Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland

In Short

Daniel Scott provides a meticulous history of Cumberland and Westmorland, mapping centuries of civic and social life across England’s northwestern border. He details the region’s unique administrative heritage, including an ancient hereditary sheriffwick, fortified churches built against border raids, strict manorial tenures, and regional traditions. Through local records, parish registers, and folklore, the book captures how isolation shaped regional governance, religious squabbles, school systems, and everyday domestic routines. It endures as an essential study of regional identity and northern English history.

The Story

The chronicle opens with the extraordinary administrative makeup of the region, focusing on Westmorland’s hereditary sheriffwick, held by twenty-two descendants of Robert de Vetripont over nearly six and a half centuries. The narrative transitions to the defensive measures demanded by a turbulent border environment. Parishes established night watches enforced by halberd-bearing citizens, while local clergy built fortified church towers to shelter congregations from Scottish incursions.

The narrative then moves into ecclesiastical governance and parish life. It reveals how local churches served as hubs for both religious duties and secular business, housing manorial courts, hosting Sunday trade, and managing community funds through high-interest loans. The author examines the intricate web of manorial tenures and laws that dictated daily life, where land was held through peculiar obligations such as supplying armed horsemen, guarding eyries of hawks, paying peppercorn or red rose rents, and maintaining mill dams in exchange for ale and tobacco.

As the historical survey progresses, it uncovers the darker aspects of old-time civic life, detailing harsh punishments, public excommunications, and dismal conditions in crowded local gaols. Scott balances these grim realities with the region’s vibrant folklore, recounting tales of "boggles," parish witches like Mary Baynes, and miraculous relics.

The focus then shifts to economic and domestic routines. Scott explores the harshness of winter diets dependent on pickled meats, the mechanics of pack-horse transport, and the strict laws surrounding local trade and public markets. Community gatherings come alive through descriptions of sports, bull-baiting, horse races at Penrith, and communal "Furth Neets," where neighbors gathered in drafty homes to knit and share local news by turf fires.

The narrative concludes by examining education and parish traditions. Scott outlines the long-standing authority of the "eighteen sworn men" who managed school funds and appointed masters, often clashing with ecclesiastical authorities. By documenting perambulation rituals, churchyard announcements, and school nutting days, Scott completes a comprehensive arc of border history, ending on the gradual fading of these ancient practices under modern standardization.

How It Unfolds

The border watch forms The narrative begins by establishing the military and civil necessity of local defense. Communities mandate strict night watches, equipping citizens with halberds and helmets to arrest suspicious night walkers and secure vulnerable border settlements.

Churches turn into fortresses Congregations reinforce their places of worship against raiders, building thick walls and defensive towers. Bishops and clergy take up arms, transforming sacred spaces into centers for both physical defense and civic administration.

Manorial obligations shape daily work Local lords enforce peculiar land tenures across the counties. Tenants retain their holdings through services ranging from rendering a single red rose to maintaining mill races in exchange for a pot of ale and tobacco.

Parish discipline and gaols hold sway The narrative turns to old-time justice, where excommunication, public penance, and stocks are routinely deployed. Imprisoned debtors rely on public charity and gifts of food or fuel to survive in wretched gaols.

Superstition and winter routines take hold Communities endure harsh winters by preserving meat and gathering for communal "Furth Neets." Local belief systems flourish alongside church doctrine, giving rise to tales of witches, apparitions, and local "lucks."

Ancient customs fade into history The account concludes with an examination of old school management and parish rituals. Practices like churchyard sale proclamations and beating the bounds slowly yield to modern civil administration.

The People

Robert de Vetripont and His Lineage Granted the hereditary sheriffwick of Westmorland by King John in 1202, Vetripont established a feudal dynasty. His twenty-two descendants maintained control over county law enforcement and defense for 645 years, navigating centuries of border conflict.

Robin the Devil (Major Robert Philipson) An adventurous Royalist commander who became a local legend during the Civil War. After his island home on Windermere was besieged, Philipson famously rode a horse directly into Kendal Church during a Sunday service to confront his adversary, Colonel Briggs.

Dr. Todd The early eighteenth-century Vicar of Penrith who engaged in a fierce, prolonged feud with Bishop Nicolson over episcopal authority. Despite being suspended and excommunicated by his bishop, Todd treated the punishment lightly until the two eventually reconciled.

Mary Baynes The famous "Witch of Tebay" who died in 1811 at ninety years old. Carrying a large pocket tied to her back, she struck terror into her neighbors, who blamed her for hexing churns and livestock.

The Eighteen Sworn Men A traditional governing body of local parishioners who maintained control over parish accounts and schoolmaster appointments. They fiercely defended their civil authority, even when Bishop Henry Robinson imprisoned thirteen of them during a Jacobean jurisdictional dispute.

In Its Own Voice

"He stationed his men properly in the avenues, and himself rode directly into the church in search of Briggs, down one aisle and up another."

This line captures the reckless audacity of Major Robert Philipson during his legendary Civil War intrusion into Kendal Church.

"The tennents of Thackthwaite are to make ye race sufficient to carry water from the Dam to the Trough Head, upon condition that the miller give them every time they meet to work it a Pott of ale and a pennyworth of tobacco as they have had formerly."

This manorial record illustrates how ancient tenures regulated local labor through customary rewards.

"Thereupon Ranulph Engain, the chief forester of Englewood, granted licence to the Prior of Carlisle to build an hospital for the relief of distressed travellers who might happen to be troubled by those thieves, or prejudiced by the snows or storms in winter."

This account demonstrates the severe perils facing travelers making their way across the desolate fell roads.

What It's Really About

The book explores how geographical isolation and persistent border insecurity shaped a distinct culture of self-reliance. Cut off by rugged fells and threatened by cross-border raids, the people of Cumberland and Westmorland created hyper-local systems of law, tenure, and religious governance. The text demonstrates how medieval feudal structures adapted into practical communal arrangements, where churchwardens, sworn men, and manorial courts managed everything from education to public defense. Beneath the antiquarian details lies an argument about the endurance of local custom against centralizing authorities. The book illustrates how isolated populations rely on shared folklore, stringent social discipline, and traditional gatherings to maintain stability in a harsh, unpredictable environment.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to readers who delight in granular local history, regional folklore, and the social history of early modern England. Scott avoids sensationalism, offering instead a clear, evidence-based account derived from parish registers, court records, and old documents. The prose feels grounded and precise, allowing the extraordinary details of historic northern life to emerge naturally.

Reading the book provides an immersion into a lost world of halberd-bearing night watches, churchyard auctions, and winter nights filled with the clicking needles of entire villages knitting by turf fires. While the text presents minor reading hurdles—such as archaic legal terms, old spelling in quoted records, and dense lists of regional manors—these elements lend the work its authentic texture. What remains with the reader is a deep appreciation for the resilience, eccentricities, and strong communal bonds of the historic border counties.