ESKDALE c1790, FROM
JOHN HOUSMAN'S CUMBERLAND NOTES
John Housman's notes on the parishes of Cumberland were first published as footnotes in William Hutchinson's history of the county, published in 1794, from which they are here reproduced (Hutchinson's descriptions of Eskdale are also on this website). Housman's full text was eventually published as a book, "A topographical description of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire" in 1800.
MUNCASTER
SOIL AND PRODUCE.] The land towards the sea, is loamy and tolerably fertile: eastward it is mossy, and near the mountains, there is gravel.- Very little wheat is raised, and not much barley.- Oats the chief crop, but not remarkable heavy.-
Average rent about Ravenglass, 20s per acre, in other parts 10s an acre.
SHEEP AND CATTLE.] About 1300 sheep, 10 fleeces to a stone, value 7s 10d: all the sheep of the home-breed; they are generally fatted within the district.- Horses about fourteen hands and a half high.- Black cattle are pretty large, and of different kinds; few are bred here, the calves, in general, being fatted off; a great many are bought, and brought in, in winter, and sold in the spring.
FUEL.] Coals and peat.- In the parts distant from the coast, peats are generally used.
GAME.] Hares, partridge, grouse, and some pheasants, introduced by Lord Muncaster.
ROADS.] The principal road crosses the west end of this district, but is not passable till ebb of tide.
RIVERS.] Irt and Mite, in which are some few salmon, and a great abundance of trout and smaller fishes.
DEER.] In the park belonging to Muncaster-house, are about 100 head of deer.
QUARRIES.] No coal, limestone, nor freestone; the stone used for building, is a kind of grey flint, very hard.
WOOD.] About Muncaster-house, are about 100 acres of plantation ground.- Lord Muncaster has paid great attention to this kind of improvement, and will reap a double reward, in the shelter and ornament those woods will afford.
AIR.] In general is pure and healthy, though sharp.
SCHOOL.] An income of about 12£ a year; the fund was raised by Sir William Pennington, and one Brookbank, who was cook at Muncaster-house.
TITHES.] The eastern part of the parish pays a prescriptive money payment, in lieu of tithe of corn.
FARMS.] Are small, few occupied by the owners: Lord Muncaster is the chief proprietor.
ANCIENT CUSTOM.] On the eve of the new year, the children go from house to house, singing a ditty, which craves the bounty "they were wont to have, in old King Edward's days." There is no tradition whence this custom arose; the donation is two pence or a pye at every house. We have to lament, that so negligent are the people of the morals of youth, that great part of this annual salutation is obscene, and offensive to chaste ears. It has certainly been derived from the vile orgies of heathens.
Muncaster House... The front of the house is washed a stone colour, and makes a very handsome apparance: it commands an extensive land and sea prospect. Pleasant walks and gardens about the house and park.
BIRKBY
BIRKBY is said to be extra parochial, though it now joins in church duties with Muncaster.
Few inhabitants, and those chiefly shepherds;
about 2000 sheep, eight fleeces will weigh a stone.- Black cattle weigh about nine stone and a half per quarter.- Horses small, and few bred here
WYBERTHWAITE
SOIL AND PRODUCE.] The western part of this parish lies low, is level, and the soil is loamy. it is esteemed the most fertile, and produces the greatest quantity of grain of any land in the neighbourhood; consequently the farms let for the highest rent. The fields, in general, are regular, pretty well hedged, and have a pleasant appearance. The eastern parts are high, barren, and rocky.
MINERALS.] No freestone, lime, or coal.
RIVERS.] The Esk bounds this parish to the north, over which there is no bridge; Lord Muncaster intends to build one near his house; at present the tides render crossing the ford here very uncertain and dangerous.
Stainton is a small township adjoining to the eastern part of this parish; it is extraparochial, and joins with Millum in maintaining the poor.
The proprietors of Stainton keep about 600 sheep on the eastern mountains, and Wyberthwaite about 700.
Estates are let in such small proportions, as not to exceed, in many instances, 30£ a-year.
ESKDALE
[NB The original notes also included Wasdale in this section]
SOIL AND PRODUCE.] The soil throughout the whole, is, in general, dry; the mountains rocky; the intervals afford good sound sheep heaths; the inclosed land, which lies in dales or narrow vallies, is of a light and gravelly soil, full of shiver, which comes down from the mountains.- Light crops of oats, the only grain that is cultivated, are here and there seen dispersed in the vales.- The fields, in general, are small, inclosed with some stone walls, and held in meadow or pasture.- The tillage land comprehends a very small proportion.
RENTS.] On an average, about 1s an acre.
SHEEP AND CATTLE.] In Eskdale, about 7000 sheep... they are continued of the ancient breed, and small. Horses in few instances exceed 14 hands in height; not many are bred or kept: black cattle not numerous, are small, about seven stone per quarter.
FUEL.] Peats and some wood.
MINERALS.] Neither coal, lime, freestone, nor clay.- The buildings are made of a hard blue stone, several without lime or other mortar; all are covered with blue slates.
RIVERS AND FISH.] Irt, which rises out of Wast-water.- Mite, which rises out of Burnmoor Tarn; and Esk, great part of which flows from the same tarn. In thse lakes and rivers, there are an abundance of trout and eels, and some charr.
TITHES.] A prescriptive payment for corn, wool and lamb is paid in kind.
TENURE OF LANDS.] Some customary, but chiefly freehold.
AIR.] Is clear and salubrious, and the water, in general, remarkably transparent and light.- The inhabitants hale and healthy.
ANIMALS.] On the summits of those mountains, are many wild cats, foxes, and martins; some eagles; formerly squirrels abounded, but the woods being cut down, they are either destroyed, or have emigrated, few now being seen.- An eagle's nest was taken about three years ago, and the eaglets were sent to Muncaster house... I neither saw nor heard any account of deer, in my passage over that alpine tract.
REMARKABLE PLANTS.] Here is an aromatic shrub, called Gale; also on the mountains, grow Hart-grass, and Buck-grass, or Fox-grass.
ROADS AND APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.] In this large and unfrequented tract of country, there are only two made roads of any extent, the one leading from Ravenglass by Hardknot into Westmorland, and the other from Gosforth, &c. to Keswick [over Sty Head- described in detail]...
The inhabitants of these distant dales are blunt, simple, and honest; neither science nor fraud have yet got much footing there; so that innocence and happiness may be presumed to prevail: but alas! is it not to be feared that the passions of envy, hatred., and malice, so natural to man, in his primeval, and most uncultivated state, may not, in a great measure, disturb those blessings! philosophy is certainly necessary to allay the passions, and give the mind a noble firmness, a calmness and serenity, which cannot be shaken by human vicissitudes.
