PastPresented.info

THE BAY HORSE INN, RAVENGLASS


To Eskdale index 

These abstracts are based on documents in the Pennington records, formerly kept at Muncaster Castle, now at Whitehaven Record Office (D/Pen/Bundle 69). Another example of the Wilsons' business methods can be seen here.

Sale indenture, 27 Mar 1764: Thomas Benn, yeoman of Newtown, to Joseph Thompson, yeoman of Town-End, Ravenglass, for £94/2/6: freehold messuage in Ravenglass with (freehold) Croft (c3r); Stone-wray (1a 2r); Long Fold (2r)- part of the freehold tenement lately bought by Thomas Benn from Henry Caddy & wife Mary. Free rents: 1/6.5 to Lord Egremont; 8.5d to Sir John Pennington, Bart. Also 3/4d to every purvey, and services to Lord of the Manor of Muncaster as follows: 2 peat boons & 1 bracken boon yearly, + repairing the part of Muncaster Fell wall & Fell Lane hedge for which this property has previously been responsible.
Memo: That the property is part of a tenement lately enfranchised by the Earl of Egremont to William Frears (reserving mines, minerals & manorial rights).

Quitclaim, "In eight days of the purification of the Blessed Mary" [10 Feb?] 48 George III [1808]:John Bailiff (petitioner) & William Frears & wife Margaret; John Boid & wife Hannah (deforciants) re estate in Ravenglass, confirming covenant of gift from defs. to ptr. Confirmed on payment to defs. of £60.

Sale indenture, 1 Apr 1808: John Bailiff, yeoman of Ravenglass, to John Wilson, yeoman of Ravenglass, for £248/13/4 (reciting lease & release of 30-31 Mar 1808 between [1] John Boid, gent. of Dovenby in Bridekirk, & wife Hannah; William Frears of Ravenglass & wife Margaret- Hannah & Margaret being daughters & devisees of the late Joseph Thompson of Ravenglass; [2] Isaac Thompson, shopkeeper of Ravenglass- son & heir of Joseph- and [3] John Bailiff, partly in trust for John Wilson & his heirs: these & other premises for £558/6/8): messuage, barn & stable on east side of Ravenglass town street, with yard, garden & garden head, pew in Muncaster Church, peat moss & share of the fell wall & fell lane hedge. Free rents: 6.5d to Earl of Egremont; 3.5d to Lord Muncaster; + 0.25d to the county purvey. Premises now or late occupied by Samuel Wilson as farmer.

4 Mar 1809: Will of John Wilson of Ravenglass: to son Samuel Wilson, the house in which Samuel now lives, provided Samuel pays his brothers & sisters £150, divided equally (or to their surviving children if they are dead). To wife Barbara the residue of the estate during her chaste viduity, then to be sold & the proceeds divided equally.
John Wilson died 23 Apr 1809. Legacy duty on the £150 payable by daughters Elizabeth Wilson, spinster of Liverpool; Isabella Mawson, wife of John Mawson, husbandman of Ravenglass; sons Daniel & Richard Wilson, tallow chandlers of Liverpool; Robert Wilson, groom & coachman of Carlton Hall, Drigg; Benjamin Wilson, husbandman of Broughton in Furness

Mortgage deeds, 20-21 Mar 1812: [1] Samuel Wilson, innkeeper of Ravenglass & [2] Barbara Wilson, widow of the late John Wilson, husbandman of Ravenglass to [3] John Yarker & William Wilkinson, liquor merchants & co-partners of Ulverston ([1] owes [3] £52 and wishes to borrow a further £48: Samuel's messuages in Ravenglass, described roughly as in 1808; in trust. [NB Samuel's wife also named as Barbara]

Mortgage deeds, 9-10 Jun 1820: Lease & release for mortgage: [1] John Yarker & William Wilkinson, liquor merchants of Ulverston, [2] Samuel Wilson, husbandman of Ravenglass, [3] William Middleton, yeoman of Ravenglass, for £109/15/0 to [1], £160/5/0 to [2]; all repayable by [2] with 5% interest: freehold premises as previous.

1820-1844: The records include a page of Middleton's cash book, showing payments from Wilson.

5 Nov 1829: Memo from William Middleton [signed with mark] ordering John Braithwaite [licensee of the inn] to pay rent of his premises direct to Middleton, as £66/2/1 is owed him for mortgage interest.

10 Feb 1832: Memo from William Wilson [signed with mark] that he agrees to pay £22 arrears of interest to William Middleton at Candlemas, on behalf of his father Samuel Wilson.

Deed of Gift, 14 Apr 1840: William Middleton the elder, yeoman of Ravenglass, to his son William Middleton the younger: his goods & mortgages.

29 Jul 1848: Will of Samuel Wilson, innkeeper of Ravenglass: houses & gardens at Ravenglass, household goods etc. to his son William Wilson. William is to "comfortably" maintain Samuel's wife Barbara Wilson for life. William to retain £140 of the money bequeathed to Samuel by his brother William Wilson, and pay legacies to Samuel's other children as follows: John & Samuel Wilson, 19 guineas each; Richard, Sarah, Jane, Mary Ann & Hannah Wilson, £10 each; grandson James Wilson also £10. William sole executor.
Samuel died 22 Mar 1849. Will proved at Chester, 5 Nov 1856.

SALE POSTER, 1864 To be sold by auction at the house of Mr. W. Wilson, 2 Dec 1864, 3pm, freehold premises:
Lot 1) The "old-established" inn or public-house known by the sign of the "Bay Horse", with brew-house, stable, outbuildings, large yard & garden behind (now occupied by the said William Wilson, innkeeper).
Lot 2) 2 cottages adjoining, with out-offices & appurtenances (now occupied by William Haddow & another).
"The above Premises have a Right of Pasturage and Turbary on Muncaster Fell."
Lot 3) Pew or seat in Muncaster Church.
Wilson will show the premises; enquiries to Mr J.P. Myers, solicitor of Broughton in Furness.
"William Alsop, Printer by Steam Power, 'News' Office, Whitehaven."
[Evidently this sale did not succeed:]

Request for legal opinion, 2 Oct 1865: From J.P. Myers at Broughton. Samuel Wilson, "dead some time since" bequeathed his real estate to his son William, labourer of Ravenglass. William Middleton the elder is also dead some time since, and the present mortgagee of the Wilson premises is his son William Middleton the younger. There is now a considerable arrear of interest due on the mortgage. The mortgage title allows the mortgagee to take rents of the premises, but not to sell them. Premises consist of the inn (currently let to another person, who last week was given notice to pay the rent to Mr Middleton "as well as Mr Wilson who occupies one of the Cottages") & 2 cottages. From time to time over the years, Wm. Middleton would call at the inn for a glass, or send for some spirits for home consumption, the cost of which was set against the interest payments. Wilson never made his account, until Middleton made one; Middleton chose to account at only 4% interest instead of the 5% in the mortgage deed. There are "many items in Wilson's acct. objectionable" but Middleton agreed when making hs account that Wilson's would be accepted if he paid the balance forthwith. That Wilson could not do, so his solicitor agreed to raise the cash by a new mortgage or other means; however, he found that he "cannot get Wilson to do anything". Middleton must therefore resort to legal proceedings- he wants his money and not the property "as it is in a ruinous state". As the property is unlikely to be worth much more than the amount owing, what is the cheapest way to proceed?
Amount owed: £270 principal + £129/12/0 unpaid interest (12 years) + £6 for rent of a hay-loft (12 years) + £20 for old arrears (should really be £22) + £9/12/0 interest thereon (12 years). £145/3/0 to be subtracted by William Wilson's account. Total outstanding £290/1/0.
Various detailed account papers are also among the documents in the bundle.

1866: Several copies of a handwritten form [with blanks for names, date etc.] ordering tenants to pay their rent to the mortgagee, not to William Wilson.

Letter, 16 Dec 1867: From J. Myers, solicitor of Broughton in Furness, to Brockbank & Helder, solicitors of Whitehaven, to accompany forwarded mortgage documents. Notes that tenants refused to pay rent direct to mortgagee; tenant of the inn 1866 and 1867 named Southward.

25 Jun 1868: Decretal Order re Plaint in Equity, County Court, Whitehaven. Margaret Middleton v William Wilson. Amount owing is now £300 + interest at 4% from this date; to be paid within 6 months.

20 Dec 1870: Final Decree for Foreclosure, County Court, Whitehaven. Defendant is "absolutely debarred and foreclosed of and from all equity of redemption of, in, and to the said mortgaged premises."

Sale indenture, 3 Jul 1875: [1] Sarah Hannah Middleton, spinster of St. Bees, [2] trustees John Ross, land agent of The Grove, Ravenglass, & William Scott Fulton, banker of Appleby, [3] George Windross, house agent of Whitehaven (formerly of Appleby) & his wife Margaret Windross, [4] Rodolphe Schmidt, language professor of St. Bees & his wife Jane Schmidt, [5] Mary Middleton, widow of St. Bees, [6] William Tyson, innkeeper of Ravenglass. The late William Middleton of Ravenglass, by his will dated 22 Feb 1853, bequeathed to his wife [5] an annuity of £80 from the income of his estate etc. during her chaste widowhood; the residue of his estate was to be split equally between his children on reaching 21. His daughter Jane {as in [4] but then unmarried had been bequeathed an estate in Cumberland called Bowbridge by her grandfather, and William ordered that this be added to the "hotchpot" of equal shares, when Jane turned 21. William died 6 Feb 1867, and letters of administration for his estate were granted 27 Apr 1867. The executors he had named, John Caddy & William Robinson jnr, renounced probate, to probate was granted to his daughter Margaret Middleton (then unmarried, now as in [3]). Apart from Margaret & Jane, his only other surviving child is Sarah Hannah Middleton, spinster.
By an indenture of settlement dated 14 Mar 1872 between Margaret, her intended husband George Windross, and the trustees [2], 1/3 of the estate was conveyed to [2] for Margaret's benefit, subject to payment of the annuity. By a Chancery decree of 23 Mar 1872 (plaintiff Sarah Hannah M., [2], [3] & [4] defendants) to put the sharing clauses of the will into effect, a survey was made, which established that the Bowbridge estate had been sold by [4] for £3000. On 3 Jun 1873, the court of Chancery therefore ordered that £2972 (the sale procees less costs) be brought into the hotchpot. By request of the heirs, It was ordered that the estate called Cranklands should be retained to provide the annuity, but that the rest of Middleton's estate should be sold. An auction was held on 30 Jul 1874, in 10 lots. Lot 5 was bought by [6], with a bid of £480, and he paid a £48 deposit to James Jackson, who had been appointed by the Judge to receive the proceeds. It was ordered on 6 Nov 1874 that [6] should pay the balance into court, which he did on 11 Nov. Lot 5 is the Bay Horse, now occupied by Tyson, with the two cottages, occupied by Mary Steele & Terence Brannan as tenants.

Mortgage deed, 4 Sep 1875: William Tyson, innkeeper of Ravenglass, from Thomas Trohear, wine & spirit merchant of Whitehaven, for £380 at 5%: Bay Horse & cottages (occupants "now or late" as above).

Sale indenture, 1 Dec 1879: [1] Alfred John Trohear, spirit merchant of Whitehaven, [2] Joseph Killender the younger, grocer of Whitehaven & his wife Margaret Corvin Killender, [3] the Rt. Hon. Joslyn Francis, Baron Muncaster, of Muncaster Castle. The late Thomas Trohear, mortgagee of the Bay Horse premises, by his will dated 19 Jun 1875, appointed his wife Catherine Trohear & his son [1] as executors. Thomas died 8 Aug 1877 and probate was granted 28 Oct 1877 to Catherine (Alfred having renounced probate). Catherine died intestate, 18 Nov 1877. On 12 Jan 1878, letters of administration were granted to Alfred, brother & elected guardian of his sister Margaret Corvin Trohear, spinster- both being residuary legatees under Thomas's will. A third residuary legatee, Thomas Henry Trohear, renounced the letters of administration. Margaret married Joseph Killender on 13 Aug 1878 at St. Nicholas' Church, Whitehaven, and turned 21 on 23 Oct 1878. Cessate letters of admnistration for Thomas's estate were issued to Margaret from the High Court at the Carlisle District Registry on 30 May 1879. Tyson defaulted on his mortgage payments, so Alfred auctioned the property (sale held on the premises, 4 Oct 1879). Property purchased by [3] for £532.