
respectively, to the use of his foundation for ever. A document
was drawn up accordingly, the common seal of the abbey,
and the official seal of the archdeacon, were appended; and
these, with the signature of the vicar, made the transaction
as valid and binding as ink, parchment, and wax could effect.

The next step which Roger Lupton took was to endow a

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114 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

chantry out of the lands which he had thus acquired, and to
place them under the management of four trustees or governors,
the first whom we read of being three Blands — Rowland,
Henry, and Thomas — and James Cowper. A connection with
the University remained to be established; and he put the
coping-stone to his foundation by endowing six scholarships at
St. John's College, Cambridge, at a cost of ;^6oo, to be held by
students from his school at Sedbergh and none other. Two
more scholarships and two fellowships were added some years
later, in 1536, the only condition imposed on his beneficiaries
being an especial interest in their prayers before, and, above
all, after his decease. On this second occasion the authorities
of St. John's College received of Master Roger the sum of
;^40o, to be invested by them in lands sufficient for the purposes
of the trust.

The master of the School and the priest of the chantry
would be one and the same individual, and he would vary the
monotony of teaching by "singing for the souls" of the founder
and the founder's ancestors. Not a few of our old grammar-
schools were similarly associated with chantries in their origin.
Those at Appleby and Brough, to quote instances not very
remote, are cases in point. But evil days were at hand for
the chantries. The belief in purgatory being on the wane,
endowments of this character were held to be unnecessary;
and in the last fifteen months of Henry VIII. (1545), when the
revenues of the dissolved monasteries had departed from the
pockets of the King, Parliament passed an Act giving him the
property of the chantries and other institutions of a similar
kind. But as death summoned him so soon, to settle his
accounts before a higher tribunal, not much mischief was done.
At the beginning of the following reign, however, a similar
privilege was conferred on Edward VI. (1547) in respect of

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAlkfMAR SCHOOL. II5

those chantries which had not come into the possession of his
father. So Roger Lupton's chantry was hopelessly doomed ;
and the lands which had by this time spread to Lockbank,
Frostrow, Cautley, Dowbiggin, and elsewhere, were sold and
dispersed into various hands — Sir Edward Warner, Sylvester
Leigh, and Leonard Bate, for example — though the Lofthouse
estate, the original endowment of the Master, escaped confis-
cation, and remained, as it still remains, attached to the School.

As Roger Lupton had died in 1540, he was spared the pain
which the dissolution of his chantry at Sedbergh would have
caused him. He had become Provost of Eton in 1503 and
Canon of Windsor; and as he was also a Prebendary of Lincoln
it is plain that his opportunities of preferment were neither few
nor far between. The generous spirit which prompted him to
do so much for the good of his native Sedbergh did not
desert him at Eton. " Lupton's Chapel " and " Lupton's Tower"
are the substantial additions which he made to the college
buildings. He was biu-ied in his chapel there, and left an
enigmatical allusion to his name on the door, to wit, a tun
inscribed with the letters Z. U,P. The old family of Lupton
is still represented at Sedbergh, and the Christian name of
Roger reappears at intervals. The last Roger Lupton who
permanently resided among us, departed this life in 1877, at
the ripe age of seventy-nine.

Of the history of Roger Lupton's School during the twenty
years of its transient existence, we do not know much; but
among the Richmond wills, in the collection published by the
Surtees Society, there is one belonging to the first ascertained
Master, Henry Blomeyr, dated November 5th, 1543, which gives
us some interesting glimpses of the man and his times. In
it the chaplains or chantry priests have the respectful title
of " Sir " prefixed to their names, as was usual then. Quaint

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1 1 6 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Fuller says there were more * Sirs ' than * Knights ' at that time.
Readers of Shakespeare may remember that Christopher
Urswick, a former Archdeacon of Richmond, is addressed in
Richard IIL as ^^ Sir Christopher;" and this clerical title was
continued in some places to a much more recent period.
Sir Leonard Fawcet and Sir Richard Bland we have encoun-
tered above in the will of Mabel Archer (1558), from which we
gather that the wear and tear of fifteen years did not inca-
pacitate them from discharging their spiritual functions with
renewed vigour in the days of Queen Mary. Sir Jefferay
Archer, we may take it, was a relation of Mabel. James
Cowper and Rowland Bland, supervisors appointed to assist
the executors in carrying out the testator's wishes, and Henry
Bland, a witness, we have noted as the names of three out of
the four first governors of Roger Lupton's School.

TrentalSy it may be observed, were services of thirty
masses said on thirty different days; and albs^ corporals^
and sergeSy were narrow-sleeved tunics of linen, coverings
for the host, and large candles, respectively. In the provision
concerning the last-named article, we have most likely the
origin of the light which Edward VI.'s commissioners reported
as maintained at Sedbergh. Mazer cups are often mentioned
in old wills, and seem to have been ornamental goblets of
some size and value, serving frequently as family heirlooms.
A side-gown was a long one — most probably, in this case, a
cassock. If Topcliffe, near Northallerton, was Henry Blomeyr's
birthplace, as seems likely from the burial of his father there,
the * Master of the Hospital ' may suggest to us the Hospital
of St. Nicholas, at Richmond. The obscure expression * at a
point and a price of,' relates to some transaction of which
we have not the particulars. One may conjecture — but it is
only conjecture — that the testator, before leaving Kirkby

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. II7

(Kirby-in-Cleveland, that is) for Sedbergh, had agreed* to
part with his furniture, at a valuation, to Christopher Hudson
and his dame, Helen ; but that no money having been forth-
coming on this account, he now generously makes a clear
gift of the articles to the widow and her daughters, along
with forty shillings for arrears of rent. The scholarships,
about which there was some difl&culty, may reasonably enough
have been the two last which Roger Lupton had endowed for
his Sedbergh students ; and Master Fawcet, apparently residing
at St. John's College, may haply be the Dr. Fawcet who acknow-
ledged John Bland, the martyr, as his fellow-Sedberghian.

With these preparatory directions, I now bid the reader
good speed as he accompanies Henry Blomeyr, first Master
of Roger Lupton's School, through his testamentary jungle of
1 6th century orthography: —

*' I, Henry Blomeyr, of Sedber, in the countie of Yorke, chaplayne, hole
*'off mynde and good remembraunce, preventying the uncertayn chaunce
**and tyme of dethe in this maner insewing, doithe orden and make this
' ' my last will and testament. First I commende my soule into the handys
"of my Lord God, Jesu Christ, my creatour and redemer, in full faithe of
"our mother holy churche his spowse, with full hope of his infinite marcy,
* ' beseechyng his blessed mother Saynt Marye, and all Saynts and company
•' of hevyn, to praie for me. And my mortall body to be buried in christiane
*• mannys buriall, if it please God, in the churche yerde of the said Sedber, at
*' the east ende of the churche, nye the graves of my mother and suster, and
"at the dale of buriall I will there be complete observaunce done for my
'' soule after the usage ther. Item for the use of the more honest, cleynly,
"and decent kepyng and wesshyng of the adornamentts belongyng the
** altars of the said churche, for the more reverence of the blessed sacrament
** there mynystred, as corporaxes, altar clothes, albys, towells, and suche other,
" I bewhethe twenty shelyngs to be ordered bi the discretion of the churche-
** wardens and ther successours, for the tyme beyng, to uphold the said

* Compare the translation of Isaiah xxviii. 15, in Matthew's Bible (1537) : "Tush,
death and we are at a poynte; and as for hell, we have made a condycion wyth it."

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Il8 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

** twenty shelyngs yerely with contynewaunce, for the use and purpose
'* afiforsaid. Item I bewhethe other twenty shelyngs to be ordered in like
*' maner bi the saide churchwardens and their successours, for the uphold}Tig
" of one seirge of waxe yerly with contynewance, to stande afEor the blessed
** sacrament in the saide churche. Item where there was negligence and
'* oversight in the composition concemyng two scholarshippes in Saynt John
** College in Cambridge, for two scolars to be taken furth of Sedber scole,
" as other ar, iff so be that the Maister and Felowes of the said College
** do cause the said composition to be reformed to the trew intent, I give
*them for the doyng therof the fourty and sevyn shelyngs and sex pens
**whiche Maister Fawcet receyved of me, and it is my will that the same
*' be made up bi my executours and supervisours to the somme of sex pounds
"thirteyn shelyngs and foure pens for the said intent. Item I bewheth to
**the churche of Topcliff, in remembraunce of the soule of my father there
**buryed, and all trew christiane soules, to be disposed in necessary thyngs
" of the said churche, bi the discretion of the churchewardens there, fourty
*• shelyngs. Item I forgive Helen, wedow and late wyff of Christofor
** Hudson, all suche detts as he and she awght me at his departyng. Item
** I give to the said Helen and hir two dowghters Margaret and Elizabeth,
'* al maner of suche my howshold stuff as they the said Christofor his wifif
" and I was at a price and a poynt of. Item I bewhethe to the said wedow
** fourty shelyngs for payment of the income of the tenement at Kirkby.
*' Item I give to eyther of hir said dowghters Margaret and Elezabethe, a
** masour cuppe and thre silver spones. Item I give to Thomas Metcalf,
** my suster son, and Robert his brother and his wifiF, one obligation of sex
*' pounds thirteyn shelyngs four pens, y* I lent unto Edmunde Metcalf their
** father, and if he agre well with them for it, then I forgive him xvsAiijd,
**y* he aweth me besides the said obligation, and if he do not so agre
"withe them, then I give to the said Thomas and Robert the said xvs, i'lijd,
**whiche he receyved in my name of the maister of th' ospitall. Item I
** bewheth to Sir James Gill prest, xs. to say one tryntall and to praie for
" my soule. Item to Sir Leonarde Fawcet, to say a tryntall in like maner,
** xs. Item to Sir Richarde Blande for one other tryntall and to praie for
**me, xj. Item I give to Sir John Beck, prest, my ridyng gown and my
** short gown and my worset jacket, with my sarsenet typett and a silver
*' spone. Item to Sir Jefferay Archer my side gown and a silver spone.
"Item I assigne to my successor, to remain to the use of the fowndation

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 19

"of the fre scole at Sedber, sex silver spones, with suche certayn of my
"bokes as shalbe delyvered bi indenture at the discretion of my executours,
** to remayn as heyre lomes to the said foundation. And the residew of
"my bokes I give to the said Sir John Beck. And I beseche the right
** worshipfull maister Marmaduke Tunstall, Knyght, to witsave [vouchsafe]
"to be hede supervisour of this my last will and testament, to be performede
"to the trew intent, desiryng James Cowper and Rowlande Blande to be
" supervisours also, to help and fortify my executours to the trew intent of
" the same. And I make th' afforsaid Sir John Becke and Sir Jefferay
"Archer, chapplayns, my executours of this my last will and testament.
"And I will that they, withe the counsell of my said supervisours, distribute
"and dispose the superplusage and overplus of my goods, above not
" bewhethed, bi thair discretions to poore folks and in other dedys of charitie.
"And for the trew gentilnes of the said Maister Tunstall, shewed already,
"and speciall trust that I have in hym, to se this my last will performed,
" I will that his maistershippe have fourty shelyngs. And I will y* my
" other supervisours and executours have ich one of them ten shelyng given.
"These witnesses, Sir Leonard Fawcet and Sir James Gill, chaplayns, and
"Henry Blande, with other.**

As Henry Blomeyr made his will in 1543, it is probable
that he felt his end approaching, and soon after, in the course
of nature, ceased to be Master. He was succeeded by Robert
Hebblethwaite, clerk, who had been admitted to a Fellowship
at St. John's College in 1538. There is among the elegant
Latin letters of Roger Ascham, one addressed by him, on
behalf of the College, to Robert Holgate, Bishop of Llandaff,
invoking his good offices in favour [of this newly- appointed
Master. The letter is without date, but it is probable that it
was written in anticipation of Holgate's translation to the
archbishopric of York, where, as Lord President of the North,
he might be able to interpose with good eflFect in affairs at
Sedbergh. Holgate was translated to the see of York in 1544,
and this leads to the conclusion that the year of Henry
Blomeyr's demise must also have been the year of Robert

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I20 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Hebblethwaite's appointment, and that the trouble, whatever
it was, arose immediately on his arrival. The letter unfortun-
ately deals only with generalities, as a messenger had been
sent with it to give the prelate a full and trustworthy account
of all particulars. Ascham recites Roger Lupton's endowment
of his school with a prcedioluvty or small estate, for the Master's
support — Lofthouse and appurtenances, no doubt — and says that
Robert Hebblethwaite, finding that certain persons of the
name of Bland and Cowper were minded to do him an injury
in respect of this property, had moved the College to ask his
Lordship to restrain their cupidity. I should be sorry to
charge any one unjustly, but I rather opine that Bland and
Cowper were the two trustees of that name, and were con-
templating some diminution of the new Master's income — a
measure which he could not be expected to regard with equal
complacency. We may hope that all came right in the end,
and that Robert Hebblethwaite's tenure of office was not long
embittered by this cause.

In 1547 (i Edward VI.) was renewed the Act by which, in
the thirty-seventh year of Henry VIII. (1545), the endowment
of all chantries had become forfeited to the King. But Robert
Hebblethwaite survived the crash. Peradventure he had a
hard struggle to keep the School afloat through the few years
during which the other lands were sold and squandered, and
the destination of his prcBdiolum was still undetermined.
One hopes that neither the rapacity of royal commissioners,
nor the straitened circumstances of the Master, endangered
the continuance of the six silver spoons and the select library
which Henry Blomeyr had so thoughtfully left as a permanent
plenishing for the use of the School. Fortunately, Robert
Hebblethwaite had two good strings to his bow, and when
the chantry string snapped, the scholastic was at hand to

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 121

supply its place. His Fellowship at St. John's was a sufficient
gxiarantee of his learning; and Ascham's testimony to his
character as a most respectable man without any fads — vir
honesties et moderattis — prepares us to learn that when the royal
charter for the resuscitation of Roger Lupton's chantry-school
was opened, it contained the nomination of Robert Hebble-
thwaite as the first Head Master. After figuring as the second
and last official under the old dispensation, he reappears as
the first of that series of Head Masters who, for more than
three centuries, have handed on the torch of learning until
our days.

The Act conferring upon the young King the property of
all chantries, church-lights, guilds, and the like, intimated that
the revenues should be devoted, in part, to the maintenance
of grammar-schools. This being the case, the inhabitants of
Sedbergh, supported by persons of influence in the neighbour-
hood, were sufficiently on the alert to petition the King for a
favourable consideration of their case. Moreover, in 1550,
Thomas Lever, soon afterwards seventh Master of St. John's
College, when preaching before Edward VI. at Court, had
brought the lamentable plight of our impoverished and
decayed School pointedly before the notice of the King and
his counsellors.

"Your Magestie,*' he says, **hath had gyuen, and receaued by Act of
"Parliament, CoUegies, Chauntries, and guyldes for many good consider-
'* acions, and especially as appeareth in y« same Act, for erecting of Gram-
*'mer scoles, to the educacion of youthe in vertue and godlynes, to the
** farther augmentyng of the vniuersyties, and better prouision for the poore
'• and needye. But nowe, many Grammer scholes, and much charitable
"prouision for the poore, be taken, solde, and made awaye, to the great
"slaunder of you and your lawes, to the utter discomforte of the poore, to
"the greuous offence of the people, to the most miserable drounynge of
"youthe in ignoraunce, and sore decaye of the Vniuersities.
P

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122 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

*• There was in the North countrey, amongest the ntde people in know-
** ledge (which be most readye to spende their lyues and goodes, in seniying
'*the Kyng at the burnying of a Beacon) there was a Grammer schole
** founded, hauying in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge, of the same foundacion
*' viii. scholerships, eucr replenyshed with the scholers of that schole, which
'• scole is now solde, decayed, and loste. Mo there be of lyke sorte handled :
** But I recyte thys only bicause I knowe that the sale of it was once stayed
"of charitie, and yet aften^'ards broughte to pass by bribrye as I hearde
**say, and beleue it because that it is only bribrye that customablye ouer-
" cometh charitie.

•* For Gods sake, you that be in aucthoritie, loke vpon it."*

The result of these eflForts to recover the squandered heritage
Avas all that could be desired; for by the royal charter dated
May 14th, 1552, the old chantry-school, at that time dissolved
and well-nigh defunct, came forth from the crucible reconstituted
and re-endowed, and radiant and resplendent with the patronage
of royalty itself. The new School was one of the fifty-three
grammar-schools founded by Edward VI. out of property which
had been placed at his disposal ; and it will be interesting to
see from what sources its emoluments were to be derived.
Lofthouse, the support of the original foundation, remained.
Deepmire, lately the property of the Rood Guild, was added.
The church-light is not mentioned, so perhaps it went elsewhere.
The School, which had died of the chantry complaint, revives
to enjoy the benefactions of four other chantries which had
existed at Halifax, Ilkley, Bamby, and Thorne. The tithes
and other belongings of the rectory and vicarage of Weston,
previously appropriated to an obit or annual commemoration-
service in York Minster, together with lands left for a college
at Rotherham, a free chapel at Coley, and church-lights at
Fishlake, combine with some miscellaneous items to produce a

• Arber's Reprint of ** Lever's Sermons," p. 81.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 23.

clear yearly total of ;^2o 135. lod.y to which the King, of his
own special bounty, added another;^ 20 per annum, to be taken
at the discretion of the Governors from the income of any lands
or tithes in the possession of him, his heirs or successors. If
we multiply this £^0 by ten, to allow for the change in the
value of money, we shall see that this was no bad start. The
Governors — the cream of the residents in the parish — were to
be twelve in number, and to have the privilege of a common
seal and corporate rights. The staff was to consist of a Master
and an Under-master, of whom the former was to be elected
in future by the Master, Fellows, and Scholars of St. John's
College, Cambridge. The School was to be kept where it had
formerly been ; the old habitation of the Master — Lofthouse it
would seem, which, considerably modernised, now reposes in the
shade of the Head Master's house — was to revert to its former
use as the Master's dwelling ; and the scholarships and fellow-
ships of Roger Lupton were to be attached to the new foundation,
and were to be tenable, as aforetime, at St. John's, by youths
from the School.

The fellowships ceased to be specially connected with
Sedbergh in 1857, when many similar restrictions in the
College were abolished. As regards the scholarships, it is
necessary to premise that Henry Hebblethwaite, citizen and
draper of London, by will dated 27th June, 1587, left ;^50o for
the purchase of lands for the foundation of two scholarships
at St. John's for poor and friendless scholars from Sedbergh
School, preference being given to such as should be of the
name and kindred of the founder. In i860 the two sets of
scholarships were combined and re-arranged under the name
of the Lupton and Hebblethwaite Exhibitions — six in number,
of the yearly value of ;^33 6s. Sd. each, two to be given
annually to candidates who have been scholars of Sedbergh

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124

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

School for at least two years, and in the case of one of the
two Exhibitions, a native of the parish of Sedbergh to have
the preference.

At this point it will be convenient to exhibit a list of the
Head Masters from the commencement of the School to the
present day. It will be useful for reference, and will enable the
reader to see at a glance where he is, and whither he is going.
As in all cases subsequent to the Edwardian foundation, at
any rate, the Head Masters were graduates of some standing,
and usually Fellows of St. John's College, and until 1 880 were in
holy orders, we may mentally prefix to their names the title of
" Reverend," and except where otherwise expressed, append to
them the degree of M.A. The dates denote the year of
appointment, ascertained or approximate (^.), and those Masters
who have monuments in the Church or churchyard are lettered
accordingly {m.). Two Masters, not interred at Sedbergh, have
memorial-windows in the Church, nevertheless (w.).

c. 1528.
^- 1543.

1552-

c. 1585.

1623.

1648.

1657-

1660.

m, 1674,

1706.
m. 170Q.

Henry Blomeyr.
Robert Hebblethwaite.

Robert Hebblethwaite,
John Mayer.
Gilbert Nelson.
Richard Jackson

(sequestered),
Richd. Garthwaite,

Usher,
1656. — Gibson, Master
pro tern,
James Buchanan.
Edward Fell.
Posthumus Wharton.
1704. Simon Atkinson,
Usher,
— Dwyer.

Samuel Saunders, D.D.

w.

1742
1746
1782.
1799,
1819

William Broxholme.
Wynne Bateman, D.D.
Christopher Hull.
William Stevens.
Henry Wilkinson.
Isaac Green, Second

Master, 1 831 -1869.
1838. Hartley Coleridge,
Master pro tent,
1838. John Harrison Evans.
1 86 1. Henry George Day.

1875. William Thompson,
Master pro tern.

1875. Frederick Heppenstall.

1879. J. W. Burrow,

Master pro tern,

1880. Henry George Hart.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 125

To resume. How long Robert Hebblethwaite's equable
temperament enabled him to brook the perpetual iteration of
gerund and supine is not known ; but he was still Master in
1562, when he was living at Lofthouse, though not undisputed
monarch of all he surveyed. Little worries about that inte-
resting tenement, which had been recrudescent for some time,
came to a head in that year ; and one Robert Bower, husband-
man, convinced himself, and not only himself, but three arbi-
trators, or at any rate a majority of them, that the grasping
grammarian was clinging to "a parcel of ground" to which
he, the said Bower, was more justly entitled. It was decided
that the schoolmaster for the time being, or whoever should
be the owner of Lofthouse, should ever after pay Sd. a year,
at Whitsuntide, for the land so withheld, but should not be
liable to any "fine, income, or gressome" for the same.
Robert Hebblethwaite doubtless received the announcement
of the award with his wonted equanimity, and went on his
way rejoicing.

He probably died before our register of burials commences
(1595), and he seems to have been succeeded by Mr. John
Mayer, M.A., who is, in all likelihood, the schoolmaster referred
to in the first of the following testamentary extracts, as he is
certainly the "Mr. Maior" of the second, (i) Reginald (or
Reynold) Harrison, mercer, twice Mayor of Stamford (1569
and 1581), by his will dated 1594, and proved 1598, did not
forget his old school at Sedbergh, or his connections at
Sarthwaite, in Dowbiggin. After directions for his burial at
Stamford, and some legacies in that quarter, he bequeaths
"to the School of Sedberghe in Yorks. £20, to be disposed
"and bestowed by the direction of the schoolmaster and
"feoffees of the same school, towards the relief of two poor
" scholars learning in the said school, wherein my will is that

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126 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

" the poorest of my name and kindred, if any there be, shall
"have the preference, as at this present there is one of
"Henry Harryson's sons, of Sawrethwaite, dwelling with
"Mr. Hampton [the Vicar of SedberghJ whom I would have
" preferred." He also gives " to the schoolmaster of Sedbergh
I05.;" towards the occasional repair of Sarthwaite Bridge,
" which is the highway to the Church from Sawrethwaite," £/[ ;
and "to Laurence Stanton, clerk, parson of Ufl&ngton," near
Stamford, £^ 6s. Sd. (2) Whether the Rector of Uffington
had also been through Sedbergh School, I do not know, but
it seems probable; as, besides ;^6 to St. John's College, he
also, by his will dated 16 13, leaves "to the repair of Sedbergh
School, four marcs, and to Mr. Maior, the schoolmaster, 20^."*

Our register records the interment on March ist, 1623, of
Mr. John Mayer, M.A., Master of the Free Grammar School.
Between the first appointment of Robert Hebblethwaite in
1543, and the death of John Mayer in 1623, is a period which
would allow to each of these names a mastership of 40 years —
a respectable score, certainly ; but as it was not the fashion at
that time to rush through life like a whirlwind, there does not
seem to be any necessity to interpolate a hypothetical Master
between them.

We cannot but feel a kindly interest in the next Master,
Gilbert Nelson, on account of the pleasing picture drawn of
him in the Life of John Barwick. He was an M.A. of
St. John's College, but does not seem to have been a Fellow.
Anyhow, he possessed the happy art of gaining the affection
of his pupils, though they were not blind to the fact that the
necessity of enlarging his receipts by clerical duty prevented
him from concentrating his full energies on the School. The

• The above extracts I owe to "The Yorkshire Genealogist" (ii. 102-105), where the
wills are given more fully.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMNfAR SCHOOL. \2^

*bit farm' (prcBdiolum) of Roger Lupton's foundation had
multiplied itself in many ways in the Royal Charter ; but what
was luxury for a bachelor might be only genteel poverty for a
family without extraneous resources. Good Gilbert had four
daughters, all baptized at Sedbergh, and when he died in 1648,
leaving his widow in needful circumstances, an old pupil
gratefully came to the rescue, as we shall presently see.

John and Peter Barwick, of whom I have spoken at large
before, were at school under this Master. Their testimony is
that he taught Latin well, but Greek indifferently. He was
not, however, the dry verbal critic into which schoolmasters of
a past age were prone to degenerate ; but he felt some touch of
human interest in his author beyond and apart from the
grammatical puzzles which could be extorted from his words.
He was particularly exhilarating in his expositions of Plautus
and Terence; and his lively illustrations and racy comments
sweetened the root of learning considerably, and imbued his
scholars with a corresponding enthusiasm. He occasionally
had portions of Latin plays rendered dramatically, and his best
pupils were taught to tread the boards in character. He took
great pride in the performances of his favourite pupil, John
Barwick, and was particularly delighted to see him, as Hercules
Raving, "tear a passion to tatters," and make the groundlings
roar.

Nor must I omit so convincing a proof of the kindheartedness
of Gilbert Nelson as that which is supplied by George Sedgwick,
who was bom at Capplethwaite, in Killington, in 16 18, and
afterwards lived on his father's small estate a mile north of
Sedbergh. He died in 1685, at the old manor-house called
Collin Field, near Kendal, which he purchased for his retirement
with the aid of Anne Countess of Pembroke, whom he had
served with much acceptance as secretary for eighteen years.

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128 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

The pulpit in Kendal parish church now stands over his grave,
and the oak frame containing an appreciative Latin epitaph,
written on parchment, may be found at some distance. His
father's removal from Capplethwaite had been caused by the
loss of a large sum of money through being bound with a
brother-in-law; and Gilbert Nelson, out of pure goodwill to
young George, boarded him gratis in his own house for more
than a year. " One good turn deserves another ;" and the pupil
did not forget this great kindness when the opportunity of
showing his gratitude came round. " A great honour I had,"
he says in the autobiography which he wrote, " for the memory
" of so worthy a person ; and though God did not prolong his
"life till my coming into the north in 1652, yet I had the
" means and opportunity, by the favour of my most honoured
" lady the Countess of Pembroke, to place his widow (then in
" a low condition) in one of her ladyship's almshouses in
"Appleby, then newly built and endowed by her, where she
"had a convenient chamber, a garden, and £8 sl year during
" her life ; taking a daughter of hers at the same time into her
" service, from whence she was afterwards well married."

The death of Gilbert Nelson (1648) took place in the
troublous time of the Civil War. A few years previously the
University of Cambridge had been turned upside down and
inside out by the Parliamentarians. They had decapitated
a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and were soon to imbrue their
hands in the blood of an Archbishop and of the King himself
Meanwhile, they were busily engaged in administering the
Solemn League and Covenant right and left, as a test of
acquiescence in their doings. This was a nauseous and bitter
potion which those Fellows who were true to the Church and
loyal to the King, found it impossible to swallow; and one
after another — Barwick and Otway among the number — they

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 129

declined the proffered draught and were turned adrift, till the
Colleges had been emptied of all their best men. Their places
were supplied with persons of less learning and respectability,
but of greater pliableness — bardi ut plurimum et infruniti
tngenn homunculi^ as Dr. Peter Barwick, ransacking out-of-the-
way comers of Latinity for words to characterise them, puts
it — " blockheads for the most part, and senseless scoundrels, "
as his translator tersely renders it in the plainest of plain
English.

It was to the usurping Fellows of St. John's College that
the Governors of our School had to report the vacancy in the
headmastership, and to request a good supply. There must
have been great searchings of heart among the loyal people
of Sedbergh as to the result of their application, even when
the new grammarian, Richard Jackson, M.A., was heralded by a
college testimonial describing him as " a man of such approved
** abilities and conversation, and withall of such experience as
"wee cannot but hope that he will by God's blessinge prove
"instrumental for regaineing the reputation of yo"^ schoole,
"and promotinge as well pietie as learning among you."

One would be glad to know how the Governors felt when
this paragon of Parliamentarian perfection arrived at Sedbergh.
I fear the "friendly reception" bespoken by the College
would be a trifle lukewarm. Probably the church bells
did not ring out a cordial greeting ; and certainly there would
be many significant shakings of the head when Mr. Jackson
took up his abode at an alehouse, and as soon as he had time
to take in the situation, proceeded to involve the Governors
in expensive lawsuits respecting rival tenants of the school
lands. How they managed to liquidate law-bills to the extent
of ;^2oo and more, in the first three years of this Master's
reign, is not clear. If the money came out of the School
Q

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I30 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

revenues, so much the worse for Mr. Jackson, and if out of
their own pockets, it was hard upon them. Anyhow, in 1651,
Baron Thorpe commissioned Sir Robert Barwick to call the
parties before him and make an end of their diflFerences. Sir
Robert pronounced the schoolmaster "unconformable to
reason," which was decidedly a triumph for the Governors,
and no doubt a considerable solace for wasted cash.

In 1654 matters came to a crisis, and the pent-up feelings
of the Governors found relief in a petition to the College for
the removal of Mr. Jackson, in which the shortcomings of the
whilom promoter of piety and learning were shown up in no
measured terms. His "turbulent and vexatious temper/' his
self-seeking and Htigiousness, his unabashed demeanour in the
face of judicial reproofs, his neglect of the school buildings
and of his duties therein, and his debauched and dissolute
conversation, are dwelt upon by turns. "A constant haunter of
alehouses, frequently intoxicated with immoderate drinking^' —
as witness one Sabbath-day, when he was notoriously in his
cups and bent on laying wagers — he had now, in order to obtain
leisure for these diversions, discharged the usher and the few
remaining scholars, and shut up the School entirely. In fact,
he had borne himself so oflFensively that nobody could be
induced to take the ofl&ce of Governor when a vacancy occurred ;
and the College is besought either to continue the services of
the cashiered usher, Richard Garthwaite, M.A., or to send
some other duly qualified person to save the School from
impending ruin.

This document, which Mr. Jackson describes as " a scur-
rilous railing petition," does not seem to have brought about
the result desired by the Governors; and indeed, in 1654, he
satisfactorily passed the ordeal of Cromwell's "Triers," who
sat at Whitehall to inquire into the spiritual state of Church

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 131

ministers, and ascertain their conversion ; though it may reason-
ably be suspected that his being well-afFected towards the
powers that then were, contributed in no slight degree to this
clean bill of health. Later in the same year, commissioners
were appointed in each county for ejecting scandalous minis-
ters; and when one of these committees was announced to
sit at York, the Governors thought that redress might now
have come within practicable distance, and they determined
to open a fresh campaign, with the support of Garsdale at
their back. Mr. Jackson, besides being Master at Sedbergh,
was also Minister at Garsdale; and when he got drenched
with rain on his journeys thither, he naturally required con-
siderable refreshment to keep the cold out. Behold, then, the
incriminated clerk and pedagogue summoned by the allied
forces before the commissioners of his Highness, at York, to
make answer to the articles presented against him !

One witness from Sedbergh deposes, upon oath, that on a
certain Lord's Day he had seen Mr. Jackson in an alehouse,
much the worse for drink, and the landlord wagering him a
tankard of good malt liquor that he could not correctly repeat
the words which he had just uttered. Mr. Jackson accepted
the wager with confidence — and lost! From this it appears
that tests of inebriety were not unknown at Sedbergh two
hundred and forty years ago, although they were scarcely such
delicate instruments of discrimination as the rapid repetition
of "truly rural" is in our time. Another had beheld him,
incoherent in speech and uncertain of gait, come to anchor
on a bed, where essaying to express his sentiments, he " faltered
soe sore" that he failed to make himself understood. A
fellow-lodger also reveals the little fact that he had been
obliged to call in aid to get Mr. Jackson to his couch, when,
either from choice or necessity, he had exchanged the con-

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132 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

ventional support of a chair for the floor. And Mr. Richard
Garthwaite, the usher — *'unkindest cut of all!" — relates his
dismissal by Mr. Jackson, when the latter shut up the School
for three months and rested on his oars all that time.

These testimonies all refer to incidents which took place
previously to Mr. Jackson's return with flying colours from
before the Triers, at Whitehall. Either, then, they had not
been produced so fully on that occasion, or he must have
convinced his inquisitors of the sincerity of his repentance.
They are the depositions of Sedbergh people. What follows
is the evidence of the Garsdale contingent. Mr. Jackson had
deserted his cure at Garsdale for three months, just as he
had left his school at Sedbergh for a like period. No doubt
he wanted a complete rest, and was convinced of the useless-
ness of doing things by halves. But worse than this, he had,
on one particular Lord's Day, lighted at the alehouse in
Garsdale, and sent word to his congregation that he was so
wet that he could not preach. The warmth of mine hostess'
fire, with congenial company and good home-brewed combined,
were powerful dissuasives from further exertion, and the dis-
appointed congregation had to be sent empty away.

How is Mr. Jackson to face these circumstantial charges ?
He produced, in the first place, a testimonial from the Mayor
of Kendal, and two others, that they had heard him preach
there, and considered him an able minister, and that they had
never known or heard of his being guilty of the offences
imputed to him. Secondly, he had friends from Garsdale and
Grisedale, to testify that during a ministry of seven years
among them, a year and a half of which he had lived in the
dale, they had never known him to be a frequenter of
alehouses, or heard of his being accounted intemperate.
There must have been pretty hard swearing somewhere; but

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 133

it is observable that no witnesses are produced to disprove
the allegations respecting his conduct at Sedbergh. He does,
however, send a written answer in his own behalf, in which
he deals with the charges in order. As to the assertion of
incompetence, he points to the college testimonial before
referred to; and since his adversaries seem so well satisfied
with the attainments of his predecessors, he will venture a
comparison of his own learning and piety with theirs, in an
investigation before the authorities of St. John's College, and
if worsted, will relinquish his right and title, save only for his
arrears. When he discharged Richard Garthwaite, clerk,
"because he turned apostate proselyte," and had "introduced
" the observation of the holy days with their eves, which I had
"abolished and brought to the Parliament order," he did not
send the scholars away, but appointed a person to teach them
during his absence. He is no haunter of alehouses, not he;
and his renunciation of the evil society of his opponents is
that which irritates them above everything. That little episode
of being drunk on the Sabbath, about which they make so
much ado, did not occur on the Sabbath Day, and it is open
to explanation. It was, on his part, nothing more than a case
of involuntary acquiescence; for "that barbarous ruffian,
George Otway," who lived at Lofthouse, and was the brother
of Mr. John Otway, was drinking with his accomplices at the
alehouse where the Head Master lodged, and was determined
to have his company again after he had arranged for the
payment of his shot, and had retired to bed peaceably. Up
came Otway before ever his chamber-door could be pinned, and
haled him downstairs again ; and Mr. Jackson, having a sore
leg, and being in peril of his life among "such a crew of
villains," was constrained to imbibe so much liquor as did
stupefy him. "God did by this sink my spirit with such

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134 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

"repentance ever since, both for this and other failings, that
" through the grace of Christ I am, in a measure, rejoiced to
'*hear myself so injuriously railed at and reproached for the
" relicks of the old man yet remaining in me." Bravo, Richard !
— only you appear to have forgotten that several of the wit-
nesses depose to your having been " distempered with drink "
at dates subsequent to this seemly contrition. Master Jackson
reserves his best card to the end, and now plays it in an
appeal to the political prejudices of his judges, when he
reminds them that they cannot hurt him and help his adver-
saries, unless they " abandon all sound principles upon which
"honest and godly patriots ingaged in judgment and con-
" science in that great controversie against the late Eling,"
and expose to reproach and prejudice " such as sincerely close
" with the Government, in favour of the few and wilde fellows
"who adhere to those old principles and that cursed interest
" which they cannot renounce." But it was all in vain. Even
Cromwell's commissioners for ejecting scandalous ministers
and schoolmasters in the West Riding must yield to over-
whelming evidence against their political sympathisers. On
March 20, 1655, the possessions of the School were sequestered,
and certain of the Governors (to wit, John Otway, Esq.; John
Cowper, gentleman ; Adam Sawer, Richard Holme, John Bland,
Anthony Willan, Thomas Blaiklinge, and James Hebblethwaite,
or any three of them) were empowered to engage a tempo-
rary master, until a regular appointment could be made.

It may seem, at first sight, ungracious to spend so many
words on. the pothouse proclivities of a former Head Master;
but I am persuaded that the story affords interesting glimpses
of the state of society at Sedbergh in the first half of the
seventeenth century, as well as shows how the School fared
at a critical period of English history. It may be noted that

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 35

while the School was so directly affected by the Common-
wealth unsettlement, the Church, on the other hand, shows no
signs of disturbance.

Although Mr. Jackson had been worsted in the decisive
pitched battle, he was still able, for several years, to keep up
the semblance of warfare on the subject of his arrears, until
at length he drops into obscurity; and we hear that in 1675,
twenty years after the sequestration, the Governors relented
and paid to his widow, Elizabeth Jackson, the sum of ;£i3i —
a somewhat tardy acknowledgment of the schoolmaster's claim,
which it is to be hoped was not too late to smooth the pillow
of his relict's declining years.

Possibly the Governors now thought it expedient to econ-
omize. At any rate they paid to a Mr. Gibson, the interim
master, the modest salary of £20, minus some shillings, for
officiating in the school from April, 1656, to May, 1657. In
the latter year the Commissioners and the College jointly
appointed Mr. James Buchanan to the office of Head Master.
In about a twelvemonth after his arrival he married Emma
Burton, at Sedbergh, but his short reign is barren of events of
public interest. He was followed, in 1660, by Mr. Edward Fell,
M.A., who married Ann Bland in 1669, and resided at Castley.
He died in 1674, leaving by his will £$, the interest to be used
in the purchase of a Latin Dictionary, from time to time, for
the use of the School — Littleton's and the Cambridge Diction-
aries being, as we find, the favoured authorities at Sedbergh
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Into what prefer-
able channel of usefulness the dictionary-money was event-
ually diverted I do not know; and now that such compilations
meet us at every turn, probably no one but a bibliomaniac
would care to inquire. It was no doubt a fortuitous return to
an older usage when, in my time, a Head Master exceptionally

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136 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

tolerant of juvenile eccentricity, would now and then call for a
dictionary to clear up the biography of some more than usually
unmanageable word. One of the boys possessed a Facciolati
of formidable dimensions, and on such occasions the ponderous
tome was always escorted to the chair of authority by at least
a quaternion of tyros. These elaborately solemn processions
were always a pleasant variation of the ordinary routine, and
the dictionary had many admirers besides the minority who
were privileged to consult its pages.

But it behoves me to remember that I am still in the
seventeenth century, and I return to Mr. Edward Fell. On
his decease the College appointed one Mr. Cox, who, however,
made no acquaintance with Sedbergh, but declined the prefer-
ment within a month. The College must then have been
embarrassed in their selection, for at the end of six weeks
none had been made ; and the Governors, imder the authority
of the clause in the charter for such case made and provided,
took the matter into their own hands, and with the sanction
of the Bishop, appointed a Master for themselves. They
made choice of Posthumus Wharton, M.A., a member of the
ducal family of Wharton, with the halo of aristocracy about
his head. I have already commented — somewhat unfavourably,
I fear — on the quality of his Latin verses. He was a good
Master, notwithstanding, and raised the reputation of the
School considerably. He was an eligible match, and espoused
the Governors' relations freely: (i) Barbara Comey, (2) Mary
Otway, (3) Margaret Cowper. As the nominee of the Governors,
and their kinsman by multiplicity of matrimonial alliances,
it would be strange if his connection with the School had
been otherwise than peaceful and pleasant. No longer a
household divided against itself, as in the days of Richard
Jackson, of unhappy memory, Governors and Master could

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

137

now defend their distant possessions by united action. Did
they not fight Sir Thomas Hodgson, Knight, for 13^. 4^., which
they claimed of him as a tenant in their manor of Bramwith
Woodhouse ? And did they not also, at great expense, bring
to book one Wilfrid Lawson, who refused to pay a reasonable
fine and rent for school-land at Ilkley ?

Mr. Wharton resided at Thorns, and his long reign of
thirty-two years was terminated by resignation in 1706. A
shadowy Mr. Dwyer then passes before us and rules the
School for three years, until 1709, when he was succeeded by
Dr. Samuel Saunders, who married Margaret, daughter of
Mr. Posthumus Wharton aforesaid. He was Vicar of Welton
and Hutton-Bushel, as well as Master of Sedbergh School,
and, in this state of comfortable plurality, just equalled his
father-in-law in the years of his mastership. During his time
the School must have been rebuilt in the classical style of

The Old Grammar School, Sedbergh.

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138 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

the Georges, as the date over the elegant western doorway is
1 7 16. It is a pity we have no sketch or description of the
former building, which, one thinks, must have retained some
interesting features of the early, if not of the earliest, stages
of the institution. There is in the School Museum one of
"Kip's Views" — a print (about 17 10) of a design for a School
at Sedbergh. It is unlike the present building, and the plan
is for a School and a Master's House attached, and was most
likely a design made for the new School, but not accepted.

Dr. Saunders died November ist, 1741, aged fifty-eight, as
his monument in the church relates; and after a few months
interregnum, on the 25th of March, 1742 — the first day of the
new year, as official reckoning then was — arrived Mr. William
Broxholme, the next Master. He grossly neglected his charge,
and as he shut himself up in his chamber, the Governors
had serious thoughts of abridging his income. They even
took counsel's opinion on the point ; but as it was clear that all
profits of the school possessions belonged to the Master, they
came to the conclusion that it would be dangerous to meddle ;
so they ' squared ' the recluse, and his death, in the early part
of 1746, relieved them from the apprehension of further
difficulties.

Mr. Wynne Bateman (afterwards D.D.) had just taken to
wife Rachel, younger daughter of Samuel Saunders, D.D.;
and if it was practicable for the father-in-law to be Vicar of
remote Welton and Hutton-Bushel, as well as Master of the
School, at one and the same time, much more must it have been
practicable for the son-in-law to be Vicar of Sedbergh and
Master of the School too. So the arrangement was tried for
eight years, until a division of labour, in 1754, made John
Meryett vicar, and confined Wynne Bateman to his scholastic
-duties solely. He surpassed all his predecessors, since the

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 139

first Master of the Edwardian foundation, in the duration of
his office, having reigned thirty-six years, and no doubt dis-
seminated much useful, as well as some useless, knowledge in
that time. We learn from the Governors' papers that they
found him reluctant to repair his School ; but we may forgive
a little hesitation on this score when we do not find that
anything else unfavourable to his reputation has been alleged
against him. He died May 12th, 1782, aged sixty-eight —
Rachel, his widow, holding over to the next century (1802),
and reversing the figures of her husband's age to denote her
own.

Under Dr. Bateman's successor, the Rev. Christopher Hull,
the School got on the down-grade once more. He was Third
Wrangler in 1765, and, therefore, he may be assumed to have
been capable of conducting his pupils through the nK)st
bewildering of numerical labyrinths. But he was not an all-
round man; and the Governors became so convinced that
the decline of the School was owing to his incompetence to
teach Latin and Greek, that they suggested to him the
propriety of his giving ;^ioo to another Master and having
nothing to do with the School himself; and if he refused this
advice, then he- would have to see what he would see. But
he held on to the end, in the dual capacity of Rector of
Aspeden, in Hertfordshire, and Master of the Grammar School
at Sedbergh, and died (says his monument in the church)
January 3rd, 1799, ^^ ^he fifty-ninth year of his age.

There is one thing, however, for which the School was
greatly indebted to Mr. Hull, and that is, for being the means
of obtaining a suitable house for the Master to live in. The
only definite provision for this purpose had been the diminutive
tenement of Lofthouse, which, though not beneath the require-
ments of Mr. George Otway, in the seventeenth century, or

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140

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

those of Mr. Thomas Currer, attorney-at-law, in the eighteenth,
was scarcely elastic enough for a family and boarders. It
was convenient to let this house with the land on which it
stood, and the Master had to shift for himself. At one time
we have seen him content with an alehouse; at another,
preferring the salubrious heights of Castley; and again, on
different occasions, descending to the agreeable privacy and
goodly heritage of Thorns. But Mr. Hull had set his mind
on having a fixed abode, and a fixed abode he succeeded in
getting. Near the west end of the town there had formerly
stood a humble thatched hostelry, known as the Cross Keys,

on the site of which Mr. James Waidson had erected a
commodious dwelling-house, with outbuildings and garden
complete. After these had changed hands a few times, they
became the property of Mr. Hull, who mortgaged an estate
to secure them; and upon his decease the College, the

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 141

Governors, and the Master agreed to acquire them in per-
petuity of the next purchaser in exchange for Sedbergh Ing,
a parcel of school-land in the parish of Halifax. The house
was enlarged in the time of Mr. Evans, and since; and it is
now in the charge of one of the house-masters — in all proba-
bility, as comfortable and convenient a structure as the
palatial embellishments which have cropped up in later years.
The Rev. William Stevens, Fifteenth Wrangler in 1 791, so
far from checking the downward course of the School, would
seem to have accelerated it. Perhaps the comfortable Master's
house was a snare to him, for in no long time he dispensed
with an usher, locked up the School for years together, and
taught the poor remnant of scholars — some ten at the utmost,
and most of them boarders — at his own fireside. It is not
stated whether he made his appearance in dressing-gown and
slippers, but the probability is that these ingredients of true
happiness would not always be wanting. Professor Sedgwick,
however, who was under his rule, speaks of him as "an
excellent scholar, and a good social and domestic man."
Mr. Stevens had been a chaplain, for a time, in the Royal
Navy, and had even been present at Lord Howe^s victory off
Cape St. Vincent, in 1794; and it is surmised that his sea-
faring experiences would be specially delectable to the youth-
ful ear, and render the belligerent Master somewhat of a hero
to the imagination of his admiring ten. The distracted
Governors had recourse to their usual expedient in seasons
of perplexity. They obtained counsel's opinion; they even
brought down on the domesticated pedagogue two Fellows
of St. John's, the Charity Commissioners, and the Bishop of
Chester ; but he died, as he had lived. Master of the Grammar
School. He departed this life a few months after his wife,
on November 9th, 181 9, aged fifty years; and he is the only

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142 SEDBERGH, GARSDAJLE, AND DENT.

one of the Masters whose monument — a simple headstone —
will be found on the outside of the church.

It was in his time that Dr. Whitaker wrote his History
of Richmondshire ; and no account of the School would be
complete without the passage in which he speaks of it. It
is a characteristic one, and in the Doctor's best style.

** By a member of St. John's College, in Cambridge/' he says, **Sedberg
**can scarcely be visited without an affectionate remembrance of its con-
** nexion with that venerable foundation. The grammar-school of this place,
" in the patronage of that society, and farther connected with it by pro-
**prietary foundation, has long flourished under the erudition of many
*' succeeding masters, and produced many sound and excellent scholars.
**With the University of Cambridge, since its [the School's] late declension
**as a classical seminary, it has formed a temporary and general connexion,
** in consequence of the superior talents of Mr. Dawson as a teacher of
** mathematics. Still I could, for the sake of the college, and for that of
"the living and of the dead, which this seminary has sent forth to adorn
'* both that and other colleges, be glad to hail this place as classic ground;
**but in the taste and fashion of education, as well as all other things,
*' there are revolutions which interest itself cannot control. Forgetting,
** therefore, what it is, and recalling from more distant times the names
** of both the Barwicks, let me next commemorate either the living or the
** recently departed ornaments of this seminary — Dr. George Mason, late
"Bishop of Man; Dr. Walker King, now Bishop of Rochester; Sir Isaac
** Pennington, late Professor of Physic at Cambridge ; Dr. Thomas Kipling,
"Dean of Peterborough; Dr. William Cookson, Canon of Windsor; Mr.
"Thomas Starkie, late Fellow of St. John's, and now Vicar of Blackburn,
"the Senior Wrangler of his year; the witty and elegant Thomas Wilson,
"B.D.; and above all. Dr. William Craven, Master of St. John's College,
"who to the attainments of a profound scholar added the humility of a
"saint, and to the manners of a gentleman the simplicity of a child."

This list of distinguished Old Sedberghians might be con-
siderably extended. I content myself with adding a few names
only, the first three being those of eminent physicians : —

John Fothergill — of Quaker parentage, bom at Carr End,

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 143

near Richmond, in 17 12. His extensive practice in London,
estimated at ;^8,ooo a year, enabled him to amass a large
fortune, which he liberally used in the furtherance of benev-
olent projects. He was the principal founder of Ackworth
School, for when the building and land had been acquired
by subscription, he furnished the institution with a permanent
endowment by his will. He died in 1780, and has been accorded
a niche among Hartley Coleridge's "Northern Worthies."

Anthony Fothergill — a native, most probably, of Raven-
stonedale, and educated at Sedbergh. He also acquired wealth
by successful practice at Bath. He wrote five volumes of
papers on medical subjects. In 1803, having retired from his
profession, he visited America, where he resided until differences
with the mothet-country led him to return. Born 1732, died
1813. A notice of his life will be found in Atkinson's
"Worthies of Westmorland."*

Robert Willan — born at the Hill, near the town of Sed-
bergh, in 1757; died at Madeira, in 1812. He was educated
under Dr. Bateman, and Dawson the mathematician, and was
a physician of considerable reputation in London. A pros-
pectus, still extant, shows that in 1785 he had projected an
academy at Castley, near Sedbergh, where, after the payment
of an entrance-fee of one guinea, youths might be boarded
and educated for the moderate sum of ;^ 14 a year. Perhaps
the School did not answer expectations at this rate, and
fortune had better things in store for the young M.D.t He

* See also, in the same authority, the notices of Robert Dawson (i 589-1 643), Bishop
of Qonfert; Anthony Askew, M.D.,F.R.S. (1722-1740), a learned collector of books
and MSB., the sale of whose library lasted twenty days ; Sir Alan Chambre, Knight
( 1 740-1 823), a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, whose mother was a Morland
of Capplethwaite ; and Edward Holme, M.D. (i 770-1847), president of several learned
associations, and one of the founders of the Chetham Society.

fThe prospectus is referred to in the ** Transactions of the Cumberland and West-
morland Archaeological Society," xi. 384.

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144 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

was an author of medical and other books ; and his " List of
Words used in the Mountainous District of the West Riding "
has been recently edited under the auspices of the English
Dialect Society.

We have also the honour of reckoning among our alumni
Dr. John Hymers, Second Wrangler in 1826, and Fellow and
Tutor of St. John's College, whose mathematical text-books
were in much repute among a past generation of students.
He died at the rectory of Brandesburton, in 1887, leaving the
residue of his real and personal estate for the endowment of
a grammar-school at Hull. This bequest, amounting to the
princely sum of ;^ 200,000, made shipwreck on the statutes of
mortmain; but the heir-at-law, desirous of giving effect to
the wishes of his brother, generously allowed ;^50,ooo of the
personalty to be devoted to the purpose intended, and the
Hymers College is now. an accomplished fact.

Dr. James Inman, Dr. Haygarth, and Professor Sedgwick —
all native celebrities — I reserve for the chapters on Garsdale
and Dent ; but I may mention as belonging to a more recent
date, Dr. Cookson, Master of Peterhouse; Governor Eyre,
whose vigorous action in Jamaica, however interpreted, cannot
detract from his laurels as an Australian explorer; and the
Rev. J. M. Wilson, Senior Wrangler in 1859, now Archdeacon
of Manchester, but, as yet, better known as the able and
energetic Head Master of Clifton College.

Mr. Stevens was followed in the mastership of Sedbergh
School by the Rev. Henry Wilkinson, Second Wrangler and
Fellow of his College. He succeeded in reviving the drooping
vitality of the School, and at his death, in 1838, left above
one hundred scholars as a proof of his industry and reputation
as a teacher. Nemini non honoratus — imiversally respected—-
is the verdict of the commemorative tablet in the church;

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 45

from which, also, we learn that he died in the assiduous dis-
charge of his duties and in the prime of life, at the age of
forty-six.

During the interval between the death of Mr. Wilkinson
and the arrival of his successor, the duties of a Head Master
were temporarily discharged by that erratic genius, Hartley
Coleridge, the son of a famous sire, and himself a prose writer
of a delicate humour and sparkling fancy, and a tender and
graceful poet. The Rev. Isaac Green had been Second Master
of the School and Curate and Incumbent of Howgill seven
years when the death of his chief occurred. As Master of the
Ambleside Grammar School previously, he had an acquaintance
with the families of De Quincey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge ;
and, in 1837, he had occasion to have recourse to the assistance
of his old friend Hartley Coleridge, at Sedbergh, for several
months. Hartley acquitted himself so satisfactorily, on this
occasion, as to justify his appointment as temporary Head
Master in the following year, from March to the midsummer
holidays. It is well known that nature never intended poor
Hartley for a martinet, and his sensitive temperament left
him powerless in the presence of unruly boys. Wordsworth
had addressed him, at the age of six, in language of remark-
able presentiment —

*' O blessed Vision ! happy Child !
Thou art so exquisitely wild,
I think of thee with many fears
For what may be thy lot in future years" —

and as he grew up, his impatience of restraint, and a certain
congenital infirmity of will, cut him off from the calculable
consistencies of ordinary men. His diminutive stature and
singular appearance, too, were serious drawbacks to the man-
agement of unstudious youths, and he had nothing of the
S

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146 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

typical schoolmaster about him, except the power of imparting
knowledge. Under these circumstances it is pleasing to record
that his life at Sedbergh was such as he could look back
upon with unusual satisfaction. He even found among his
pupils one warm personal friend,* from whose interesting
recollections of Hartley's manner of instruction in Mr. Green's
parlour, and elsewhere, I quote a few sentences : —

•* He was dressed in black, his hair, just touched with grey, fell in thick
*' waves down his back, and he had a frilled shirt on; and there was a
** sort of autumnal ripeness and brightness about him. His shrill voice, and
" his quick authoritative * right ! right ! ' and the chuckle with which he trans-
** lated * rerum repetundarum ' as * peculation, a very common vice in governors
" of all ages,* after which he took a turn round the sofa — all struck me amaz-
"ingly; his readiness astonished us all, and even himself, as he afterwards
** told me ; for during the time that he was at the School, he never had to
"use a Dictionary once, though we read Dalzell's selections from Aristotle
**and Longinus and several plays of Sophocles. While acting as second
"master [/>. on his first visit to Sedbergh], he seldom occupied the master's
"desk, but sat among the boys on one of the school benches. He very
" seldom came to school in a morning, never till about eleven, and in the
"afternoon about an hour after we had begun. I never knew the least
"liberty taken with him, though he was kinder and more familiar than was
"the fashion with masters. His translations were remarkably vivid; of
** fLv/i^6i, fioyt^ui 'toiling and moiling;' and of some ship or other in the
" Philoctetes, which he pronounced to be 'scudding under main-top sails/
"our conceptions became intelligible."

Here we have the brighter aspect of Hartley's nature
presented to us, but sometimes the seamy side — an invincible
propensity to strong waters, which no one could deplore more
than himself— came uppermost too. The Rev. John Milner,
of Middleton-in-Teesdale, writes to me : —

• The Rev. Thomas Blackburn. Sec the Memoir prefixed to Moxon*s edition of
Hartley Coleridge's Poems (1851), pp. cxv. and cxxxv.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 47

*' I was at Sedbergh when Mr. Wilkinson died, and read the Prometheus
"with Hartley Coleridge, whose valuable renderings I have often since looked
**at. *Lile Hartley' lived with Green while he was doing duty as a tem-
**porary Head Master. Green had to look sharply after him, and limited
**him to one glass of whiskey at nights; but one night when Green had
"one of his bilious attacks, he left him with the whiskey bottle, and the
"result was disastrous. Hartley fell and damaged the bridge of his nose
"over the fender, and slightly blackened both eyes, but he turned up as
"usual the next morning, although looking a little seedy."

One more recollection of Hartley Coleridge 1 add, by kind
permission of Messrs. Chapman & Hall, from the Life of the
Right Hon. W. E. Forster, by T. Wemyss Reid. It describes
the meeting of two remarkable men in the street of Sedbergh,
and is contained in a letter written by Mr. Forster, in 1838,
apparently to his father, and at a time when the evidences of
the writer s Quaker up-bringing were stronger than at a
later date.

"I got back to Sedbergh," writes Mr. Forster, "about five on third
"day. Hearing from Kendal that Hartley Coleridge was staying at Sed-
"bergh, I wrote a note to him, asking him to take tea with me as Sarah

"Fox's relation The next day was rainy, and most dull was the

"prospect, but happily I met H. C. in the street, and he spent the day with
" me, and read me several of his unpublished sonnets. It was such an
"intellectual treat as I never had before. He is a strange compound of
"eccentricity, immense power of reasoning and imagination, amiability,
" simplicity, and utter want of self-command. I should think his conver-
" sation was equal to his father's — in fact, those who know him think it to
"be so. I never heard anything like it. But — poor fellow — I had the
"greatest difficulty to keep him sober. But I did so. Coleridge is fat,
"one-sided, about 5ft. high, eyes dark, hair grey or black. He is a most
"strange-looking mortal, and worth observing if thou meets him in the
"street."

Mr. Green, who was the means of bringing Hartley Cole-
ridge into connection with Sedbergh School, demands a few
more words. He was Second Master from 1831 to 1869, a

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148 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

period of thirty-eight years, and taught under three Head
Masters — Wilkinson, Evans, and Day. His tall, dignified form
contrasted observably with the smaller and lither figure of
Evans. He grounded his pupils thoroughly in the elementary
stages of the classics; and his somewhat stern features,
suggestive of the imperative mood, were no doubt owing to
protracted endeavours to push inert intellects up the ladder
of grammatical lore. At heart, however, and off duty, he was
essentially kind; and when his constitutional shyness had been
overcome and intimacy established, the current of his discourse
would sometimes thaw genially into retrospective anecdote
and subdued laughter. He was fond of farming, and was
esteemed a good amateur judge of cattle. I have pleasant
recollections of driving with him behind a sure-footed ancient
quadruped, to his cure in Howgill. Here, through his exer-
tions, was built the prettily-situated Chapel which he served
till within a few years of his death, which occurred on the
25th of September, 1875, in the seventy-second year of his
age. He was twice married, and now rests in the quiet little
churchyard of Grasmere, beside the two partners of his joys
and sorrows — Frances [nie Kennedy), and Caroline Bella,
daughter of Julius Cassar Ibbetson, **an artist eminent for
his taste and skill in painting rustic figures, cattle, and
rural scenery," as his tombstone in Masham churchyard quite
truthfully declares.

The archididascalic succession has been interrupted — not
unnecessarily I trust — by these notices of Coleridge and Green.
I now revert to the death of Mr. Wilkinson and the appoint-
ment of the Rev. J. H. Evans, M.A., in 1838. He graduated
in 1828 as Third Wrangler and Tenth in the First Class of
the Classical Tripos. His death at Southport, in 1880, seems a
quite recent event; but owing to failure of health, he had

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Oelnr^or) Ueoip, pieuS^ill jSj^jaqc.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 49

long before resigned the mastership of the School, where he
laboured devotedly for twenty- three years. In 1861 he with-
drew from active life, and was presented by the parishioners
with a silver salver, indicative of the esteem in which he was
held by all classes. Old pupils had previously subscribed for
a handsome testimonial of some hundreds of pounds, which
he applied, in 1858, to the erection of a Market House and
Reading Room for the use of the inhabitants generally.

The unanimity with which middle-aged Sedberghians regard
the School as having reached the high-water mark of its
reputation under his charge can hardly be mistaken ; and
the number of men of light and leading — members of Parlia-
ment, church dignitaries, colonial judges, members of the bar,
masters of schools, and others — who, in a great measure, owe
their success in life to his excellent training, is truly astonish-
ing. As a disciplinarian he was unsurpassed, and boys soon
made up their minds that he was not to be trifled with. At
the same time he was a terror only to evil-doers, and industry
and earnestness were sure of his approbation. He appeared
to have no favourites, but to render to all alike the just
recompense of their individual merits ; and it was the solidity
and consistency of his character, his downright integrity and
fairness, no less than the accuracy and extent of his learning,
which gained for him the confidence and respect of his pupils,
and the veneration of their riper years.

The curriculum of the School, as contrasted with the mul-
tiplicity of present-day requirements, would no doubt be
regarded as deplorably meagre. Classics and mathematics were
all in all. There was no modern side to divide our interests,
and there were no "-ologies" to distract our aims. English
History was dispensed from the most repellent of text-books,
and in morsels so fragmentary and statistical that no com-

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I50 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

prehensive grasp of the subject was established, and few
results of permanent value remained. Of modem Geography I
suppose we must have learnt something, though I do not
remember what. French and Drawing were recognised as
ornamental specialties, which, in deference to modem demands,
it might be advisable for some to acquire; and peripatetics
from Kendal and Lancaster, alternating with an authorised
hair-cutter, paid occasional visits to ensure the requisite facility
of pencil and tongue. English Literature, I fear, was abandoned
to the uncovenanted mercies of spontaneous enterprise ; and
even the classics were read without much appreciation of
them as the choicest products of superior minds. Verbal
criticism, syntactical precision, exact translation, pretty nearly
exhausted our efforts. Latin and Greek verses were much in
vogue, and even the most prosaic of minds attained to some
knowledge of the mechanism of poetry. I remember one
occasion when a boy, who had never shown the slightest indi-
cation of a talent for original composition, was recountmg to
his companions the depredations of a fox among his father's
geese. Warming with the high theme of Reynard's atrocities,
suddenly, and to the manifest amazement of all, he plumped
into an impromptu descriptive pentameter of unusual vigour :

" Pinguis erat vulpesy pinguior anser eraty

This I always regarded as a special inspiration of the genttis
lociy for there came no more fully developed lines from the
same quarter. The traditions of the School were essentially
classical, but the science of numbers was held in almost equal
repute, and some admirable mathematicians were turned out
by Evans. It is no small testimony to the value of the old
grammar-school course of classics and mathematics, mathe-
matics and classics, as a mental discipline, that so many

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 15 I

youths fed almost exclusively on this diet should have shown
themselves able at the universities, and in after life, to assimi-
late all kinds of newer material with ease and success.

We got through a fair proportion of work, and we enjoyed
our play. The smallness of our numbers rendered any kind
of compulsory recreation unnecessary; and we played cricket
and football in their seasons, or we abstained from playing
them, very much as we liked. There was no marked antago-
nism between boarders and day-boys ; and, indeed, the latter
were numerous enough, and sufficiently conscious of the
superiority of their title to the advantages of the School, to
hold their own against any manifestation of conceited exclu-
siveness. 'Grappling' for trout, in the remote becks of
Cautley and HowgiU, was a favourite employment on fine
half-holidays; and we returned with sharpened appetites to
regale ourselves on our * catches' at our respective abodes,
which were not restricted to masters' houses, but might be
wherever the occupiers were respectable and desirous of
catering for us. If our regular cook was obdurate and would
not yield to entreaty, we could generally prevail upon
"mother" Dilworth or her successor, mother Hornby, at the
sweet-shop, to prepare for us savoury morsels. We enjoyed
great freedom of action ; we were treated with much confidence
by Evans, and I am happy to say we rarely abused his trust.
Wrestling, which I suppose would now be deemed barbarous
in comparison with the gentle amenities of football, was
practised more commonly by all classes than at present. It
was characteristically a north-country diversion, and it had
associations with antiquity not unsuited to a classical school.
It could be entered upon, and it could be abandoned, at a
moment's notice; and many is the enjoyable bout we have
had behind the old School, while waiting for the admonitory

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152 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

creak of the door round the comer. We were learned in
the technicalities of the art, and we took a genuine interest
in the result of A's * back-hank' on B's * understandings;' and
we knew that when X had caught his adversary fairly on
the hip,* there was small chance of his reverting to perpen-
dicularity in that round. But whether we stood triumphant
or fell with a thud, or were mingled in the indistinguishable
embrace of a * dog-fall,' our rivalry was always friendly and
our amity unimpaired.

In School we inherited a passion for wood-carving, as some
of the panelling retained upstairs, and the old Governors'
Table, will testify. Evans allowed every new boy to carve
his name once with impunity, in case he should turn out a
Bentley or a Newton, in which event his autoglyph would be
interesting and valuable; but the use of the pocket-knife
grows with what it feeds on, and I am afraid that when we
were trotted oflF to church on saints' days, we did not always
abstain from experimenting on the forms in a way that was
not quite seemly. My own initials — I blush to confess it —
cut through an inch plank, with a perseverance worthy of a
better cause, must have remained for many years an evil
example to those who came after. The restoration of the
church swept out these reminders of the past; but rocks on
Winder, and stones in the Rawthey, preserve more imperish-
ably the names of some youthful aspirants to fame.

We had one relic of a usage which had probably existed
from the first commencement of Roger Lupton's School. It

• This process of * cross-but tocking,* when successfully performed, usually consigns
the victim of it to a decided fall ; and by a spiteful opponent it might easily be made
the occasion of serious damage.

** If I can catch him once uf^on the hip^
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him,"
says revengeful Shylock of Antonio. — Merchant oj yeniee, i. 3.

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 53

was a complimentary ofiFering to the Masters — normally, a
pound to the Head and ten shillings to the Second Master —
on the morning of Shrove Tuesday. The payment was under-
stood to be theoretically optional, but it was practically obli-
gatory ; for every boy whose circumstances did not absolutely
forbid it, felt it important to conform to the custom. We did
not doubt that a transaction which was followed by a holiday
must possess some inherent virtue, and we inquired no further.
We now know that the custom was an unconscious survival
of the Roman Catholic Shrovetide carnival, when youthful
jollity indulged in its last frolic before entering on the
disciplinary restraints of Lent. Schoolmasters were wont to
provide fighting-cocks for the entertainment of their pupils,
and * cock-penny' was the contribution given in return towards
expenses. As early as 15 12, Dean Colet, the founder of St.
Paul's School, humanely stipulated in his statutes that there
should be no cock-fighting there. On the other hand, the
ordinances in some places specified that the Master was to
have the profits of all such cock-fights and potations as were
commonly used in schools. When cock-fighting fell into dis-
repute, we should have expected the payment to expire with
it. Not so ; — there was a vitality about the pecuniary part of
the arrangement which it was difficult to destroy; and it
lingered on fitfully, until the new scheme, in 1874, put an end
to it and to many other things at the same time. Thinking,
however, that some tradition of cocking might have survived
at Sedbergh as long as in most places, I had recourse to my
counsellor, the oldest inhabitant,* from whom I learnt that
sixty or seventy years ago there were often cock-fights got

* John Leighton, who died July 13th, 1891, aged 87, having survived his 'diamond
wedding* several years. He spent his whole life at Sedbergh, and with him departed
an unrivalled store of memories of Old Sedbergh.
T

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154 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Up by the lads at the School. They took place in the Church
Field close by. There was a man called Warbeck, who drove
the coach between Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen, who was
* terribly' fond of the sport, and used to hunt up cocks
from all quarters for the scholars. They were discreetly
entered in his own name, but they really belonged to the
boys, who fought many a main on the sly, besides being
deeply interested spectators of the public demonstrations in
the open air. This, of course, was before my time; and cock-
penny is engraven on my recollection chiefly by the unique
manner in which it was presented to the Second Master on
one memorable occasion. I think there had been acute diflfer-
ences of opinion between master and pupil on matters of life
and conduct; and when cock-penny day came the impenitent
disciple determined to present his preceptor with the accus-
tomed love-token in as roundabout fashion as he could devise.
For weeks that perversely ingenious youth had been storing
up hal^ence, and at last, in good time, they amounted, all
told, to the exact sum of ten shillings. Every one of these
coins was scrupulously swathed in a separate paper, and the
collective result enveloped in repeated coverings, until the
parcel assumed the appearance of a package of tea, or of a
bundle of tracts at the least. One of the earliest to lay his
offering on the magisterial desk and athwart the imperious
eye, was the perverse youth. He deposited his weighty
package with an air of triumph, as much as to say. There,
take your change out of that! The perplexed expression on
the Master's visage was beautiful to contemplate, and his
furtive glances at the mysterious packet were duly appreciated.
We lingered long to witness the fate of this novel cock-penny,
and we were delighted with the counterfeit presentment of
calm indifference with which our "guide, philosopher, and

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 55

friend" finally fixed his cargo under his arm and sailed
majestically out of the School.

We had an old Latin breaking-up song, handed down
through successive generations of scholars. It requires a little
study to master its conversational turns, and to supply an
occasional ellipsis of some part of the verb *to be;' which
done, the matter is seen to be quaint and the sentiments not
inappropriate. It would be a gracefiil acknowledgment of
the continuity of the School to reintroduce it in an extended
form. With such effect as the Sedbergh School Musical
Society would be capable of giving to it, I venture to predict
that it would soon become exceedingly popular. It used to
be sung on the last night of the *half' by the boarders in
the Head Master's house, and they assembled in the Long
Room, between supper and prayers, for this purpose. The
Rev. G. Robinson, now Vicar of Ulgham, had the forethought
to write it down, and I am indebted to his copy for the words : —
** Omne bene, ! Quomodo vales,

Sine poeni! ' M! sodalis?

Tempus est ludendi;
Absque morA

Visne edere pomum?
Si non vis,

Venit hora Mirabilis —

Libros deponendi. | Et nunc redire domum!"

And now to proceed. The next and last Head Master under
the old system was the Rev. H. G. Day, Third Wrangler and
First Class-man in the Classical Tripos in 1854. The state of
Mr. Evans's health for some time past had not been such as
to make him anxious to increase the number of his boarders,
and there would be about fifty scholars when his successor
arrived, in 1861. These fifty soon showed signs of still ftirther
diminution, for the new Master, though an excellent scholar
and a man of unusual intellectual power, was not eminent as
a disciplinarian — a circumstance which the boys were not

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156 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

slow to discover and to take advantage of. He had a keen
sense of humour, and was, I fear, an inveterate punster.
However entertaining this propensity might be, it did not
conduce to the furtherance of serious pursuits. When a
farmer came to complain of the premature dece2ise of his
gander from a stone flung by a thoughtless scholar, it was
small consolation to be assured by the Master of his surprise
that any of his boys should have been so stupid as to
"kill a goosey^ a lark!*' — and when the assistance of the
cane was invoked and it was about to descend, I have known
the benefit of the correction appreciably diminished by the
preliminary caution, ^^ Cave canem !" Practical jokes became
prevalent — but I forbear to pursue the theme. The disappoint-
ment of the inhabitants found audible expression in the ears
of the Endowed Schools Commissioners, who, after careful
inquiries, decided upon reorganizing the institution under a
drastic scheme, according to which Mr. Day wais to retire
with a liberal pension, and all things in ftiture were to be
done in the latest style of perfection and in most admired
good order. The scheme came into operation on the 20th of
October, 1874, and the present writer, who happened to be
sojourning at Sedbergh, kept the rickety machine in motion
for a few months longer, until the Governors were in a position
to start the new coach under the direction of an experienced
driver.

Before entering on the new era, it will be pertinent to
remark that our review has been so engaged with the ups
and downs of the School — the supineness of the Masters and
the dissatisfaction of the Governors — that we may have
done but scant justice to the good work which was no doubt
frequently accomplished, but which found no record. Still it
must be admitted that the local Governors deserve our best

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 1 57

thanks for looking well after their trust; and but for their
strenuous resistance upon occasion, the School must have sunk
into a sinecure, and the Master into a useless drone, more often
than they did. The patronage of the College did not always,
or even frequently, issue in the selection of the most suitable
man ; but we must not on that account infer that it was less
successfiil than would have been the case with any similar body.
The defect of the system was that a Master once appointed
was practically irremovable; and when the revenues came in
regularly, regardless of the work performed, there W2is not
much incentive to exertion, after the enthusiasm of novelty
had abated and the energies had begfun to flag.

But all this is altered now. The appointment of the Head
Master is transferred fi-om the College to the Governors,
whose number has been increased fi-om twelve to fifteen, who
need not be resident in the parish, and who are mostly
representative of various interests in the North. The Head
Master, who may be a graduate of any university in the
British Empire, is not required to be a clergyman, his stipend
is a fixed sum with capitation fees in addition, and his appoint-
ment may be terminated, under certain conditions, at the dis-
cretion of the Governors. The present Head Master is the
first layman who has held the office, but the link of association
with St. John's College has not yet been snapped. The object
of the School is to supply a liberal education to boarders and
day-boys, and the subjects of instruction are the old classical
course supplemented by English, mathematics, geography, his-
tory, science, modem languages, drawing, and singing. Certain
entrance scholarships which the Governors have the power of
granting, to be competed for by the sons of residents, serve
to remind us that the School was originally intended more
particularly for the benefit of natives of Sedbergh and the

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158 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

neighbourhood. A Middle School— exclusively a day-school —
is also provided for in the scheme; but the Grovemors have
not yet seen their way to give effect to this part of the
regulations, and the building is still in the clouds.

For the first Head Master under the New Scheme the
choice of the Governors fell upon the Rev. F. Heppenstall,
M.A., who for ten years had been Head Master of the Perse
Grammar School, Cambridge. Mr. Heppenstall had been a
First Class-man in the Cl2issical Tripos, and in mathematics
a Senior Optime ; and had subsequently won golden opinions
as a patient and successful teacher. He began his duties
here in September, 1875, and in the few years during which
he was permitted to labour he ably started the School on its
prosperous path. He was a good and amiable man, beloved
alike by his scholars and by the people among whom he
dwelt. He was cut off somewhat rapidly and unexpectedly,
in 1879, 3.nd was interred at Newark; but a window in
Sedbergh Church, erected to his memory by pupils and friends,
commemorates his brief stay among us. By the substitution of
Sedberghiam for Spartam he originated the motto " Sedberghiam
nachcs es^ hanc exorna^' which has since been permanently
adopted by the School. The interpretation may best be given
in the words of Mr. Ainslie, one of the present assistant
masters. It occurs in the first of the series of songs com-
posed by him for the use of the School.

"And lest you should the words mistake, —

For fear of mistranslation, —
I venture with your leave to make

A lucid explanation:
They mean in fact about as much

As "You're a Sedbergh man, sir!
And, being one, behave as such,

And do the best you can, sirT'

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

159

Mr. H. G. Hart, M.A., the present Head Master, came into
residence at the beginning of 1880, the Rev. J. W. Burrow
having acted as temporary master during the vacancy.

"Educated at Rugby*' — I quote from the literary organ of the School,
The SedbergMatiy for April, 1880 — ''and at St. John's College, Cambridge,
"he took his degree in 1866, being seventh in the First Class of the
"Classical Tripos, and soon after was elected Fellow of his College.
•* Directly after taking his degree he went as Classical Master to Hailey-
'•bury College, where for several years he took part of the work of the
"Sixth Form. On his marriage in 1873, with the daughter of Sir Henry
"Lawrence, he went as Master to Harrow, from whence he came here.'*

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l6o SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

How Sedbergh School has advanced by leaps and bounds
under his able administration, until it ranks as the foremost
classical school in the North of England, is well known to
the educational world, and need not be recounted here. A
School so liberally endowed and equipped enjoys the potenti-
alities of unlimited progress. Supported by an influential
body of Governors, of whom Mr. Francis S. Powell, M.P., is
Chairman — an Old Sedberghian of the time of Evans, whose
munificence to the School is unfailing — Mr. Hart has lacked
no assistance towards the realisation of his ideal which money
or goodwill could ensure. The result is partly seen in the
noble array of buildings which has converted the little town
of Sedbergh into a city of palaces, and has reduced the old
School of the past to the subordinate position of a museum
and library. The spacious New School on March Hill,
occupying a situation of elevated and salubrious isolation,
looks down on five masters' houses, four of them part of the
School property, and one held on lease. A Gymnasium, the
gift of Mr. Powell, and a Swimming Bath, presented by the
late Mr. W. H. Wakefield, furnish healthful diversion to the
robust, while a Sanatorium contributes to the convalescence
of the temporarily infirm. There is a fine expanse of green
sward for the cricket-ground, and the Church Field has recently
been acquired at a cost of ;^3,50o for football. A new wooden
Chapel — a temporary but convenient building — has been
erected, to be replaced, doubtless at no very distant period,
by a more substantial structure. Besides the Head Master
there are fourteen assistants, of whom four are house-masters,
and all, except the foreign-master, graduates of Oxford and
Cambridge. The number of scholars, which was eighty-four
when the present Head Master was appointed, is now one
hundred and ninety-one; and though the new regulations

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THE CHURCH AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

l6l

have not been in existence long enough for the production
of national celebrities, the rapidly filling Honours Board at
the School shows that many ex-pupils are well started on
the road to distinction. I may mention as representatives
of two different classes, Mr. R. A. Shepherd, Fellow of All
Souls' College, and Mr. W. J. Woodhouse, of Queen's College,
Oxford, a First Class-man both in Moderations and the Final
Examination — the former a boarder, and the latter a day-boy-

fir's mtr^Ar Jcligirl

Besides the Lupton and Hebblethwaite Exhibitions at
St. John's College, and a local Exhibition of varying value,
the School has a claim, after Kirkby Lonsdale, to Bishop
U

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1 62 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Otway's Scholarship (1692) at Christ's College, Cambridge.
It is also one of the schools privileged to compete for the
valuable exhibitions founded by Lady Elizabeth Hastings
{1739), and tenable at Queen's College, Oxford. Many old
Sedberghians have had cause to bless the memory of Lady
Betty, and many more, I doubt not, will do so in the time to
■come. Certainly the present writer cannot make mention of
her name — whether the more stately or the more familiar one —
without a grateful sense of the value to him of her service-
able bequest.

We have now traced the School through its three stages and
its three hundred and sixty-three years of existence. We have
marked its origin as a chantry school; we have followed its
long and chequered career as a royal foundation; and we
have just witnessed it renewing its youth and starting afresh
as a classical and general school of the first rank, fully
equipped for the needs of this generation and of the genera-
tions which are to follow. It has done good service to the
country in the past — it has the promise of a glorious future
before it — long may it flourish!

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CHAPTER III.

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

HE literary side of life at Sedbergh has
mainly engaged our attention in the
preceding chapter : we must now make
acquaintance with the inhabitants
generally. I propose, first of all, to
give a few glimpses of the people and
their circumstances in various relations
in the past, and then to consider their
character and condition now.

We will start with the sanctuary-men in the fifteenth
century. The Jewish "cities of refuge" furnished the model
for regarding Christian churches as privileged places to which
the criminal might flee for safety. In the middle ages all
churches possessed the right of sanctuary ; but, in the North
of England, Durham Cathedral and Beverley Minster rose to
special pre-eminence in this respect ; and to the former, in
particular, sped the culprit from our dales. A loud rat-tat
from the grotesque knocker still hanging on the north door
of the cathedral secured admission at any hour, and once
inside the portal the fugitive had nothing to fear from the
vengeance of his pursuers. The particulars of his crime — as,
the time and place of its occurrence, and the nature of the in-
strument with which it was committed — ^were solemnly entered
in a book; and^ it is from this Register* that we gather the

* Sanctuarium Dunelmgnse, one of the publications of the Surtees Society.

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1 64 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

names of persons from Sedbergh, Garsdale, and Dent, who
thus sought immunity. For thirty-seven days the privilege
of sanctuary continued, and if during that time the offender
could come to an agreement with his adversaries, he was at
liberty to do so; but if not, then he had to appear before
the coroner, confess his crime, and formally abjure the realm.

From Sedbergh, in 1478, came Robert Richardson, labourer,
and Edmund Moyser, tailor, admitting the slaying of Thomas
Forster, near the Holme — the one with a club and the other
with a sword, but, cis was alleged, in self-defence. Why the
tailor should have been flourishing a sword rather than his
goose or his lap-board, is not stated; but perhaps we may
see in the circumstance an evidence of insecurity on the lonely
road between Dent and Middleton. Next year came Thomas
Wadeson, labourer. He had smitten John Wilson on the head
with a club-staff, and John had succumbed to the shock within
two days. In this year Sedbergh was much in evidence at
the sanctuary ; for Oliver Branthwaite, Weardale, followed at
short intervals by three accomplices, John Ridding and
Richard Ridding, of "Birkshawe" — Birkhaw, or Birka, in
Howgill — and Christopher Bowre, of Howgillrigg, put in their
appearance. Branthwaite had used his dagger upon Thomas
Lupton, at Sedbergh, and the others had aided and abetted
in despatching him. This Thomas Lupton, it has been
surmised, may have been the father of the famous Roger;
and if so, the circumstance of his untimely death would no
doubt weigh with Roger when he founded his chantry for
the welfare of the souls of his kindred.

Garsdale furnishes only one case, and it is one of cattle-
lifting. In 1507, Gilbert Guy, of Garsdale, had slyly appro-
priated twenty head of cattle, but not being able to put
them in his pockets he had despatched his nephew, Thomas

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE, 1 65

Outhwaite, with them to Grimsby, to get them converted into
cash; but from there Thomas, alarmed at the prospect of
imprisonment, made tracks for Durham.

From Dent there are three cases. First, Robert Burton
(1479) had been indicted for having had a hand in carrying
off Henry Tatham's bull seventeen years before. He asserts
his innocence, but takes sanctuary to avoid unpleasant con-
sequences. Next, in i486, Robert Lonsdale and Christopher
Lindsay claim immunity for the assassination of Laurence
Falshed (Fawcett?) in a brawl near Hallgill, in Dent, some
eight or nine years before. Probably the matter had been
kept dark a long while, but it having now leaked out, they
betake themselves to refuge. The instrument with which the
deed was done is described as an *egelome,' but what that
W21S nobody seems to know exactly, though an * edge ' or
* edging loom' has been plausibly conjectured. Lastly, in 1514,
comes Christopher Thistlethwaite, who, at the instigation of
others, had broken into the house of John Metcalf, of Birk-
rigg, in Wensleydale, by night, and had helped himself to
goods and chattels of the value of ten marcs.

The next matter which I have to notice is the remoteness
of the district, and the consequent difficulty of intercourse with
the outer world. In the Appendix to the Twelfth Report of
the Historical Manuscripts Commission, there is mention of
a Commission to inquire into " the late fall of Rothay Bridge,"
in 1584, and to take measures for the rebuilding of the same.
Nothing seems to have been done until 1586, when Queen
Elizabeth and her Council address themselves to the Com-
missioners — Edward Tempest and seven other esquires. She
marvels at their negligence in not carrying out her former
orders, and straitly commands them to meet at Sedbergh and
take the matter up in earnest. The place of meeting shows

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1 66 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

that the Rawthey Bridge between Cautley and Ravenstone
dale — ^Yorkshire and Westmorland — is the one referred to.
Bridges were matters of urgency, and could not be allowed to
remain in disrepair for long; but the condition of the roads
generally, both about Sedbergh and elsewhere, was such as to
be a serious impediment to travelling; and we are not surprised
when, in 1624, we find the fi-eeholders of Sedbergh, on account
of their "flFar remoteness and poore estates," successfully
petitioning the Justices of Assizes for the Northern Circuit
to be allowed to send two continuous representatives to York
on their behalf, on all occasions when their presence is
required, "whereby the rest may live in peace as formerly
hath been provided for them." The roads in this district
probably continued narrow and uneven quite down to the early
part of the present century. Previously gangs of pack-horses
sufficed to transport the merchandise of our dales along the
lanes or tracks to Kendal. The old road over the Riggs gives
us a good idea of the sort of communication between neigh-
bouring valleys which passed muster before the days of turn-
pikes, while the track across the breast of Winder,, and forward
to Ravenstonedale, must have been a terrible trial to man
and beast. A Turnpike Act was passed in 1761 for repairing
and widening the roads from Kirkby Stephen High-Lane
Head through Sedbergh to Greta Bridge, and from Bracken-
Bar Gate, near Askrigg, through Sedbergh to Kendal; from
which it is to be hoped that the roads down Cautley and
Garsdale received some attention. The Act was revived and
enlarged in 1784 and 1805, and repealed in 1826, to make way
for more extended powers of diverting and altering the roads.
Coaching gave a great impulse to road-repairing, and it is
probably to the last-mentioned Act that we must ascribe the
greatest improvements in our lines of transit. Looking at the

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 67

Act of 1805 I find that it was then considered necessary to
increase the tolls between Sedbergh and Kendal; and carts
laden with "coals, cinders, wood, heath, furze, ling, turf and
flaws, or sods, for fuel," were no longer to be exempt as formerly,
but to pay a half-toll. An advertisement dated December 4th,
1823, shows that the coaches began to run through Sed-
bergh shortly before that time. It offers for sale "all that
" old-established and well-accustomed freehold Inn called the
"King's Arms" — now a private house and shop — "in the
" centre of the town of Sedbergh, being the only Posting-house
"there, and on the newly established road from Liverpool to
"Newcastle." The two Lord Exmouths, old and young, orfe
each way daily, were the coaches which ran between Lancaster
and Newcastle. A connection with the York coach was also
established for a short time from Sedbergh, through Garsdale,
by Hawes. One can imagine the interest aroused here as
the vehicles, with their spanking teams and freight of un-
familiar faces, rattled up the narrow street. The oldest inhabi-
tant says: — "I can well remember the first time the coach
"came to Sedbergh. I was standing at Guldrey Bam door
"when it passed the toll-bar." It was more than a nine
days' wonder. The sleepy village had awoke from its normal
torpor, and we can excuse the enthusiasm of the Curate with
a predilection for horseflesh, who used to walk several miles
to meet the coach for the pleasure of handling the reins
and driving it into the town. The adventure of the late
Mr. Dover is well known here. He had started in the coach
from Sedbergh for Kirkby Stephen, about one o'clock on a
dark winter morning, amid frost and snow. The insides con-
sisted of a lady and gentleman and himself, and the outsides
were the driver and another man. When the coach reached
the Cross Keys, in Cautley, the driver and his companion

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1 68 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

went into the house for a drop of something hot and strong
to keep out the cold; but the horses, impatient of delay,
started off at full trot. The landlord, hearing the noise, rushed
out in his slippers and night-shirt, but soon gave up the
unequal chase. Mr. Dover, aware of the state of affairs, but
unwilling to alarm the lady, said nothing, but got out on
to the step, intending to dismount at the next hill and cap-
ture the horses. Unfortunately, in getting down, he slipped
and fell on the ice, and the coach rattled on. At length he
reached the next inn, at Cross Bank, where he engaged a
saddle-horse and galloped after the runaways, expecting to
find them overturned at the bottom of some steep hill. But
they had out-distanced him too far to be overtaken ; and
great was his astonishment when he found the horses standing
panting in front of the King's Arms, at Kirkby Stephen, in
their accustomed place, and the lady and gentleman blissftilly
unconscious of the perilous drive they had had during the
last ten miles, and wondering what had become of their driver.
We have gone ahead since the old coaching-days; and the
Ingleton Branch of the London and North-Western Railway,
opened in 1861, now brings travellers from all parts to within
a mile of Sedbergh; and rival omnibuses set them down in
the heart of the town without delay.

In the seventeenth century the want of small change was
much felt throughout the country, owing to the neglect of
the Government to issue a properly accredited copper coinage ;
and private persons engaged in trade presumed to issue
tokens for the convenience of themselves and their customers.
Pennies, half-pennies, and farthings, were issued at Sedbergh
by Thomas Shaw and Nicholas Comey, between 1666 and
1672 ; and pennies and farthings at Dent, by Anthony Fawcet
and others, within the same period. An octagonal Sedbergh

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 69

half-penny and a circular Dent farthing are represented in
Boyne's " Yorkshire Tokens." The plentiful sprinkling of roses
on the Sedbergh coin, and the central rose and crown on that
intended **FOR . OVR . GOOD . NEIGHBORS" in Dent, show that
loyalty to the throne had by no means been extinguished by
the Civil War.

A Book Club, established in 1782, has existed without
interruption to the present day. Literature was scarce in the
country when it was formed, and it had members at Kirkby
Stephen, fifteen miles away. The subscriptions of past gene-
rations have left us a useful store of solid books; and such
bulky morsels as the Annual Register for a number of years
in last century, Nichols' Literary Anecdotes in ten large
volumes, and Bayle's Dictionary in four ponderous folios, are
memorials of their sound digestion. The dusty tomes over
which they pored are now disturbed only by a few omnivorous
bookworms, the modem mind inclining more to Mudie's latest
fiction, and pictorial monthlies. The annual dinner seems to
have been a function of some importance, but literature and
liquor did not always consort agreeably. A committee
appointed in 1833 to provide fresh accommodation for the
books, and a new librarian, travel a little beyond their purview,
and report that, "In consequence of the refusal of two of
" the Innkeepers to provide an annual Dinner for the Club,
**we recommend no Dinner hereafter, but that Wine and a
''Dessert be provided, and that each Member allow a pint of
*' wine and pay three shillings towards defi-aying the expenses."

We may now take some peeps at legal and parochial
administration. James Ritter, writing to Lord Burleigh towards
the end of Elizabeth's reign, reports concerning the people
of Sedbergh and Dent : — " In Sedbar the Vycar could present
"to me only four disordered persons, — ^which I bound to
V

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I70 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

-**good abearing as barrators, — that haunted alehouses, the
" great fault of this country, and were daily fighting, quarrel-
**ling, and disquieting this good people. In Dent only one
"was brought before me, for very undutiful parties to his
** father. This is notable amongst so many hundredth house-
" holders. Now your Lordship cometh to the marvel; no
" Justice of the Peace is resident within thirty myles of them
"in their county."* In 1791 there was no^ acting magistrate
within fifty miles of Sedbergh, and a petition was sent to the
lord-lieutenant calling his attention to the circumstance,
and requesting that certain names might be placed in the
commission. Probably about this time the need of some
repressive agency had become apparent; for in 1783 the
Gentlemen and Principal Inhabitants of Sedbergh gave public
notice that they had bound themselves by a Deed, dated
April 2 1 St, 1783, "to join at the expense of attending the
"punishing of all Vagrants, and the Harbourers or Enter-
" tainers of them, the suppressing of all disorderly Alehouses,
"or otherwise punishing the Keepers thereof, the prosecuting
"of Persons gfuilty of any kind of Nuisances in the public
"Streets or Highways within the said Township, and the
"carrying on Prosecutions against all Persons guilty of any
"Murder, Robbery, Rape, Burglary, burning of Houses or
"other Buildings, stealing of Sheep, or other kind of Theft,
"Felony, Misdemeanor, Breach of the Peace, Breaking of
"Hedges, or any other Offence whatsoever of a criminal
" nature."

While magistrates were so inaccessible, ordinary breaches
of the peace would be dealt with by the usual village author-
ities — the constable, churchwardens, and overseers. From the

• Quoted from Professor Sedgwick's Memorial^ where he gives the letter more
fiilly from the Lansdowne MSS.

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 17 1

parish accounts we find that the stocks were repaired in 1724,
1 73 1, and 1788; and there is an ominous payment of td. "to
Richard Backhus, for taking care of the dooking stoole."
Certainly our forefathers had a very practical, and it is to be
hoped effective, way of dealing with incorrigible scolds ; and
when Mrs. Bittertongue was to be escorted to the banks of
the Rawthey, to be deposited in her chair of state in the
cooling fluid, there' would be many victims of her past invectives
ready and willing to assist in the ceremony.

In civil cases involving claims under 40^. we had an
ancient "Wapentake Court," held every three weeks, under
the Sheriff of the County, by his deputy the Steward, with
a Bailiff to enforce the decrees. The plaintiff and defen-
dant stated their cases before a jury of twelve men, who were
the judges ; witnesses on both sides were examined on oath
administered by the steward; and after verdict pronounced,
an execution was issued against the goods of the losing party,
which it was the duty of the bailiff to see duly carried out.
A fair amount of business was transacted, the summonses for
three years averaging about one hundred and twenty annually,
and the executions about ten. "This, I believe," says the
steward, the late Mr. Dawson Watson, in his report drawn up
in 1839 in answer to a parliamentary inquiry, "is the only
"wapentake court now held under the ancient establishment,
"which is accounted for by its being in so remote a part
"of the county" — being in fact eighty-seven miles from the
city of York, where the court was held for the whole county.

The custom of tithing was curious. It is described at the
end of a tithe-collector's book dated 1816; from which I
gather that, as regards Wool, the Tenth Fleece of all sheep,
alive or dead, was to be truthfully rendered. But "if the
"parishioner have only five sheep, being his full number, or

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172 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

** five sheep remaining after his other stock is tithed, then the
** parishioner having taken up two fleeces, the farmer [namely,
** of the tithes, the tithe-collector] and parishioner shall divide
**the best of the three fleeces left, whereof the * farmer' to
" have half and the owner the other half." As regards Lambs,
tTie owner was to collect his full number in a fold, on the
morrow of the Sunday following the Nativity of St. John the
Baptist, and then taking out four of the best for himself, the
tithe collector was to take his tenth, and then the parishioner
was to select five in like manner, and again four, until the
process was ended. And if the parishioner should have five
odd lambs, or five only in all, then he was to set a price on
the best ; with the option, either of receiving from the collector
half such price for the lamb, or of paying it himself and
retaining the lamb.

Here is an extract from an Indenture of Apprenticeship
dated 1762. It purports be made between a father and his
son, but the formalities are in no way curtailed on that
account. Thomas Kennedy, of his own free-will, binds him-
self apprentice to his father, David Kennedy, of Sedbergh,
tailor, for the term of seven years, during which "the said
'* Apprentice his said Father and Master shall well and faith-
" fully serve, his Secrets shall Keep, his lawful and reasonable
"Commands shall do; Fornication or Adultery he shall not
"commit; Hurt or Damage to his said Father and Master
"he shall not do, or consent to be done him; Taverns or
" Alehouses he shall not haunt or frequent, unless it be about
"his Master's business; and at Cards or Dice, Tables [the
" old name for backgammon] or Bowls, or any other unlawful
" Games, he shall not play." In return for these observances
and privations his Father and Master covenants that he will
" teach, learn, and inform him, or cause to be taught, learnt

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 73

"or informed, in the Science or Trade of a Tailor, after the
*' best manner or knowledge that he may or can, with all the
"circumstances thereunto belonging;" and will provide him
with such food and clothing, lodging and washing, as shall
be necessary during the time of his apprenticeship.

The nicety of poor-law administration would doubtless be
shocked at the method of "farming the poor," which was in
vogue here in the last century. I have before me an elabo-
rate Agreement for Letting the Poor of Sedbergh in 1789,
made between the Churchwardens and Overseers on the one
part, and two Howgill men on the other ; in which the latter,
whose tender had been preferred, undertake, for the sum of
j;^ 1 95, to provide during a year for all persons who were then,
or should become, chargeable to the township. Mention is
made of "the House heretofore appropriated for the lodging
of the Poor;" and I am informed that they were formerly
housed near Settlebeck, and afterwards removed to a building
opposite the foot of New Street, where a re-arrangement of
windows, still traceable, indicates a transition to a different
use. The Sedbergh Union was formed in 1840, and the
present Union built in 1854, since which time the collective
poor of Sedbergh, Garsdale, and Dent, have been suitably
accommodated and cared for by the Guardians elected by
these townships respectively.

Besides the destitute poor, there would always be a fairly
numerous class of persons in the strata immediately or not
far above them, to whom a little pecuniary assistance would
now and then be of the utmost service; and the tiny runlet
of benevolence which first travelled in their direction gradually
swelled into a copious stream. The local Charities were
administered by the Governors of the Grammar School until
1879, when the Charity Commissioners transferred them to a

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174 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

separate trust, with an intimation of a "further scheme," which,
however, has not been promulgated and put in force until this
present year. It deals with an annual income of ;^393 4^. 2^.,
comprising in particular: — Bequests to Poor Householders,
;^i43 us. id.; Bread Charities, ;^ 1 1 i^s.od.; Children's Charity
Trust, ;^i8 igs. 3^.; Coal and Blanket Charity, £s os. Sd.;
two small items for the Market House and a School in
Marthwaite, amounting tO;^2 i^s.^d.; a local Exhibition Fund,
£$g 16s. 6d,; and the Widows' Hospital, ;£i5i Ss. ^d. The
doles to poor householders used to be distributed half-yearly,
at Easter and Christmas, and in many cases enabled the
recipients to live practically rent-free. The Bread Charities
were distributed in Church, partly on Sundays and partly on
St. John's Day [cf. p. 84 suprd). The Widows' Hospital was
endowed by Thomas Palmer, a retired solicitor, in 1854 (p. iii).
Like the fund for poor householders, the local Exhibition to
St. John's College, Cambridge, has been the accumulation of
various benefactions, of which may be particularised £(>o
left by Francis Harrison, of Stone Hall, in 16 19; £20 by
Posthumus Wharton, Master of the Grammar School, in 17 10;
and ;£ioo by Richard Holmes, in 1735. By the New Scheme
the Church and the Grammar School have eadi, as before,
three representatives among the thirteen trustees, the rate-
payers have four, and the rest are chosen by the trustees
themselves. The Widows' Hospital endowment and the Exhi-
bition fund remain practically undisturbed, except that the
latter may now be held at any university in the United
Kingdom. The doles, however, have been diverted into quite
fresh channels, and now flow towards hospitals, provident
clubs and literary institutions, outfits, emigrants' passage-money,
aid in sickness, temporary grants or loans in emergencies,
and the like.

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 175

A cottage in Bun Row — so called from its connection with
the bread charities — was the scene of a pretty disturbance in
1850, which is still remembered by some of the older residents.
"Jack o' Dyers," a native of Dent, had become possessed
with the idea that he was the heir-at-law to this particular
cottage, and that he had a better title to it than the Governors ;
and he proceeded to enforce his claim by getting four men
to help him to smash the door and take possession. The
Governors soon had a constable on the spot and ordered him
to take the intruders into custody; but as this was more
easily said than done, the matter was compromised by the
constable being allowed to remain with the inmates. Getting
tired of his protracted guard he requested to be relieved by
another constable. He was accordingly let out, but the door
was bolted behind him just in time to exclude his successor;
and Jack o' Dyers & Co. were again in sole possession, and
held the fort for two days longer. The Governors, impressed
with the gravity of the situation, now assembled an over-
whelming force, who demolished doors and windows, and
by dint of hard fighting summarily ejected the besieged
neck-and-crop. All Sedbergh was there to see, and a mighty
commotion was stirred up ; insomuch that the majesty of the
law appeared on the scene in the person of the late John
Elam, Esq., J.P., who, by the terrors of the Riot Act, dispersed
the mob ; and Jack o' Dyers retired crest-fallen, " a sadder and
a wiser man."

I observe in the Governors' minutes, that the tenant of the
cottage was solaced with a sovereign on two occasions, for
the trouble and inconvenience which he had been put to by
this "party of rebels." The Governors themselves appear to
have agreed to differ, within the limits of moderation, on most
occasions; but there was one exception in 1844, when a

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176 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

member of the body, dissatisfied with the action of his
colleagues, seized the opportunity of Sunday leisure to fire
four times at the windows of his arch-enemy, putting the
family in great fear. The rest of the Governors had no
hesitation in deciding that gun-law was unsuited to a civilised
country; and they accordingly relegated the pragmatical marks-
man to the obscurity of private life, and elected a colleague
with more sweet reasonableness in his stead. — I cannot forbear
informing the reader, on the authority of these same minutes,
that a good fence-wall, in the opinion of local experts, is one
which has "two rows of throughs" and is "seven quarters
high under the cams."

Rowdyism was not the usual attribute of Sedberghians,
and men distinguished themselves also in other walks of life.
One universal genius we had, who died in 1822, aged forty-
eight, and wise beyond his years. He seems to have con-
centrated in his own person the crafts of a score of ordinary
mortals ; and I quote his panegyric from the Lonsdale Magazine
of that date, as much for the interesting list of village utili-
ties then in request, as for the all-embracing omniscience of
Mr. John Whitwell. The passage will afford an indication of
the expansion of demand and supply, during the last seventy
years, from the modest wants of the isolated villagers in 1822,
to the multiplied requirements and gratifications of the
thriving community of 1891.

** The business-like manner/* says the contemporary chronicler, **in
** which he conducted everything under his care, pointed him out as a proper
** person to fill the various parochial offices of Overseer of the Poor,
'* Constable, Assessor and Collector of Taxes, Churchwarden, Governor of the
** Workhouse, Vagrant- Master, Clerk, and Sexton. He was also Auctioneer,
** Appraiser, and Bellman to the village, Surveyor of Roads, Surveyor of
** Land, Land Agent, and Bailiff to several gentlemen, aud Agent to all
** the neighbouring newspapers. His knowledge of the business of Farmings

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIP*E. 1 77

*'and his skill in Chemistry, qualified him to act as Druggist, Farrier, and
•• Cow Leech to the neighbourhood. Among the various occupations by
** which he rendered himself useful to the community, we may enumerate
** those of Stationer, Barber, Rag Dealer, Oil and Colour-man, Teacher and
*' Dealer in Music, Painter, Clock-dresser, Draper, Upholsterer, Bell-hanger,
** Tooth-drawer, Umbrella-mender, and Blacking-maker. Like all other men
*' of genius, Mr. Whitwell often amused himself with studying other
** mechanical arts, merely to gratify the natural bent of his inclination,
*' which led him to seek the arcana of every art. By this means he became
**a tolerable workman as a Hatter, Bookbinder, Brazier, Tin- worker,. Fiddler,
** Gilder, Shoemaker, Stick-dresser, Joiner, , Dyer, Weaver, Lace-maker,
** Glass-blower, Turner, maker of Thermometers and Barometers; and a
** great variety of other arts, each of which might have been sufficient for
"a man of moderate capacity.**

There has been a customary market at Sedbergh on
Wednesday, from time immemorial ; and this would be the
merriest day in all the week for Mr. John Whitwell. Not-
withstanding, previously to the opening of the Ingleton Line,
in 1 86 1, the frequenters of it might often be counted on the
fingers of both hands. Not that the inhabitants were averse
to converting negotiable articles into cash, for I have met
with "a half-share in a pump," and "a pew in Sedbergh
Church/' in public sale-bills; but the butter, which was the
article of regular production, was collected at the do6r by
dealers — * butter-badgers ' they were called — who transmitted
it to the nearest station. The farmers now, in most cases,
bring their butter to the market and dispose of it themselves
to buyers from the Leeds and Bradford district. There are
six 'fairs held in the course of the year — four for the sale of
cattle, on Feb. 26th, March 20th, April 28th, and Oct. 29th ;
and two for pleasure, on the Wednesday in Whit-week, and
the Wednesday following October 3rd.

The conditions of life now are less favourable to originality

of character than they were in the fifties. We are rapidly
w

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178 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

being reduced to a monotonous uniformity ; the dry-rot of a
respectable but uninteresting conventionalism has set in, and
figures occur to my recollection which seem out of season
now. There was Gipsy Jack, who wore his wardrobe on his
person, and who, summer and winter alike, was swathed in a
multiplicity of coats and waistcoats. He was a humble species
of quack-doctor, and enjoyed the reputation of curing various
ailments — ^what, in particular, they were, I could never learn —
and he carried a supply of pills in an old tobacco-box. He
was an uncanny creature, and delighted in telling us school-
boys the greatest untruths he could invent; but when, one
day, he solemnly and circumstantially reported to us the
death of his Satanic Majesty, we ceased ever after to confide
in his veracity. There was Crowdy Billy, too, whose faculty
for consuming an article of diet unknown at modem dinner-
tables, had won for him the proud title which took precedence
of his baptismal name. He strove hard to live up to his
reputation ; and we were sorry when, upon one occasion, in
his eagerness to ^ain a wager, he swallowed his meal and
hot water before the maximum point of expansion had been
reached, and subjected himself to consequences which were
alarming and all but fatal. A later eccentric was Will Carlile,
who, like his father before him, was a famous cow-doctor,
certain to kill or cure in all cases. He had a dry caustic wit
which sometimes left a sore place. In his latter days he took
to Bohemian ways of existence, and occasionally bivouacked
in an omnibus. He was ambitious of living a thousand years,
but one stormy night he slipped into the Rawthey, and
effectually curtailed his prospect of a millennium. There
was also Mally Gibson, a * terrible knitter,' who, with coal-
scuttle bonnet, faultless cap-border, bare arms and homeliest
of fi-ocks, recalled a bygone age of rural simplicity, as thus

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 79

equipped she rattled her needles and danced her *cop' of
* bump-gam ' beside her the livelong day. And, lastly, there
was Old Willan, from Dent, promoted for a few years from
a pauper's fare to considerable riches. The trial in which
he was proved to be one of the co-heirs of Thomas Spooner,
Esq., who, springing from Asby, in Westmorland, had acquired
great wealth in London and valuable estates in Suffolk, took
place at Liverpool, in 1854. Upwards of eighty witnesses,
many of them from seventy to ninety years old, were present ;
and as soon as the decision was known at Sedbergh and
Dent, the church bells rang out victoriously, and the natives
rejoiced to share the triumph. Changed fortune made no
change in the old man's toilet, but he continued to appear
with his accustomed night-cap and stout oak stick. But
when his heirs succeeded to the treasure, the coins amassed by
Thomas Spooner were put into active circulation, and rapidly
transferred to the pockets of fresh owners.

After dwelling so long on the past, it will be expected
that I should say something about the present condition of
the people in this neighbourhood — their manners, customs,
dialect, and folk-lore.

But first a word or two as to the population of the district.
The recent census reveals that we have in the township of
Sedbergh, 2,374 inhabitants; in that of Garsdale, 535 ; and
in that of Dent, 1,131.* The Sedbergh contingent has been
increased by 106 since the previous census, while Garsdale
and Dent show a diminution of 67 and 78 respectively —

• More particularly : — Township of Sedbergh: Sedbergh Town, 904; Frostrow -and-
Soolbank and Marthwaite, 1,042 ; Cautleyand-Dowbiggin, 233 ; Howgill, 195 ; —
Total, 2,374.

Township of Dent: Dent Town, 269; Cowgill, 352; rest of Township, 510; —
Total, 1,131.

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l8o SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

which decrease may be ascribed principally to the union of
small farms, mija^ration to Liverpool milk-houses, and the
growing employment of our young men as policemen and
railway porters. In 1801, the year when the census was first
taken, the township of Sedbergh contained only 1,639 inhabi-
tants, to whom Cautley contributed 300, and Howgill 199;
and at that time Dent was considerably ahead of Sedbergh
in point of population. In 1861 the* number was abnormally
increased at Sedbergh by the workmen employed in the con-
struction of the Ingleton Line; and in 1871 the Settle and
Carlisle Railway, which crosses the upper ends of the two
valleys, similarly enlarged the totals in Garsdale and Dent.

The employments of the people outside the town are
essentially agricultural. We have a bobbin-mill and dye-
works at Birks, and two mills — at Farfield and Rawthey
Bank — for the manufacture of horse-clothing and similar
fabrics ; and these latter, the establishments of Messrs. Dover
and Sons, find employment for about one hundred and fifty
hands. A woollen mill was first commenced at Hebblethwaite
Hall by Robert Foster; and about the year 1794 his son Myles,
father of Mr. Birket Foster, entered into partnership with
Joseph Dover. Here they carried on the manufacture of
various kinds of hand-knit hosiery and a cloth used exclusively
by the miners of Durham, the yam being spun at the mill
and then transferred to Sedbergh, to be woven by hand in
"Weavers' Yard," where the old 'shop' still partly exists.
After the death of Myles Foster, Joseph Dover built Farfield
Mills, to which he removed in 1836, and added to the business
the production of horse-clothing. The industries above referred
to give employment to some natives, and attract a few
strangers; but otherwise we are almost entirely agricultural
and indigenous.

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. l8l

What traits, then, would a class of men cut off almost
completely from contact with the outer world, and confined to
the operations of agricultural routine, be likely to develope ?
Apart from the Grammar School, through which a small
portion of the population filtered to learning and preferment,
there was little in these dales to stimulate the intelligence or
to awaken a desire for change and progress. The labourer
or small farmer who

"from the dawn to set
Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night
Sleeps in Elysium ; next day, after dawn,
Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse;
And follows so the ever-running year
With profitable labour to his grave,"

cannot be expected to look far beyond the fields he tills, or
the hills which circumscribe his outlook. The two or three
dales which frequented the same market were a microcosm
in themselves, and beyond their limits the natives seldom
ventured to stray.

This isolation had its result in a certain clannishness and
jealousy of strangers which is still perceptible. Fifty years ago
the natives probably would not have welcomed an outsider
with a shower of stones, or even "half a brick," but they
would certainly have waited until they had known a good
deal about him before admitting him freely to their intimacy.
And even yet, in spite of the influence of education and
railways, and the increased influx of aliens, new settlers are
weighted with a certain amount of distrust ; and a tacit
convention prevails that the native is the only genuine
article. It takes time for a new-comer to understand and
appreciate our peculiarities, to get at our hearts, and to feel
that he is absolutely one of us ; but this done, and confidence

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1 82 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DEN1\

established, it is wonderful how much less a man's actions are
canvassed, and how much more readily his motives pass
unquestioned.

Closely connected with this excess of caution, is a shyness
of manner and apparent lack of courtesy, which no doubt
impress a stranger unfavourably. The shyness is really the
constitutional product of centuries of isolation, and it will
require much contact with " the madding crowd " before it can
be quite eradicated. It is often felt as an infirmity by the
individual, which he would give much to be able to overcome ;
and sometimes, in attempting to conceal the defect, he falls into
the opposite extreme of noisy obstreperousness and familiarity,
when the cure is many times worse than the disease. The
lack of courtesy is more apparent than real, and has its root
in sincerity of thought and action. It is far as the poles
asunder from voluble "gush" and conventional all-pleasing;
but it is more to be depended upon, and if it asserts little it
means much. Sterling integrity often lies hidden under a
brusque exterior; and, after some experience of men and
manners, I am free to confess that I would sooner trust the
monosyllabic acquiescence of a dalesman, as an earnest of
performance, than the complaisant versatility of men who are
much given to washing their hands "with invisible soap in im-
perceptible water." The life of the dalesman is lived in the
eye of heaven; the "larger air" of his native mountains in-
spires him with a sense of self-reliance and independence ; he
is healthy, hardy, and accustomed to plenty of elbow-room, and
he does not take kindly to the restraints of a more polished
state of society, or allow himself to be jostled and pushed
by anyone with impunity. But he is sound at the core, and
is as mindful of a kindness as he is sensitive of a slight.
Shrewd and wary, cautious and circumspect, he often is to a

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 183

high degree; but his reserve once conquered and mistrust
disarmed, an honester workman, a more peaceable neighbour,
or a truer friend, you would scarcely find.

The domestic life of the dalesman is simplicity itself. The
farm-houses scattered over the valleys are built of the native
stone, and roofed with the heavy fissile sandstone slate of the
neighbourhood. They stand shoulder to shoulder with * lathe '
and *shippen' — barn and cow-house — of which they usually
form a section, distinguished externally by windows and white-
wash, and mostly by an unassuming porch or court. Brick
is all but unknown in the country, and one of the first
curiosities that surprised my untravelled eyes was a building
of that material. If we step inside and cast our eyes down-
wards, they are met by a flagged and sanded floor, surrounded
by the ingenious housewife with an ornamental border of
* stoning ; ' or if we raise them upwards, in place of a plastered
ceiling we behold bare whitewashed boards, visibly supported
by beams or * balks,' and festooned with hams and * haver-
bread.' By the hobs stand the arm-chair and rocking .ditto,
respectively appropriated to the ^maister' and his 'mistress.'
Between them, in winter, brightly bums an ample fire of coal
and wood — sometimes of peat or turf— overhung with cranes
and * reckans,' and a chimney-piece

'* Which in our ancient uncouth country style
Does with a huge projection overbrow
Large space beneath,*'

and flanked on one side by the antique grandfather's clock
with oaken case and brazen dial, the heirloom of generations ;
and, on the other, by the wooden * long-settle,' the precursor
of the modem and more luxurious sofa. A dresser surmounted
by a * pair of rails,' designed to hold the willow-pattern plates
(for wooden trenchers and pewter dishes, though occasionally

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1 84 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

to be met with as treasured survivals of the past, are rapidly-
disappearing) — a comer-cupboard for the tea-service — three or
four wooden shelves strung together at the ends and laden
with literature, chiefly of a religious tone and tendency, — and
we have a rough inventory of the more peculiar features of
the room designated by pre-eminence the * house,' or ordinary
rustic drawing-room. The other apartments are the kitchen,
for cooking purposes and the rougher work; the dairy or

* milk-house ' ; and in some dwellings the parlour, adorned with
the choicest of the furniture, and reserved for the reception
of ^bettermore' folk.

Such relics of the past as spinning-wheels, and carved
seventeenth-century oak, are rapidly disappearing before the
tempting offers of admirers of the antique and dealers in
curiosities; though I have known instances where the dated

* kist,' with the initials of ancestors, is religiously preserved in
humble families, in spite of all inducements to the contrary.

Many old houses of a larger and more substantial con-
struction, now used as farm-houses pure and simple, still
remain to remind us of that sturdy class of * statesmen'
{i,e. estates-men, or persons living on their own land) who
are now sadly thinned, but who were once the backbone
of rural industry, respectability, and independence. These
houses, in so far as they retain their older features, are
distinguished by muUioned windows and dated doorways, of
the seventeenth or eighteenth century, a porch with a small
chamber over it, round Flemish chimneys, and sometimes by
a flower-garden in front and an orchard at the end or rear.
Inside there is a miscellaneous assortment of large and small
rooms, and usually a creaking staircase leads to uneven upstairs
floors of black oak, with some remains of panelled wainscot.
Stone Hall, near Sedbergh, may be indicated as a typical

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.

185

example of the statesman's house. Some of the windows
have been altered into the modern sash, and others were
blinded, probably in the days of the window-tax, and have
not since recovered their sight ; but, with a little imagination,
it is easy to reconstruct the building as it appeared in its
palmiest days. It might have sat for the portrait which
Longfellow has drawn of a similar building —

*'A Hall
Now somewhat fallen to decay,
With weather- stains upon the wall,
And stairways worn, and crazy doors,
And creaking and uneven floors.
And chimneys huge and tall.'*

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l86 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

The inscription above the door — " Christopher & lane
Gowthrop : 1695" — indicates merely renovation or repairs at
that time, for "the Stone Hall" appears in our registers
nearly a century previously; and the definite article seems to
distinguish the original building fi-om the flimsier structures —
the wooden tenements or \clay daubins* perchance— of a
former age ; just as * the Loft House ' points to the time when
a dwelling with an upper storey was somewhat of a rarity.

The occupations of the dalesman are simple and monoto-
nous enough. The day is spent in a round of agricultural
operations and attentions. Where the common is still un-
enclosed, a portion of each day must be devoted to herding
the sheep, keeping them on their accustomed *heaf,' and
repelling the encroachments of stragglers fi-om adjoining
flocks. The common at Sedbergh does not appear to be the
bone of contention which it is in some places ; and the
farmers seldom fall out over disputed rights, though sometimes
a * dogging-case ' will arise. I remember one such, in which
the solicitor for the plaintiff, while cross-examining an adverse
witness, fondly supposed himself to be on the track of an
unparalleled atrocity. "You admit that the dog had hold of
plaintiff's sheep: now will you tell us where it had hold?"
"On t' tongue." Gladness in the eye of the solicitor and
sensation in the court, — speedily dispelled, however, by the
unromantic explanation that *on t* tongue' was not an
antithesis for *on t' tail,' but only a localisation to the
peculiarly shaped hill called' " The Tongue," in Cautley.

The common, bleak and bare as it may appear to outward
view, is a varied repository of natural wealth to the farmer.
The bent cropped by his black-faced sheep and galloways,
and the greener herbage nibbled by his foot-marked geese,
chaperoned by their jealous * steg,' are not the only products

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 87

of the unreclaimed waste. The brackens feathering the hill-
sides, and the * sieves' which bristle in the lower swamps,
have their peculiar uses. Mown and dried, they make excellent
bedding for horses and cattle; and from the latter was
obtained the glimmering rushlight, until it was succeeded by
the scarcely less feeble flickering of the farthing-candle.
What the precise illuminating power of * Cautley twinks ' may
be I do not know, but they are a local synonym for darkness
visible. The ^ling' is useful for besoms, and the 'whins' for
firewood. Peats and turf were once an enlivening supplement
to the dull and ashy coal which used to be extracted from
these fells; but since the "black diamonds" began to reach
us by rail, the thin seams of native coal have been abandoned,
and the extraneous adjuncts of dried fuel much forborne.

Com is rarely grown here, though at one time its cultiva-
tion must have been considerable; for Dr. Whitaker notes
that though at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries
not much corn was grown in this parish, yet about eighty
years previously the burgesses of Richmond complained of
its increased cultivation in the parts of Lonsdale, Craven,
Dent, and Sedbergh, and that the inhabitants came no longer
to buy com at their market, for they had it at home.
Probably the experiment of growing com on the bleak hill-
sides was tried for a time, and failed. The idea, however, of
seeing what could be done in this way was revived in later
times, when com was dear ; and a public notice of a weekly
market for g^rain at Sedbergh, issued in 18 14, suggests that
"from the increased quantity of grain grown in the neigh-
"bourhood of Sedbergh, the market will be highly advanta-
"geous, both for buyer and seller, being so far distant from
" a corn-market." From what I can learn, the market did not
last long ; and we now restrict ourselves almost exclusively to
grazing, and the production of beef, mutton, and butter.

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t88 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

But besides the various, though somewhat monotonous,
employments suggested above, once a year there comes the
busy, urgent season of haytime. Then all is life in the dales,
and labour is at a premium. The barometer, unheeded during
the rest of the year, now assumes the dignity of a daily
referee, and the traditional lore of the weather-wise is
brought to the touchstone of experience. The mowers used
to pride themselves on the "bat" (sweep or breadth) which
they could take with their long scythes, but the introduction
of the mowing-machine has much abated their importance.
Where the unevenness of the ground precludes the safe use
of carts, the hay is sledded, on the principle of small burdens
and quick returns. The finishing-day is usually marked by a
varied supply of cakes to tea, after which the farmer relapses
into his normal quietude for the remaining eleven months.

In the evening the dalesman, if he be of a literary turn
of mind, will peruse the local weekly newspaper, particularly
the murders and startling events ; while his dame does house-
hold mending, darns the stockings, or "addles" a few pence
by knitting labourers' coarse jerseys for hire — a proceeding
termed " knitting bump," and though, like clogs, now mostly
confined to the weaker sex, not many years ago it was
frequently the joint occupation of male and female alike.

The meals are frugal and the fare plain. Oatcake, or
wheaten bread, butter, milk, and eggs, and a toughish cheese,
made of the skimmed or *blue' milk — the produce of the
farm — are the ordinary viands. Wordsworth, in his simple,
life-like story of the shepherd Michael and his son, has
succinctly summarised the old-fashioned list of supper-dainties.

**When day was gone,
And from their occupations out of doors
The son and father were come home, even then

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 89

Their labour did not cease, unless when all
Turned to their cleanly supper-board, and there
Each with a mess of pottage and skimmed milk
Sat round their basket piled with oaten cakes
And their plain home-made cheese.**

Butcher's meat not being procurable except on market-days,
does not usually hold out through the week, but there is always
a good supply of bacon ready as an unfailing substitute all
the year round. Hung-beef was formerly another alternative ;
and the salty diet would be agreeably varied at times with
a pigeon-pie. The frequent but now disused provision at old
farm-houses for keeping pigeons, sometimes over the porch,
more commonly at the end of the barn, is a memorial of the
scarcity of fresh meat in former times, and of the resource
from which the diet could be varied now and then.

Not but that the dalesman, on occasion, can have recourse
to better cheer. No one who speaks from experience will
refuse to credit him with the virtue of hospitality, and whether
a tea-party or a supper-night, a sheep- washing or a * clipping,*
collects his kindred and acquaintances, the laden board will
show a varied and ample store of viands. The amusements
of the people lie within narrow limits; but such as they are,
they are entered into with hearty goodwill. The opera and
the pantomime, and the manifold sights and recreations of
large towns, are joys to be read of in books, but do not come
within the dalesman's ken. Railway communication has
brought the sea within his reach, and a cheap trip sometimes
carries him as far as Morecambe ; but mostly an itinerant
circus or menagerie, at Sedbergh, satisfies his craving for the
wonderful in art and nature.

The dalesman's credulity in what transcends the sphere of
his observation, is, as might be expected from his history.

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igo SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

somewhat extensive. It has been much shaken of late years
by the general diffusion of education; but * boggles' and
'bargnests' still haunt his imagination as possibilities in the
order of nature, and he retains an otiose belief in wisemen
and witches. Not many years ago there was scarcely lonely
barn or stile but might be suspected of being the haunt of
"hydras, gorgons, and chimaeras dire," called in rustic parlance
* flayings/ There is great reluctance to marry on a Friday,
and should the wedding-party meet a hearse in returning from
the hymeneal altar, they would be oppressed with sad fore-
bodings. The native still augurs weal or woe from the number
of magpies he sees ; and the cracking of an oaken table, or
a tapping at the window in the dead of night, portends some
dear one's death. If a cinder shoots from the fire, it is
examined carefully, to see whether it resembles a cradle or a
coffin ; and a fertile imagination can generally construe it into
one or the other. The crowing of a cock by day, or the
separation of a sooty film from the grate-bar, betokens the
arrival of a stranger. I do not suppose, however, that the
folk-lore of these dales is different from that of similar places
in the North; and these examples may serve as specimens of
the rest.

Old customs of special interest are nearly extinct, but there
is one which still obtains to some extent — I mean the practice
of sending out a sweet biscuit with the memorial card to the
friends of the deceased. It is a relic of the system of funeral
festivities which was once widely prevalent, and not improbably
it had its origin in the arvel (Norse erfi-oly inheritance ale) or
inheritance- feast among our Scandinavian ancestors, when the
heir took formal possession of the property of his departed
kinsman. In Christian times funeral doles to the poor were
added to the programme ; but much importance continued to

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 91

be attached to the due supply of eatables. The following copy
of an undertaker's bill for a funeral at Dent, in 1770, will
show how such matters were managed a century ago, and how
large a proportion of the expenditure was owing to the liberal
use of refreshments : — "To making coffin, 9^. 6d.; to shroud, i^.;
/(7 cakes, lis. iod.\ to boarding expenses for 3 weeks, ;^3 35. od.;
to "lo people for dinnersy ale^ <5^•^., ;^4 4^. o^.; to inviting to funeral,
2S,\ to * Itckours' at Js. Ridding' Sy gs. 2d.; to a bottle of spirits, 3^.,
and \lb. green tea, 2S.\ to crape for shroud, 6^. \od,\ to Doctor
Lawson's bill, \2S. lod. — Total, ;^ 10 $s. 2d.*' Any one who has
attended funerals at Sedbergh will know that until a few years
ago, it was the practice of the sexton, as soon as the last word
of the service had been uttered, to inform those who had been
• warned ' to the funeral, that they were invited to partake of
refreshments, usually at one of the inns. When a new Vicar
came, this usage seemed to him irreverent, and he hoped that
some more fitting opportunity of making the announcement
would be found. So the custom, which was too familiar to
residents to seem uncouth or strange, has been discontinued.
I ought to say that these refi-eshings were occasions of kindly
sympathy, when the good qualities of the deceased were
prominently remembered ; and I have never known them to
be accompanied by excess or abuse of any kind. On the
Sunday after a funeral, it is customary for the nearest relatives
to appear at Church together, and, even if they usually attend
Chapel, they seldom fail to respect this rule.

In point of social rank the statesman and the tenant-farmer
are pretty much on a par, and their servants are treated nearly
as well as the masters. Many of them are themselves the
sons and daughters of farmers, the men being content to bide
their time in service, until their thrift or earnings furnish them
with the means of realising their dearest wishes by taking a

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192 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

small farm on their own account. They generally sit in the
same room, and eat at the same table, as their masters; and
the verbal contrast which represents their mutual relationship,
is not that of master and servants, but *maister and men.'
The sentiment of equality and independence thus diffused
among all classes is attended with the best results, and con-
tributes much to the contentment of the people.

One characteristic of our dalesmen must not be omitted —
their dialect. Although in the town and its immediate precincts
the old vernacular is a vanishing quantity, yet it is still spoken
in its purity by the older people at the more distant home-
steads. There it does not include the misplacement of the
letter h in words of homely and familiar use. Hands and hearts,
eggs and apples, are never transformed by native lips speaking
their own dialect, into 'ands and 'earts, Aeggs and Aapples,
but the tendency is rather to bring out the initial aspirate,
where it rightly occurs, with unusual energy. A stranger does
not usually meet with the dialect in its unadulterated richness
in casual conversations with the natives; for the countryman
has a feeling that in the presence of orthodox English it is
his duty to 'knack,' or *talk fine.' The way to get at the
genuine folk-speech is to listen to natives conversing among
themselves, off guard and unrestrained ; and perhaps the best
opportunity is an altercation, when fluency is stimulated by
emotion, and the rustic disputant will throw out many a fine
old Saxon fossil. Or, take a walk through the market or fair,
and, unless you are to the manner born, you will be surprised
to learn in what curious terms the agriculturist of the dales is
accustomed to express himself. You will probably hear some-
thing about 'tups' and *gimmers,' *hogs' and 'twinters/
* draught-ewes,' * newcalt cows,' and * back-end calvers,' or the
scarcity or plentifulness of *fog' — matters plain as pikestaff

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SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 95

to the unsophisticated mind, but to you, dull pedant of the
town, an unknown tongue. Of words of Scandinavian origin
there is a fair percentage in common use. The *bam' ^greets'
or * twines,' when the little * warks ' of infancy prompt it to
hoist the signal of distress; the schoolboy longs for lessons
to be over that he may Mate' his companions up to have a
game; the farmer is conversant with ^byres' and Mathes'
and * booses'; the mason with *stees' and ^gavelocks'; the
combatant doubles his *nief' when he wants to fight; and all
respectable countrymen change their *sarks' as often as
Sunday, or clean-shirt day, returns. The man who knows the^
words I have adduced, and can also discriminate accurately
between *sikes,' ^ becks,' and * gills,' may be regarded as a
past- master in our local Norse, and needs np instruction from
any one.

Not seldom the current vocables, unfamiliar as they seem,
are merely fragments of wreckage which old literary English
has left far behind; and many an obscure phrase in our
earlier writers finds ready explanation in the living usage of
country speech. But to illustrate this fact would carry us too
far afield ; and I remember that we have still other subjects
waiting to be discussed.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE SCENERY.

ET US now take stock of our surroundings.
A community which possesses 52,665
acres* to roam over, or an average of
more than a dozen acres for each man,
woman, and child, cannot justly com-
plain of overcrowding. A great part
of this area is, as may be supposed,
uncultivated. Garsdale and Dent had their commons enclosed
in 1859; but the wings of Sedberghians are still unclipt, and
they can meander for miles without fear of running their
heads against stone walls.

The chief co-efficients of our ever-varying, ever-beautiful
scenery, are the mountains which stand round about like pro-
tecting giants, and the * becks' which leap and tumble down
their sides to the valley streams, as they hurry onwards to join
the brimming Lune. The scenic attractions of the district must
be visited to be appreciated, for no amount of ornamental
epithets can convey to a third person a true idea of their
varied loveliness. Every one prefers his own standard of
attractiveness in such matters; and all I can do is briefly to

Township,

Acreaj^c.

Ratabh Value {Lady-Day, 1891).

* Sedbcrgh

19,603

■• ;fi4,279

Garsdale

12,172

... 4,782

Dent ...

.. 20,890

... 10,579

Total

52,665

;f29,640

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Hi
_5^

1

0)

1

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THE SCENERY. 1 95

indicate the features which seem to me most noticeable, and
then leave those whom good fortune directs hitherwards to
discover for themselves other and perhaps not less memorable
details.

Had Wordsworth spent a fortnight here in smnmer, instead
of hurrying past on a showery day in winter, he would have
found in our rural beauties no mean rivals of his beloved Lake-
land. Sister Dorothy and he were evidently tired with their
long tramp, or they would have seen more than " naked
heights" to stimulate poetic fervour. But such as is the
reference in the poet's posthumously published ReclusCy we
are content to take it: —

'* Bleak season was it, turbulent and bleak,
When hitherward we journeyed side by side
Through bursts of sunshine, and through flying showers ;
Paced the long vales — how long they were! — and yet
How fast that length of way was left behind,
Wensley*s rich vale and Sedbergh's naked heights.'*

It is this same cordon of naked heights which intensifies the
rich verdure of the lower ground, and gives a sense of union
and security to the little communities which rest securely at
their feet. Nor are they always naked or inanimate. The
golden * whins,' the purple heather, the graceful bracken, and
the bright-green parsley-fern, meet us by turns to gladden the
eye and wake a thousand pleasing associations. The charm
of solitude on the topmost heights is increased, rather than
diminished, by the wheeling flight of the plaintive lapwing;
or, when startled by the too-near approach of footsteps,

**The moor-cock springs on whirring wings
Among the blooming heather.*'

The crest of Ingleborough, though not far away, is shut
off firom view in the valleys by the slopes of Whemside,.

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196 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

whose few feet of extra elevation thus hide from us a much
more striking mountain. Eastwards the broad mass of Baugh
Fell — locally pronounced Ba' Fell or Bar Fell, that is Barf
Fell, a name specially applicable to an isolated mountain —
blocks the way, and seems to lack only a more decided cap
of millstone grit to make it a most impressive object. On
the north the long range of Howgill Fells, embracing Winder,
immediately behind the town, Arant Haw and Calf, and the
steep escarpment of weathered rocks at Cautley Crag, inter-
poses between us and Westmorland. On the south the less
elevated declivity of Holme Fell rises Dent-wards to Colm
Scar, and the mountain ridge of Rysell separates the parallel
valleys of Dent and Garsdale.

The view from some of the hills is far-reaching and
sublime. From Winder the jagged edges of the lake-land
mountains* are seen commingled in wild confusion, while
south-by-west the silvery sheen of Morecambe Bay arrests the
roving eye. Higher still, up Arant Haw, fresh cause for admi-
ration attends the climber's steps. A sea of sunlit heights
and gloomy depths spreads far and wide ; over Rysell's ridge
the little town of Dent slumbers peacefully beside the old
grey Church; northwards the long green vista of the Eden
Valley shoots into the heart of Westmorland ; and westwards
we trace the Lune descending from its mountain home, in
Ravenstonedale, through the Tebay gorge, until, under the

•The following X^ble of Ordnance Survey heights in the neighbourhood may be
useful for reference and comparison, it being premised that the measurements are in
feel above sea-level, and that the "broad arrow" on Sedbergh church-tower stands
at 413 ft.

Whernside - 2,414

Gragreth • -

2,250

Rysell - - 1,825

Ingleborough 2,373

Calf - - -

2,220

Winder- - 1,551

Wildboar Fell 2,323

Baugh Fell -

2,216

Holme Fell 1,148

Swarth Fell- 2,235

Arant Haw-

1,989

Firbank Fell 1,000

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THE SCENERY.

197

shelter of Firbank Fell and the bleak expanse of moorland
behind, it receives the tribute of the Rawthey and its afflu-
ents, and broadens out into a goodly river.

From the part of Firbank Fell which overlooks the amphi-
theatre in which Sedbergh lies, a splendid bird's-eye view of
the radiating dales may be obtained. In one direction stretches
Cautley — the upper reach of the Rawthey valley; in another

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198 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Garsdale, from which the Clough unites with the Rawthey
about a mile above the town ; and in a third Dent, through
which the Dee finds its way to the same receptacle lower
down. From the left of the spectator the Lune flows down
the valley between Firbank and Howgill, and onwards to the
right, till, joined by the Rawthey, it takes a straight course
through fertile tracts to Kirkby Lonsdale. " Many times when
" a schoolboy," says Professor Sedgwick, " I have gone, on a
"half-holiday, with my class-fellows to those Firbank hills;
" and we could select for ourselves the points of view which
" at once brought before our sight five distinct valleys which
"seemed to unite in a g^reat basin or central depression at
" our feet, in the upper part of which the tower of Sedbergh
" Church was seen in the distance. Down four of these valleys
" the waters descend into the central basin. Through the fifth
" valley they make their final escape down the lovely scenery
" of the lower Lune. Should this note reach the sight of any
" of my younger countrymen or countrywomen, I exhort them
"to walk to the top of one of these Firbank hills (a very
" easy task), and warm their hearts by gazing over this noble
" cluster of dales."

The topographical pen of Michael Drayton has noted as
"a great bravery of Yorkshire," that the rivers which take
their rise in it also reach the sea within its limits —

•' Except some silly few out of her verge that flow
So near to other Shires, that it is hard to know
If that their springs be hers, or others them divide,
And those are only found upon her setting side;
Else be it noted well, remarkable to all,
That those from her that flow, in her together fall.*'

Our local streams are obliged to plead guilty to the soft
impeachment of belonging to these "silly few;" and among

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THE SCENERY. 1 99

** Dent, Rother, Rivell, Gret," which are afterwards enumerated
as taking a westward course, we recognise the Rawthey and
the Dee. The latter has got mixed up in the poet's brain
with the name of the dale, but the Garsdale Clough is left
unnoticed in any way.

The Rawthey originates in a number of ^gills' which
receive the overflow of the tarns on Baugh Fell, and then
shortly afterwards coalesce. On its way through the seques-
tered glen of Uldale it meets the Uldale Gill, and the
streams, separately and unitedly, descend by a succession of
cascades, of which two at least are of more than ordinary
interest and beauty. For some distance the Rawthey forms
the boundary between Yorkshire and Westmorland. Bending
round Bluecaster it now adopts a south-westerly direction,
and is soon joined by the Cautley Holme Beck — a rivulet
which, draining the slopes of Calf, pours down the eastern
end of the escarpment of dark Silurian rocks in a series
of fine cataracts, representing a total fall of more than
eight hundred feet. The lowest of the falls is by far the
most considerable, but as seen from the highroad its gran-
deur is much impaired by the high banks in front which
greatly obstruct the view. To see Cautley Spout at its best —
a sight well worth the effort — a stiff climb up the right bank,
in the immediate vicinity of the fall, is necessary. Once
arrived at the halting-place, indicated by a tree or two, we are
able to look down, as well as upwards, and take a comprehen-
sive survey of the mighty torrent as it thunders down the
cliff. The broad ravine at the foot of the waterfall, scooped
out by the ceaseless action of the brook, is romantic in the
exfi'eme;,and the heart must be insensate which is not touched
with feelings of awe and admiration in the contemplation of
so much creative and destructive power.

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200 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Returning to the road we pass Cautley Chxirch, a neat
edifice built in 1857 ^.nd dedicated to St. Mark. The present
vicar is the Rev. Robert Warren Wolseley, who recalls alike
by name and consangxiinity our famous modem general.

About a mile nearer Sedbergh we reach one of the tiniest
of farm-houses, called Mackereth Hill. From this point the
view of the opposite mountains is very striking. The symmet-
rical smooth hill, known as Middle Tongue, runs straight up
to the main bulk of the mountain mass, and as it reposes
between the giant jaws of Knott and Brant Fell, exemplifies
how apt could be the homely designations which our fore-
fathers bestowed on salient natural features. The lane on the
left leads up to Hebblethwaite Hall, a place of some importance
in the past as the home of * statesmen' of the olden time.
In the closing year of the last century the house was inhabited
by Mr. Robert Foster, an Old Sedberghian and an intimate
friend of the father of Professor Sedgwick. He was, too, a
favourite with the youthful Adam, who dearly loved to hear
him talk, for he had seen men and manners in foreign lands.
He belonged to a Quaker family, and wore the distinctive garb
in his later years, though in earlier days he had struck out a
path which did not seem likely to end in the quiet domesticity
of country life. He distinguished himself at the School as
well by his eccentric playfulness as by his rapid progress ;
but not liking the prospect of a humdrum life here, he decided
upon seeking adventures abroad, betook himself to Liverpool,
and started life as a common sailor. The Captain, struck with
the boy's energy and superior manners, presently exerted his
influence to get him a berth as a midshipman on board a man-
of-war ; and in the West Indies he so much distinguished him-
self in several encounters with privateers as early to gain the
commission of lieutenant. "Once or twice," says the Professor,

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THE SCENERY.

20I

^during the intervals of active service he came down to
' Hebblethwaite Hall, and it is said that he appeared at Brig-
'flatts Meeting-house with his laced cocked-hat on his head
^ and a cutlass by his side : perhaps to the suppressed admira-
' tion of the younger Sisterhood ; but extremely to the horror
' of the venerable and peaceful Fathers of the Society. Every
' eflFort was made to win him back to a peaceful life. He loved
' his friends and he loved the dales ; but he resolved to con-
' tinue in that profession in which he had already won some
' glory." But love conquers all things. On a later visit he

met his fate, abjured the navy, married and settled at Hebble-
thwaite Hall, re-read the classic authors, and sobered down
into a genial country gentleman. In 1 821, while geologizing
in that quarter, Sedgwick found him settled as a merchant,
at Newcastle. The old man took his young acquaintance to
call upon a friend. It was Thomas Bewick, the popular artist
z

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202 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

and engraver, and a man of humour withal ; and the interview
was long and delightful to all concerned. Mr. Foster was the
grandfather of Mr. Birket Foster, the accomplished artist,
whose exquisitely finished pictures of rustic life and landscape
are unsurpassed. This ancestral connection with our neigh-
bourhood Mr. Foster strengthened by matrimonial alliance
with the one artistic native family of which Sedbergh can
boast. The late Mr. Dawson Watson was a bom amateur
artist, and his sons, Mr. J. D. Watson and Mr. T. J. Watson,
with the advantage of a regular professional training, have
won for themselves an acknowledged reputation.

The scenery about Hebblethwaite Hall and the now disused
bobbin-mill, is romantic, and the well-wooded gill leads up
through rocky ravines to a minute cave. But, for the best that
we can show in this department, the reader must transport
himself about a mile further across the fields, in the direction
of the Garsdale road. Here the limestone admits of fissures
of some respectability, where watercourses have penetrated the
strata. Doukergill Cave will content a troglodyte who has
not first sated his appetite for the cavernous with the subter-
ranean wonders of the Ingleton district. Douker Gill — the
gill that * douks,' or goes underground — has been transformed
by perverse attempts at etymologfy into Dovecote Gill, but on
native lips it retains its shorter and doubtless more authentic
name. The chasm, where it enters on its underground course,
much exceeds in rocky and arboreal picturesqueness the
opening from which it issues. Hence the passage, about three
himdred and twenty feet in length, is usually attempted firom
the lower extremity for the sake of the better effect at the
finish. Lithe and agile youth will thread the labyrinth in
safety, but discreet, middle-aged corpulence will prefer to
adhere to the outside, and to supplement a peep in at either
end with a good imagination.

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THE SCENERY.

203

We may now descend through Dowbiggin towards Sed-
bergh, and a lane will bring us to the main road and Straight
Bridge over the Rawthey, after which our course is clear. On
the right we pass Stone Hall — previously described — and then,
presently, Thorns, or Thorns Hall, a fine old mansion, the
former residence of several Masters of the Grammar School.

Sk orns

After the decease of the widow of Dr. Bateman, in 1802, the
estate was sold ; and the public advertisement describes it as
**a handsome and roomy mansion, which for many years hath
*'been the residence of the owner, with suitable oflSces and
"outbuildings adjoining, all in complete repair. A large and

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^04 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

" fruitful garden and orchard, a cottage, two water corn-mills,
" drying kiln, malt-kiln and granary. The estate is deserving
^Hhe notice of any gentleman fond of angling and country
*^ amusements, and desirous of a retired situation, in a health-
"ful and pretty valley, where the roads are turnpike and in
^* good repair ; — or, from a command of water, it is well suited
" for the establishment of some manufactory." The corn-mills
have disappeared, leaving only faint traces of their existence ;
and as we have escaped the establishment of a manufactory
so near the town, the mansion remains an eligible private
residence to this day.

Close by, Castlehaw Tower rears its ancient head, and
behind it is The Hill, or Hill Top, a farm-house of antique
appearance, with high-pitched roof and diminutive windows —
the last thatched farm-house, within my recollection, in the
township ; but now swathed in unromantic felting in place of
the more distinctive rural covering. The house has been the
subject of many a sketch, both on account of its own pictur-
esque effect, and because it was here that Professor Sedgwick
lodged when he was a boy at the Grammar School. He thus
alludes to the circumstance: — "Between three and four years
** before I became a member of Trinity College I boarded,
"along with three other boys, at a farm-house kept by a
^* Quaker who was a near connexion of the Fosters of Hebble-
"thwaite Hall. We were treated by the family with infinite
"kindness, and our happy freedom made us the envy of our
" school-fellows." An oak cupboard inside the house bears
the date 1691, but the building is doubtless older.

A short distance above this place the progress of the town
is evidenced by the large reservoir which, in 1888, was added to
the smaller one of 1876. When some defects in the construction
have been remedied, and the reservoir has become absolutely

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THE SCENERY.

205

water-tight, we may expect that, even with the addition of the
numerous houses now in process of erection, we shall be able
to face a protracted drought with cheerfulness. Other modern
utilities we have enjoyed for a longer period. A National
School appeared in 1842, and a British School in the following
year. We were illuminated with gas as far back as 1851,
and in 1865 a Public Hall was built by shareholders at a cost
of ;£700 ; and it has recently been augmented by the addition
of ante-rooms. The Hall is in frequent request for public
meetings and entertainments; and at fortnightly petty sessions
minor offences and breaches of the Queen's peace are dealt
with here by the local bench.

The Congregationalists have a place of worship, erected in
1828, and enlarged and furnished with a minister's house in
1 87 1. The Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1864, and is octa-
gonal in shape — a form which probably occurs more frequently
than I have observed, seeing that Wesley himself considered

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206 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

buildings of this description the best for hearing in, and
advised his followers to construct all ** preaching-houses "
according to this plan. He also recommended that " there be
" no pews, and no backs to the seats, which should have aisles
" on each side and be parted in the middle by a rail running
" all along, to divide the men from the women" — arrangements
which later and less ascetic generations, I imagine, have
seldom approved of in their entirety. The minister's house
was the gift of the Rev. William Moister, bom at Sedbergh,
who after missionary labours in Africa and the West Indies,
returned to spend the evening of his life among his native
hills, and closed a long career of usefiilness on Aug. 9, 1891.

The appearance of the town has been much altered of late
years by frequent eruptions of shop-windows and modern-
ised house-fronts; but two marked features — the irregularity
and the narrowness of the streets — will remain as long as
the older parts exist, and may excuse the supposition that
the ground-plan was originally suggested by a game of chess
in a tolerably advanced stage of evolution. Near the Public
Hall the road bifiircates into Main Street and the Back
Lane, which, after diverging to embrace a considerable part
of the old town, are again connected by the attenuated bond
of Finkle Street, leading from the Market Place in the
direction of Dent. The market-square, denuded of its ancient
ftimiture — the cross, the stocks, and, we may fairly presume,
a bull-ring — besides its weekly use, supplies a convenient
rendezvous for casual groups at all times, who enjoy the
advantage withal of contemplating the variegated wonders
of zoology — a White Hart, a Black Bull, and a Red Lion —
on the neighbouring signboards. Here and there are narrow
alleys and bits of domestic architecture which connect us with
the past. Witness the passage from the Main Street into

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THE SCENERY.

207

Weavers' Yard, and the mighty chimney clinging to the back
of an old house therein. The Folly — whose folly it originated
in is not known — is an intricate short-cut between back and
front streets; but the stranger who would see something of
the vennels and back-premises which contented our forefathers
is advised to go up by the Black Bull Hotel, into a narrow
passage parallel with the Main Street, and then endeavour to
find his way to Howgill Lane. If he fail in the attempt, as he
is not unlikely to do, he will always be within reach of help,
and need not be afraid. Such congestion as is here visible
is not likely to recur; for the area of house-accommodation
has recently extended itself westwards over building-plots
sold by the Governors of the local Charities ; and the provision
made by private owners for a new street, between the town
and Winder, promises g^reat expansion in the future.

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SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

But enough of streets: let us forward into the country.
If we follow the road a mile out of the town, we shall come
to Brimhaw, near the railway station, a neat farm-house, the
birth-place of a recent Lord Mayor of London, Sir James
Whitehead. Indeed, the year 1888 was remarkable for the
civic honours bestowed on natives of this district. Besides
the successor of Whittington, we were represented by the
Mayor of Manchester, Mr. Alderman Batty, a native of Dent;

and by the Sheriff of Chester, Mr. Roger Jackson, who hailed
from Sedbergh town ; thus proving that the practical good

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THE SCENERY.

209-

sense and shrewd business faculties of our northern scions, is
capable of bearing excellent fruit when it finds a congenial
soil to flourish in.

BiRKS MiLU

But we must retrace our steps by Busk Lane to the
Rawthey, which has meanwhile been gliding unheeded past the
old Vicarage — soon to be abandoned for a new one — and under
Millthrop Bridge, to meet us again at Birks, where the Mill —

A2

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SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

cotton once, bobbins and dyeworks now— with its weir and
broad tree-shaded pool above and rocky river-bed below, and

^h^ rF)^eii^2 of Ilic

^ST^t^e^ drji lljic Bee*

wood on the other side, dubbed " Elysian Shades," makes pic-
tures which the pencil delights to limn. The footpath along-
side the stream takes us past the confluence of the Rawthey

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THE SCENERY. 211

and the Dee, with the old bridge across the latter in the dis.
tance, and over the embanked railroad which cuts the plain in
two. The venerable white-washed Meeting-house at Brigflatts
momentarily arrests our notice, and we hurry on to Lord's
Dub, a scene pleasing to the eye, but of melancholy interest
when we remember how many victims its treacherous eddies
and currents have drawn in to their destruction. In 1812 a
catastrophe occurred at this place which has made it sadly
memorable. A father and two sons were haymaking on the
other side of the river. The sun was hot, and the limpid still-
ness of the stream was cool and tempting. One of the boys
stripped to bathe and plunged into the water, but soon showed
signs of extreme distress. The other rushed in to his assist-
ance, but was drawn in by his drowning brother beyond his
depth. The distracted father hastened to the rescue, but only
by similar mischance to share with his two boys their watery
grave. Since then this fair deceiver has not been without its
prey once and again ; but we take leave of it with our malison,
and turn to happier thoughts.

What mean the discordant sounds and the flapping of long
white wings, among the trees across the stream ? A heronry
is there, and it is evident that much of domestic interest,
scarcely intelligible to the human mind, is being enacted in the
realm of bird-dom. Perchance we may descry a * heerin sue '
(heron-shaw) standing motionless on the edge of the stream,
and gazing dreamily into its placid depths. Possibly it is
meditating on the problem of existence ; but an unsuspecting
trout comes sailing by and is instantly transfixed, and the
problem is satisfactorily solved for the nonce. Or perhaps,
incautiously approaching, we break in upon the reverie too soon,.

"And heron, as resounds the trodden shore,
Shoots upwards, darting his long neck before.**

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212

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

In the distance stands Ingmire Hall, a spacious castellated
building, developed, by the families of Otway and Upton, into
the beautiful and stately seat which we now behold. The
fresh green ivy on the walls, the verdant expanse of even
foreground, sheltered and adorned on either hand by foliage
of varied hue, with an unimpeded outlook from the Hall,
across the Rawthey to Holme Fell, present a scene of rural
loveliness not easily surpassed.

A little further and we are at Marthwaite New Bridge.
The old one stood about eighty yards higher up the stream ;
and in 182 1 the present bridge was built, and the course of
the road altered, to avoid the steep descent. As in Cautley,
so here, the Rawthey again separates us from Westmorland.

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THE SCENERY. 213

We bid farewell to it, and take the road to Four Lane Ends,
where an old stone guide-post, with an admonitory hand
pointing down a lane towards the Lune, ominously exhorts
us to " Beware of the River." We keep straight on, passing
a fine avenue of full-grown trees which leads to a farm-house
called The Hill — an estate which has been in the possession
of the family of Willan for at least three hundred years.
Professor Sedgwick has reminiscences of Richard Willan,
who, while serving in the British navy, obtained leave to quit
his ship and fight as a volunteer in the great battle on the
Heights of Abraham. Like Robert Foster, of Hebblethwaite
Hall, he in due time relinquished his adventurous life and
returned to his quiet country home. He was a keen sports-
man and an agreeable companion, and sometimes, on a holiday,
would initiate his youthful friend into the mysteries of angling
and grouse-shooting.

At Killington New Bridge, deriving its nearly discarded
epithet fi-om a similar cause to that of Marthwaite Bridge,
we cross the Lune, and looking up the river behold a rocky
reach with slumbrous pools of untold depth ; a piece of nature's
handiwork which scarcely the most unaesthetic of mankind
could pass without some sense of admiration. Pursuing our
course we enter the road leading direct from Sedbergh to
Kendal. Here a house, formerly an inn, and often still called
"Scotch Jean's," in memory of a hostess fi-om beyond the
border, retains its sign of the "Black Horse" above the door,
being, in fact, the Upton crest — "a horse caparisoned upon a
ducal coronet." Within a stone's throw is Capplethwaite Hall,
once the seat of the Morlands, a family of some importance,
now a farm-house pure and simple. Still on, for a mile or so,
and we re-cross the Lune by Lincoln's Inn Bridge, where the
view up-stream is admirable. The farm-house near by, to

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214 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

which the title of Lincoln's Inn adheres, owes its designation
not to any connection, real or fancifid, with the gentlemen of
the long robe, but to the more prosaic fact of its having been
a hostelry kept by a person of the name of Lincoln.

Returning to Sedbergh and starting afresh up Howgill
Lane, we see below us a fine stretch of well-wooded landscape
broadening down to the Lune. Putting aside the suggestions
of etymologists, who are apt to refine too much, we may, I
think, understand Howgill and Lowgill, which are divided by
the stream in the neighbourhood of the Crook of Lune, as
correlative terms* and mutually explanatory. About a mile and
a half from Sedbergh is a farm-house called Draw-well, from the
nature of its water-supply. It is mentioned in Fox's Journal,
and was the abode of John Blaikling, who adopted the Quaker
doctrines in 1652, and preached in various parts of the country.
He was several times lodged in York Castle, but managed to
die at Draw-well in 1705, aged eighty, after the ministrations
of half-a-century. Near Draw-well there is a field called
Gallow Hill, possibly a relic of the feudal days, when certain
local jurisdictions possessed the privilege of a gallows. At
Howgill-head, where we march with Westmorland, there is
also an eminence with the suggestive title of Gibbet Hill.
The top is covered with a heap of stones, and I am told by
natives familiar with the place, that shepherd-dogs, in search
of hid treasure, occasionally exhume the bones of some long-
forgotten malefactor. Why the people of Howgill should
have been so liberally provided with the means of destroying
their fellow-creatures, is hard to say ; but the thoroughfare to
Borrow Bridge was once of more importance than it is now,
and Gibbet Hill, we may observe, is conveniently situated
for the accommodation of two counties.

The term Borrens, as a field-name, occurs more than once

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THE SCENERY. 215

in Howgill — an observation which may not be without its
significance whenever our archaeological societies set them-
selves to discover traces of Roman roads in this quarter.
Farthing Croft, Breeches Field, and Gallipot, are quaint, but
sound more modem. As I have touched on the subject of
field-names, I may add a few curious ones from other parts
of the township. In Cautley we have Sweet Comer, Five
Pound Nook, and in singular, but possibly undesigned prox-
imity. Hell Gill and Abraham's Bosom. In Dowbiggin there
are Long Jammy, Sodom, and Jack's Butts — the latter, pro-
bably, like Longmire Butts, in Marthwaite, reminding us of
the time when the practice of archery was compulsory in
every township. Other names of varied interest are Swine
Ridding (frequent), Outrsike, Nova Scotia, and Forty Penny
Farm.

The little ivy-clad church of Howgill, with lancet-windows,
built in 1838, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is prettily
situated beside a streamlet, above a disused mill and below a
salmon-leap and waterfall. The history of the Chapel is in-
scribed on boards inside — an example worthy of more general
imitation. From these we learn that the present edifice was
erected during the incumbency of the Rev. Isaac Green, but
that the older Chapel — now a cottage, on the other side of the
stream — was founded and endowed by John Robinson, first of
Howgill and afterwards of Kendal, yeoman, in 1685. He also
endowed the school and made provision for the poor. The
ancient parochial chapelries of Garsdale and Dent, which, till
recently, paid a proportion of fees to Sedbergh, have, by virtue
of modem legislation, obtained ecclesiastical independence ;
Cautley, too, in the patronage of the Vicar of Sedbergh, is
practically autonomous ; and now, lastly, Howgill, long a per-
petual curacy in connection with the mother church, has

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SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

become a vicarage. The incumbency, vacant recently by the
death of the Rev, Edward Powell, is held by the Rev. Louis
Nixon.

^^m^^

I might enlarge on the advantages of Sedbergh as a centre
of beautiful scenery outside the district — its proximity to the
Lakes, to the Ingleton Caves, and the Wensleydale * forces ' —
but after this breathless scamper in search of the picturesque,
which I trust none of my readers will take for a veritable
route to be followed, but only as a thread of connection for
remarks which otherwise would have been most disjointed, we
will make our way to Beck Houses, and athwart the mountain
to Black Force. A track, which it will be well to keep (for
the hill-sides are steep and slippery) leads directly to the

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THE SCENERY. 217

place. Right in the heart of the bleak solitude this gloom-
enveloped gorge is, in some respects, the wildest, weirdest bit of
scenery we have visited. The contorted rocks bear witness to
some great manifestation of primeval forces, and the evident
difficulty of ascent or descent by the watercourse, adds to the
impressiveness of the scene. A farmer tells me that on one
occasion on which he was present and assisting, it took eleven
cart ropes, ten or eleven yards each in length, to recover a
sheep which had fallen in at the bottom of the Force. A few
years ago a hapless wight from the neighbourhood of Tebay
was looking for his galloway hereabouts. Perhaps some distress
of mind which the world will never know, or some unaccount-
able impulse, suited to the time and scene, drove him to the
deed ; but be this as it may, he hung himself with the halter
intended for other use, on a stunted tree below the waterfall,
in as strange a spot as the ingenuity of man could select for
the final launch. His dog, sole witness of the act, went home
before nightfall, but he returned not. On the morrow it
showed evident signs of unusual distress and restlessness,,
until it could induce some one to accompany it. Then it led
the way straight to the fatal spot — faithful unto death. What
a halo of romance would the genius of a Scott have spread
around the incident !

Let these selected instances suffice to characterise the
nature of our scenery. Of countless walks in shady lanes, of
rambles by field and stream and hedgerow, where the foot-
steps love to linger, I must say nothing. Like the unconsidered
trifles of a sale-bill, they are too numerous to mention, toa
varied for description. But a word or two on the geology
and botany, so intimately connected with local scenery, may
fitly close the chapter.

Geologically, Sedbergh belongs to the great Silurian forma-

B2

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2l8 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

tion which predominates in the mountainous parts of Westmor-
land, but, except in this particular district, does not appear
to any considerable extent in Yorkshire. We are thus located
among some of the oldest stratified rocks. The Coniston
Grits — a member of this series — compose the great mass of
the Howgill Fells, and show themselves in a fine section at
Cautley Crag. They contain interbedded with them a fossil-
iferous band of coarse sandstone, some twenty feet thick, which
may' be traced in the gills between Winder and Hobdale Beck;
otherwise these rocks seem, to the ordinary observer, barren of
fossils, though the practised eyes of the Geological Survey
officers have enabled them to detect a considerable number.
At Helm Gill, in Dent, however, where the Lower Silurian is
represented by a bed of dark blue limestone, specimens of
corals and encrinites may be met with in and about the
stream. Frequently the rocks of this system have been sub-
jected to extreme lateral pressure, which has crumpled and
contorted them in the way which I have spoken of as exem-
plified at Black Force. The whole formation, however, comes
to a full stop, and is blocked, by the Pennine Fault, which,
skirting the base of Baugh Fell and crossing the Riggs and
the valley of Dent, brings the Limestone and Yoredale Rocks
of the Carboniferous system, on the east, into juxtaposition
with the older Silurian strata. A patch of Red Conglomerate —
the basement bed of this series — lies unconformably on the
Coniston grits along the base of Winder to Burnt Mill, and
forwards. Castle Haw is composed of it, and it may be
observed in Settlebeck Gill and the moxmtain streams to the
east of it, as well as at the confluence of the Rawthey and
Hebblethwaite Gill. The higher mountains of the Carbon-
iferous series, such as Baugh Fell, Rysell, Whemside, and
<jragreth, are capped with Millstone Grit, broken through by

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THE SCENERY. 219

dislocating faults in the far-ofif ages, thereby facilitating the
formation of our dales by erosion along the lines of least
resistance. In aid of drainage, glacial action supervened to
hollow out the course still more, and the rounded contour of
the hills about Sedbergh is greatly owing to this circumstance.
Ice-scratches, on Winder and Holme Fell, remain to testify to
the rude behaviour of glaciers from Ravenstonedale and
Garsdale, on their south-west passage to the Irish Sea, while
similar indications, on the top of Rysell, show that a detach-
ment of ice from the main body took a short-cut "over the
hills and far away.*'

Botanically the locality is richly endowed, as might be
expected from the varied character of the soil and surface.
Mountains, rivers, marshes, the open pasture and the shady
woodland, contribute their several representatives to our local
flora. I will merely mention a few of our rarer and more
interesting plants. One of the happiest hunting-grounds of the
botanist is in the neighbourhood of Cautley Spout. Here the
Alpine Lady's Mantle reaches its southernmost limit ; the rare
Chickweed Willow-herb and the Cut-leaved and Stony Saxi-
frages haunt the banks of the stream ; the Parsley Fern is rife
among the * screes'; and the delicately-pencilled Grass of
Parnassus holds aloft its snowy bowl. The Yellow Mountain
Saxifrage retains its footing in one of the gills near Winder;
three species of Clubmoss — the Common, the Alpine, and the
Fir — may sometimes be met with on one and the same hill-side;
and English Stonecrop lingers in two or three habitats. Sun-
dew and Butterwort (both of fly-devouring notoriety), Marsh
Valerian and Marsh Cinquefoil, have their homes on the boggy
ground; and Bogbean has found suitable quarters on Lang-
stone Fell. * Blaeberries' grow from rocky crevices, and cran-
berries affect the high moist land. The Cloudberry, disdaining

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220 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

to consort with the denizens of the valley, has a lofty hill all
to itself. * Knotberry/ or * Knoutberry/ was formerly a popular
name of the plant, and Knoutberry Haw (2,200 ft.)> on Baugh
Fell, remains its head-quarters still. The banks of the Rawthey
yield Water Avens and Globe-flower, and, in addition, the Lune
has Burnet Rose and Northern Bedstraw. Herb Paris is not
unknown under the shade of trees, and in the fields the Wood
and Meadow species of Geranium are equally common — ^the
latter one of our finest wayside flowers. Mealy Primrose may
be met with in the pastures of Cautley, while Spignel is
confined to Howgill, where, in several places, it flourishes
copiously. The *Heckberry' is, both etymologically and
actually, the * hedge-berry ' of our roads and lanes ; and the
Melancholy Thistle also hangs its solitary head here and
there by the way. Of Ferns, the Oak and the Beech maintain
their ground where mercenary uprooters have not yet espied
them ; and a species of Film Fern is wont to refresh itself in
the spray of one or two of our mountain waterfalls.

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CHAPTER V.

GARSDALE.

*-s^ ARSDALE — the "dale of Garri,"
an unknown and rather hypo-
thetical Saxon, whose name-
sake is sometimes disinterred
by etymologists at Gargra.ve;
or, if it like you better, the
"dale of garths" or enclo-
sures — is separated from the
cultivated fields of Sedbergh
township by the breezy moor-
land of Langstone Fell. It
is drained, for the greater part
of its length, by a stream
which, rising on the north-
eastern slope of Baugh Fell, below the sources of the
Rawthey, flows through the subordinate valley of Grisedale,
and then taking a westerly direction, abandons its name of
Grisedale Beck for that of the Clough, which it retains till it
is lost in the Rawthey, a mile above Sedbergh. Cloughy which
rhymes with toughy we may take it, is the same word as cleuchy
of Anglo-Saxon origin, well known in Scotland as denoting a

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222 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

rocky ravine with a stream in it.* In some parts of its course
the Clough justifies its title — at one time flowing under a
beetling rampart of rocks, and at another cutting its way
between limestone cliffs.

Grisedale, a kind of appendix to the larger valley, is
a secluded depression between Baugh Fell and White Birks
Common, and within easy reach of Wildboar Fell, to which,
indeed, as the ancient haunt of the grisCy or wild swine, it
bears some affinity in name and nature. Here some ten or
a dozen households form a little community of themselves.
It used to be said that there was a road into Grisedale,
but none out, which is not quite accurate; but it lies so
distinctly out of the beaten track, that it is seldom visited
by strangers. It was awakened by George Fox; and a dis-
used Quaker Meeting-house and burial-ground show that he
left his mark on the place. The recent erection of a
Primitive Methodist Chapel in the dale, has again brought
the visible signs of religion within view of the people — a
continuation of the chapel-building movement begun by
Jonathan Kershaw, of Lancaster, who settled in Garsdale
two or three generations ago. He endeavoured to mcike the
best of both worlds, selling tea by day, and preaching in the
evenings, whenever and wherever he could get opportunity.
His perfervid oratory was a great power in the dale, and
he soon got a chapel erected, close to which he planted a

* In illustration of the name, the reader may be reminded that, according to the
old ballad,

"Adam Bell, and Clim of the Clough,
And William of Cloudeslee,"
were three noted outlaws in the North of England, of the Robin Hood type ; and Scott
(lay of the Last Minstrei^ vi. 8), refers to the tradition that

"old Buccleuch the name did gain

When in the cloich the buck was ta'en."

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GARSDALE.

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cottage of his own, where he lived for the remainder of
his days. He was buried in the little enclosure behind, it,
and is designated on his headstone "the Apostle of the
Dales." Two other chapels, both Primitive Methodist, have
sprung up in the valley since his day; and if opportunities
for religious worship are a fair criterion, Garsdale should be
one of the best-evangelised places in the United Kingdom.

Though everywhere conscious of the opposing heights of
Baugh Fell and Rysell, Garsdale is agreeably broad and
undulating for two-thirds of its length, but in the upper
part it presents a narrower and wilder aspect. Here the
stream, crossing and re-crossing the road, rejoices in a
number of miniature waterfalls, which brighten the path of
the traveller as he approaches Hawes Junction, the station
on the Settle and Carlisle Railway, which has here pene-
trated a region through which nothing but unlimited capital
and indomitable energy could have carried it. Through
Rysell a tunnel had to be driven, 140 feet below the surface.

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224 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

through the solid rock; and driven it was. On this soli-
tary, storm-swept height more than three hundred persons
occupied a temporary village of roughly-erected huts, at an
elevation of 1,300 feet above the level of the sea. Their
communication with the valley below was by means of a
tramway, six hundred yards in length, down a steep incline
to the Garsdale road. During the construction of the line,
in September, 1873, a tragical incident occurred at this spot.
Eleven persons were descending, when the rope gave way,
just as the waggons got to the steepest part of the incline
and the trucks were preparing to rush down with fearful
velocity. Presence of mind enabled one man to check
the speed for a few seconds, by spragging one of the
wheels, and nine succeeded in getting out safely; but two
women, who still remained, were dashed to pieces, and a
man lying asleep across the rails was decapitated in a
moment, and never awoke again. The mangled remains of
the three were interred in one grave, in Garsdale church-
yard; and it was a memorable sight to behold the awed
countenances of the workmen — not usually the most impres-
sionable of mankind — who had assembled to take part in
the last sad rites.

But we must travel back to far other times than the
epoch of railways, if we wish to study the internal economy
of the dale consecutively. Sedbergh, as we have seen, was
closely united to Coverham Abbey for two hundred years.
Garsdale, too, had a connection with the same monastery,
seeing that, according to the ecclesiastical survey of 1535, it
paid lis. ^d. annually to the abbey for lands therein. But
it had a much stronger association with the Abbey of
St. Agatha, at Easby, near Richmond, which, according to
thef same valuation, was in receipt of as much as ;^20 15^. td.

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GARSDALE. 225

yearly from the dale — a much higher sum than it obtained
from any other single place. A number of documents are
given by Dr. Whitaker, from which we gather that the
monks had a cell, or small dependency, near the Chapel of
St. John Baptist, and that some of the fraternity resided
there. Thus Thomas de Staveley confers on the Chapel and
the resident canons certain land adjacent, which they were
at liberty to enclose and cultivate. It is defined as over
the bridge, as lying longitudinally between "Twursgill" and
" Radtherforth/' and as having on the north a long heap of
stones, and on the south the Garsdale beck. The heap of
stones may well have disappeared long ere this; but if we
may take Thursgill and Roger Pot as the modem repre-
sentatives of "Twursg^ll" and " Radtherforth,'' we have a
tract of land which suits the rest of the description.

There was also a chantry in the Chapel, endowed by Ralph
Fitz-AJan of Garsdale with two acres of meadow adjoining,
and also with meadow between " Wyntrescale " and "Cote-
gyle," as well as with a dwelling there. The endowment further
comprised common of pasture in Garsdale and Grisedale, and
a dwelling at " Bacunstalle," together with one hundred cows
and their offspring for three years, and forty mares and
their offispring for two years. These material advantages
were to go to the Abbey of St. Agatha, on condition of
providing a chaplain and furnishing him with all things
necessary for the due discharge of his office.

Then there is a confirmation by the chief lord, Roger
de Mowbray, of all donations in Garsdale and Grisedale made
to the abbey by benefactors, among whom, besides that
of Ralph Fitz-Alan above-mentioned, occur the names of
Adam de Staveley, Henry Fitz-Ranulph, Adam de Magneby,
Helias Fitz-Radulph, and Jordan de Hebalde Thwaites

C I

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226 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

(Hebblethwaites). And that the lordship of the manor
belonged to the abbey, is proved by a certificate of acknow-
ledgment of fealty rendered by an early lord of Upsall to
the abbot in the Chapel of Garsdale.

This Chapel, of which I fear there is now no representa-
tion extant, was, as I remember it, a long, low building,
dimly lighted, and containing a heterogeneous assemblage
of high-backed pews. There would, no doubt, be traces in
it of pre-Reformation usages, but, if so, they disappeared
when it was replaced with a brand-new modem building
in 1861.

There is an interesting memorial of the monks in the fine
old house at East Rackenthwaite, where the remains of a
priest's cell, still pointed out, incline one to think that it was
the Priest-House referred to in old deeds. There is, however,
another Priest-House in the dale, close to the old endowed
school, and this is the one shown in the artist's sketch. The
word "priest" is, even yet, commonly applied in the coimtry to
the clergjrman; and as this house is known to have been
occupied in past times by the curate of Garsdale, who taught
school downstairs and dwelt aloft, it would no doubt be known
as the Priest-House in consequence. Then, too, there is
Paradise — or rather two Paradises, east and west — ^the former
occupied by the Vicar, the Rev. D. T. All ton, as part of the
glebe. The house stands high, but not dry, above the banks
of the Clough, and is so inaccessible to quadrupeds that coals
have to be carried thither in instalments of a sackful at a time.*
A now deceased dignitary, after struggling up to the abode of
the pastor, once playfully opined that the Garsdale Paradise

* A more convenient site for a vicarage, near the school and church, and overlooking
the *' priest-house," has lately been obtained.

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GARSDALE.

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must have received its name from the straitness of the gate
and the narrowness of the way to it. But though the estate
was made over to the Church by Isabell Garthwaite so lately
as 1624, it is likely that it had been somebody's donation
to the monks of St. Agatha's previously, who thereupon suit-
ably enclosed it, and gave it the name of their paradise, park»
or enclosure.

Paradise.

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228 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

At the time of the Dissolution, the abbey was paying to
William Coke, chaplain of Fitz-Alan's foundation, the annual
stipend of ;^4 13 J. 4//. The lands of the monastery, the
patronage of the Church, and the manorial rights, were
thenceforth transferred to the Crown.

The chapel salary — the £4. i$s. 4^. above-mentioned, no
doubt — continued to be paid under Edward VI. and Elizabeth,
and this, augmented by an annual allowance of £$ from
Lady Bowes, sufficed to seciure the services of a minister;
but in 1615 the salary, for some reason or other, did not
come to hand; and the inhabitants complained to Sir Fulke
Greville, Chancellor of His Majesty's Court of Exchequer,
accordingly. They represent themselves as being "distant
"from their Parish Church six miles, or thereabouts, and a
"verie dangerous passage of moimtain way [Langstone Fell,
"to wit] as any in the north of England." They also plead
general poverty, and earnestly hope that the salary is not
going to be taken away, and themselves left without the
ministrations of religion. The stoppage of payment seems
to have been occasioned merely by a departmental misap-
prehension ; and after the complainants had had their say, the
salary returned to regular ways.

The manorial rights remained with the Crown until the
reign of James I. At Dandra Garth, an old-fashioned farm-
house with evident indications of former importance about it,
there is a chimney-piece with a curious coat-of-arms cut
upon it. It consists of a lion rampant, within a border of
thistles, and is suggestive of a connection with Scotland,
either in reference to the King himself or to one of his
retainers. Possibly it may have been regarded as the manor-
house. In the course of alterations, at different times, many
human bones have been dug up on the premises, as if an

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GARSDALE. 229

ancient burial-ground had been there. But I am told there
are several farm-houses in the dale where similar discoveries
of skulls and other bones have been made. About ninety
years ago the then Duke of Cambridge is said to have visited
Garsdale, for the purpose of shooting on the moors, and to
have stayed at Dandra Garth. The clergyman happened to
be both a crack shot and a good whist-player, and the duke
found in him a congenial spirit.

In 1 62 1 James I. sold the manor to Sir William Garway,
Knight, a London citizen, who seems to have been given to
picking up fragments of monastic property which came in
his way.* The King reserved to himself the patronage of
the living, which, as in other crown benefices of small
amount, is dispensed by the Lord Chancellor. Shortly after-
weirds Sir William and his sons, for the consideration of
;^i>347 5-^- ick/-» granted the lordship of the manor, and
several estates in it, to five Garsdale yeomen — Gilbert Nelson,
James Nelson, Richard Garthwaite,t John Guy, and Richard
Hobson. A divergence of opinion respecting this transac-
tion speedily showed itself. The dalesmen asserted that the
arrangement was intended to be for the benefit of the
tenants in general, on the payment by them of their quota
of the purchase-money, but Grilbert Nelson and his colleagues
maintained that it was for the benefit of themselves alone.
However, in 1626, the aggrieved tenants betook themselves
to the High Court of Chancery, and produced a properly

• He is mentioned by Lysons (** Environs of London," vol. iv., p. 341) as the
purchaser of the manor and rectory of Kidbrook, a conventual estate, which had been
sold by James I. to John Earl of Mar.

t In Kendal Parish Church there is a brass plate with some verses in praise of
"Alice, the wife of Roger Bateman, of Old Hutton, Clothier, daughter of Richard
Garthwait, of Garssdale, Yeoman, who dyed the 25th day of March, 1637."

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230 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

authenticated agreement to the above effect. The Court
decreed the performance of the agreement, and mulcted the
uncommunicative five in the costs of the suit. The tenants'
were thus established in the joint-lordship of the manor, and
were declared, in particulcir, to be entitled to equal benefit in
the Priest-House messuage.

The connection of Garsdale with the monasteries was
brought to mind again after three hundred years, when, in
1 84 1, the Tithe Commissioners confirmed the agreement for
the commutation of the tithes. The dissolving Act of 3 1 Hen.
VIII. exempted fi-om the payment of tithes such abbey-lands
as had previously enjoyed this immunity. Two estates in
Garsdale, called East and West Rackenthwaite, came imder
this category, as having belonged to Coverham Abbey, and
were declared by the Tithe Commissioners absolutely free
fi-om the payment of tithe. Further consideration, however,
considerably modified this decision; and by a separate and
supplementary award, five years later, the Commissioners
recorded that it was now held proved that the two estates in
question were not absolutely exempt, but only contingently so,
namely, when in the manurance or cultivation of the owners.
The owners have, therefore, a choice of alternatives — and it
is always a good thing to have two strings to one's bow —
either to occupy and till the lands themselves and save
£ I 5 J. td. a year, or to let them to somebody else, with the
burden upon them.

Though abbey-lands have been swallowed by moneirchs and
courtiers, church-lands exist to a remarkable degree in these
dales. At the time of the Tithe Aweirds, about 1840, there
were, in the township of Sedbergh, estates, or portions of
estates, belonging to eleven different benefices; in Garsdale, to
eight ; and in Dent, to no fewer than twenty-six. The relative

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GARSDALE. 23 1

proportions will no doubt have varied since, but I think the
circumstance may be taken to show that our forefathers were
far from indifferent to the claims of religion.

We may take one or two peeps at Garsdale in other aspects,
before we proceed to its crowning title to distinction as the
birthplace of remarkable men. About 1635, ^s that thirsty
tourist, Richard Braithwait, the author of "Drunken Bamaby's
Journal," who was bom in the neighbourhood of Kendal, and
has left a monument in Catterick Church, was circulating home-
wards, he passed through Garsdale, or **Gastile," as he calls
it, in accordance with the local pronimciation still prevalent.

"Thence to Gastile, I was dra^-ne in
To an Alehouse neare adjoining
To a Chappell; I drunk Stingo
With a Butcher, and Domingo
The Curat, who to my discerning
Was not guilty of much learning."

The inn was probably that in which Richard Jackson,
Parliamentarian Master of Sedbergh Grammar School and
Minister of Garsdale, used to take his ease a few years later.
The farm-house close to the Church — Garsdale Hall — was an
inn not long ago; but whether it was so used two hundred
years back, is more than I can say. At any rate, Bamaby
would now find it difficult to slake his thirst, either with
" stingo " or any other less-powerful extract of malt, for there
is no public-house in the dale. This defect — if defect it be —
has probably combined, with the general break-down of clan-
nishness, to put an end to a custom which was in vogue some
years ago— that of *pitchering' or * canning' any outsider who
had the audacity to lay siege to the affections of a Garsdale
damsel. The procedure consisted in drumming on a tin can
in front of the house where the enamoured interloper was

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232 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

known to be ensconced, until he deemed it expedient to appease
the discordant clamour with a gratuity, which was forthwith
melted into ale at the inn.

Bamaby's next stage was Sedbergh, where dissipation
seems to have been rather at a standstill; and where, as he
hints, his approximation to home made it risky for him to
continue his carousals. One would fain hope that the "jolly
boyes " referred to had nothing to do with the " richly royall "
foundation of Edward VI.

•* Thence to Sedbergh, sometimes joy-all,
Gamesome, gladsome, richly royall ;
But those jolly boyes are sunken.
Now scarce once a year one drunken.
There I durst not well be merry,
Farre from home old Foxes werry."

But I gladly take leave of the peripatetic toper, and
proceed to chronicle greater things.

Garsdale will long be remembered by the present genera-
tion of inhabitants as the scene of a disastrous flood, which
occurred on the 8th of August, 1889. For an hour and a half
the rain poured down uninterruptedly in the elevated region
of Grisedale, until the sudden influx swelled the Clough
to terrific dimensions, and a raging torrent tore along the
valley, sweeping every obstacle before its resistless might.
Bridges were levelled like structures of cardboard, the road
was destroyed to within a foot of the police-station, and trees
and stone-walls were scattered in the wildest confusion across
the fields. Inhabitants whose dwellings were caught in the
fringe of the flood, fled in terror to the upper rooms, till its
fury abated, and then found a layer of sand and mud in their
best parlours, which it took the good housewives days to get
rid of. The children in the National School were with difficulty

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GARSDALE.

233

rescued from a watery grave, and the old Priest-House had
a narrow escape from destruction. The sympathy of the
public was aroused for the farmers whose crops had been
almost ruined, and for those who had suffered in other ways,
and subscriptions for their relief flowed in apace. The road
for some miles was torn up; three county bridges were
reduced to a shapeless wreck; and it took many months of
labour, and much expenditure of the county funds, to undo
the ravages of a calamity of which the traces will be visible
for many a year.

The dale has produced some men of mark; and one of
them, at least, would have worthily occupied a niche among
Dr. Smiles's examples of "Self-help." John Dawson, the
younger of two brothers, was bom at the unpretending farm-
house of Raygill, in 1734. The small estate belonged to his
parents, William and Mary Dawson, who attained the height
of their ambition when they beheld their elder son estab-
lished in the respectable profession of an exciseman. The

D2

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234 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

patrimonial acres were too limited to provide means for
two gentlemen, and John had to content himself with the
position of a dale-farmer's son, and, amongst other things,
to look after the sheep on the high moorland, where now
the shrill whistle of the locomotive disturbs the long
reign of rural simplicity. On the top of the fell, between
Geirsdale and Dent, where the short green herbage betokens
the presence of limestone, and a lime-kiln confirms the
inference, there is a block of stone which the reader may-
perceive marked on the six-inch Ordnance Map as " Dawson's
Rock." Here the meditative youth used to take his seat, and,
in the intervals of tending the flock, would ponder mathe-
matical problems by the hour together. He had, indeed,
received some elementary instruction under the Rev. Charles
Udal, schoolmaster and minister of Garsdale; but as the Rev.
Charles was of the flagellant order of dominies, and made
more liberal use of the twigs of the tree of knowledge than
was either pleasant or profitable to John, he quitted the school
before he had made much progress. His thirst for knowledge,
however, had not been thrashed out of him; and as his elder
brother stuck to the school, John devoured his lesson-books
at home with avidity. His occupations on the farm — cattle-
serving, peat-cutting, shepherding— did not leave him much
leisure for study, but he made the best of it. Stocking-
knitting was then the employment of both sexes, when the
out-door work was done, and John was allowed the privilege
of spending his ** knitting-brass " as he liked. He invariably
laid out his money in the purchase of books; and as mathe-
matics was his favourite subject, the fi-esh volumes were
chiefly of this complexion. Winter, when most time was
spent indoors, he found his best season for the intellectual
harvest ; and in the long evenings, with the light only of the

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GARSDALE. 235

peat-fire on the hearth, he would pore over his books until
far into the night. How profound were his reflections may
be estimated by the fact, that, as the result of his o^ti ex-
cogitations, before he had seen any book on the subject, he
invented for himself a system of Conic Sections, which, on
reference to it in after years, he found to be essentially correct.
The disadvantages, however, under which he worked, which
might have been obviated at the cost of a few pounds of
candles, nearly proved fatal to the continuance of his investi-
gations. Protracted stooping, in his efforts to read by the
dim light, brought on bleeding at the nose, which harassed
him for a year, and so reduced his strength that his life was
at one time despaired of.

When he had thus stored his mind with mathematical lore,
and reached the age of twenty-two, he became desirous of
communicating to others what it had cost him so much applica-
tion to obtain for himself. He set about acquiring pupils, and
as his attainments had now made some noise in the neigh-
bouring dales, he succeeded in doing so. Three Cambridge
undergraduates first sought his assistance, of whom one was
afterwards Dr. Haygarth (of whom presently), and another
the Rev. Richard Sedgwick, the father of the famous Professor.

His parents were now convinced that he had a soul above
farm-work, and that some other occupation must be found for
his talents. The business of an apothecary seemed the most
feasible, and he was accordingly sent for three years as a
general assistant to Dr. Bracken, a surgeon and apothecary of
some repute, at Lancaster. The arrangement was a fortunate
one for Dawson, who found in the doctor's house congenial
society and sympathy, and opportunities of continuing his
mathematical studies, as well as of acquiring a good know-
ledge of some branches of natural philosophy.

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236 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

His three years completed, he returned to Garsdale; but
no situation of a suitable character presenting itself, he settled
at Sedbergh and commenced business for himself, as an
apothecary. He was without a medical diploma, and this
defect he determined, if possible, to remedy. By dint of hard
work and spare living, by taking pupils and by attention to
his business, in a few years he had scraped together a hundred
guineas, which he stitched in the lining of his waistcoat, and
then, staff in hand, walked the whole of the way to Edinburgh,
to enter himself as a medical student, and to comply with the
conditions necessary for obtaining the coveted parchment. A
little oatmeal went a long way in Scotland, and the hardy
Garsdalian made his hundred guineas last out until, armed
with his diploma and his trusty staff, he retraced his steps,
and was welcomed by his friends as a duly accredited and
full-blown surgeon. He now resumed the practice of his
profession with unremitting assiduity, but still found time to
devote to mathematical pupils. His tuition-fees were far
from exorbitant — 5^. a week was the sum which one of his
pupils records as paid by himself — ^but his expenses were light ;
and when he had accumulated a store of three hundred
guineas, he again determined to spend it in perfecting his
professional knowledge. On this occasion he directed his
steps to London, walking and availing himself of the stage-
waggon by turns, and carrying his earnings secured in his
waistcoat-lining, as before. Reputation, like most other good
things, has its drawbacks, and he found that he could not
make the guineas hold out as they had done at Edinburgh.
Dr. Waring, the Lucasian Professor at Cambridge, sought him
out, and his example was followed by other persons of dis-
tinction. These distractions meant death to the guineas, but
he contrived to get through one good course of surgical and
medical lectures.

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GARSDALE. 237

Dr. Dawson, laden with such distinction as was implied in
the wider professional knowledge acquired during his sojourn
in the great metropolis, returned to his Sedbergh practice —
but only to find that his business, which he had left in charge
of a substitute, had been grievously neglected. His presence,
however, soon put matters to rights, and his marriage, in 1767,
to Ann Thimbeck, of Ellers, in Middleton, secured for him
the comforts of a settled home. The union was a happy one,
and an only daughter remained after the death of her mother,
in 1 81 2, to cheer the old man's declining days.

His practice at Sedbergh was at once serviceable to his
countrymen and profitable to himself. Cambridge under-
graduates came down to him in the summer months of the
long vacation, and his reputation as a mathematician was
constantly on the increase, as fresh batches of distinguished
pupils traced their success at the university to the instruction
of their Sedbergh tutor. About 1788 he relinquished his
medical practice altogether, and devoted himself entirely to
his first and dearest love — mathematical teaching. No fewer
than eleven Senior Wranglers* passed through the hands of
this remarkable self-taught man. His first Senior Wrangler
came out in 177 1, and then, though many of his pupils stood
very high, the supreme distinction was absent till 1781, after

* Dawson's Senior Wranglers have been identified as follows : —
1771, Starkie, St. John's; 1781, Ainslie, Pembroke; 1786, Bell, Trinity, bom at
Kendal, a celebrated Chancery Barrister and King's Counsel, familiarly known as
" Jockey Bell ; " 1789, Miller, St. John's ; 1792, Palmer, St. John's, Professor of Arabic ;
I793> Harrison, Queen's; 1794, Butler, Sidney Sussex, afterwards Head Master of
Harrow and Dean of Peterborough, and father of Dr. Butler, lately Head Master of
Harrow, and now Master of Trinity Collie; 1797, Hudson, Trinity, afterwards Vicar
of Kendal; 1798, Sowerby, Trinity; 1800, Inman, St. John's (of whom below); 1807,
Gipps, St. John's. Dawson is said to have wished for one more Senior Wrangler to
complete the dozen, but Bland (supr^^ p. 108), on whom he had fixed his hopes, was
ouly second (1808).

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238 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

which its occurrence was no unusual circumstance. Besides
the pre-eminent eleven, there were of course many others who
stood but little below them ; and there were some who obtained
an honourable reputation in other walks of life.

Dr. Thomas Gamett,* bom at Casterton and brought up
at Barbon, first Lecturer at the Royal Institution of Great
Britain, and one of the earliest to popularise scientific know-
ledge among the masses, was apprenticed to Dawson in his
early years, and was greatly indebted to him for sympathetic
encouragement and instruction; and Dr. George Birkbeck,
bom at Settle, the originator of Mechanics' Institutes, was a
Dawsonian also.

Dawson read every book of note on his favourite science
as it came fi*om the press, and kept himself thoroughly abreast
of the latest mathematical discoveries. The activity of his
mind led him, occasionally, into learned discussion. With
characteristic modesty he always concealed his name, though,
sometimes, the anagrammatic signature of *'Wadson" was quite
transparent to his friends. But whether he was combating the
notions of Dr. Stewart respecting the distance of the sun, or
controverting the Rev. Mr. Wildbore's views about the evacua-
tion of vessels in motion, or correcting Mr. Emerson on the
subject of fluxions, or debating with Dr. Priestley the high
theme of philosophical necessity, John Dawson always appeared
to advantage. He continued to take pupils until 1815, when
the manifest decay of his faculties showed that his work was
done.

Professor Sedgwick writes of him: —

" I knew him well in his honoured old age ; for I was his pupil during
"three successive summers of my undergraduate life; but it is hard for me

• His accomplished daughter, Catherine Grace Godwin, was interred at Firbank,
where there is a headstone to her memory in the churchyard.

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GARSDALE.

239

' to do full justice to the head and heart of my dear old master. Simple
'in manners, cheerful and mirthful in temper, with a dress approaching
' that of the higher class of the venerable old Quakers of the dales, with-
* out any stiffness or affectation of superiority, yet did he bear, at first sights

Dr. Dawson.

{A/igr thg Engraving by Bumey from a Painting by Alien,)

•* a very commanding presence, and it was impossible to glance at him for
'• a moment without feeling that we were before one to whom God had given
** gifts above those of a common man. His powerful projecting forehead

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240 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

*' and well-chiselled features told of much thought ; and might have implied
" severity, had not a soft radiant benevolence played over his fine old face,
"which inspired his firiends, of whatever age or rank, with confidence and
"love."

He died full of years and full of honour, and was interred
at Sedbergh. In the Church a much-admired bust, by the
sculptor Sievier, preserves his features; and an inscription
beneath, the composition of John (or "Jockey") Bell, one of
his Senior Wranglers, tells nearly all that remains to be said :

** In Memory of John Dawson, of Sedbergh, who died on the 19th Sept.,
'* 1820, aged 86 years, distinguished by his profound knowledge of mathe-
"matics, beloved for his amiable simplicity of character, and revered for
" his exemplary discharge of every moral and religious duty. This monu-
** ment was erected by his grateful pupils, as their last tribute of affection
" and esteem.**

Two portraits were painted by skilful artists. One by
Joseph Allen, sold to Mr. Leigh, of Leeds, represents the
mathematician in the height of his vigour, explaining a
problem to a pupil. It was reproduced as an engraving, by
W. W. Bumey, and published in 1809, and is inscribed "To
fiiends and pupils of Mr. Dawson." From this is taken the
illustration in this book. The other, by William Westall, a
connection of the Sedgwick family, depicts the subject at a
more advanced age, resting in a contemplative attitude on a
hill-side overlooking the town of Sedbergh. A photograph
of this likeness, presented by Professor Sedgwick, adorns the
walls of the Sedbergh Reading Room.

We pass on to notice two other distingfuished Garsdalians,
a Doctor of Medicine and a Doctor of Divinity — ^John Hay-
garth and James Inman. Dr. John Haygarth wcis one of the
three earliest pupils of Dawson. He was bom in 1 740, at
Swarth Gill — where the initials above the porch, I. H. I. (17 12),
stand for John and Isabella Haygarth — and educated at

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GARSDALE. 24 1

Sedbergh Grammar School, whence he proceeded in due
course to St. John's. He had an extensive practice as a
physician, first at Chester and afterwards at Bath, where he
died in 1827, aged eighty- seven. He inaugfurated a much-
needed reform in medical practice, by separating infectious
diseases from public hospitals, and establishing fever wards.
He was the author of several medical works which attracted
much notice at the time; and his treatise " Of the Imagina-
tion as a Cause and Cure of Disorders of the Body," was
considered a valuable contribution towards the elucidation of
a confessedly mysterious and difficult subject. Outside his
profession, and as a philanthropist, he was greatly interested
in the improvement of Free Schools in the North, and in the
formation of Savings Banks. He paid frequent visits to his
native dale, for the inhabitants of which he always enter-
tained the warmest aflfection. He possessed several estates
in Garsdale; and the plantations above Swarth Gill and
opposite Garsdale Hall, which have yielded to the axe in
recent years, but are well-defined still, owed their origin to
his forethought.*

James Inman, an old Sedberghian, and one of Dawson's
Senior Wranglers, was bom in 1776, at Garsdale Foot, a
dwelling which preceded the present farm-house, high above
the Clough, on the slope of Baugh Fell, and overlooking the
basin of Sedbergh in one direction, and the heath-clad ridge
of Langstone Fell in another. His father — a substantial yeo-
man, belonging to a family which has long flourished, and
still flourishes, in the dale — dying suddenly, without a will,
the youth, then finishing his course at the school and expecting
shortly to enter St. John's, beheld his prospects immediately

• There is a short memoir of Dr. Haygarth, with a portrait, in the Gentieman's
Magazine for October, 1827. . .

E2

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242

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

blighted ; and he had actually set out on foot to seek his
fortune wherever it might be found, when his elder brother

Dr. Inman.
overtook him, and promising to see him through college,
prevailed on him to return. This fraternal consideration was

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GARSDALE. 243

abundantly justified by the distinguished career of the young
collegian, who carried off the Senior Wranglership in 1800,
and the First Smith's Prize immediately after. What was to
be his subsequent course? At first he thought of a mis-
sionary life in the East; and with this object in view, he
spent some months in Malta, in the study of Arabic. Had
not Napoleon's descent on Syria, and the unsettled condition
of Europe, rendered the desigfn inopportune, he might perhaps
have anticipated by a few years the heroic self-devotion
of his friend Henry Martyn. But owing to this untoward
change in circumstances, he returned to England, and, on the
recommendation of the University, accepted the vacant post
of astronomer on board H.M.S. Investigator^ which was
engaged, under the command of Captain Matthew Flinders,
in a scientific exploration off the coast of Australia. He
reached Port Jackson in 1803, but found Captain Flinders
on the point of abandoning his vessel, on account of its
unseaworthy condition. The officers and crew were trans-
ferred to another ship; but as Inman did not immediately
join them, he providentially escaped the shipwreck which
overtook them a few days later. He sailed, however, in the
vessel sent to their assistance, and after they had been
picked up, accompanied them to Canton, where they were
distributed over the homeward-bound East India Companjr^s
fleet, Inman being on board one of the ships, and Franklin,
of Arctic celebrity, on another. It happened that a French
fleet was cruising about the Malay Archipelago, on the look-
out for prizes, and hearing of the approach of the merchant-
men, it attacked them off Pulo Aor, on February 15th, 1804.
Inman was placed in command of the Lascar pikemen on board
the Warley; and the trading vessels were handled so admirably
by Commodore Sir Nathaniel Dance, that the French Admiral,

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244 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Linois, concluded they were warships in disguise, and decided
to abandon the enterprise — an error of judgment for which
Napoleon was not slow in calling him to a strict account.

The experience of nautical matters gained in this extensive
voyage, was of the greatest advantage to Inman afterwards,
and, in a measure, determined for him his future career. His
Log testifies to the constant interest which he took in naviga-
tion and the management of a ship; and in his instructions
to his pupils afterwards, he always insisted on the necessity
of a thorough acquaintance with nautical instruments. Soon
after his return he was elected to a fellowship at St. John's,
and took holy orders. Two years later, in 1807, the Admiralty,
wishing to improve the education of their officers, estab-
lished the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, and appointed
Mr. Inman as Principal, with the title of Professor of
Mathematics. At his suggestion, in 18 10, the College was
supplemented by the establishment of a School of Naval
Architecture, of which, also, he was the first Principal. The
text-books on navigation, then in existence, were of a meagre
and unsatisfactory description; and for naval architecture there
was absolutely none in English. The Principal set himself
resolutely to supply the want, by translating fi-om the French
Chapman's great work on naval construction; and his version
was issued, with notes and explanations, through the Cam-
bridge University Press, in 1820. Ten years previously he had
published an elementary treatise on "Arithmetic, Algebra,
and Greometry," for the use of his classes; but the work by
which he is best known, and upon which he bestowed most
labour, wcis his "Navigation and Nautical Astronomy," with
elaborately-constructed "Tables," published in 182 1, shortly
after he took his degree of D.D., and which remained in use
in the Navy for forty years. Indeed, the " Nautical Tables,"

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GARSDALE. 245

with additions, are still on the Admiralty's list of necessary
articles for the equipment of every naval officer. Both books
were extensively borrowed from by continental writers, and
an acknowledgment was made for Russia by the Emperor
Nicholas, during his visit to England, in 1844. Dr. Inman
was a prolific author, and treatises on Trigonometry, Naval
Gunnery, and similar subjects, followed each other at frequent
intervals. In 1839 the system of appointing Naval Instructors
to Her Majesty's ships was introduced; and after thirty-two
years' service Dr. Inman retired, though he still continued to
preside over shipbuilding committees at Portsmouth. **To
Inman's labours," says Professor Laughton, " was largely due
the improvement in English shipbuilding during the first half
of the present century."

" He married," adds his grandson, the Rev. H. T. Inman,
to whom I am indebted almost entirely for the facts embodied
in this account of the last of my Garsdale worthies, — "he
" married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Richard Williams, Vicar
"of Oakham, a descendant on tlie maternal side from the
"mother of Sir Isaac Newton, by her second marriage, and
"died at Southsea, February 17th, 1859, aged eighty-three."

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/

^^^c^^^^^

CHAPTER VI.

DENT.

EDBERGH, Garsdale, and Dent — such
is the order of precedence which
I have found it convenient to
adopt; but it must not be supposed
that the last-mentioned valley is
necessarily the least deserving of
notice. Garsdale is in a line with
Sedbergh, and its relations with
us have been direct and multiform.
Dent, on the other hand, is separated from us by the anti-
clinal of the Riggs, is a valley complete in itself, and hcis
developed its institutions in a more independent, and in some
respects in a unique, fashion. It therefore stands by itself,
and is reserved, as it deserves to be, for separate treatment.

There was a time when Dent was even a more important
place than Sedbergh. At the beginning of this century its
population was greater; and, until 1863, it W2is a polling-
station, to which Sedberghian voters were obliged to resort to
record their preferences at the county elections. Bigland's
"Topography of Yorkshire" (18 19) devotes at least half a
page to Dent, and only two sentences to Sedbergh, and
admiringly speaks of Dent as " a terrestrial Paradise," and as
recalling the description of the Happy Valley in " Rasselcis."
Apparently, Sedbergh presented nothing worthy of notice at
that time; and even Allen's "History of Yorkshire," in 1831,
while repeating the "terrestrial-paradise" description of

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DENT, 247

Dent, declares that the town of Sedbergh does not contain
anything of particular interest, except the Grammar School.
One thinks that the author might at least have had a kind
word for the Church; but perhaps this method of snuffing
us out is on a par with the other statement, which relegates
Roger Lupton to the reign of Edward III. ! But if Sedbergh
is looking up now, while the material condition of Dent is
less prosperous than of yore, we may still give due honour
to the dale which hcis been a centre of industry and enterprise
in the past, the habitation of self-respecting and respected
statesmen, and the birthplace of a scientist of European
celebrity, in the reflected glory of whose fame we ^re all
glad to participate.

Dent is a curt little name which has given some trouble
to the etymologists. Dr. Whitaker assures us that ** Dent is
"unquestionably the Denton of Domesday, surveyed under
"the ^ Terra Alani CamitiSy though far separated from Tees-
"dale by natural boundaries, as being the property of the
" same grantee, the ancestor of the Fitz-Hughs, who retained
"it at least four centuries after that period. Denton is the
"town of the cUne or valley." Assuming this to be the
case — and the probability is gfreat — ^we have still to account
for the truncated condition in which the name has appeared
immemorially. I see nothing for it but to make a bold
suggestion, which must be taken for what it is worth. I
imagpine — and imagpination often goes a very long way in
matters of et3rmology — that the final ton grew into toTvn^ and
that the first syllable, ending in «, readily attached to itself
an excrescent dental, when the whole would appear as ' Dent-
town.' But if * Dent-town ' meant the village of Dent, what
could be taken to represent the rest of the valley so fitly as
*Dent' itself?

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248 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

In continuation of the history of the manor, it is to be
noted that, after it had long rested with the Fitz-Hughs, it
came into the hands of the Sovereign, and the several estates
were held directly from the Crown. As prosperity asserted
itself, the tenants became desirous of the enfranchisement of
their lands; and, in 1629, the manor was made over by Letters
Patent to certain of them, in trust for the rest. The arrange-
ment, probably in consequence of the unsettled condition of
the times, was not completed, and during the Commonwealth
an individual of the name of Parsons enjoyed the manorial
rights. At the Restoration Charles II. resimied his own, and
granted the manor, with all its rights, to Sir Allen Apsley,
who had faithfully attended the King in his exile ; whereupon,
in 1670, Sir Allen, in turn, sold the manor to Richard Trotter,
of High Hall, and others, in trust for the tenants in general.
As in the case of Garsdale, the trustees seem to have been
reluctant to relax their grip on the deposit, but the tenants
succeeded in getting their due in the end, and the land
became freehold, as it is at this day.*

The lower part of the dale is a broad, beautiful, and well-
wooded landscape, with its horizon determined on one side
by Rysell, and on the other by Holme Fell and the fine
precipice of Colm Scar. In the middle of this fertile alluvial
expanse, the Dee — one of the numerous streams of this name
which our Celtic ancestors invested with sacred attributes,
and designated accordingly — gently winds its devious course,
awaking at times, however, with unwonted energfy, and, in
spite of restraining banks, overflowing the adjacent fields.

*The later history of the manor is abridged from Professor Sedgwick's "Memorial,"
and was due, in the first instance, to the Rev. William Matthews, the first Incumbent of
Cowgill, who had had a legal training and was intimately acquainted with pie title-
deeds of lands in his Chapel ry.

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DENT.

249

The road, unfortunately, is hilly, though much improved in
this respect by the deviation, 1,122 yards in length, made by
the late Miss Elam in 1876, of which the traveller is apprised
by an inscribed granite memorial, erected by gfrateful land-
owners and inhabitants by the side of the road. Still more
recently another welcome deviation, in front of the residence
of Mr. R. Burra, the first County Councillor for the Ewecross
division of the West Riding, has contributed in some degree
to the same desirable result; though most persons will still
admit that there are stiff climbs enough, and to spare.

remaining for the levellers of a future age. Gate — the hand-
some mansion of Mr. Burra— deserves a passing recognition
as a recent alteration, restoration, and development in a
massive style, admirably in keeping with — though, of course,
far surpassing — some of the older and more important houses
in the dale. On the opposite side of the valley is Brackens
Gill, which, in the rainy season, exhibits a far-conspicuous

F2

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250 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Streak of white foam, as the water is dashed from ledge to
ledge down the side of Holme Fell. Nearer the town we
skirt a hill, on the top of which is seated, out of sight, the
ancient cluster of homesteads called Gawthrop. Then passing
through and ignoring the town for the present, we find that
after sending off, laterally, the subsidiary valley of Deepdale,
between Gragreth (2,250 ft.) and Whemside (2,414 ft.), up the
steep ascent towards Kingsdale and its famous Yordas Cave,
the dale, eleven miles long, gradually contracts until it finally
terminates in a gorge and a mountain-pass. Here the
scenery, like that of Caledonia, is "stern and wild"; and as
the trains on the Settle and Carlisle Line scud along through
tunnels and over viaducts, hundreds of feet above the road,
we are brought face to face with some of the greatest
engineering triumphs of modem times, whereby an aerial
region has been opened out, which, fifty years ago, would
have been deemed inaccessible to the iron steed.

Turning up by Lea Yeat (Gate) past the old Quaker
Meeting-house — now considerably modernised in the course of
successive repairs, but owing its origin to the preaching of
George Fox, — a road, or rather an apology for a road, winds
up the breast of the mountain to Dent station. The traveller
who here sets "a stout heart to a stee brae," and hastens,
as all Englishmen nowadays do hapten, to catch his train,
had needs be encumbered with but small appurtenances of
personal luggage. Once arrived on the breezy platform, he
may have time to observe the provision of gigantic palisades
of uplifted sleepers, intended to check the snowdrifts which
at times accumulate alarmingly in this region, and have
been known to delay imprisoned passengers for hours.

But we do not want to take the train, so, if you please,
we will descend to the neighbourhood of the Dee once more.

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DENT. 25 1

Terrible storms of rain and snow have been experienced now
and again in this part of the dale, when the stream, unable
to carry oflf the downpour in its ordinary channel, has spread
devastation all around. A fearful thunderstorm and flood
occurred on July 9th, 1870, during the construction of the
railroad. Suddenly an ominous canopy of black clouds
lowered over the tunnel at Dent-head. Flash succeeded
flash, and "Heaven's dread artillery" reverberated fearfully,
when, with scarce a minute's warning, the rain began and
continued to descend, as if from a water-spout, for two hours
unceasingly. Five miners were working in the tunnel, about
forty yards from the entrance, when the sudden inrush of
water filled the heading before two of them could escape.
When assistance arrived, one brave fellow swam up the
tunnel, now filled with water to within two feet of the roof,
and found one of the unfortunate workmen — ^the other had
sunk already — standing with only his nose and the top of his
head above the water, and his fingers applied to his ears, to
keep, as he afterwards expressed it, the water out of his head.
The swimmer returned for a raft, and pushing it up the tunnel
before him placed the poor fellow, more dead than alive, upon
it. In the valley three stone bridges and four wooden ones,
with miles of highroad, were washed away. The spectacle
of a regatta of uprooted trees, balks of timber, and railway
plant of all descriptions, interspersed with carts, wheelbarrows,
and even pigs and poultry, would have been picturesque and
amusing if it had not been so terribly pathetic and real. One
little fellow was caught by the flood and carried away, and
next morning a tiny hand, projecting from beneath stones
and sand, seemed like a mute appeal to Heaven for the
help which it was too late for man to render.

The mention of this flood naturally reminds us of an

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252 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

earlier calamity of a somewhat similar kind, which Professor
Sedgfwick's graphic account, in his " Memorial," has rendered
in a manner historical. On that occasion, however, it was
frost and snow, in combination with water, which did the
mischief. In January, 1752, an enormous fall of snow follow-
ing a hard frost, had choked the gills and packed together a
huge obstruction, which, when the thaw set in and the rain
fell copiously, had to be dislodged and driven down bodily
before the stream could find its natural vent. These masses —
avalanches in miniature — were forced down as with the noise
of thunder into the plains below, overwhelming everything
before them. One house, near Dale-head, was levelled to the
ground, and seven persons in it were crushed to death. The
incident was impressive, and the Rev. Mark Rumney, who
wcis Curate of Dent at the time, hcis recorded it, in Latin, in
the register of burials. Professor Sedgfwick, who heard the
story from his father, who, as a boy of sixteen, had visited
the scene of the disaster, infers, from the use of the local
term *g^ll-brack' to describe the phenomenon, that it must
have been well known in the past history of the dale.

Black marble has been quarried in Dent, as well as cut
and polished at the Stone-House works, for considerably over
a century. It crops out near the present imposing viaduct,
in a bed fourteen inches thick. This is called "the good bed,"
and when free from shakes, white-thread, and fossils, is of a
very superior quality. Under this seam lies the millstone
bed, from which large millstones, 7^ feet in diameter, suitable
for grinding powder, have been obtained. Very beautiiid fossil
marble of the encrinital pattern, l3dng at an elevation of
1,600 or 1,700 feet, has also been found in many places in
the dale, and is now quarried at ITie Binks, on Great Colm.
Since the removal of the heavy tariff on imported marbles.

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DENT. 255

foreign competition has seriously depressed the native industry;
and the beautiful Italian styles are now obtainable at a price
so moderate, as almost to ruin the market for the English
product.

As we descend the valley by the road, which is always
within sight or sound of the river as it flows over its fantas-
tically worn limestone bed, the little bridge over Cowgill
Beck informs us that it was "repaired at the charge of the
West Riding, A.D. 1702." Immediately after crossing it we
are at St. John's Church, now a vicarage under the care of
the Rev. Robert Pickering, but originally built, in 1837, as a
Chapel-of-Ease to Dent. Previously, an old chapel, with a
burial-ground attached, existed here, belonging to the Sande*
manians, a colony from Gayle (near Hawes), where there is
still a meeting-house with several members. At Cowgill
George Whitefield preached, and while he wcis thus engaged
some persons of the baser sort ungenerously requited him by
cutting off his horse's tail. In the disused chapel Mrs. Sedg-
wick, wife of the Incumbent of Dent, was wont to hold a
short service on Sunday afternoons; and it was chiefly
through her exertions that the present Church was built, to the
endowment of which the late Miss Elam has since liberally
contributed. Of the troubles which arose in the assignment
of a district, it will be convenient to speak later on.

About a mile and a half further down we come to Gibs
Hall, a picturesque old house by the road-side, which has
been invested with unusual interest by Mary Howitt's " Hope
on, Hope Ever!" — a story with touches of idyllic brightness
and tenderness, and a life-like portraiture of country ways,
which may be accounted for by her relationship to a Dent
family of the name of Alderson, and by her intimate
acquaintance with the locality, in consequence. She has

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SEDBKRGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

done for this portion of Dent, under the guise of fiction,
what William Howitt, her husband, did for the dale generally
by his exact description of it, in his " Rural Life of England"
(1838). It will be well remembered that when Andrew Law,

Master (for the purpose of the story) of the Free School at
Dent-town, had been separated by death from his dearly-
loved wife, Dorothea, and had given up the profession of

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pell SaaUroi).

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DENT. 255

teaching to devote himself entirely to the child of their affec-
tions, he transferred his home to " the house-end at Gibb's
Ha'." With Gibs Hall, a short time previously, he had had
strangely-mingled experiences of sorrow and joy; for there
he had sympathised with the parents of Little Johnny
Swithenbank, his favourite pupil, drowned while crossing the
stream above Hell Caldron ; and there and then he had first
seen Dorothea Zelter, the ministering angel who was destined
to brighten his home for one brief year or so. And now, in
his own great trouble, he took refuge at Gibs Hall, with
Christie and Alice Swithenbank, whose bereavement, still an
unhealed wound, could not fail to make them tender towards
his own. But, apart altogether from the interest of the story.
Hell Caldron, which lies opposite to Gibs Hall, is well worth
a visit. After scooping out in the limestone deep holes,
which popular fancy has dignified with such names as "the
font" and "the pulpit," the stream swirls over a ledge into
a gloomy abyss of great depth. The chasm is surrounded by
high, rocky, tree-clad banks, and the name, if not euphonious,
is felt. to be appropriate. When the river is swollen, the rush
and eddying of the waters are tumultuous ; and in dry weather
the waterfall, with its dark, rock-girt pool below, has many
attractive features. At the best of times, however, the place
is somewhat difficult of approach, and only vigorous limbs
and steady nerves should venture on a close acquaintance.

With the exception of the ten stone pillars on the height
above Gibs Hall, which an unrestrained imagination might
take for petrified aborigines rather than for piles of refuse
firom a sandstone quarry, there is nothing to stay our course
until we enter the paved zigzag street of the old town of
Dent, still true to the description which Hartley Coleridge
gave of it fifty years ago —

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256

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

There is a town, of little note or praise ;
Narrow and winding are its rattling streets,
Where cart with cart in cumbrous conflict meets;
Hard straining up or backing down the ways
Where, insecure, the crawling infant plays ;
And the nigh savour of the hissing sweets
Of pan or humming oveu, rankly greets
The hungry nose that threads the sinuous maze."

a)(?nK

The necessary outfit of an old English village — the slocks
and market-cross — has long been removed; and the outside
staircases and galleries, which established ready communica-
tion between the occupants of the upper floors, are now
invisible. Quaint signboards do not dangle across the streets,
as in the palmy days of old ; and picturesque originality, in
this respect, is concentrated on the irradiated features which
promise to thirsty travellers the " Best Ale under the Sun."
They are not, perhaps, the supremely handsome lineaments tra-
ditionally associated with Apollo, but they have the homely,
ruddy plumpness which befits a healthy country luminary.
Old gentlemen in knee-breeches and cocked hats, with full-

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DENT, 257

bottomed wigs and shoe-buckles to match, do not cross our
path. Even the " terrible knitters/* immortalised by Southey,
are fast vanishing away; and though curiously-adorned
woollen gloves are still turned out for favoured customers by
one or two ingenious dames, the faculty of fancy-knitting
will, probably, in another generation have departed to join
the lost arts. But, in spite of all changes, Dent-town, with its
alternations of * house' and outhouse, and its irregular turns
and twists up lateral lanes and alleys, could never be mistaken
for the prim artificiality of a newfangled modem village. A
ripple of animation spreads over the surface once a week,
on Tuesday, the market-day; and the annual fair, on the
Saturday after Whit-week, sees the street thronged with a
lively muster of pleasure-seekers from miles around.

The Independents and Wesleyans have Chapels, and there
is a National School and a Reading-room ; but the two most
interesting institutions are the Church and the Grammar
School. Taking the latter first, it is to be observed that it
dates from the first year of James I. (1603), who conferred
upon it a charter, after it had been built and endowed by the
liberality of thriving dalesmen. The staff was to consist of
a master and an usher, and the general direction was reposed
in a body of fifteen governors. The funds do not seem to have
been administered, from the outset, with the best regard to
future development, or it might have been a more flourishing
foimdation than it is. The School is a plain unpretentious
building, and, like most grammar-schools, it formerly consisted
of an upper and a lower room. Many dalesmen have passed
through it to honour and usefulness, though none has climbed
the ladder of distinction so high as Adam Sedgwick —
"Adam o' the Parson's" then — who received the rudiments of
instruction within its walls. It was afterwards taught for a

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258 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

time by his father, until the loss of sight obliged him to
retire; and the future Professor himself had a narrow escape
from becoming its Master. It is now ably conducted by
Mr. George Swift.

From the street to the churchyard is only a step, but the
convenient proximity of the final resting-place does not seem
to have attracted the natives to its cold embrace before their
time. Indeed, the longevity of the people of Dent has been,
and still is, remarkable. The frequently quoted instance of
the father and son, who, in 1664, were subpoenaed from the
dale to the assizes at York, the one in the 140th year of his
age, and the other over 100, seems almost incredible in these
degenerate days; but there is in the Register of Burials,
under the year 18 17, a record of the interment of Elizabeth
King, of Stone House, at the age of iii — the figures being
repeated in words, to show that there was no mistake. At
the very entrance to the Church we walk over the mortal
remains of George Hodgson, who departed this life in 17 15,
at the respectable age of ninety-four. Seven reigns and the
Commonwealth — ^think what a chapter this would have been,
if the recollections of George Hodgson could have been
embodied in it! The salubrity of the climate and the dura-
bility of the inhabitants, are still further evinced by the ages
on the mural tablets inside; and there was present at the
re-opening of the Church, in 1890, a fine hale dalesman, still
living and lively, who is fast progressing towards his one
hundred years.

The Church has recently undergone a thorough restoration,
at a cost of £2^700. It was presumably erected in the twelfth
or thirteenth century, and probably shared the fortune of its
mother, at Sedbergh, in being attached to the abbey at
Coverham. After the dissolution of the monasteries, it is said

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DENT. 259

to have fallen into a neglected and ruined condition, from
which it was rescued by the energy of the dalesmen them-
selves. Whether it is owing to this circumstance that the
patronage of the living is uniquely exercised by twenty-four
sidesmen, or whether the sidesmen themselves are an abnormal
survival and development of a select vestry, is more than I
can say ; but they have recently had an opportunity of show-
ing how an appointment by so numerous a body is con-
ducted, and their choice has eventually rested upon the
Rev. J. A- Hayden.

Among past Incumbents both the father and brother of
Professor Sedgwick are numbered; and he was himself born
at the old Parsonage, which remains practically unaltered
since that day. Of the father, the Professor has inscribed on
his tablet, that " he lived among his flock for fifty-four years,
revered as their pastor, and loved as their brother;" and of
the brother it is similarly recorded, that "his manners and
temper were gentle and kind, and endeared him to all who
were under his pastoral care." Another monument, north of
the chancel door, is that of the Rev. Mark Rumney, whom
we have already encountered as the registrar of the "gill-
brack " catastrophe. The name " Rumney " alone remains
to identify it with the memory of the staunch Jacobite and
high-church clergyman of the old school, who is stated to
have been impatient of Dissent, and to have let slip no
opportunity of making emphatic use of the words heterodoxy
and orthodoxy in some part of his sermon. His monument
is fast following the example of the corresponding one on
the other side of the door, which is now as uncommunica-
tive as total obliteration can make it. Of the memorials
outside the Church, I have not observed any that is specially
noteworthy, unless it be one to the memory of Edward

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SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Fawcett, B.A., who died in 1687. He probably received his
education at the Grammar School close by; and some Latin
lines inform us that he practised the healing art in his
younger years, and that he was a good friend and neigh-
bour, and fond of his native place. Grenealogical inquirers
have satisfied themselves that he belonged to a family fi"om
a branch of which sprang the late distinguished Postmaster-
Greneral, Professor Henry Fawcett.

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DENT. 261

The nave and its aisles are in the later pointed
Norman style. The high equilateral arches rest on round
piers in the nave, and on octagonal ones in the choir. A
piscina recently uncovered, near the chancel door, indicates
the eastward limit of the pre-Reformation Church; and the
debased character of the chancel, referred by experts to the
middle of the sixteenth century, suggests the period at which
the lengthening took place. Some of the piers and capitals
have been mutilated, as if they had furnished rests for a
rood-loft or other separation between nave and chancel. The
fine large five-light east window, with its embattled transom,
is a conspicuous feature. A recess in the south wall, opposite
the entrance, marks the former existence of a door leading ta
the Grammar School, where the corresponding doorway has
also been built up.

The remarks and recollections of Professor Sedgwick are
too valuable to be omitted here.

*' At the east end of the north aisle," he says, '* a few steps led to an old
" Chapel of the Virgin Mary, which still, 1 am informed, retains the name
" of the Lady-loft. It had been, of course, stripped of its altar at the time
** of the Reformation ; and I need not tell my friends that it has long been
"partly used as a Vestry. But within the time of my earliest memory
''there was, in the Church, a Rood-screen and a Rood-loft; which was
''taken down I believe full eighty years since; and there was some curious
" tabernacle-work, which ran on the south side of the chancel and bounded
"a south chancel-aisle. All these decorations were cut off and removed,
"soon after the Rood-screen and its Loft. These changes may perhaps
"have been of some benefit to the Chancel Pews (all built after the
"Reformation); but they were a grievous injury to the architectural beauty
"of the Church.

" Other changes — begun a year or two before the time above-mentioned,
" called improvements, and made at a great cost — ^were still more fatal ta
"the beauty of the Church. A fine old tower, that might have stood for
" centuries, was taken down ; and in its place rose the present short clumsy

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262 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

** tower — worthless in design ; but, perhaps, claiming some kind regard by
**the music of its six sweet bells. Then followed the destruction of the
** Church-battlements and Clerestory, and the substitution of Kirk-bank
"slate for the ancient roofing of lead — to the ruin of all exterior beauty
•*and symmetry. And this bad taste was carried into the Church, by the
''construction of the horizontal ceiling, which covers the middle aisle and
" violates the whole internal design of the Church. All the above changes
**were carried out in the course of five or six years— commencing, if I
''mistake not, about the year 1785."

The latter part of the preceding extract gives a vivid
description of the condition of the Church as it appeared a
few years ago. The battlements and clerestory, however, have
now been replaced, and the ceiling and whitewash everywhere
removed; the timbers of the roof have been most tastefully
renewed ; marble, native and foreign, adorns the chancel floor ;
and if the "six sweet bells," instead of being regelated by
a mechanical contrivance, could be rung by hearty lovers of
campanology, the maximum of outward completeness would
seem to have been attained. The Church, whose trans-
formation was beheld with admiration by an overflowing
congregation, was re-opened on February 14th, 1890, by the
Bishop of Richmond, who, in the course of an eloquent and
appropriate sermon, pointed the moral of the life of the great
geologist and noble-hearted dalesman whose words I have
just been quoting.

Previous to the restoration there was a unique collection
of carved pews all over the Church, with dates chiefly from
the later years of the seventeenth century. They bore witness
to the former prosperity of the dale, when the statesmen
seem to have vied with each other in the adornment of their
sittings. The removal of these characteristic relics of a
bygone era was a sore trial to many. They have the satis-
faction, however, of knowing, that in deference to their senti-

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DENT.

26j

ments, siBveral specimens of the old pews have been preserved,
and concentrated chiefly at the east end of the south aisle.
The pulpit was a cumbrous three-decker, and stood about
half-way down the Church. The upper storey — dated 1614 and
initialled * M. T.' — was removed to its present position, and
retained as sufficient for modem requirements. The rickety
gallery at the west end has disappeared from view, and the
lion and unicorn, painted in 1792, when George the Third
was King, now ramp in obscurity above the chief door.

cr==- —

The old oak shelves, from which the Sunday loaves of
Thomas Willan and Joseph Buttermire have been dispensed
since 1657 ^^^ ^7^5 respectively, are still in use. The other

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264 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

part of Thomas Willan's bequest, supplemented by later
donors, forms a considerable fund for the distribution of
calico and flannel to the poor on St. Thomas' Day. Dent is
rich in charities, but I need only particularise the Hall-bank
estate of eighty-three acres, with a large allotment left by
Thomas Thistlethwaite, in 1637, ^-nd vested in six of the
principal inhabitants as trustees, for the benefit of the poorer
dalesmen.

Before we leave the precincts of the Church, I may be
permitted to give the result of my examination of an old
book of parish accounts, commencing in 1751, and kindly
submitted to my inspection by the churchwardens.

The regular accounts are preceded by a list of articles
purchased for the use of the workhouse since May ist, 1733.
It enumerates, among other items, in the original spelling,
a * racking,' an *as board,* a ^girdale,' a * backboard,' a
*happin,' a ' brandereth,' a *quesson,* a 'pigen,' a * swill,'
and a pair of *standiges' — words familiar to most natives
at the present day, but for which strangers, who need an
interpreter, may consult the List at the end.

Plunging in among churchwardens, constables, and over-
seers, 140 years ago, we see the machinery for parochial
regulation in full swing. I select a few samples fi-om the
accounts of each of the three classes of officials.

The churchwardens had an annual outing to Kendal at
the time of the Visitation. " Eight men to Kendal, 8^.," is
the stereotyped mode of describing the jaunt. A mysterious
personage styled " pariter" carries off a fee. Haply he is the
Bishop's apparitor. The quantity of sacramental wine con-
sumed in a year, on a few occasions, would be appalling,
if we did not remember that all parishioners were boimd to
communicate three times a year, and that they would naturally

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DENT. 265

select the great festivals for this observance. The items on
this account, in 1760, are: — three quarts on Whitsunday, seven
at Michaelmas, six at Christmas, and four gallons at Easter.
Quarts and gallons are mentioned till 1783, when we begin
to hear of bottles. The dog-whipper was in receipt of a
regular salary of 8^. Sd. until 1801, after which date he dis-
appears from the accounts. For " stopping drops " a plumber
was recompensed with sums varying, we may presume,
according to the number of drops prevented; and when his
vigilance had fairly excluded the intruders, he was paid for
"seeking drops." Now and then a new pitch-pipe is wanted;
occasionally the plate and linen have to be "scoured;" and
sometimes the " serpcloth " (surplice) requires to be mended.
In 1809 Thomas Metcalfe was paid £1 for "clarking," and
3^. 6d. for " giving out salms." The supplemental payment
was most likely a tribute to the musical talent displayed by
the clerk in starting and leading the psalms from the
metrical version of Tate and Brady. In 1754 there were
expenses " when the church was * fest ' to be roughcast ;"
but in 1787-8 the tower was rebuilt, and the churchwardens
were allowed £1 apiece both years for excessive trouble. The
remuneration of vermin-killers seems scarcely, at first sight,
an ecclesiastical function; but when church-doors were the
most eligible medium of publicity, the heads of foxes, and
other obnoxious creatures, used to be nailed to them, that all
might take note of what was being done in this direction
for the general advantage. Even when this mode of enlighten-
ing the community was given up, churchwardens, as the
accredited representatives of the parish, continued to testify-
to the due execution of these pests. In Dent the graduated
scale of reward was 4^. a " head " for a fox, and 2s. for a cub ;
Sd. for an old foumart, 4^. for a young one, and 2d. for a

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266 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

raven. In 1824 great slaughter was committed among the
foumarts, twenty-two seniors and five jimiors being duly
presented and paid for. In i860 Thomas Fawcett received
his 8d. for one specimen, after which the foumarts wotild
seem either to have ceased to be troublesome, or to have
happened on a more tolerant age.

The Constables' Accounts show that Garsdale and Dent
joined at expenses under this head, the " Garsdale propor-
tion" being reckoned at one-fourth of the total. Garsdale
stocks were repaired in 1755; and ten years later Dent spent
7^. 2d. on its own account for new ones, and mended the market-
cross in 1782. There are numerous items in connection with
the "Militia List" and "Army Men;" and there is mention,
in 1776, of a disappointing "journey to Skipton when Ale-
License Sessions should have been, and there was no Justices.''
The conveyance of jurymen to York, Skipton, and elsewhere,
was an expensive duty, but Dent paid such charges patriot-
ically, and did not, like Sedbergh, plead distance and poverty.

The overseers frequently assisted poor persons with rent
and peats. At the "Letting of the Poor," and indeed on all
conceivable occasions, much ale was consumed, and seems
to have been paid for without demur. In 1758 there were
eleven parish apprentices put out to inhabitants of Dent,
and ;^io was paid with each. In 1774 Margaret Burton,
midwife, had is. as " earnest of her bargain ;" and in the
following year the same enterprising dame received a guinea
"for la3dng poor women" — a use of the verb ^ lay which I
commend to the notice of the editor of the New English
Dictionary.

The subject-matter of this chapter has now narrowed
itself to a notice of the great personality on whose account
Dent is best known to the world, and whose memory pervades

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DENT.

267

the dale. A tablet in the Church recounts the leading dis-
tinctions in his life: —

** In Memory of the Reverend Adam Sedgwick, LL.D., Canon of
** Norwich, Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and for fifty-five
** years Woodwardian Professor of Geology. Born March 22, 1785. Died
"January 27, 1873. His University claimed his life's labour; but though
*• removed for the greatest part of his life from his beloved birth-dale, his
"love for it was always fresh, and he ever revisited it with increasing affec-

** tion Baptized in this Church ; buried in the Chapel of Trinity

" College, Cambridge/'

Adam Sedgwick.

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268 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

His eminence as one of the founders of the science of
geology, it would be impertinent for me to dilate on. The
colossal biography by Messrs. Clark & Hughes, long expected
and lately given to the public, has set forth this and other
aspects of his many-sided character in the fullest detail.
His wit and wisdom, his love for children, his inspiriting
enthusiasm, his spontaneous eloquence, his scientific achieve-
ments, and his unfaltering faith, are there depicted on the
broadest canvas. Several references to his connection with our
dales have occurred in the previous pages, and all I would
venture to do now is to touch upon one or two matters of
local relevancy.

At the age of sixteen Adam Sedgwick was sent to Sed-
bergh School, and left it for College in 1803 — the year
appended to his name cut on a stone in the south wall of
the School. In 1808 he took his degree, and the year was
remarkable for the number of men from the neighbourhood
of Sedbergh who gained the highest mathematical honours.
At the head of the list, as Senior Wrangler, was Bickersteth,
of Kirkby Lonsdale, afterwards distinguished as a lawyer, and
raised to the peerage as Lord Langdale. Next to him came
Bland, Sedgwick's old friend and schoolfellow; and fifth in
the series was Sedgwick himself. In 1847 Prince Albert was
elected Chancellor of the University, and Sedgwick was
appointed his secretary. An invitation to visit the Queen,
at Osborne, speedily followed ; and this, and other interviews,
established the Professor in the favour of Royalty, and had
important consequences in the etymological crusade in which,
as a trustee of Cowgill Chapel, he had afterwards occasion to
engage.

The circumstances were these. In 1837 Sedgwick laid the
foundation-stone of Cowgill Chapel, in the upper part of the

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DENT. 269

valley of Dent. It was a proud day in his life, and he spoke
eloquently and impressively to the people assembled. Next
year the Chapel was consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon, and
his secretary carried away the trust-deeds and the map on
which the district of the Chapel was defined, for the purpose
of registration. This good intention, however, owing to some
unaccountable omission, was not carried into effect; and in
1864 Sedgwick and his co-trustees discovered, to their con-
sternation, that both their own patronage and the right of
the Chapel to a district, had been forfeited in consequence.
They had to do the best they could under the circumstances.
The patronage they cheerfully transferred to the Bishop ; and
they obtained from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners the
re-appointment of a district. The negotiations had been
entrusted to the Rev. Joseph Sumner, the Curate of Cowgill.
His cure being situate in Kirthwaite, one of the five hamlets
composing the township of Dent, Mr. Sumner, smitten with
the desire of turning what he conceived to be the true
meaning of the name to good account, quietly allowed the
Commissioners, in their award, to substitute for the "Chapelry
of Cowgill," the title, "Chapelry of Kir>&thwaite." It was
bad enough that Cogill had become Cowgill, in the course of
unauthorised verbal transformation, and that Sedgwick's own
name of Sidgwick (locally pronounced Sigzik) could be proved
to have been changed by his great-uncle, at the suggestion
of the Master of Sedbergh School, into the "Cyclopic" or
one-"i"-ed form. Fresh tampering with local nomenclature
was not likely to find favour in his eyes, especially when the
result was to destroy pleasing associations with the ecclesi-
astical history of Cowgill ; and when he read the award, and
saw what had been done, he was very justly indignant. • The
thing might seem but a storm in a teacup to the outside

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270 SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

world: it was not so to him. He had been the victim of
mistaken etymology in his own person, and he was not going
to sit down quietly with this fresh attempt to deform the old
names. He set himself to compose a long and learned
"Memorial by the Trustees of Cowgill Chapel" to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in which the changes introduced
into the award by Mr. Sumner, without the knowledge of the
trustees, were shown to be at once distasteful to themselves,
and grounded in error. Such was the origin of the delightful
** Memorial," which the author got printed for distribution
among his friends and fellow-dalesmen. In his own discur-
sive way, he embellished it with all kinds of interesting
local reminiscences and disquisitions. The book is now diffi-
cult to meet with, and one would hope that it may some
day be reprinted in its entirety, for the gratification of the
many admirers of the man and the dale. The Memorial
failed to obtain any redress from the Commissioners — it was
beyond their power to grant it — ^but what then? — the writer
had delivered his soul.

Kirthwaite or Kirkthwaite— cattle-clearing (Norse Kyr^ kine)
or church-clearing — this is the question. Sedgwick espouses
the side of the cattle, and shows that in the oldest local
records, as in the uniform pronunciation of the inhabitants,
the name is Kirthwaite. In his eagerness to expel the
intrusive ky he somewhat overstated his case in the first
instance, not being aware till afterwards that there were
several examples in the old documents of the alternative
spelling, Kirkthwaite. Still he maintained that the prepon-
derance of evidence was in favour of Kirthwaite. The oldest
documents exhibit this spelling, and there was no tradition of
any ancient church in the hamlet. An etymologically-minded
attorney would be apt to slip in the k^ and one such exemplar

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DENT. 271

would serve as the archetype of many succeeding ones. This,
I presume, would have been the answer of the Professor to
fresh instances — not really old — of the Kir^thwaite ortho-
graphy, such as those on pages 16 and 22 of the Bishop
of Barrow's pamphlet on "The Ancient Parish of Kirkby
Lonsdale," which do not go higher, at the earliest, than 1759-
The question is too knotty for me, or perhaps for anyone, to
settle decisively one way or the other. Personally, I lean to
the Professor; but the only contribution I can make to the
discussion — a contribution, however, which I think supports his
contention — is the production of another Klirthwaite. In the
reigfn of Edward I. there were rival claimants to the tithes of
two parcels of land, called Lynthwaite and Kyrethwaite, in
the forest of Inglewood and in the parish of Aspatria, which
parcels had been recently assarted or cleared.* So far as I
can learn, there is no tradition of the existence of a church
at this Kyrethwaite, or Curthwaite, as it is now called; and
from the fact that the groxmd had been only recently cleared,
it seems probable that cattle, and not churchmen, had been
its principal inhabitants previously.

But the story had an excellent ending. Two years after
the appearance of the green-backed "Memorial" — green was
the favourite hue of a child's dress in Dent in the old-
fashioned days — there came forth a still thinner volume,
similarly clad, and designated a "Supplement to the Memo-
rial." This, too, was full of recollections of men and manners
as they were in the writer's youth ; but the cause of the
resumption of the subject was to be found in the title of the
first section — " Restoration of the true Name to the District
Chapelry of Cowgill." A copy of the Memorial had found

• Transactions of the Cumbd. and Westmd. Archaeological Society, vol. ii., p. 341-

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272

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

its way to the Deanery at Westminster, and into the hands
of Lady Augusta Stanley, who speedily apprised the Professor
that the Queen, too, would like to see one. Her Majesty was
impressed with the reasonableness of the complaint, and

.^.

/^'^

graciously intimated that the Archbishop of York should be
communicated with, in order that a new Council might be
held. But it was found that Parliament must first have its
say in the matter. Accordingly, a Bill was introduced by
the Archbishop in the House of Lords ; Mr. Gladstone sup-

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DENT. 273

ported it in the Commons, and eventually, in July, 1869, there
passed, perhaps, the shortest Act of this reign, whereby the
" District Chapelry of Kirkthwaite " was consigned to its
original nonentity, and the "District Chapelry of Cowgill"
was reinstated henceforth in its rightful place.

Adam Sedgwick was at this time eighty-four years of
age, encumbered with infirmities, but capable of dictating
from his arm-chair what another might write; and it was
a great surprise, as well as a great happiness, to him to find
his wishes respected, and his legitimate desires gratified, by
the highest in the land. The rest is soon told. At the
venerable age of eighty-eight, in the full assurance of a
Christian's faith, the great dalesman died at Trinity College,
having "built himself an everlasting name," and left behind
him "footprints on the sands of time;"

*' Footprints that, perhaps, another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again."

The fame of the great geologist has eclipsed that of any
other of our native worthies, though, as we have seen, he is
far from being the only instance of extraordinary intellectual
vigour and practical usefulness which the valleys of " Sedbergh,
Garsdale, and Dent " have contributed to the sum total of the
national enrichment. Through the instrumentality of home
and school and tutor, the three dales may jointly claim to have
borne a part in his development, and to be entitled to their
proportion of interest in his renown; but it is undoubtedly
right that with his beloved birthplace his name should be
most intimately identified. A singular, but not inappropriate
memorial marks this association at Dent. A plain block of
Shap gfranite, through which flows the water-supply of
12

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274

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

the town, is inscribed "Adam Sedgwick." It matches the
simplicity of the town better than any architectural embellish-
ment would have done; and it recalls to the imagination
those traits of character so admirably referred to by Professor
Selwyn, when speaking of his departed friend, at Cambridge: —

** He was a most primitive man — of the solid, ancient rock of humanity.
*• He appears like a great boulder-stone of granite, such as he describes,
" transported from Shap Fell over the hills of Yorkshire, dropped here in our
** lowland country, and here fixed for life; primitive in his name, Adam ;
** primitive in his nature; in his noble, rugged simplicity; a dalesman of
"the north; primitive in his love of all ancient good things and ways;
** primitive in his love of nature, and of his native rock from which he was
** hewn ; primitive in his loyalty to truth, and hatred of everything false and
'* mean; a heart, if ever there was one, that 'turned upon the poles of truth.* "

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INDEX.

Acreage, 194

Agricola, 20, 23

Aidan, 29

Albini, Nigel de, 44

Aiom, 23

Antoninus, The Tenth Iter of, 21

Apprentice's Indentures, 172

Apsley, Sir Allen, 248

Archer, Mabel, Will of, 96

Ascham, Roger, 119, 120

Aykfrith, 46

Barbon, 22, 42, 43, 238

Barwick, John, D.D., 59, 62-65, 127, 128

Peter, M.D., 62, 127, 129

Batty, Alderman, 208

Baugh Fell, 105, 196, 199, 217-220

Beckside Hall, 59

Bell, John (or "Jockey"), 237, 240

Berkeley, James Lord, 45

Birkbeck, George, M.D., 238

Birks Mill, 209, 210

Black Force; 36, 216

"Black Horee," The, 212

Blaikling, John, 213

Bland, Family of, 108

John, martyr, 56, 57

Miles, 108, 237, 268

Bluecaster, 24, 47, 199
Borrow Bridge, 22, 23
Borwens^ 22, 25, 214
Botany, 218
Bowes, Lady, 228
Brackens Gill, 249
Braithwait, Richard, 231
Bremeionaca^ 2i

Brigantes, 19, 20
Brigflatts, 68, 71
Brimhaw, 208
Bun Row, 175
Burhf A Saxon, 30
Burton-in-Lonsdale, 32, 44, 45, 78
Buttermire, Joseph, 263
Byland Abbey, 44

Cambridge, Duke of, in Garsdale, 229
Capplethwaite, 127, 128, 143, 213
Casterton, 22, 30, 42, 43, 238
Castlehaw, Castle How, or Castlehaw Tower,

25, 30. 217
Castley, 135, 143
Cautley, 84, 88, 215

Church, 200

Crag, 196, 217

Spout, 199, 218

Celts, The, 19

Charities— Sedbergh, 83, 84, 173, 174

Dent, 263, 264
Church Land, 230
Church Light, 100, 122
Civil War, The, and the Restoration, 58-66
Clapham, 30, 43, 79
Clobery, Colonel, 60
Clough, The, 198, 220, 232
Coaching-days, 166-168
Cockersand Abbey, 51
Cock-penny, 152-154
Coke, Wm., Chaplain, Garsdale, 228
Coleridge, Hartley, 145-147, 255
Commons, Enclosure of, 194
Conishead Priory, 51
Cornmarket at Sedbergh, 187

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276

SEDBERGH, GARSDAXE, AND DENT.

Coverham Abbey, 50, 51, 80, 113, 230

Cowgill Church, 253, 268, 269

Croft, Leonard, 105

Cromwell, Oliver, 63

Cumberland, Duke of, 75

Cust, Ven. Edwards, Archdeacon, 79

Dalesmen, their traits, mode of life, and

dialect, 1 81-193
Dandra Garth, 228
Danes, The, 28, 34-37
Dawson, Dr., 106, 111,233-239

his Senior Wranglers, 237

Dawson's Rock, 234

Dee, The, 198, 199, 210, 248

Deepdale, 250

Deepmire, 100, 122

Deira, 28, 29

Dent, 65, 214, 246-248

manor, 247, 248

storms and floods, 251, 252

marble and marble works, 252

Cowgill Church, 253

Gibs Hall and Hell Caldron, 253-255

Dent-town, 256, 257

Grammar School, 257

longevity, 258

Church, 78, 258-264

restoration, 258, 262

patronage, 259

monuments, 259, 260

architecture, 261

Dewsbury, William, 73

Domesday Book, 32, 35, 42, 43, 247

Doukergill (or Dovecote Gill) Cave, 202

Draw-well, 213

"Drunken Bamaby*s Journal," 231, 232

Ducking-stool, 171

"Duke's Head," The, 75

Edward VI., 114, 120-122
Elam, John, J.P., 175

Miss Lucy, 249, 253

Elizabeth, Queen, 165
EvrvUscirCy 41

Ewecross, Wapentake of, 35, 78
E)^e, Governor, 144

Fairs and Market-days —

Sedbergh, 177 ; Dent, 257
Fawcett, John, 83, 85
Field -names. Curious, 214
Finkle Street, 36
Firbank, 105

Old Chapel, 70, 71

Fell, View from, 197, 198

Knott, 69

Fitz-Alan, Ralph, 225
Fitz-Hugh, Family of, 46, 247 .
Fitz-Ranulph, Henry, 46, 225
Folk-lore, 190

Forster, Right Hon. W. E., 147
Foster, Robert, 180, 200-202, 212

Myles, 180

Birket, Mr., 180, 202

Fothergill, Anthony, M.D., 143

John, M.D., 142, 143

Fox, George, 66, 82, II2, 221

at Sedbergh, 68 ; at Firbank, 69 ;

at Brigflatts, 71 ; at Garsdale, 221 ;

at Dent, 250
Fox's Pulpit, 69
Funeral Customs, 190, 191

Gallow Hill, 213
Gamett, Thomas, M.D., 238
Garsdale, 65, 78, 214

manor, 46, 226, 228-230

Church, 225, 226, 229

chantry, 225, 228

flood, 232

Garth waite, Isabell, 227

Garway, Sir William, 229

"Gastile,"23i

Gate, 249

Gateside (Frostrow), 83, 85

Gawthrop, 36, 250

Geology, 217

Gibbet Hill, 213

Gibs Hall, 253, 255

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INDEX.

277

Gragreth, 218, 250
Grisedale, 221

Hall-garth, 27
Harcla, Andrew de, 48
Harrison, Reginald, 125

Francis, 174

Hastings, Lady Elizabeth, 162
Haygarth, John, M.D., 235, 240, 241
Hebblethwaite, Henry, 123

Hall, 180, 200-202

Heber, George, 65

Hell Caldron, 255

Helm Gill,-2I7

Henry VHI., 51, 55, 79, 80, 114, 120

Heronry, 210

Hill, The (or Hill Top), 143, 204

in Marthwaite, 212

Holgate, Archbishop, 119

Holme Fell, 196, 211, 218, 248, 250

Marmaduke, 105

Holmes, Richard, 174

Howgill, 24, 108, 145, 213-215, 219

Chapel and School, 214

Fells, 196, 217

Howitt, William, 70, 254

Mary, 253

Hymers, John, D.D., 144

Ibbetson, Julius Caesar, 148
Ingleborough, 32, 195, 196
Ingleton, 42, 43, 45, 98
Ingmire Hall, 61, 211
Inman, James, D.D., 237, 241-245

"Jack o' Dyers,'' 175

Jackson, Mr. Roger (Sheriff of Chester), 208

James I., 58, 228, 257

Jervaulx Abbey, 51, 54

Kendal, 36,41, 59, 75,77, 104, in, 127,

128, 214
Kershaw, Jonathan, 221
Killington New Bridge, 212
Kirkby Lonsdale, 21, 36, 41, 42, 48, 59, 60,

75, 77, 78, 87. 99* 104, 198, 268

Kirkby Stephen, 168, 169
Kirthwaite, 269-271, 273
Knoutberry Haw, 219

Lambert, General, 61

Langstone Fell, 220, 228, 241

Lea Yeat, 250

Lever, Thomas, quoted, 121

Lincoln's Inn Bridge, 213

Lockbank, 36

Lofthouse, 113, 115, 120, 122, 123, 125,

133, 139, 140, 186
Lonsdale, Hundred of, 35
Lord's Dub, 210
Lune, The, 18, 23, 25, 35, 41, 105, 196,

198, 212, 213
Lupton, Roger, D.D., 53, 57, 113-115, 123
Lupton and Hebblethwaite Scholarships,

114, 123

Mackereth, John and Anne, hi

Hill, 200

Magistrates, Scarcity of, 170
Maiden Way, 21
Manufactures, 180
March Hill, 30, 160
Market Cross, Sedbergh, 73, 74

Dent, 266

Marthwaite, 23, 30, 36

New Bridge, 23, 212

Matthews, Rev. William, 248
Middleton, 22, 25, 30, 42, 59
Middle Tongue, 186, 200
Millthrop, 26, 36, 90
Moister, Rev. William, 206
Monasteries, Dissolution of, 52
Monk, General, 60, 61, 64
Monteagle, Lord Edward, 45

Lord William, ib.

Monuments — Comey, 106

Dawson, 106, 240

Fawcett, 260

Mackereth, iii

Otway, 61, 47, 95

Palmer, iii

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278

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Monuments — Rose, 86

Rumney, 259

Sedgwick, 11 1, 259,267

Washington, no

Wharton, 107
Morland Family, 213
Morley, Lord, Edward Parker, 45
Mountains, Heights of, 196
Mowbray, Robert de, 44

Roger de, 44, 48, 78, 225 •

Thomas de, 44

Isabel de, 45

Nelson, Gilbert, and colleagues, 229

Abraham, 65

Normans, The, 38, 39
Norse immigration, 36

place-names, id,

Northmen, The, 34

Northumberland, Earldom of, abolished, 40

Northumbrian 29

Orton, 37

Otway, Roger, 46, 59

Sir John, 59, 6o» 61, 64, 128, 133, 134

Charles, LL.D., 83, 84, 105

Mary, 107

Braithwaite, 47, 95

George, 133, 139

Abigail, 60

Over Burrow, or Overborough, 21, 22, 32

Pack-horses, 166

Palmer, Thomas, 1 1 1

Paradise, 226

Pari;ih Accounts (Dent), 264-266

Picts and Scots, 21, 27

Pilgrimage of Grace, 53-55

"Pitchering," 231

Poor, Agreement for Letting the, 173, 266

Population, 179

Powell, Mr. F. S., M.P., 160

Priest- House, 226, 230, 233

Prosecution Association, 170

Rackenthwaite, 226, 230

Railways, Local —

Ingleton and Tebay, 168
Settle and Carlisle, 222, 250

Ratable Value, 194

Ravenstonedale, 19, 25, 29, 41, 143, 196

Rawthey, The, 23, 25, 84, 105, 171,
197-199, 209-212

Rawthey Bridge, 19, 20, 165

RaygiH. 233

Rebellions of 17 15 and 1745, 75

Redman (or Redmayne), Colonel, 60, 61

Richmond, Archdeacon of, 78, 113, 116

Riggs, The, 26, 166, 217

Riot Act read, 175

Ritter, James, to Lord Burleigh, quoted, 169

Roads, 166

Robinson, John, 214

Romans, The, 20, 21

Remains, 22-26

Rood Guild, 100, 122

Screen, 99

Rumney, Rev. Mark (Dent), 252, 259

Rysell, 196, 218, 222, 248

St. Agatha's Abbey, 50, 225

St. John's College, Cambridge, 114, I2I,

123, 124, 136, 141, 157
Sanctuary-men, 163-165
Sarthwaite Bridge, 126
Saxons, The, 27-31
** .Scotch Jean's,*' 212
Scroghouse, 83
Scrope, Sir Geoffrey, 49, 50
** Scrope's Lands," 50
Sedbar, Adam, abbot, 54
Sedbergh, 18, 42, 179, 194

name, 32, 33

manor, 44-46

remoteness, 166

town, 206, 207

Market-house and Reading-room, 149

Book Club, 169

Widows' Hospital, ill

reservoir, 204

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INDEX.

279

Sedbergh cemetery, 112

Union, 173

Public Hall, 205

Elementary Schools, 205

Chapels, ib,

reminiscences, 178, 179

Church, 44, 47, 78, 90, 91, 96

early patronage, 49, 50

restoration, 89

Sedbergh, distinguished pupils, 142-144

reminiscences, 149-155

New Scheme, 156-158

New School and Buildings, and

present condition, 160
Exhibitions, 16 1, 162

description, 90-92

architecture, 93-95> 97» 98

gallery, 98

rood-screen, 99

bells, 103

registers, 103

communion plate, 105

windows, 106

monuments, 106-111

yew-trees, 112

reminiscences, 98-102

Vicars^ 79-8i ; among whom—

Bateman, Wynne (also Master infrh)

Burton, Leonard, 82

Driffield, Joseph, 86

Gawthrop, William, 87

Hampton, Edward, 126

Lobley, J. A., 90

Mydlam, Richard, 8i, 113

Peacock, D. M., 87

Place, Marwood, 87

Piatt, G., 87, 88, loi, no

Quick, R. H., 86, 88, 89

Riddell, Thomas, 87

Rose, Jonathan, 83-86, 103, 105

Wiginton, Giles, 81, 82

Wybame, Joseph, 82
- Grammar School, 112

founded, 113

tiissolved, 114

refounded, 122

scholarships, 114, 117, 123

endowments, 122, 123

Old School, 137, 138

Old Master's House. 139- 141

Governors, 114, 116, 123, 129,

130, 136, 138, 139, 141, 156,
157, I73» "75
Masters, 124; among whom —
Bateman, Wynne, 86, 108, 138
Blomeyr, Henry, 100, 115-119

his will, 117

Broxholme, William, 138
Coleridge, Hartley, I45-I47i 255
Day, H. G., 155, 156
Evans, J. H., 148, 149, i55
Fell, Edward, 135, 136
Garth waite, Richard, 130, 132, 133
i Green, Isaac, 145, 147, lA^, 214

Hart, H. G., 159, 160
Hebblethwaile, Robert, 11 9- 12 1,

125, 126
Heppenstall, F., 106, 158
Hull, Christopher, 139, 140
Jackson, Richard, 129-135
Mayer, John, 125, 126
Nelson, Gilbert, 59, 126-128
Saunders, Samuel, 86, 108, 137, 138
Stevens, William, 141
Wharton, Posthumus, 107, 136, 137,
Wilkinson, Henry, 144 ['74

Sedgwick, Rev. Richard, 235, 252, 258, 259

Adam, 108, 141, 198, 200, 201, 204

I 212, 238, 257, 261, 266-274

' Rev. John, 259

Geoi^e (Cappleth waite), 127, 128

Rev. John (Howgill), ill

Speight, Edward, 83, 84

Stanley, Thomas, Earl of Derby, 45

Sir Edward, ib,

Stanton, Lawrence, 126
" Statesmen," 184
Staveley, Adam de, 46, 225
Alicia de, 46

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28o

SEDBERGH, GARSDALE, AND DENT.

Slaveley, Thomas de, 225
Slocks— Sedbergh, 171

Garsdale and Dent, 266
Stone Circle, 19
Stone Hall, 184-186
Stone House, 252
Strathclyde, Kingdom of, 28, 41
" Street "— Middleton, 22

Ravenstonedale, 25
Strickland, Sir Thomas, 46, 50
Swarth Gill, 240

Thexton, Sir Richard, 46, 50

Thistlelhwaite, Thomas, 264

Thorns, or Thorns Hall, 107, 137, 140,

203, 204
Thursgill — Sedbergh, 36 ; Garsdale, 225
Tithe Commissioners and Abbey Lands, 230
Tithing, Custom of, 171, 172
Tosti (or Tostig), Earl, 37, 38, 42
Tradesmen's Tokens, 168
Trotter, Richard, and colleagues, 248

Udal, Rev. Charles (Garsdale), 234
Uldale, 199

"Wapentake," 35
Wapentake Court at Sedbergh, 171
Wakefield, Mr. W. H., 160
Washington Family, 109, no
Waterfalls— Black Force, 36, 216 ,

Brackens Gill, 249

Cautley Spout, 199, 218

Hell Caldron, 255

Uldale, 199
Watson, Mr. Dawson, 74, 171, 202

Messrs. J. D. and T. J., 202

Weavers* Yard, 180, 207
Whitaker, Dr., quoted, 142
Whitefield, George, 253
Whitehead, George, 73

Sir James, 208

Whitwell, John, universal genius, 176, 177
Widows' Hospital, 174
Willan, Richard, 212

Robert, M.D., 143, 144

Thomas, 263, 264

Wilson, Rev. J. M., 144
Winder, 166, 196, 217, 218
Wordsworth at Sedbergh, 195

Yorkshire, former extent of, 41, 77

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LIST OF LOCAL WORDS REFERRED TO BUT NOT
EXPLAINED IN THE TEXT.

Addle ^ to eara ; i88

As boards oxashboard^ a two-liandled wooden

box, open at the top and front, for

removing ashes ; 264

BackboardyZ. large board for kneading dough

on; 264
Back-end y auiumn ; 192
Bam^ a child ; 193
BetUrmorCy of higher rank ; 184
Boose y a stall for cattle ; 193
Brattderethy or brandreth^ a tripod to hold

a kettle or pan over a hearth-fire ; 264
jyr^, a cow-house ; 193

Clipping J a sheep-shearing ; 189

Draught-ewe (pron. drowt)^ an older sheep
removed or drafted off from the fell
to be fed in the lowlands ; 192

Festy let ; 265

Fogy the aftermath ; 192

Gavelocky a crow-bar ; 193
Gimmery a female lamb ; 192
Girdaley or girdle^ a bow-handled circular
iron plate for baking oatcake, &c. ; 264
Grappling^ catching trout with the hand ; 1 5 1
Greet i to cry; 193

Happiuy a quilt ; 264
Haverbready oatcake ; 183
Heafy a portion of the common frequented
by one flock ; 186

//<?«, a sheep older than a lamb, and until

shorn ; 192
House, a dwelling-house par excellence ; 257

Kist, a chest ; 184

Late, to seek ; 193
Lingy heather; 187

Newcaltf newly calved ; 192
Niefy or neif, the fist ; 193

Pigen, or piggin, a small wooden bucket
with one stave longer than the rest
for a handle; 264

Quesson, or whisshiny a cushion ; 264

Racking, or reckan, an adjustable crook or
hook above the fire ; 183, 264

Screes, comminuted fragments of rock on

the side of a hill ; 218 [igy

Sievesyox seaves, rushes (Juncus communis);
Sike, a small stream less than a beck, A

beck between high banks is called a

^'V/. 193.
Standigesj or standishes, inkstands ; 264
Stee, a ladder ; 193
Steg, a gander ; 193
Stoning, a kind of white rubbing-stone for

ornamenting flagged floors; 183
Swill, an open basket ; 264

Tup—(\) a, male lamb ; (2) when full-
grown, a ram. 192
Twine, to cry peevishly ; 193
Twinter, a sheep two winters old ; 192

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Richard Jacksox, Printer, i6 ^S: 17, Commf.rciai. Street, Leeds.

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