Report

ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF ENGLAND

Report to the King's Most Excellent Majesty

May It Please Your Majesty.

We, the undersigned Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilization and conditions of life of the people in England, excluding Monmouthshire, from the earliest times to the year 1714, and to specify those which seem most worthy of preservation, humbly submit to Your Majesty the following Report on the Monuments of the county of Westmorland, being the seventeenth Report on the work of the Commission since its appointment.

2. We tender to Your Majesty our respectful thanks for the gracious message which accompanied Your Majesty's acceptance of our Inventory of the North Western Division of the County of Hereford.

3. We have also to thank Your Majesty for the appointment of Dr. Rose Graham and Sir George Hill under Your Majesty's Royal Sign Warrants dated 6th July, 1934, to be members of the Commission in place of our late colleagues Sir George Duckworth and Dr. William Page. With this report terminates the service of our colleague Mr. S. H. le Fleming, Your Majesty's Lieutenant for the county of Westmorland, who has assisted us during the survey of the County and whose services have been of the greatest value to our investigations.

4. We desire to place on record the great loss which the Commission has suffered through the death of Sir George Duckworth, our Secretary for 25 years and since 1933 our fellow Commissioner. To him was due the original organization of the Commission's staff and the successful conduct and control of its activities during his service as Secretary. The Commission thus owes to him the framework upon which the whole of its work is based and desires to record its appreciation of his long and valued service.

We desire also to record the loss which the Commission has suffered in the death of Dr. William Page who had served as a Commissioner since 1921 and as an Assistant Commissioner since 1909.

5. We have pleasure in reporting the completion of our inquiries into the County of Westmorland, an area containing 1,820 monuments in 113 parishes, with an average of 16 monuments per parish.

6. Following our usual practice, we have prepared an illustrated volume containing a full Inventory of the monuments in the County, which, under the advice of the Lords Commissioners of Your Majesty's Treasury, will be issued as a non-Parliamentary publication.

7. No alteration has been found necessary in the order and method of describing the monuments scheduled from that pursued in the description of the monuments of Herefordshire. The detailed Inventory is introduced by the usual Sectional Preface.

8. This being the only volume dealing with the County of Westmorland, the Inventory is prefaced by a series of general articles covering the county as a whole. The articles on the Pre-historic and Roman periods are contributed by Dr. R. E. M. Wheeler, V.P.S.A., Keeper of the London Museum, that on Anglo-Saxon Westmorland by Professor F.M. Stenton, F.B.A., and that on the Lady Anne Clifford by the Secretary.

9. As in previous volumes, the descriptions of monuments have been referred for revision to the incumbents of each parish, and to the principal owners of domestic buildings, and we are satisfied that no important monument dating from the earliest times to the year 1714 has been omitted.

10. Our special thanks are due to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Carlisle, to the incumbents of the various parishes, to various members of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological Society, and to the owners of houses for valuable assistance in our investigation. Our thanks are due also in a particular degree to Professor R. G. Collingwood, President of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological Society, Mr. W. T. McIntire, F.S.A., Vice-President, and Mr. R. E. Porter, F.S.A., Hon. Treasurer of the same society; to Mr. C. S. Jackson, Hon. Secretary of the Cumberland and Westmorland Record Society; to Mr. I. A. Richmond, F.S.A., to Mr. T. Hay, Dr. J. E. Spence, Mr. T. Gray, Curator at Tullie House, and to Colonel Oliver North, F.S.A., for much valuable assistance either in correcting the proofs of the volume or in providing information about particular classes of monuments. We desire also to express our indebtedness to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Lonsdale for uncovering the pre-Conquest stones at Lowther for our inspection, to Your Majesty's Office of Works for the loan of their plans of Brougham and Brough castles on which those here reproduced are based, to Mr. H. B. Walters, O.B.E., F.S.A., for revising the accounts of church bells and to Sir Samuel Scott for assistance in the survey of the antiquities of the Windermere district.

11. We humbly recommend to Your Majesty's notice the following monuments in Westmorland as "especially worthy of preservation":—

Earthworks and Roman

1. Ambleside.

(1) Roman Fort, excavated and still partly uncovered.

4. Asby.

(18) Earthworks, of unusual form and unknown purpose.

(20) Village Settlement at Holborn Hill.

(21) Village Settlement near Muddy Gill Farm.

(22) Castle Folds, settlement on Great Asby Scar.

5. Askham.

(44) Village Settlement on Skirsgill Hill.

(45) Earthworks. (a) The Cop Stone and (f) Cairn and circle.

6. Bampton.

(68) Castle Crag Fort. A small fort with stone parapets and rock-cut ditches.

(71) Earthwork near Measand Bridge, consisting of two rhomboidal enclosures.

(75) Earthwork in Scarside Plantation and forming an oval enclosure.

(76) Enclosure, near (75), roughly circular and of loose stones.

8. Barton.

(28) The Cockpit on Barton Fell, remains of a circular enclosure.

16. Casterton.

(5) Stone Circle and mound near Longthwaite Gill Plantation.

18. Clifton.

(6) Megaliths, 1,230 yards S. of the church.

22. Crosby Garrett.

(22) Village Settlements, in S.E. part of the parish, with three separate groups.

23. Crosby Ravensworth.

(25) Ewe Close, near Dalebank Beck.

(26) Ewe Locks, 1½ m. S.W. of the church.

(27) Cow Green, near Lyvennet Beck.

(28) Burwens, 500 yards E.N.E. of above.

(29) Village Settlement, near Ravens Gill.

(31) Village Settlement, ½ m. N.E. of Gilts Farm.

(33) Howarcles, N. of Ravens Gill.

(35) Village Settlement, on Wickerslack Moor.

(36) Dyke and house-foundations, at Crosby Gill and Hazel Moor.

(44) Stone Circle on White Hag.

(55) Stone Circle, 600 yards S.S.W. of Oddendale.

(58) Mounds at Iron Hill.

(59) Stone Circle, on W. edge of the parish.

28. Dufton.

(8) Castle Hill, village settlement on S. edge of the parish.

33. Grayrigg.

(1) Fort at Low Borrow Bridge. Remains of a Roman fort.

42. Hugill.

(13) Village Settlement, on the W. border of the parish.

47. Kendal.

(2) Castle Howe, a castle motte with remains of bailey.

48. Kentmere.

(18) Village Settlement, on the S. side of the parish.

51. Kirkby Lonsdale.

(37) Village Settlement, on the W. border of the parish.

58. Lowther.

(31) Earthworks, probably village settlement at Cragside Wood.

62. Martindale.

(34) Village Settlement in Bannerdale.

72. Natland.

(1) Fort at Watercrook. Remains of Roman fort.

85. Shap, Urban.

(26) Shap Stones, remains of a series of megaliths.

86. Shap, Rural.

(73) Village Settlement, on the S. side of Hawes Water.

91. Stainmore.

(1) Maiden Castle, a small Roman fort.

(18) Castle Roper, an oval earthwork.

105. Waitby.

(9) Village Settlements in Smardale Demesne.

(13) Village Settlement in Waitby Intake.

106. Warcop.

(13) Howgill Fold, village settlement.

113. Yanwath and Eamont Bridge.

(12) King Arthur's Round Table, a remarkable circular earthwork, with an internal ditch and bank.

(14) Mayburgh, a remarkable circular earthwork with a high stone bank and megalith in the middle.

(15) Castlesteads, a triple-banked circular enclosure.

(16) Village Settlement, of circular form with bank and ditch.

Ecclesiastical

2. Appleby.

(1) Parish Church of St. Lawrence, dating from the 12th century, remarkable monuments and organ-case.

8. Barton.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 12th century, with central tower.

11. Bowness on Windermere.

(1) Parish Church, dating from 1483 with remarkable mediæval glass.

14. Brougham.

(2) Parish Church, dating from 1660 with contemporary fittings.

22. Crosby Garrett.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the late pre-Conquest period with interesting 12th-century detail and mediæval bells.

47. Kendal.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 13th century. A large church containing an Anglian cross-shaft and some monuments.

51. Kirkby Lonsdale.

(1) Parish Church, dating from early in the 12th century, with a remarkable N. arcade of this date and a 13th-century E. wall.

52. Kirkby Stephen.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 12th century, with pre-Conquest fragments and interesting monuments.

58. Lowther.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 12th century, with a later central tower, pre-Conquest stones and interesting monuments.

63. Marton, Long.

(1) Parish Church, dating from c. 1100, is largely complete and has two carved tympana.

68. Morland.

(1) Parish Church, dating from the 11th century, with a W. tower of this period and an interesting architectural development.

75. Ormside.

(1) Parish Church, dating from late in the 11th century, with pre-Conquest technique.

86. Shap Rural.

(3) Shap Abbey, ruins dating from the 13th century with an early 16th-century tower, still standing.

Secular

2. Appleby.

(3) Appleby Castle, dating from the 12th century, has a keep of that date, later work in the curtain, a late 17th-century house and important earthworks.

3. Arnside.

(1) Arnside Tower. An isolated pele-tower probably of the 15th century and now ruined.

4. Asby.

(5) Grange Hall. A 15th-century building with an original oriel-window.

5. Askham.

(5) Askham Hall. A mediæval building with a semi-fortified S. wing and 16th-century outbuildings.

12. Brough.

(3) Brough Castle, ruins dating from early in the 12th century, with a keep, gatehouse, hall-block, etc.

14. Brougham.

(4) Brougham Castle, ruins dating from late in the 12th century, with a keep, gatehouse, hall-block and other buildings.

(5) The Countess' Pillar. A memorial pillar and sun-dial erected in 1656.

36. Helsington.

(2) Sizergh Castle, dating from the 14th century, with a semi-fortified S. wing and remarkable 16th-century fittings.

47. Kendal.

(3) Kendal Castle, ruins dating from the 13th century, with a well-preserved ditch.

(10) Castle Dairy, a largely complete 14th-century house altered in the 16th century.

51. Kirkby Lonsdale.

(3) Devil's Bridge, a fine three-span structure of late 15th or early 16th-century date.

56. Levens.

(1) Levens Hall, dating perhaps from the 14th century, but largely re-built in the 16th century and little altered subsequently. It has remarkable fittings and plaster-work and a late 17th-century formal garden.

(2) Nether Levens Hall, dating from early in the 16th century, retains much of its original appearance.

60. Mallerstang.

(3) Pendragon Castle, much ruined remains of an isolated late 12th-century tower.

65. Middleton.

(4) Middleton Hall. A late 14th-century house with a curtain and gatehouse, partly ruined.

73. Newbiggin.

(2) Newbiggin Hall with a semi-fortified E. wing of 1533, having figures on the parapet.

79. Preston Patrick.

(3) Preston Patrick Hall. A late 14th-century house, with some original details.

97. Strickland, Little.

(2) Low Hall. Mediæval and later building with elaborate 17th-century plaster-work.

98. Strickland Roger.

(1) Burneside Hall. A semi-fortified 14th-century house, with remains of a curtain and gatehouse. It is partly ruined.

106. Warcop.

(2) Warcop Bridge. A three-span structure dating from the 16th century.

107. Wharton.

(2) Wharton Hall. A late 14th or early 15th-century house with ruins of a large 16th-century extension, curtain and gatehouse.

110. Windermere.

(1) Calgarth Hall, dating from the Middle Ages but mainly of late 16th or early 17th-century date, with remarkable plaster-work.

113. Yanwath and Eamont Bridge.

(1) Eamont Bridge. A three-span bridge dating probably from the 16th century but with a modern widening.

(2) Yanwath Hall. A semi-fortified 14th-century and later house with original roof and 17th-century plaster-work.

12. We offer our grateful thanks to Mr. Mill Stephenson, F.S.A., for the revision of the descriptions of Brasses, to Mr. R. E. Mortimer Wheeler, M.C., D.Lit., V.P.S.A., for the revision of descriptions of Roman Remains, and to Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, F.S.A., for revision of descriptions of Earthworks.

13. We desire to express our acknowledgment of the good work accomplished by our Executive Staff in the persons of Mr. J. W. Bloe, O.B.E., F.S.A., Mr. E. A. R. Rahbula, O.B.E., M.C., F.S.A., Mr. G. E. Chambers, F.S.A., Mr. P. K. Kipps, F.S.A., Mr. A. T. Phillips, M.C., Mr. J. Charlton, Miss V. M. Dallas, and Mr. F. T. A. Power, M.C.

14. The next Inventory of the Commission will deal with the monuments of the County of Middlesex.

15. The Commissioners wish to express their sense of obligation to Mr. A. W. Clapham, C.B.E., F.B.A., F.S.A., their Secretary, for invaluable advice on all departmental and technical matters connected with the preparation of this report.

Signed:—

CRAWFORD & BALCARRES (Chairman)

J. G. N. CLIFT

ARTHUR EVANS

M. R. JAMES

D. H. MONTGOMERIE

CHARLES PEERS

HARTINGTON

E. V. LUCAS

E. E. DORLING

A. HAMILTON THOMPSON

GEORGE HILL

ROSE GRAHAM

S. H. Le FLEMING

December, 1935. A. W. CLAPHAM (Secretary)