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SOCIETY NEWS
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REPORTS
Wednesday 3rd February 2010
The talk on Wednesday 3rd February was held in the Queens
Hall, Sedbergh School, because Settlebeck High School was unable to
provide the internet connection required. Despite a fall of snow
about three hours before the meeting both speakers and audience braved
the weather. The talk was given by three staff from Lancaster
University, Professor Findlay, Professor Emeritus Twycross and Doctor
Hinds. Their subject was the web site that they had created dealing
with George Fox’s journeys in this area in 1652 and 1653.
There are three primary sources that describe
Fox’s travels, the Short Journal, the Long Journal and the 1694
Edition. The originals of all three are displayed on the site
alongside transcripts with comments. The versions are not always
consistent and the speakers illustrated this by considering the
extracts dealing with Fox’s vision on Pendle Hill. The site also
contains many photographs of places connected with Fox and these can
be accessed from their reference in the text of the three sources.
Other links available include maps of the route Fox took and
definitions of terms used in the sources. Finally there are some
videos on the site although the speakers were not sure they added much
to the still photographs also available. The site can be found at
www.lancs.ac.uk/quakers and is well worth
browsing through by local historians or those interested in early
Quaker history.
After their talk the audience was able, with the aid of computers, to
investigate the web site themselves under the guidance of the three
speakers. A vote of thanks was given by John Mounsey one of whose
Quaker ancestors died in Lancaster prison as a result of his beliefs.
Wednesday 20th January 2010
The
first meeting of the society after the Christmas break took place on
20th January at Settlebeck High School and attracted a
large audience of members and visitors. The talk was on the history
of Methodism in the area and was given by Rev Tim Widdess, George
Handley and David Bracken.
Rev
Tim Widdess described the origins of Methodism and its early
history. In the late 1820s a small group at Christ Church, Oxford,
had met together to study the Bible. The group had been founded by
Charles Wesley and was later joined by his brother John. Originally
they were known by their contemporaries as the Holy Club but this was
later changed to Methodists because of the methodical way in which
they organised their study and lifestyle. At this stage the group
were devout members of the Church of England and John was an ordained
priest.
In
1735 John Wesley and others set off for America on a mission to
convert the native inhabitants. During the voyage there was a severe
storm and John was very impressed by the behaviour of a group of
Moravians. As a result the Moravian church had a strong influence on
him afterwards. The mission was not a success religiously or
personally and John quickly returned to England.
In
1738 after attending a church service John had a religious experience
in which he felt his heart strangely warmed and was given the
assurance that Christ had taken away his sins. His brother Charles
had undergone a similar experience three days earlier. John Wesley
devoted his life to preaching the faith originally in churches, but
later in the open air at the instigation of a friend, George
Whitfield. This led to him preaching to large numbers and to people
who did not normally go to church. It was also controversial and led
to a misunderstanding of his purposes and as a result he was sometimes
physically attacked. However, at times he was able to convert even
his attackers. Over the years he travelled more than two hundred
thousand miles on horseback but never visited Sedbergh although he
preached in Kendal more than once. He died still a member of the
Church of England but the differences that had been growing meant that
his movement split from the church a few years after his death.
George Handley described how
Methodism was brought to Sedbergh from Kendal by Jonathan Kershaw.
In 1805 the membership was large enough to build a chapel at the
corner of New Street on the site of the current Community charity
shop. However, this building was badly damaged by a storm in the
early 1860s and was later pulled down. This led to the building of a
new chapel, in a different part of New Street, which was octagonal in
shape and was opened in 1865. The Sedbergh chapel had originally been
part of the Kendal Circuit but the members became dissatisfied with
the lack of attention they received. This led to them joining the
Hawes Circuit and then in 1871, when numbers had increased, they
formed the Sedbergh Circuit.
Lack of finance was a problem
but in this respect they were helped out by William Moister. Born in
Sedbergh he became a missionary overseas but later returned to
Sedbergh and became the first Superintendent Minister of the
independent Sedbergh Circuit. He built a residence for the minister
at his own expense and performed some functions without pay. After
his death numbers fell and Sedbergh became part of the Kirkby Stephen,
Appleby and Sedbergh Circuit in 1900.
However, numbers increased
again and the octagonal shape of the chapel became a problem as it
could not be enlarged. A new chapel, the present one, was therefore
built on the same site in 1914 and in 1919 Sedbergh again became the
head of a separate circuit. In the mid 1920s a new organ was bought
for the chapel as a result of a bequest. Although numbers had
fluctuated over the years the members had exerted an influence in
various ways including many of the women marrying ministers some of
whom were also missionaries.
David Bracken described the
foundation, and in many cases the demise, of the various chapels
situated in Dentdale, Cautley, Garsdale and Grisedale. The situation
was complicated by a split in Methodism caused by the creation of the
Primitive Methodists. One of the founders of this was William Clowes
and the movement split with the Wesleyans largely due to its feature
of holding open-air camps. This practice had originated in America.
Primitive Methodism was introduced to the Sedbergh area in 1822 by
Francis Jersey and although it did not survive in Sedbergh a chapel
was later formed in Dent. Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists were
reunited in 1932.
The chairman thanked the three
speakers for an interesting and informative evening.
Wednesday 4th November 2009
TALK BY
HENRY WILSON: THE NORTH-EASTERN RAILWAY 1854-1923
Henry Wilson, who runs the specialist Main Street bookshop on railways
and other forms of transport, delivered an authoritative and
informative talk on the North-Eastern Railway from its conception in
the mid-nineteenth century during the great railway building age to
its final demise in 1923 when it amalgamated with other smaller
companies to form the LNER ( London and Northeastern Railway). During
those seven decades it grew from operating 700 miles of track to over
1700 route miles, encompassing an area from the Humber in the south to
Berwick-upon-Tweed on the Scottish border in the north, and from the
east coast westwards to Carlisle, Kirkby Stephen and Tebay (this
section of goods line being the closest the NER came to Sedbergh );
and it also owned and ran 40 docks, numerous stations, locomotives,
carriages (the passenger vehicles all carrying the NER's distinctive
pale green livery) and wagons which, in the earlier days, had been the
property of individual mines, quarries, steelworks etc.
In fact, from the time of the world-famous first railway line between
Stockton and Darlington, built in 1825, throughout the remainder of
the 19th century it was goods rather than passengers that the
multitude of early railway companies benefited from: iron ore, coke,
coal, limestone and steel, for example, were key commodities in the
north-east. By the end of the massive expansion of railways in the
1840s London was now connected to Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool,
Manchester, York, Newcastle and Berwick and in 1854 three of the
larger northern companies, (1) the York, Newcastle and Berwick, (2)
the Leeds Northern, and (3) the York and North Midland Railway joined
forces to form the NER.
Under the initial stewardship of manager Captain O'Brien the NER grew
steadily, absorbing the Stockton and Darlington railway, for example,
in 1865. Yet those early days were not without their problems: costs
were rising, there was little departmental co-ordination, and there
were disputes with Hull docks where the merchants felt that their
rightful trade was being diverted away to the Tyne, Wear and Tees
ports. It was only under Henry Tennant, manager from 1871 to 1891, and
more especially Sir George Gibb (1891-1906), that the company made
pioneering strides with its enlightened and innovative policies:
graduates were recruited into its management structure which now had
clearly defined responsibilities! the Traffic Department, for example,
being divided into Operating and Commercial sections, with the latter
sub-divided into passengers and goods). Under Gibb in particular
American marketing systems were introduced with detailed research and
studies being carried out into population statistics, catchment areas
and passenger traffic, even to the point of making special bargain
offers to passengers for selected trips. In addition, the NER was the
first company to officially recognise Trades Unions, much effort was
expended on recruitment and training, and bonuses were paid to staff:
indeed, throughout its existence the NER never failed to pay an annual
dividend to its shareholders.
During these times of prosperity the company developed a distinctive
corporate identity, its green liveried locomotives such as the 2-4-0
'racehorse', the 1886 Class E, the 1901 Class T and the 1906
Smith compound all withstanding the test of time; its grand
architectural station designs such as Newcastle Central and Darlington
Bank Top; its pioneering coaches, such as the 1904 'Open Lavatory
Composite' which had end vestibules and gas lighting; the 1908 Dining
Car; its own 20-ton hopper style wagons; and, in 1904, the development
of electric trains (though these were not brought into full service
until much later in the century}. Meanwhile the company increased the
size of wagons, introduced snow-ploughs, developed more efficient
trans-shipment of goods, and encouraged larger loads through
competitive pricing. All this was made possible not only through
creative management but also as a result of a succession of
long-standing chief engineers such as Fletcher (1854-83) and
T.W.Worsall. By the time that A.K.Butterworth became manager in 1906,
introducing as he did a more popular man-management style, the NER was
firmly established as one of the foremost railway companies in the
country/, but within 3 few years, from 1913, it underwent a period of
Turmoil and Transition', as described by Henry Wilson. The onset of
World War I on the one hand created great pressure on all railways for
the movement of people and goods, yet on the other many lines,
stations, and above all ports in the north-east suffered from intense
bombing; skilled manpower was depleted through recruitment into the
forces (though 'womenpower7 largely took over); and there was a lack
of rolling stock. Then in the twenties, there were further problems
with the coal strikes. By 1923, under the re-organisation of the
country's railways into larger regional units, it became part of the
new LNER - but certainly its largest and strongest constituent part.
Henry Wilson's thorough and fascinating illustrated talk revealed not
only how influential and important the NER had been as a pioneering
railway company, but also how it had evolved into a benevolent
monopoly for its employees, shareholders, and the citizens of the
north-east in general.
Michael Beecroft.
Wednesday 7th October 2009
The society met on the 7th October for its first meeting
of the new season. The talk was given by Katy Illife, the Archivist
of Sedbergh School, on “Researching Family History”. She said that
there are three main places where information can be accessed by
individuals. These are at record offices, local history societies
and on-line.
There are also three main sources of information which are
certificates, censuses and parish registers. Birth, marriage and
death certificates were first issued in 1837 and give many details
apart from the date of the event. However, they may not exist for
certain events in their early years. This was because of an initial
opposition to what was seen as government intrusion in personal
affairs, rather like the current opposition to ID cards. Censuses
giving personal information date from 1841 and again give much
useful information such as occupation, age, place of birth, other
members of the family and anyone else living at the same address.
Parish registers started in the mid sixteenth century but few still
exist from that time. They record the dates of events the church
was interested in which were baptism, burial and marriage.
Certificates, censuses and registers were compiled by someone who
wrote down what they thought your ancestor had told them and if the
latter were illiterate they had no way of checking that the entry
was correct. Other useful sources of information are Post Office
directories, business records, wills, gravestones and newspapers
although reading through the latter is a very time consuming method.
Those that are able to research on-line have many web-sites
available. It is best to start with official sites which give
details of where information can be found and then go on to other
sites some of which are free and others which require payment.
Ordering copies of certificates through the pay sites is an
expensive way of obtaining them as they can be bought much cheaper
elsewhere. Because of their religious beliefs the Mormons research
their ancestors and have published their findings on a web-site.
These family trees and others produced by individuals can give much
useful information but cannot be relied on to be correct. They must
be checked out with the information you are able to obtain.
The chairman thanked the speaker for a most interesting and
informative talk.
RWC
Wednesday 4th March 2009
Motifs, Monuments and Mountains. Prehistoric rock art in Cumbria.
Dr. Kate Sharpe.
Dr Sharpe who made a study of rock art in Cumbria for her PhD has
since been working on the Northumberland and Durham Rock Art Pilot
Project. In her talk, she spoke first about rock art in general
and then concentrated on recent finds in Cumbria and some theories
about them .
Rock Art is any mark or pattern carved, or painted on the surface
of rock, whether representational or abstract. Most British rock
art is abstract.- patterns of rings, spirals etc., carved on
outcrops, boulders, and cliffs, or on standing stones and
chambered tombs. It is difficult to date but most is thought to be
Neolithic or bronze age.
There are two styles of abstract rock art: ‘Cup and Ring or
Atlantic Style’, comprises circular motifs and fluid designs of
cups, rings, or spirals, found mainly from Derbyshire northwards
and in Ireland & Scotland. ‘Passage Grave Style’ is more angular,
often comprising chevrons and patterns like those on prehistoric
pottery. This style is prevalent in Wales, Orkney, & Ireland. the
two styles are generally found separately, but a a recent find on
Fylingdales Moor included adjacent standing stone panels carved
with contrasting styles. It is thought that these probably
originated in different times and places.
In Northumberland and Durham and the east of Cumbria, rock art is
usually found on glacially smoothed outcrops of sandstone on
elevated moors, below the summit. But in the rest of Cumbria it is
never found up on the hills, but on boulders or outcrops in the
valleys, especially on the shore of lakes.
In the Eden valley, there are carved monuments, megalithic and
burial, on such sites as river terraces, pasture and arable land,
mostly carved on sandstone but on one case volcanic (gabro) - the
Eden Hall rock found in 1909, which has complex motifs, multiple
concentric rings without cups together with chevrons . Long Meg
bears rock art - it is not known whether it was carved before or
after the stone was erected - it could have come from the Eden
river cliffs, perhaps already carved.
In the central lakes, the rock art tends to be on outcrops or
large boulders of volcanic rocks & skiddaw slates, near water,
especially lake shores. There are sites at Buttermere, Dungeon
Ghyll, Grasmere and Broadgate Park, some in gardens or near
car-parks or campsites. The sites can be plotted to suggest a
connection with nodal points on natural and ancient routeways,
possibly the routes to the Langdale Axe factories. The patterns
are mostly very simple cups with the exception of the boulders at
Copt Howe which have rings with no cups.
Dr Sharpe considered whether particular rocks were chosen for
their shape or surface features or for their location in the
landscape? Could the strata and weathering on the surface have
been seen to represent a landscape, perhaps visible from the
boulder? Sometimes natural fissures seem to be incorporated into
the design, with cup marks round them. Did the natural features
inspire the design? Or did the patterns represent mountain
shapes?
She also considered the choice of location. As all Cumbrian sites
are low lying, they do not command extensive views, and it is
difficult to relate them to mountains as there are mountains in
every direction. But the site at Copt Howe is different - it is
higher, with carvings on vertical panels of two natural boulders
forming an entrance, pointing towards the Langdale Pikes.
Mountains were sacred in early cultures, a place apart from
everyday life,where the gods lived. The axe-makers did not use the
most accessible stone but deliberately took it from difficult and
dangerous parts of the Pikes. This Compares with contemporary
axe-making in Papua New Guinea where ritual purification is
practised before axes are made, to appease the gods of the
mountains. At Copt Howe, the boulders’ astronomical alignment is
such that, at the midsummer solstice, the sun sets behind the
Pikes and appears, from this point only, to roll down the
mountain. A similar phenomenon is seen at a rock art site in
County Mayo.
Dr Sharpe described the work of the Northumberland and Durham Rock
Art Pilot Project and the use of photometry for recording. Project
volunteers have found many new examples of rock art recently.
About 2500 panels have now been recorded in England.
Wednesday 3rd December
A
score of hardy historians braved the weather on Wednesday, 3rd
December, to hear a talk on Gervaise Benson given by David Boulton.
Benson was probably the son of a prominent Kendal family and was born
in the first decade of the seventeenth century. He obtained some
legal training and became Commissary for the Archdeaconry of Richmond
until 1640 when the post was abolished by Parliament. He was elected
an alderman of Kendal in 1641 and in 1644 was elected as Mayor of
Kendal. This meant that he was in important positions during the
Civil War. Luckily details of what happened during that period have
survived in a series of letters from the Minister of Kendal Church,
Henry Masey, to Lord Wharton. Under the former the Presbyterian
system of church government was implemented in Kendal, a move which
had Benson’s support.
In
1644 Kendal was raided by Royalists and they captured Benson who was
taken to Skipton Castle but later released. Benson spent his own
money on the defence of Kendal and Masey wrote to Lord Wharton asking
if Benson, whom he called Colonel, could be compensated by being made
responsible for probate and wills in the region. The presence of
Scots, the allies of Parliament, around Kendal caused annoyance to the
locals and Benson was worried that the people would turn against
Parliament as a consequence. In 1646 he was appointed a J.P. for
Kendal even though he owned no property there. In fact Borrett Farm
in Sedbergh was all he owned at that time. In 1650 he was ejected as
an alderman along with several others in what appears to have been an
organised coup.
Nationally under Cromwell the Independents had prospered at the
expense of the Presbyterians and Benson was initially in favour of
this but eventually he grew disillusioned even with the Independents
and became a Seeker. As a result when Fox came to Sedbergh in 1652 he
attended a Seeker meeting at Borrett to try to convince them he could
supply what they were seeking spiritually. Benson was not initially
convinced but later that year joined the Quaker movement and became
its unpaid legal adviser.
In
1652 Benson was put in charge of Sedbergh and Dent by the Cromwellian
government. He did not approve of the conduct of the Minister of
Sedbergh whom he, rightly or wrongly, accused of frequenting all
fourteen of the pubs there. The area was conservative in its views
and as a result Benson’s support of Quakerism made him unpopular. His
wife, Dorothy, was also a convinced Quaker and walked to Carlisle to
visit Fox when he was in prison there in 1653. In the same year she
was imprisoned for interrupting a sermon in church, a favourite Quaker
practice. Whilst in prison in York she gave birth to a son, Emanuell.
In 1655 she died and was buried in the garden of High Haygarth, a
house Benson had acquired in 1652. It is now the Cross Keys Inn and
she probably lies somewhere under the present dining room.
Benson’s radical views got him into trouble with the government and he
was stripped of all his powers except for being a J.P. He produced
pamphlets in favour of Quaker principles such as not paying tithes and
not taking oaths and was active in raising money to fund the
movement. He married Mabel Camm just before the restoration of
Charles II as king. During the 1660s he produced another pamphlet and
in 1675 he joined a sect of Quakers against Fox. A meeting was held
at Draw Well near Sedbergh to try to heal the rift between the sects
and reconciliation gradually happened. In 1679 he died after an
eventful life in which his religious views had changed several times
but he proved an important figure in the rise of Quakerism.
His
son, Emanuell, survived, despite his mother’s early death, and moved
to Dent where he married and had two children baptised into the Church
of England whom he called Gervaise and Dorothy after his parents.
The
chairman thanked David Boulton for a most interesting and informative
lecture.
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Kendal Carriers
It has
been a long time since Dr Andrew White, late of the Lancashire Museums
Service, came to speak to the History Society. His subject was ‘The
Kendal Carriers’.
Anybody who could acquire a horse could set up as a carrier. It was
the only way of transporting large amounts of goods :- manufactured
goods, raw materials and food, around the country. Before the advent
of canals and railways the Industrial Revolution was dependent on the
carrier trade.
For
hundreds of years the carriers used trains of pack-horses to move
goods from one place to another and these were essential where, due to
the state of the roads, wheeled traffic was impossible. Small but
sturdy horses called galloways carried large loads of wool, cloth,
grain, sand etc and were led from the front by a well-trained horse
who knew the route followed by other laden horses. In the rear was the
carrier himself with his dog. The roads were mostly uncared for and
could be almost impassable in bad weather but the pack-horses
struggled through snow, ice, floods, mud and dust. It was a very
reliable form of transport.
Wicker
baskets filled with materials, bales of cloth formed into a sausage
covered for bad weather, and various articles were attached to the
wooden saddle which was fastened on to the backs of the horses. The
collar had bells fastened on either side – two rumblers and one
conventional .
Kendal
being so far north was nearly at the end of the line as far as the
distribution of goods was concerned as there was little trade over the
border into Scotland before 1745. Most of the trade was southwards
carrying dyestuffs, cloth, alum, stockings, gloves, hats and
hand-knitted garments etc. On return, luxury goods including figs and
raisins were brought north which helped to pay the carriage costs.
There
were many carriers operating through Kendal as the large number of
inns along Highgate and Stricklandgate testify. Regular services to
London followed one of two routes – one almost due south and the other
south-east through the towns of the West Riding and other large towns
en route. As the colonies were opened up there was an increased demand
for woollen caps for slaves, and also for knitted goods for the army
and navy during the Napoleonic Wars.
Some
larger concerns of carriers operated a service whereby they had four
teams :- one being loaded, a second en route for London, the third
being unloaded at the destination and reloaded with more luxury goods
and the fourth team en route to Kendal etc. Each horse could carry up
to 200 cwt so a team of 10 horses could carry approx. one ton.
Generally speaking, their time keeping was very reliable as was their
ability to keep going in all weathers and on all road surfaces. They
kept up an average of 25 miles per day and stopped overnight at the
various inns en route to stable their horses. Two hundred and fifty
horses carried goods from Kendal every week! However, the use of
packhorse teams from Kendal came to an end around 1750.
With
the coming of the turnpike roads in the mid 18th c. covered
wagons were being used to carry goods around. They had the advantage
of being able to carry much larger loads (tons rather than
hundredweights) and often carried people who could not afford to
travel by carriage. They were pulled by a team of two, four or six
horses depending on size and weight of the load and could travel much
faster. Goods could be transhipped at various stages if necessary.
Spring carts were used for smaller loads and shorter distances. The
carrier was usually dressed in a smock frock and top hat.
This
method of transport lasted well into the 20th c. – much of
the impetus came from the townships and villages who were dependent
upon the many small local carriers who operated between the
surrounding districts. One of the last carriers was David Burrow from
Sedbergh who travelled to and fro from Sedbergh to Kendal with his
horse Spider calling at various hamlets with individual commissions.
Between 1910 and 1940 he made three journeys a week to Kendal over
Kendal Fell taking 4 hours there and 4 hours back.
Dr
White answered the many questions in full which showed the interest of
the large audience. It is to be hoped that it is not another ten
years before he visits us again!
Wednesday 1st October 2008
The first talk in the 2008/9 winter programme was given by Dr Eleanor
Straughton on 1st October at Settlebeck High School. Dr
Straughton is a member of Lancaster University History Department.
After her research into common land for her doctoral thesis she
combined with Dr Winchester on the Cumbrian Manorial Records Project.
She is currently working on the Contested Common Land Project which is
a joint venture with Newcastle Institute for Informatics, Lancaster
providing the historians and Newcastle the legal expertise.
Although called common land it was in fact privately owned land on
which another person had the right to take or use some portion of that
which another man’s soil naturally produced. This might include,
among other things, the right to pasture and the right to collect peat
and turves, known as turbary. These commoners were determined by
residency or by owning certain properties. The landowner, usually the
lord of the manor, had the right to various things such as minerals
and timber. Today the details of ownership and rights are those shown
on the Common Land Register.
Common land is nowadays largely restricted to higher land and is
important for grazing as well as rambling and nature conservation. It
comprises about 4% of England’s land mass with Cumbria containing
almost a third and Cumbria and North Yorkshire combined comprising
over half of the total.
In
the past the manor court controlled the land with the heyday of the
system being from the middle ages to c1720. The lord’s representative
was the steward and the jury consisted of the customary tenants. The
court’s purpose was to uphold the customary laws and to maintain good
neighbourhood. This included, for example, setting the starting and
ending dates for grazing, fixing flock numbers and having the ability
to fine offenders. The number of animals allowed to graze the common
could be determined by the number that could be kept through winter in
bye-land, a method known as levancy and couchancy. Another method was
stinting in which a limited number of stints or gaits was allocated to
the common. The number of animals in a stint varied with the type of
animal, e.g. 1 cattle = 4 sheep. If a commoner was too poor to make
use of his stints he could sell or let them to another person thus
producing a useful income.
For
various social and economic reasons the manor courts declined in
importance but some survived into the twentieth century, the one in
Sedbergh closed in the 1930s. They have been replaced in a variety of
ways including the formation of commons associations. Historically the
most important cause of the loss of common land was the enclosure acts
which reached a peak in the years 1760-1860. Enclosure was driven
largely by food crises and scientific improvements in the methods of
farming needed to raise food production. However, in the second half
of the nineteenth century the tide turned and tourism and the desire
to preserve open spaces for recreation became important causing the
demise of enclosure.
In
the second half of the twentieth century a Royal Commission on Common
Land investigated the problems and made recommendations. This
eventually led to the Commons Registration Act of 1965 which has
generally been recognised as a bad bit of legislation. The Commons
Act of 2006 attempted to rectify the problems caused by this previous
act and the survey on which Dr Straughton is working is an
investigation into the effects of the 2006 act.
Dr
Straughton’s talk was a tour de force by an extremely able young
academic and the audience warmly endorsed the chairman’s vote of
thanks.
Richard Cann
Wednesday 28th May 2008
Visit to Whitehaven
Eleven members of the Society made the
long trek to Whitehaven and were rewarded by fascinating glimpses into
the history of this town which was once among the leading ports in the
country. Mr Ralph Lewthwaite, who was born in Whitehaven, was a very
knowledgeable and amusing guide. The Society is most grateful to him.
The starting point of the guided walk was where Captain John Paul
Jones, who had grown up in Whitehaven, made landing during his raid
on Whitehaven in 1778, a raid which caused consternation in the
country. We were told about the forts and many cannon which guarded
the town and saw the earliest pier, dating from 1634. Also, we learned
about the coal mines, particularly Wellington Pit, which ran out under
the sea for five miles. The last to close was the Haig Pit in the late
1980s.
Among the industries which Whitehaven
boasted were: salt (salt from the Whitehaven saltpans was exported as
far as Chester by the monks of St Bees), rope making, a foundry,
mineral extraction and linen making - the latter spawning an estate
of over 100 houses with its own school and church in the mid 18th
century.
Sugar, rum and tobacco were imported
and, until 1926, a mineral railway ran through the centre of the town
to the quay. There are some fine buildings and the town was laid out
according to the plan of Sir John Lowther who was able to look, from
his ‘castle’, all the way down Lowther Street to the quay. His castle
was Whitehaven Hospital from 1921 to the 1980s. The town has boasted a
bath house (built 1813), a customs house, several fine churches, a
refuge school, a water treatment works, assembly rooms (1736), market
halls, and theatres, the last of which lasted from 1736-1930. Also,
there were many fine mansions and a beautiful square, named Washington
Square, after its connections with George Washington.
Several famous people were connected
with Whitehaven including Mathias Read, the father of Cumberland
painting and William Brownrigg, a physician whose work to make pits
safer saved many lives.
The local heritage and civic societies
have done much good work on putting up informative plaques and in
trying to preserve and renovate the fine old buildings. A big
redevelopment scheme is underway at the old Wellington Pit.
Where SDHS goes her Majesty follows as
she is visiting Whitehaven in early June.
Elspeth Griffiths
Wednesday 5th March 2008
Professor David Shotter Rome's Northern
Frontier in Britain
Professor David
Shotter attracted an audience of over fifty people to hear his talk on
Rome’s Northern Frontier in Britain. He stated that by 69 AD the
border of the land in Britain ruled by the Romans corresponded to the
present route of the A5. To the north of that the land was ruled by
the Brigantes under their Queen Cartimandua and her husband Venutius.
She was friendly to the Romans but he was opposed to them. In 69AD
their marriage broke down and a civil war ensued. His forces overcame
hers and the Romans had to rescue her with the result that they were
left with hostile territory to their north.
Vespasian became
Roman Emperor in 69AD and decided on a policy of conquering the
remainder of
Britain
in the hope that a military success would gain him popularity.
He appears to have
considered setting up two provinces, one being the land to the south
of the A5 and the other being the land to the north including present
day Scotland
and even Ireland.
Chester was to be the capital of this latter province but in the
event this did not come to fruition. By the mid 80s AD they had
advanced as far north as Inverness but then trouble broke out in
another part of the Roman Empire and troops had to be taken from
Britain to deal with this. As a result they could no longer hold on to
so much territory and they withdrew south to a line between
South Shields and
Kirkbride. This frontier was marked by a road called the Stanegate
along which were sited forts such as those at Carlisle, Vindolanda and
Corbridge. South of this they consolidated their hold by building
forts such as those at Hardknott, Ambleside and Watercrook near
Kendal. Industrial sites such as Wilderspool near Warrington were
also established.
In 118AD there was
a war involving tribes from what is now Scotland but by 119AD they
seem to have overcome the problem. As a first reaction to the troubles
they built a turf wall from the River Irthing to the Solway. In 122 AD
the Emperor Hadrian visited
Britain
and decided to build a stone wall from the Irthing to Wallsend. There
were to be milecastles along the wall with two turrets between each.
Even the turf wall to the west of the
Irving
had stone turrets probably to act as signal turrets to communicate to
the south. Every milecastle had a north and south gate so people could
pass through the wall under supervision. This had two purposes, one
to keep undesirables out and the other as a means of taxing goods in
transit. Although slaves may have been used to quarry and transport
the stone the legions built the wall itself. Each century of a legion
was allocated a section of the wall to build and the stones to
commemorate their achievement can still be found today. Soon after
the wall was begun a decision was taken to narrow its width and also
to build forts on the wall rather than have them some distance to the
south. An example being the fort at Housesteads.
Wherever the
terrain allowed a V shaped ditch was dug to the north of the wall. To
the south of the wall the vallum was constructed. This consisted of a
flat bottomed ditch situated between two mounds. Its purpose is not
known although it may have been to allow the concealed movement of
troops along the wall. About 140AD the wall was abandoned as the
troops moved north and built the Antonine Wall between the Forth and
the Clyde. However around 160AD the troops abandoned that and returned
to Hadrian’s Wall. The turf section was rebuilt in stone and the
defensive system extending down the coast from Bowness on Solway to
near the fort at Maryport was strengthened. This section did not have
a wall but had milecastles and fortlets on it supported by palisades
and ditches. This coastal section was probably to deter raiding for
loot and also to enable legitimate trade to be taxed. Finally to the
north of
Hadrian’s Wall there were some forts such as the one at Bewcastle.
The purpose of these is not clear but may have been to give advance
warning of invasions or else they may have been to give protection to
the area of the Brigantes tribe cut off from the rest of its territory
by the wall.
After a lively question session the chairman thanked Professor Shotter
for his lecture which had been greatly appreciated by his large
audience.
R.W.Cann
Wednersday 30th January 2008
Sedberghians inTibet, 1904 – 2004.
On the evening of
Jan. 30th
2008 members of the Local History Society and the local support group
of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust gathered in Sedbergh School’s Heritage
Centre and the room was packed to capacity for a two part
presentation.
Before giving us an historical account of connections
between Sedbergh and
Tibet, Steve Smith
described what life is like now in
Lhasa,
illustrated by his own photos taken on a visit in 2004. Parts of the
city look superficially much as they have for centuries, where it has
pleased the occupying Chinese to allow it. The Potala Palace is still
the magnificent building which the first western visitors would have
seen and there are still monks in traditional dress, but much of the
indigenous quarter nearby is squalid and dilapidated. It is
disorientating to find this cheek by jowl with modern Chinese shopping
malls filled with 21st century goods in a large modern
city. Here and there are signs of the old Buddhist faith persisting,
and Steve showed us photos of religious paintings in vivid colours on
large rounded rocks near the Jokhang Temple.
At the beginning of the 20th century there was
rivalry between Britain and Russia for influence in central Asia, and
as part of this Francis Younghusband led an armed party into Tibet
from Sikkim in 1903, reaching Lhasa in August 1904 after numerous
battles and having crossed several high passes in winter; a great
story in itself. Lt. William Bruce Dunlop, an Old Sedberghian, was
one of the officers in charge of the supply lines employing 3000
ponies, 5000 yaks, 3000 bullocks and 7000 mules, which shows the scale
of the operation. The next connection was in 1922 when Arthur W.
Wakefield, Old Sedberghian, was doctor to the Everest expedition which
went in from the north, Tibetan, side. He himself reached camp 3 at
21,000 ft, but didn’t acclimatise well to the altitude and was unable
to go further. We were shown a photograph of him, and Mallory “with
his kit off” for crossing a river, which had been hidden from public
view until recently, when perhaps people have become less sensitive!
“Freddy” Spencer Chapman was in Lupton House at
Sedbergh School
before going on to St John’s College, Cambridge. While on a Himalayan
climbing expedition in
Sikkim
in 1936 he met Basil Gould, who offered him a post as his private
secretary on a trip to Lhasa. On this trip Chapman took about 2,500
still photos, some in remarkably good colour for the time, and also
cine film. He had become an excellent photographer and recorded all
aspects of life in Tibet, and his photographs, now in the Pitt Rivers
museum in
Oxford,
form a wonderful record of a vanished society. In his spare time he
collected plants which he sent back to Kew, and these included four
previously unknown species. On his way back in 1937 he almost
casually climbed Chumolari, 24,000 ft; alpine style, a first ascent.
George Sherriff was in Evans House at
Sedbergh School
from 1912-16. He was posted to the NW Frontier in 1919. Then in 1929
while vice-consul in Kashgar he met Frank Ludlow, with whom he later
explored for twenty years, visiting
Tibet
between 1933 and 1938. In 1943 he became British Resident in Lhasa
and was there for two years, and he was back again in 1946 with Frank
Ludlow.
In 1950 40,000 Chinese troops “liberated”
Tibet. Bringing us
up to date, in 2003 Jim Fisher led a Sedbergh School party to Camp 2
on Everest from the Tibetan side, the highest ever reached by a school
party.
Vicky Aspin has been a volunteer worker at the Holehird gardens,
headquarters of the Lakeland Horticultural Society where there are
plants from all over the world, for a number of years, and during the
second half of the evening she told us about George Sherriff, Reginald
Farrer and William Purdom. They collected plants from Tibet and its
borders during the first half of the 20th century and have
connections with this area.
George Sherriff sent back over 21,000
specimens,
mainly to
Kew, the
Natural History Museum and Edinburgh
Botanical Gardens. He was a meticulous man, recording not only
details of plants, but also medical equipment and treatments (30
grains of quinine plus whisky as a cure for malaria), food and
weather. He mapped and photographed an area of
Himalayas
along the northern border of Bhutan and the Tsangpo, a region of steep
sided valleys which has given rise to a large number of endemic
species since there was little opportunity for interbreeding across
the ranges. In an unlabelled photograph it was possible to identify
George Sherriff as the man in the shorts (Sedbergh training!) while
his companion
Ludlow
wore breeches. Vicky showed us how the herbarium specimens were
mounted and carefully labelled, even to the extent of having colour
panels to show what the flowers were like before they faded. It was
amazing to learn that even in those days his plants and seeds were air
freighted back to Croydon.
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Vicky then showed us wonderful photos of many of the plant species
collected by George Sherriff and now growing here. He was
particularly instrumental in discovering Primulas, Meconopsis and
Saxifrages. Among those well known in gardens today were
Primula florindae, Meconopsis betonicifolia,
Clematis orientalis, Euphorbia griffithii (“grow it in
a dustbin so it can’t escape!”) and Gentiana sino-ornata.
George
Sherriff and his wife Betty spent their later years in Kirriemuir,
Angus, where they developed stunning Himalayan gardens containing
many of the species which he had himself discovered. Alas, these
gardens have fallen into
decline since they died.
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Meconopsis betonicifolia |
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Paeonialuteav.ludlowi |
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Between them our two speakers had spent many months researching their
talks, and it showed. We are very grateful to them, and to Elspeth
Griffiths for all her work behind the scenes, including accompanying
Vicky to the archives at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. Those who were
unable to be present missed a treat.
John Mounsey.
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Wednesday 16th January 2008
At the first meeting of 2008, Martha
Bates spoke about a very influential nineteenth-century lady called
Harriet Martineau. Harriet who was born in 1802 was a writer and
philosopher, and became renowned as a political economist, journalist,
feminist and abolitionist. Martha began by telling us about her early
life, which was spent in Norwich as the sixth of eight children in a
family of Huguenot extraction and Unitarian views. Evidently Harriet
suffered from a weak constitution for most of her life. Furthermore,
she had no sense of taste and smell and began to lose her hearing from
an early age, eventually having to use an ear trumpet. The austere
atmosphere of her home with its emphasis on hard work coupled with a
lack of warmth shown by her mother combined to make her childhood
quite unhappy. Nevertheless, she was interested in learning, read
widely and developed a strong sense of justice.
Martha described how Harriet’s life
became more fulfilled when she began to spend more time away from
home. When she was sixteen she passed some months with an aunt and
uncle in Bristol, enjoying the company of intellectual and congenial
people. In her early twenties, she began to write anonymously for a
Unitarian periodical. However, life became difficult for her when her
father died leaving very little money to support his wife and
daughters. When the bank in which their money was invested failed, and
the man to whom she was engaged died, Harriet had to look for ways to
earn her living. Martha gave an account of how she gradually managed
to do this by writing reviews and stories and eking out her income by
needlework. Eventually, a breakthrough came with her publication
Illustrations of Political Economy which was very popular and
successful.
When Harriet moved to London in 1832
she became acquainted with the leading writers and thinkers of the
time, including George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett
Browning and Charles Darwin. She went on a prolonged visit to the
United States and made herself unpopular with her outspoken support of
the Abolitionist party. She also had strong views on a range of
current affairs like Catholic Emancipation, Chartism, women’s rights
and educational methods, and her books and articles continued to be
well received.
Periodically Harriet suffered from ill
health, and in 1839, fearing she had a tumour she left London and
spent a few years with her sister and brother-in-law in Tyneside.
After a course of mesmerism, an alternative health treatment, and with
her health much improved, she moved to Ambleside where she spent most
of the rest of her life until she died in June 1876. Although she
continued her writing, her reforming zeal was also put to good use in
local projects, such as the improvement of housing for working class
people.
The Society were grateful for Martha
Bates’ introduction to this inspirational Victorian lady, who was so
ahead of her time.
Julie Leigh
Members’ Evening -December 2007
The annual Members’ Evening is always
an eagerly anticipated occasion and as usual we weren’t disappointed.
Judith Robinson began the proceedings with her fascinating talk
entitled ‘Researching John Atkinson’s Copy Book’. She showed slides
of the beautifully handwritten pages of John Atkinson’s arithmetic
book. He was thirteen and a half in 1863 when he tackled a variety of
problems, many of which would have been quite beyond some of the
audience! The actual content of the problems gave an interesting
insight into nineteenth-century life. For example, one question
concerned the calculation of a servant’s wages, and another showed
that the rate of death duties depended on the relationship between the
deceased and the beneficiaries of his will. Judith suggested that
references to places like Middlesex and Sydenham indicated that the
author of the textbook from which the questions had been copied
probably lived in the south of the country.
Using censuses and parish registers,
Judith had spent some time researching John Atkinson’s family, and she
discovered that he had spent most of his short life at Cragg Stones in
Cautley, where his father was a farmer and butter dealer. Although the
book was unmarked and there was nothing to show whether John Atkinson
had worked on the problems at home or at school, Judith was curious to
find out about his education. In this investigation she was helped by
Diane Elphick, who has researched local education in the nineteenth
century. Judith could find no record of him on a school roll, but she
concluded that since his family were nonconformists he was most
probably a pupil at the Sedbergh British School. Furthermore as an
1868 newspaper mentioned his two younger brothers, James and William
as prize winners at the Sedbergh British School, it seemed likely that
James had also attended there.
Joyce Scobie’s presentation about
Liverpool cow keepers was equally enthralling. Until Joyce became
engrossed in this study she had had no idea that such a large number
of local families had started dairies in the city. An economic
depression was responsible for this migration, which began in 1818.
Joyce described how hard life was for the dairymen. Milking started at
5am and was followed by the first round of the day. This procedure was
repeated in the afternoon and sometimes there were even three milk
rounds. The women of the family made butter which was sold in the shop
with milk, eggs and preserves. Care of the animals and cleanliness
were priorities, and some fine specimens won prizes at local shows.
Communication with home was kept alive
in a number of ways. Some women came back to have their babies, and
children often returned for a spell of fresh air. Many people came
home to retire, but Joyce said that dairying was such hard work that
some men did not reach retirement age. Although stricter rules and
regulations made life more difficult for the cow keepers, they
numbered 900 by the turn of the century. However, during and after the
First World War they began to dwindle, until in the 1970s there were
only 4 left.
Interestingly, the Wilson family
provided a link between these two excellent talks. Peter Wilson, who
had inherited John Atkinson’s diary, is a descendant of Robert Wilson
who had written a diary about his time in Liverpool as a cow keeper.
Julie Leigh
Wednesday 3rd
October 2007
The Life and Work of Thomas Hayton Mawson
The first lecture
of the 2007/8 season was held at Settlebeck School on Wednesday 3rd
October. Over forty members of the society met to hear a talk by
Elizabeth (Bette) Kissack on the life and work of Thomas Hayton Mawson,
the landscape architect with particular reference to his connections
with the Lake District.
Thomas was born at
Scorton, near
Lancaster,
in 1861. When he was six the family moved to Lancaster and his father
bought a plot of land on which he built a pair of semi-detached
houses, in one of which the family lived. It was there that Thomas
first started gardening. The family soon moved to Ingleton but when
he was twelve he went to live and work in Lancaster for an uncle who
was a builder and a keen horticulturist. When he was fourteen his
father bought a property at Langber End to set up a nursery and fruit
farm and Thomas was needed to help. Sadly his father died after two
years and a little later Thomas went to London to find work. He was
soon able to send for his two brothers Robert and Isaac, his sister,
Sarah, and his mother to join him. In London he met Anna Prentice
whom he married in 1884.
Whilst on honeymoon
in the Lake District Thomas received a letter telling him that a
proposed business partnership had fallen through. As a result he and
Anna decided that there was the potential in the
Lake District to start a family business there. The whole Mawson
family moved to Windermere with Thomas running a landscape gardening
practice with Robert and Isaac running, in conjunction, a nursery and
contracting business. Their first commission was to landscape a
garden at Bryerswood in Far Sawrey. This was followed by work at
Graythwaite Hall which gave Thomas the opportunity to display his
passion for terraces and balustrades complemented by ball-finials.
Other characteristics of his work were large lawns for playing games
and yew hedges. Whilst working there he met the architect Dan Gibson
and the two subsequently worked together at Brockhole. Mr Gaddum, the
owner, was a keen photographer and made a record of the building of
the house and the landscaping of the garden. As a result of this
Thomas obtained other commissions at Holehird, Cringlemire, Langdale
Chase and Moor Crag.
In 1900 Thomas
designed and built for himself The Corbels in Windermere. On the
opposite side of the road his brother, Robert, and family lived in one
half of a semi-detached house whilst his sister Sarah, and family,
lived in the other half. Isaac and his wife Rosa lived in Oak Street
and Heathwaite was built for other members of the Mawson family. The
first edition of Thomas’ book “The Art and Craft of Garden-Making” was
published in1900. He opened a London office in 1901 but the same year
saw the death of his brother Isaac.
Thomas and Anna’s
family, which included eight children, had a holiday home built on the
shoreline at Hest Bank and the nearby railway station enabled Thomas
to reach
London much quicker than from Windermere. Thomas, in conjunction
with Dan Gibson, was responsible for building a Congregational Chapel
at Hest Bank where he worshipped. Thomas also wanted to create a
model village there and designed several houses including The
Pillars. As an architect Thomas’ designs were characterised by
protruding slated gables and windows with a central pillar. His
reputation grew and he obtained a commission from Lord Leverhulme to
landscape fifty acres of ground around his house, Royston Cottage, on
Rivington Pike. This included the design for a Japanese garden which
was fashionable at that time.
Returning to the
Lake District he obtained more commissions including landscaping
gardens for Rydal Hall, Briery Close, Wood Hall and Above Beck. His
work on the latter in
Grasmere included a Japanese style garden. Before the outbreak of
the First World War he returned home from
Greece where he had
been working. All the unmarried men in his Lancaster office enlisted
and sadly one of his sons killed in the war. After the war Thomas was
responsible for the building of the Westfield Military Village in
Lancaster on land given by Mr Herbert Lushington Storey. Thomas had
previously landscaped the gardens of Mr Storey’s house Bailrigg which
now forms part of Lancaster University. In his last years he and his
wife moved from Hest Bank to Caton Hall before returning to Hest Bank
where he died in 1933. He was a man of international status having
worked for Kings as well as Dukes, Lords and Viscounts.
The Chairman
thanked Bette for her most interesting lecture the highlight of which
had been her wonderful collection of slides showing Mawson’s work.
July 2007
Visit to Briggflats
On
a lovely July evening Briggflats Meeting House was the venue for the
final summer meeting.. It was particularly appropriate to sit in a
place so steeped in Quaker history to hear about the local origins of
the movement. Tess Satchell welcomed us to Briggflats and showed us
some of the archives which are still held there. These included a Book
of Sufferings which recorded the persecution that was experienced by
early Westmorland Quakers.
The
main part of the evening was devoted to what David Boulton called his
‘unstructured romp’ through approximately fifty years of Quaker
history in the Sedbergh and Dent district. He based his survey on his
book, Early Friends in Dent, and it was anything but ‘unstructured’!
He began by making the point that movements arise out of the
conditions of their time, and that in the case of Quakerism the
catalysts were the Civil War and arguments about secular and religious
authority.
David narrated how in 1652 George Fox felt compelled to travel to
Westmorland to seek out groups of ‘seekers’ who were rebelling against
Calvinist theology, and looking for new ways of being Christian. Many
had been officers in Cromwell’s New Modern Army. This area, with its
large parishes and lack of strong control was ripe for the rise of a
radical movement, demonstrated in1862 by a strike in Dentdale against
the payment of tithes. Therefore George Fox’s opposition to the clergy
and religious hierarchies provided an attractive option. Beginning at
the top end of Dentdale, and initially passed on from group to group,
Fox made his way around the area. Gradually he persuaded people by his
arguments, and by 1664 missionaries were being sent out to take the
message to other regions.
In
his description of how Quakers suffered for their religious beliefs,
David gave examples of their resilience in the face of prolonged
persecution. He recounted how, refusing to attend church, to swear
oaths, and to pay tithes, or ‘steeple-house rates’, as they called
them, they repeatedly had their goods and chattels seized.
Furthermore, some were in and out of gaol many times. Following the
Conventicle Acts, their meetings were broken up, sometimes violently.
However, there is evidence that local people began to take pity on
them, to the extent of sometimes paying their fines and tithes. It
wasn’t until 1689 when the Toleration Acts legalised Quaker meetings
and meeting houses that they were left alone to practise their
religion without interference.
Thanks are due to David for a very informative and interesting talk,
and to Tess for her hospitality.
Wednesday 6th June
The Webster buildings of Kendal
On
Wednesday 6th June eleven members of the society assembled
at Kendal Museum in beautiful weather to be met by Mrs Patricia Hovey
and Mr Trevor Hughes who took us on a tour of the Webster buildings of
Kendal, starting with Beezon Lodge and finishing at the Town Hall, in
the building of the earliest parts of which Webster father and son
both played a part
Mrs
Hovey told us a bit of the background of the family before we set out.
Francis Webster, came to Kendal in 1787 at the age of 20. He was
principally a builder but did design buildings also. He became an
alderman and then Mayor of Kendal in 1823. When he died in 1827 he had
completed many substantial buildings in the town and the surrounding
area. His elder son, George, trained as an architect and his younger
son, Francis, ran his father’s marble showrooms at Aynam, now the
Bridge Restaurant, and he lived next door in another Webster hosue.
Francis the elder was man of entrepreneurial vision, buying up all the
land on which the canal, with its attendant buildings, was to be
constructed, at the cost of three shillings a yard. He then carried
out the building work associated with the canal, including the canal
superintendent’s house. He also sold off plots of land on Thorny
Hills, proceeding to build houses for the purchasers. There are
certain features which mark a Francis Webster building although his
architect son could build to any style required. For example, the
former used dressed stone, the cutting and dressing being done at his
own water mill at Helsington, where, also, stone from Garsdale and
Hutton Roof was polished into what was called ‘Kendal marble’ and used
for fireplaces etc. The Websters also had their own quarry and seven
lime kilns, making a tramline to carry all the material into Kendal.
Both built ‘houses for gentlemen’ and these were much in demand and
not only in Kendal. Ingmire Hall and Rigmaden are but two examples of
Webster houses elsewhere.
Private housing was but a small part of their building enterprise.
Public buildings from churches, schools and assembly rooms to bridges,
gaols and a bank were all in their repertoire.
To list them all would be tedious but a few
examples follow, Miller Bridge, built in 1818, took traffic across
the river to Aynam and that side of Kendal for the first time, and
what is now the HSBC bank, which is now the oldest building still
operating as such. The Quaker Meeting House, St Thomas’s Church and
the Catholic Church are all Webster buildings as were the Ladies’
College and Stramongate School,
now used for other purposes. The Shambles
and the Farrers’ building were restored by them and the workhouse
built. Francis is responsible for the first pavement in Kendal and for
helping construct Appleby Gaol. George built churches in several
villages, including Natland and Whittington. There seemed no end to
their enterprise and energy and Kendal is justly proud of their
achievements.
One
of our members, Judith Robinson, was able to add information and
anecdotes from her own youthful days in Kendal, enthusiastically
identifying a door in a passage as ‘my great grandmother’s front
door’. In times past when streets were muddy and dirty front doors
were put on the side of a building. Also the front door often served
as the entrance to the business as well, the home being above the
shop.
The
party was very grateful to our two guides who were so knowledgeable
and enthusiastic and from whom we learned many other interesting
things on the walk.
A Walk Around Appleby
The first summer visit of 2007 was to Appleby.
Members were taken on a conducted tour of the attractive town by
Vivienne Gate and other representatives of the Appleby Society. Our
tour began at the ancient Moot Hall where the business of the town
council is conducted. The present mayor gave us a short talk about the
town’s history and traditions. Appleby, which was originally the
county town of Westmorland, gained its charter in the twelfth century,
and the Moot Hall was built in Tudor times. On a plaque over the door,
the date 1596 is recorded. Appleby was ravaged by the Scots on several
occasions, and some of its original streets have not survived. However
on Boroughgate, its wide main thoroughfare, there are some lovely old
houses.
The mayor, indicating some of the many pictures of
former mayors and inhabitants of the town on the walls of the chamber,
told us about a few of the town’s notable inhabitants. One of these
was Jack Robinson, who gave his name to the saying, ‘as quick as you
can say Jack Robinson’. He also showed us some of the impressive robes
and regalia which are used on ceremonial occasions. Interestingly, two
halberds belonging to the town always stand outside the house of the
incumbent mayor during his time in office. We were reminded of the
annual Horse Fair for which Appleby is widely renowned. Evidently, so
many visitors descend on the town for the event that many citizens
tend to batten down the hatches during the fair.
Armed with our newly acquired local knowledge we
were led up Boroughgate to St Anne’s Hospital, a group of small
almshouses clustered around a small courtyard with a fountain. They
were founded by Lady Anne Clifford, a local sixteenth-century
landowner, for destitute widows. We were allowed into the tiny chapel,
where much of the woodwork dates from the seventeenth century, and the
striking eighteenth-century texts around the walls replaced older
originals. At the back of the almshouses is a peaceful grassy area
where the residents once had small gardens. Next we walked to the top
of the hill and looked through large gates at Appleby Castle. Sadly,
it has been closed to the public for several years since English
Heritage refused to accept the plans of the owner of the castle to
develop the site.
Then we were given an unexpected treat. John and
Jill Hodge who live in a lovely Georgian fronted house halfway down
Boroughgate invited us in to see the building and the garden.
Attractive period features have survived in the house and these are
complemented by beautiful furniture and decoration. For the gardeners
amongst us, their collection of interesting plants was of special
interest.
Our tour ended with a visit to the parish church of
St Lawrence at the bottom of the town. Like so many churches, it has
been added to over the centuries, from the oldest twelfth-century
building in the tower, the fourteenth-century porch and pillars in the
nave, to the restoration of more recent times. Perhaps the most
memorable items in the church are three memorials at the far end of
the church. One is a small, unadorned effigy of an unnamed lady, which
contrasts with a beautiful alabaster figure representing Margaret,
Countess of Cumberland, mother of Lady Anne Clifford. She herself is
commemorated on a large black marble monument.
Appleby is a most interesting ancient town, and we
were really grateful to our knowledgeable guides, who gave up their
time to show us some of its finer points.
Wednesday, 21st March
Ken Clarke on “Victorian Photography and the Brunskills of Sedbergh
and Bowness”.
The
true inventor of photography was a Frenchman, Joseph Niepce whose
first successful image was of a view from his window in about 1826.
Then in 1839 two people published papers on different methods of
obtaining a permanent image. Daguerre in France had built on Niepce’s
work to produce daguerrotypes. These were high quality images but
they produced a mirror image and could not be reproduced. Fox Talbot
in England introduced the modern system of negative and positive image
production which enabled copies to be easily made. His first photo
was of a window at his house, Laycock Abbey, taken in 1835. Initially
because of cheaper cost and superior quality the method of Deguerre
was the more popular but eventually after a modification the Fox
Talbot process became supreme.
Photographic studios were open in London by 1840 and by about 1850
they had reached the Lake District. The technology improved with time
but it still required the sitter for a portrait staying still for a
considerable time. Various props were available to hold the head
still which looked more like torture implements than aids to
photography.
William Brunskill was born in Ingleton in 1797 but later moved to
Sedbergh and in 1818 married Hannah Wright. Later that year Hannah
died in childbirth. In 1821 William married Elizabeth Blenkarn and in
1824 their son, Richard, was born. Their second son, John William,
was born in 1825. William was a painter, plumber and glazier and his
two sons joined him in the family firm. The family lived in various
premises in Sedbergh probably starting in Settlebeck cottages. From
there they moved to a house in Main Street in the area of what is now
the Nat West bank. From there they had moved to what is now 7 Main
Street by 1847. In 1850 Richard married Isabella Ellis.
By
1858 the two brothers had started taking photographs as several street
scenes of Sedbergh exist showing a house with a gallery on the site of
what is now the library.
However, this must have been a minor occupation because the 1861
census lists them as being painters, plumbers and glaziers like their
father. They soon started to buy property, in Kendal and by 1865 in
Back Lane on the site of the present numbers 21/22. It was there that
they probably had their Sedbergh studio. For health reasons and also
because of the greater number of tourists they decided to open a
studio in Bowness although for some time they seemed to spend the
winter in Sedbergh and the summer in Bowness. Pictures of their
original studio in Bowness still exist. They eventually decided to
move permanently to Bowness and sold their Kendal and Sedbergh
properties. They built themselves a purpose built house with a large
glass window to provide the light needed for photography. The house
still exists.
Their business flourished and even when Richard died a man was
employed to take his place. When John William died his wife carried
on the firm until it finally closed. Luckily about 17500 of their
images survived and have been bought by the Armitt Museum in Ambleside.
The chairman thanked Ken Clarke for a most interesting talk that had
provided a fitting end to the winter programme. Thanks to a generous
donation the society has been able to buy from the Armitt Museum
copies of the 300 photos connected with Sedbergh.
Richard Cann
Wednesday 21st February
Members' Evening
A large audience assembled in Dent Memorial Hall on Wednesday 21st
February to hear Denis Sanderson start off by talking on 'The
Geological History of Dentdale and Area'.
Standing in the very schoolroom where he had sat at lessons as a
child, in a region famed for its geological associations, he was able
to put his local knowledge to good use. In an informative and lively
presentation he explained where various features of interest could be
seen in the locality. He started by walking us up Barbondale where the
beck follows the line of the Dent Fault with Silurian age rock to the
left and limestone to the right. The Dent Fault is not quite dead and
he reminded us of the earthquake of 9/8/1970, the biggest recorded in
England, measuring 4.9 on the Richter Scale, Haycock Ghyll is another
good vantage point and at Gawthrop the older Ordovician rock shows
through. Flinters Ghyll is a good place to observe the flat like
paving called Hawes Limestone and Binks Quarry up Deepdale is a good
spot to see fossils . He likened Rise Hill to a giant layer cake with
11 or 12 different aged limestones sandwiched between sandstone and
shale.
This was a really good laypersons guide to local geology and will
have no doubt encouraged members to take a fresh look at our local
rock formations.
The second talk by Julie Leigh entitled 'The Policing of 19c
Cumberland and Westmorland' was based on her research into local
policing, particularly relating to the Kirkby Stephen area.
An amusing role play exercise illustrated the difficulties encountered
by the then elected village constable with conflicting evidence,
unreliable witnesses and local petitioning. The local lock-ups were
very basic, very confined and offered no privacy.
As the population grew so did the crime.
Wednesday 7th February
John Claister on The History of Cricket in Sedbergh
On a cold February night, in weather not at all suited to the
topic of the talk, members and visitors met to hear John Glaister tell
us about the history of cricket in the town.
Cricket had started at the school and in 1841 the first match was
played against a team from Kirkby Lonsdale. Presumably because of
transport difficulties it was played in a field opposite the
Swan Inn at Middleton. In the early years the team seemed to consist
of schoolboys plus a few men from the town. One of these, Mr Smith a
solicitor, caused an incident in 1846 when he ran out the star of the
Kirkby Lonsdale team. He ran him out whilst he was backing up at the
bowler’s end which was considered unsporting. The players adjourned to
the Bull afterwards and the drink did nothing to improve relations.
Eventually the visitors coach left to a mixture of abuse and missiles
with Mr Smith trying to restrain the boys. In those days cricket in
this country was sometimes played in the autumn which would be
considered unseasonable now. Bowling was underarm and not overarm as
now. Wickets and pitches were very bad and as a result matches did not
last long even if they were two innings games. Indeed the drinking
afterwards seemed the major event and could go on until the small
hours of the next morning!
Cricket at the school had thrived sufficiently for the first past
versus present match to be played in 1850 which the present won
convincingly. Over the years the school produced several good
cricketers but only one test match player, Mitchell-Innes, who has
died recently. However, Mr Glaister thought that J.A.Burrow from the
nineteenth century was the best. He was a local boy and had played for
many local clubs and ones in central Yorkshire with great success.
Sedbergh town club played its first game in1863 and its formation may
have been connected with the decline of the school under Dr Day as
headmaster. Its zenith was reached when cricket leagues were reformed
some years after WW1. The town team was the best in the Westmorland
league during the 1920s when it was composed of a mixture of school
staff and local men. However, it had ceased to exist by the mid
thirties and was not reformed for another forty years.
The chairman thanked the speaker for his talk and during coffee and
biscuits afterwards members were able to look at a display of
photographs from the archives of Sedbergh School and the History
Society.
Richard Cann
Wednesday 17th January 2007
Andrew Lowe on
"Bank Barns, Boskins and
Bee-Boles"
Over fifty
members and visitors attended the opening talk after the festive
break. It was given by Andrew Lowe on the subject of “Bank Barns,
Boskins and Bee-Boles”.
Andrew had a career in planning, being Senior Planner with the Lake
District NPA and then its Building Conservation Officer. In addition
he has lectured for various universities on the industrial archaeology
of the Lake District and also on its traditional buildings.
His talk to the society dealt with the various farm buildings that
could be found within the Lake District National Park. Farm buildings
are the best vernacular buildings for the absence of change whereas
domestic buildings are continually altered due to the fashion of the
time. Barns by definition are a building where corn can be threshed
and stored and they usually have a section for cattle. They need to be
watertight yet ventilated. Most of the barns in the Lake District have
been built of stone obtained within a radius of 200 yards of the
building. Originally they had steep roofs when thatched but less steep
roofs were needed when slates were used.
Bank Barns were built on slopes with the main door, which was situated
on the slope, not in the middle of the barn. The larger area was used
for storing the corn before threshing and the smaller area for storing
it after it had been threshed. Opposite the door was the winnowing
window which helped cause a draught to blow away the chaff which was
formed during the threshing. The bottom floor of the barn was used for
cattle or storage of carts, etc. The threshing could be done by hand
but there were examples where water or horse power had been used. The
earliest barn dated from 1659 but even this had been built using some
foundations from an earlier barn. The status of a farmer was shown by
the quality of the workmanship on the barn and by decorative features
such as finials on the gable end of the roof.
Inside the barns the partitions were known as boskins and these could
be made of wood or stone. They were usually lime-washed to act as an
antiseptic. Many of these have now been removed to give larger open
spaces within barns.
Other types of farm building still exist such as hennery-piggeries. In
these the hens were housed on the upper floor and pigs on the ground
floor. Only the top levels of society could afford coach houses and
dovecotes. Finally before the advent of sugar from the Americas every
farm house would have had its bee-boles. These were recesses where bee
hives could be sited to protect them from the rain. They were usually
facing south-east so that the bees got the maximum hours of light.
Andrew dealt with a variety of questions and gave his opinion on the
uses to which the surviving barns should be put. To date a
considerable sum of money has been given as grants to ensure their
preservation. He was thanked by the chairman for a most interesting an
entertaining talk.
Richard Cann
Wednesday 1st November 2006
Report
by Tony Hannam
on Professor Roger Fawthrop’s lecture
WITH ONLY CROWS AS PASSENGERS TO SEDBERGH
Professor Fawthrop has featured on our programme before and there was
a large audience in anticipation of another fascinating talk about the
Furness & Yorkshire Union Railway Project of 1865. He began by giving
some background to the politics behind railway development in the
Victorian age.
There were two major periods of planning and construction.
1. 1843 – 1855 The principle trunk routes and 2nd tier routes, the
core of which still exist today; e.g. the east and west coast main
lines.
2. 1865 – 1880 The major cross country routes such as the Settle –
Carlisle, the branch lines and metropolitan commuter lines.
Railway mania was at its height with 268 Railway Boards in existence
in York County alone in 1847. The mentality of the time seemed to be
to fill in the open spaces on the map; no National Parks to contend
with in those days. That only a handful came about was because of the
necessity for an Act of Parliament for each project and stringent
compliance with the tiniest detail. The Boards had to have the power
to construct, finance and operate the line. Also agreement had to be
reached to hook up with other existing lines. The vested interests of
the powerful LNWR and NER made life difficult.
The East & West Yorkshire Union railway (EWYUR) had plans to run a
line up Wensleydale from the NER line at Melmerby (nr Ripon) to
Leyburn, Hawes, Mallerstang, Sedbergh (via Garsdale) and Barbon to
link up with existing lines at Kirkby Stephen, Ingleton or Milnthorpe.
This was opposed by the big two and eventually only the Leyburn –
Hawes section was built by NER. The demise of EWYUR followed but ‘the
baby got a new suite of clothes’ and the Furness & Yorkshire Union
Railway (FYUR) came into being.
What was at stake was the transport of high quality coke from Durham
to Barrow in Furness so that it could be shipped to the South Wales
blast furnaces. At the time this was traveling on the South Durham and
Lancashire Union Railway (SD&LUR) via Barnard Castle and Kirkby
Stephen to Tebay. 68 million tons were moved during WW1.
James Ramsden at the Barrow end of FYUR had an eye on this lucrative
traffic as he was a major shareholder in both companies. He was also
interested in moving 200,000 tonnes of Haematite per year from Barrow
to the South Staffs. steel works. Neither company could avoid paying
LNWR for using the Tebay to Carnforth section or indeed from Carnforth
to Derby.
This is where a Furness line link from Arnside to Barbon via
Milnthorpe could have hooked up with the proposed Hawes-Sedbergh line,
and the Ingleton-Leeds line, cutting out LNWR. Only the
Milnthorpe-Arnside section was eventually completed. This enabled the
gentry of Kendal to go to Grange but ‘only crows’ to Sedbergh.
Wednesday
4th October 2006
The
first lecture of the 2006/2007 series drew an audience of forty people
to hear Yvonne Luke's talk on "Rethinking Ingleborough".
From Victorian times up to the Royal Commission of Monuments survey
in 1988 it was considered that the summit of Ingleborough contained an
iron age fort surrounded by a rampart. It was thought that there were
twenty hut circles within the rampart. These were clustered in the
central area of the summit with the north-western and north-eastern
areas apparently empty.
Yvonne had studied aerial photographs and detected a faint circle in
the north-western corner and later investigation on the ground had
suggested that this was a ring cairn pre-dating the iron age by about
a thousand years. A path appeared to lead from it to a break in the
south-western part of the rampart. From there a pathway occurred
in the scree below leading to a grassy area. Ring cairns are well
known in the Peak District and are thought to be ritual structures
dating to the second millennium BC. They are also found in the Dales
were they are 10-12 metres in diameter. Yvonne wondered if what had
been thought to be iron age hut circles on Ingleborough were really
bronze age ring cairns. She also thought she had detected a few half
ring structures there.
She had investigated the rampart and decided it could not be a
defensive feature of a fort for various reasons. Firstly in places
there was what appeared to be a ditch, or a quarry site for the stones
of the rampart, on the inside the rampart. This would have been a
nonsense defensively. Secondly there were several breaks in the
rampart and many of these appeared to be part of the original design
and marked by orthostats (standing stones). They did not have a ditch
or quarry scoop behind them. Finally the most imposing part of the
rampart occurred where it was least needed defensively as there were
sheer drops below it. She thought Ingleborough had been a sanctuary
in that it was used for ritualistic purposes and also provide a
shelter for cattle and people when danger threatened their pastures
below but had not been a fort.
The surface of the summit was getting badly eroded by the large
number of walkers there and already some archaeological sites had been
lost. She hoped that money would be found for a dig to occur to
answer questions before the evidence had been destroyed. After her
talk she answered several questions before being thanked by the
chairman who wished her success when she submitted her thesis for a
Ph.D. Richard
Cann
AGM
Saturday 25th March 2006
The
Annual General Meeting of the society was held in Settlebeck School on
Saturday 25th March. After the minutes of last year's AGM
had been approved the officers of the society presented their annual
reports. Apart from the usual lectures and visits the year had been
dominated by 25th Anniversary celebrations. Two successful
exhibitions were held in Sedbergh and Dent and there had been an
enjoyable dinner at which the guest speaker was Sir Christopher
Booth. The society had also launched a web-site,
www.sedberghhistory.org, and had gained some new members as a result.
The finances of the society were sound and there were 279
subscriptions to the society meaning it had about 350 actual members
spread throughout the world.
The Very Reverend Ingram Cleasby was re-elected as President and the
existing officers and committee members were re-elected en-bloc with
the addition of Mrs Josie Templeman. After the formal part of the
meeting the large number of members present took part in a short quiz
and then enjoyed splendid refreshments provided by the members
themselves
Wednesday 15th March 2006
The last
in this season's lectures took place on Wednesday 15th
March when a large audience came to hear one of the society's most
distinguished members. Professor Robert Fox is the Professor of the
History of Science at the University of Oxford and his talk was on
"The Scientists and Schools of Sedgwick's North Country".
Grammar schools were schools that had been endowed for the free
teaching of the grammar of the classical languages, Latin, Greek and
sometimes Hebrew. They often taught other subjects but the pupils
would pay for this tuition. A survey done in 1818 showed a wide range
in the number of pupils and the salary paid to staff. The Master at
Leeds received £500 per annum whilst many in small schools only got
about £50. In addition to the Master some schools had an Usher who
helped him and some had a person who taught the three Rs. The
buildings were similar in that all the pupils were in one large room.
The Master sat at one end on a raised dais and the pupils sat on
forms. These were grouped together so that pupils sat with others who
had reached the same standard. The pupils learnt the grammar by rote.
During the nineteenth century these schools declined except for those
in big towns or a few such as Eton that attracted wealthy people.
There were several reasons for this. The importance of the classical
languages for getting a career had declined although they were needed
to get into Oxford and Cambridge Universities. National, British and
Dames' Schools provided a cheaper way of being taught the three Rs.
Also those schools endowed on a fixed income found that to be
increasingly insufficient. By the end of the century the Grammar
Schools had either closed or had been converted into elementary
schools or in some cases survived by become fee paying schools
teaching grammar as well as other subjects. Dent came into the first
category and Sedbergh into the last.
In the seventeenth century the Grammar Schools in the North West had
produced many pupils who had gone on to Cambridge where they had made
successful careers mainly in Science and Mathematics. A contemporary
had called them the "hard progeny of the North". Examples were
Sedgwick and Watson. The former had been appointed Professor of
Geology, without any knowledge of the subject, but had gone on to a
very distinguished career. Watson had been appointed Professor of
Chemistry, again without any knowledge of the subject. He had gone on
to be Professor of Divinity and finally Bishop of Llandaff, a
place he hardly ever visited in over twenty years.
Other people came up through different routes. John Dawson, from
Garsdale, was largely self-taught initially but became an apothecary
in Sedbergh after studying in Lancaster, Edinburgh and London. He also
coached Mathematics to some of those reading it at Cambridge. They
stayed with him in their vacations and he was so successful that he
gained a national reputation and eventually earned his living from
it. John Dalton from near Cockermouth went to Kendal and then to
Manchester teaching and lecturing. He produced an Atomic Theory of
immense importance in Chemistry. Finally there was Thomas Garnett
from Barbon who had become an apprentice of Dawson. He had gone to
Edinburgh and then set up as a doctor in the spa town of Harrogate.
He next moved to London where a glittering career as a lecturer
beckoned. However, his wife died, he became depressed and soon died of
typhoid.
The chairman thanked Professor Fox for a most interesting lecture
which the audience had enjoyed and it had provided a fitting end to
the season.
Wednesday 1st March 2006
A meeting of the society was held in Dent Memorial Hall on Wednesday
1st March and it attracted a large audience. The first item of the
evening was a showing of a film made in 1985 called “Adam in
Paradise”. David Boulton at that time was running Granada Television’s
current affairs and regional programmes and he commissioned the film
and was the presenter on it. The Adam referred to was Adam Sedgwick
and the Paradise was Dentdale. In the film David outlined the history
of the dale, in particular its opposition to tithes over the
centuries. He then went on to meet some of the characters in the dale
in 1985. Some of the views on the history would need to be revised in
the light of recent research but the film provided an interesting
record of the dale and its inhabitants two decades ago. Unfortunately
David was unable to be present but sent a letter giving details about
the film and we are very grateful to him for lending the copy to the
society for the meeting.
The film’s mention of the importance of knitting to the history of
Dent provided an excellent introduction to a showing of “The Terrible
Knitters of Dent” starring Betty Hartley, Elizabeth Middleton and
pupils from Dent School. This delightful film explained how the
knitting was done and the clothes and equipment used by the knitters.
The trade was an economic necessity for survival due to the decline of
farming in the dale. Copies of the video are available in various
places in Dent and it is well worth buying as it provides an excellent
record of a past way of life.
Richard Cann
Wednesday 15th February 2006
'A
Year at Killington Hall' with Mrs Judith Robinson
Judith is a member of the Society and a large audience turned out
for her presentation of 'The 1876 Diary of Agnes Ann Kendal' which is
the title of a book she has recently published.
Agnes Ann was the 8th and youngest child of Robert and
Elizabeth Kendal (nee Fawcett).
Robert was a tenant farmer at Killington Hall which is where Ann
lived along with her unmarried older sister Sarah and brother John.
The diary gives a quite fascinating insight into life in Victorian
England through the eyes of a 19 year old farmers daughter.
Judith was congratulated for bringing the diary to life in such a
compelling way with old and new photographs interspersed with
voice-overs reading extracts from the diary. What would Agnes have
thought if she had known her most private diary had been made so
public 130 years later?
Today we regard Killington Hall as somewhat isolated. In 1876 we hear
of a constant stream of social visitors and frequent outings to
Kendal, Orton, Sedbergh and occasionally to Cautley. The 'Red Lion
Inn' was only across the yard but the family were tee-total.
The diary reveals Agnes to be a committed Christian and although the
Anglican Church was only yards away it was to the Vale of Lune Chapel,
then non-conformist and now known as St Gregory's, that Agnes went to
worship and teach at Sunday School. Making 2 trips on Sunday would
have meant walking about 16 miles.
She rather surprisingly made no reference to shopping of having any
money other than pocket money.
She enjoyed baking and there are references to sewing, dress-making,
mangling, cleaning and churning butter. She only seemed to help on
the farm with milking cows and bringing in the hay; 116 carts and 47
sleds in 1876.
The highlight of the year was the visit to Orton Pot Fair in June
where the previous year she had met her future husband Jim Wharton and
to whom she was secretly betrothed.
Her courtship and Jim's visits delightfully enlighten her days. Jim
would often catch the train to Tebay from Sedbergh, even hitch a lift
on a goods train and frequently walk the 13 miles back home.
It was 5 years later on February 9th. the day before her 25th
birthday, that they were married. Sadly they did not live happily ever
after. On Dec. 5th she gave birth to a son but 3 days later
she was dead as was her son 10 days later.
Jim remarried, moved to Kendal and had 9 children. No photos were
kept of Agnes and there is no gravestone for her and her son in Orton
Churchyard.
Happily the diary survives and having been handed down through Jim's
family to Judith's aunt and now the book is a fitting memorial.
Judith was warmly thanked for sharing this in such a delightful way.
Wednesday 1st February 2006
Members' talks:This
year the members giving the talks were Kevin Lancaster and Roger
Underwood.
Kevin's subject was "Inventories and Bonds". Soon after a
person died an inventory was taken, of the possessions and debts that
they had, to be used in conjunction with their will. This task was
normally undertaken by four neighbours. For this area the earliest
surviving record was from the first half of the sixteenth century.
From then the number increased until the Commonwealth during which
there was a steep decline. After that the number sharply rose and
peaked around 1700. During the eighteenth century the practice
declined and finally ended in the nineteenth century. Most of the
inventories for this area are to be found in Preston and we are lucky
that the society has transcripts of so many, the latter fact largely
due to Kevin's efforts. In his lecture he compared some from a period
in the seventeenth century with another sample taken a hundred years
later. The comparison showed the effects of inflation and increasing
wealth in the area. Particularly interesting was the much wider range
of furniture in the houses. Also the terms used to describe some of
the farm animals had changed with the later ones being the same as our
contemporary ones. Finally Kevin stressed the importance of the
information provided by bonds, sureties required when loans were
involved.
Roger Underwood's subject was "From Bristol to Sedbergh and back
again, a journey of fifty years." This talk linked the fortunes of
the Uptons of Ingmire Hall with the Smyth's of Ashton Court near
Bristol. The latter were a much more important and wealthier family
with the head being a baronet and Ashton Court being the centre of a
very large estate. The family were leading figures in Bristol society.
Florence, the sister of the baronet, became the second wife of John
Upton of Ingmire Hall. His first wife had been the daughter of the
Bishop of Bristol. Their son Thomas died in 1843 of pneumonia, caught
from exposure on Kendal Fell, but not before he had produced two sons,
Thomas and Greville. Back in Bristol Florence's brother Hugh had died
and been succeeded as baronet by another brother, John. The latter was
a confirmed bachelor and this meant the title would pass to Thomas.
However, he was indulged by his grandmother and he died in Bristol due
to his excesses, leaving Greville as the heir.
At this stage a man suddenly appeared on the scene claiming to be
the son of Hugh from a marriage contracted in Ireland. John accepted
his claim to be the heir to the baronetcy and then conveniently died
the next day. Naturally a court case, which was the talk of Bristol,
was held to decide who had the right to succeed as baronet. The
claimant was found to be an impostor and Greville became the baronet.
Florence eventually died in 1852 having seen her grandson inherit the
title. Another Florence, the daughter of Thomas born in 1837, later
acquired Ingmire Hall as Mrs Upton-Cottrell-Dormer. Ashton Hall was
eventually overwhelmed by death duties in the early nineteenth century
and was bought by Bristol City Council.
The speakers were thanked by the chairman who remarked that the
evenings such as this showed how lucky the society was in being able
to draw on the skills of so many talented members.
Wednesday 18th January 2006
Dr Simon
Smith of York University addressed the society on the topic 'Robert
Lowther, Governor of Barbados 1711-20: saint or Sinner?' In an
interesting account of Lowther's time in the West Indies, Dr Smith
explored some of the controversy surrounding this enigmatic character.
As a plantation owner, married to the Barbadian heiress, Joan
Carleton, Lowther was already well acquainted with the Caribbean
island. Dr Smith suggested that Lowther's appointment as Governor was
probably connected with his family's support for the Stuart regime.
Lowther cannot be condemned for his involvement in slavery , since the
practice was generally considered to be acceptable during this period,
and many other members of the gentry were engaged in it. However, he
was heavily criticised for various aspects of his governorship.
Some of the charges against him were outlined by the speaker. He was
accused of extortion and corruption, and manipulating the law for his
own ends. He was recalled in 1714 to answer the charges, but after the
death of Queen Anne, he was allowed to return. According to his
critics, things continued much as before. A law was passed which made
trading with other islands illegal without the purchase of expensive
licences, but apparently he himself engaged in illicit trade or turned
a blind eye to it. Furthermore, he raised a tax to fortify the island,
but it was reported that much of the money was diverted elsewhere.
Dr Smith then considered how far the criticisms against him were
justified. He maintained that leading contemporary opponents of
Lowther, like Rev William Gordon and Samuel Cox had personal reasons
for their condemnation, and that later critical histories reproduced
some of the earlier accounts. Seemingly, other writers had their own
reasons for castigating him. Although there seems to very little
evidence to suggest that there were many positive outcomes of
Lowther's governorship, Dr Smith reminded his audience that in judging
him it has to be remembered that standards in eighteenth-century
public life were very different from today.
Wednesday 4th January
2006
'Andrew de Harcia and the
Scottish Wars of Independence' by Adrian Rogan
The story of his amazing career: border warfare in the early
fourteenth century
Andrew de Harcla was one of the outstanding northern knights involved
in the Scottish Wars of Independence. He was the subject of Adrian
Rogan’s interesting talk to the History Society in January.
Unfortunately, there were computer problems so that we were unable to
see his collection of photographs very well.
The de Harcla family had connections with Hartley Castle near Kirkby
Stephen and several photographs showed how well it had been
positioned. Sir Andrew also owned land in Sedbergh and district and
had the advowson of the church in which he placed his brother James!
De Harcla served under both Edward I and Edward II and for his
services he was created Keeper of Carlisle and later Keeper of
Carlisle Castle. He amassed a large body of soldiers; men at arms,
esquires, hobelars ( mounted soldiers who could also fight on foot)
and archers. He was defending Carlisle Castle at the time of
Bannockburn in 1314. A year later the Scots attacked Carlisle,
capturing it but de Harcla defended the Castle so well that the Scots
retired.
He was involved in several other skirmishes eg. at Boroughbridge where
he defeated the Lancastrian rebels and was rewarded by being created
Earl of Carlisle. At this time he could do no wrong!
Mr Rogan believed that de Harcla and Robert Bruce had met several
times. A self confessed romantic he mentioned the rumour that de
Harcla was in love with Bruce’s sister Constancia. De Harcla thought
that it was time for a permanent truce between England and Scotland so
having no faith in Edward he went secretly to Loch Maben to meet
Robert Bruce to conclude a peace treaty. The townspeople of Carlisle
were delighted as it would mean peace but the king was furious and
ordered the capture and execution of de Harcla. Without a proper trial
he was tied to a hurdle and dragged through the streets of Carlisle
before being hung, drawn and quartered and then beheaded.
Adrian Rogan is writing three docu-novels on the life of Andrew de
Harcla. The first entitled Northern Warrior is already in print’
Wednesday 7th December 2005
Slate Quarries and Quarrymen in the South Eastern Lake District: Dr
Rob David
At their last autumn
meeting for 2005 members spent a most interesting evening learning
about quarrying activity in the Lake District. Dr David focussed on
our nearest quarries in Troutbeck, Kentmere and Long Sleddale which
produced either the better quality green slate from Borrowdale
volcanic rocks or inferior bluish slate of Silurian origin.
In the late 1850’s 120-150 workers were employed in Westmorland
producing about 2000 tons per annum at a rate of 19 tons per worker.
By 1896 Welsh quarries dominated the industry, attracting more capital
investment and producing 80% of the total output compared with the
Lake District’s 4.4%, putting it 4th in rank behind Wales, Scotland
and Cornwall.
Slate competed with tiles and thatch as a roofing material and was
also used for building construction, walling and paving.
Most quarries in our region were relatively small and usually fell in
and out of use. Dr David explained how census data on quarrymen was
hard to come by as many of them had other seasonal occupations such as
in farming or transferring the slate on carts to the transport
networks. Locally extracted slate was usually used within about 15
miles.
There were 3 main categories of worker: rock hands who drilled and
extracted the slate; rievers, who split it into thin sheets, or
dressers. The latter were itinerant workers and were important to the
success of the company in producing the finished article.
Until the coming of the railways most slate was moved by local
shipping from small ports or on the canals. Slate barges even
travelled up and down Coniston Water and Windermere.
Dr David illustrated several quarries with excellent slides.
Quarries still form an important part of our former industrial
landscape and after this lecture our members will be enthused to
resume their survey of local quarries in Sedbergh and district in
2006.
Tony Hannam
Wednesday 19th October 2005
The Memorialisation of The Great War 1914-1925 by Ian
Lewis.
Every village, town and city has its own memorial commemorating those
who lost their lives in the two world wars.
Ian Lewis has been researching World War One memorials and in his
fascinating lecture and overhead slide show brought our attention to
the great diversity of memorials in South Cumbria. These ranged from
seats dedicated to specific people, trees planted in memory of local
soldiers and decorated mugs to the more conventional war memorials
found in local graveyards, which list those who fell ‘for King and
Country’.
There was a feeling in 1914 that British ‘values’ were being eroded;
the war that broke out was thought of as a means of purifying and
cleansing the nation. Pressures for young men to join up were
considerable and initially most left their homes in euphoric mood
little dreaming of the horror and destruction that was to ensue.
Once the war ended, local people felt that a tangible form of
remembrance of their dead was the least they could do. Parish Councils
met to discuss how to raise the necessary money; this was not always
easy as unemployment was growing.
Amongst the different memorials were street shrines dedicated to those
who had lived in the neighbourhood, wooden crosses at road junctions,
lych and cemetery gates. Some buildings displayed Rolls of Honour,
many being beautifully decorated. Stained glass windows in churches
remembered officers and men from well-to-do families.
Members were able to supplement Mr Lewis’s list by suggesting Sedbergh,
Garsdale and Dent memorials with which he was not familiar.
Wednesday 5th October
2005
The Sedbergh and
District History Society opened its 2005/6 season with
a lecture by Dr Peter McCue on “Ghostly Armies: an Examination of some
British Cases”.
Over the centuries there have been numerous reports of people seeing
apparitional warriors, soldiers or armies. Dr McCue dealt with three
such cases the first happening at Edgehill, the site of the first
battle in the English Civil War, which was fought on 23rd October
1642. About two months later according to two tracts ‘A Great Wonder
in Heaven’ and ‘The New Years Wonder’, ghostly sounds and sights
related to the battle were experienced in the area on a number of
occasions. It was claimed that King Charles I sent people to
investigate the phenomena and they themselves saw the apparitions.
However, no documentary evidence supporting this has been found in the
royal correspondence.
The second case of a ghostly army was reported from Souter Fell near
Keswick. The army was allegedly seen on the eastern side of Souter
Fell on several occasions in the Eighteenth Century. They were
reported in ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’ in 1747 and in a book by Clarke
in 1787. William Lancaster of Blake Hills and his household observed
the phenomena and he, at least, did exist dying in 1788 aged about 78.
The third case involved a phantom battle near Loch Ashie to the east
of Loch Ness. Sightings have been reported over the centuries
including some from the second half of the Twentieth Century. One
account reported the men as being dressed in ragged clothes with bare
feet and bare legs. They carried either short swords or sticks. Short
swords were used by the Picts and they may have been the warriors in
the sighting.
Finally Dr McCue mentioned an alleged sighting of a Danish or Viking
army in Dent. There was a reference to this in a book in the 1950’s.
It was reported as having been seen by the Middleton family but he had
not been able to confirm that. His lecture stimulated his audience to
ask him many questions and they provided him with information about
sightings in Dent and Souter Fell.
Dr McCue had given the society an excellent lecture on an unusual
topic.
Richard Cann
******************************** 25th
Anniversary Exhibition 2005
History Matters
The exhibition celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Sedbergh &
District History Society.
Displays, based on members’ research, highlighted particular people
and activities, but they also paid tribute to the people who stayed in
the dales and those who moved on to wider horizons. The exhibition
recognised the role that the lives and activities of local people
played in the evolution of our landscape and that the clocks did not
stop with the Industrial Revolution. The clocks tick here just as in
other cities and towns around the world.
The exhibition offered a small glimpse of past worlds. It did not tell
the whole story, or offer a chronological history lesson. It provided
snapshots to remind us that time does not stand still. Traces of the
earliest settlers, the Celtic tribes who named Dent and some of our
hills and rivers, and the Norse language, survive in many farm names.
Mills, quarries and other remains reveal our industrial heritage, and
together with roads and tracks, show the ebb and flow of economic
life. Documents, and photographs, illustrate the lives of the people.
It was pleasing that so many people found something of interest in the
exhibition. The archive was available to look through or for personal
research. The exhibition was adapted for each venue; for example in
Dent, the Parish Council kindly agreed that the Enclosure Award map
was available for display.
Thank you to all the people, too numerous to mention individually, who
helped to make the exhibition possible.
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