400      British kingdom of Strathclyde. Blencow is Celtic name in origin (blaen is Celtic; also

            Cumbrian counterpart of Welsh pen , as in Penrith ).

410      End of Roman rule in Britain, but many Roman soldiers and their families remained on

            Hadrian’s Wall as subsistence farmers.

450      Angles from Schleswig Holstein began to settle in north and east England and had probably

            seized Durham and Tyneside by 500.

500      British tribes from the Lothians raiding and fighting deep into Northumberland and Durham,

            and as far south as Catterick

550      Kingdom of Bernicia established, embracing most of Northumberland and south to the

            Humber.

600      Anglian settlers from the east came to farm the better Cumbrian farmland.

685      King Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted city of Carlisle to St Cuthbert within circuit of 15 miles

            around. Northumbrian expansion ended when King Ecgrith killed fighting King Brude

            of Caledonia.

866      Following raids for almost a century previously, the Vikings took over York and began to

            settle permanently. However, they took less interest in  Bernicia until 875 when they raided

            but did not settle there.

942      Following defeat by King Edmund of Northumbria, Cumbria handed to Malcolm, King of

            Scots.

1000    During first millenium, low lying Cumbrian lands including Carlisle plain favoured by

            Romans, by native Britons in the post-Roman period and by Anglians who displaced British

            rulers in 7th and 8th Centuries.

            Hills and uplands were extensively settled only in 10th Century by a new wave of

            Scandinavian settlers, mostly Norwegians from Ireland, Scotland and the Western Isles, but

            also Danes from Yorkshire and Britons from Strathclyde. So by the end of the 10th Century,

            the population of Cumberland  was widespread.

1032    King Knut (Canute) exchanged Lothian for Cumbria.

1055    Edward the Confessor, the Anglo-Saxon king, made Tostig the Earl of Northumbria, but

            he failed to control his earldom.

1056    Chapel of wattle built at Triermain in Gilsland some time between 1056 and 1071, being a

            dependency from the first parish church at Walton.

1080    North East of England at last became loyal to the King.

1092    William Rufus drove out Northumbrian influence from Cumberland, absorbing it into

            Norman England. Subsequent creation of Baronies of Liddell, Levington, Gilsland and

            Burgh on the Border, and also of Greystoke. This helped protect the approaches from

            Scotland in Henry II’s settlement of Cumberland.

            The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle  says that after returning to London, William  Rufus sent many

            country folk to Carlisle, with wives and cattle, to settle and cultivate. At the same time, a

            number of Flemish settlers were established on the waste lands of Cumberland.

1100’s  There was a struggle between the native Anglo-Saxons as the Normans encroached

            into Northern England in the 12th century, but not trying to take land in Northumberland,

            Cumberland and even Scotland until 1110. The creation of a Norman landholding class was

            primarily the work of Henry I  after 1106. The native lord Gile who held Gilsland, held out

            against the Norman  incursion. Indeed, the period 1110-1135 saw a resurgence of the

            natives, when  the king showed favour for the northern Anglo-Saxons. Prior Athelwold - the

            first Bishop of Carlisle - came from the East Riding.  Others from Yorkshire were given

            lands in Cumberland, including Greystoke.

            A chain of motte and bailey castles was built along Tynedale and Redesdale to protect the

            English border. The North of England was primarily stock-rearing with transhumance to

            summer sheilings. Extensive colonisation caused notable  growth of wealth in the 1200’s in

            the  North.

            No surviving list of inhabitants of Carlisle in the 1100’s, but eighty people identifiable as

            originating there and most names are French or biblical  rather than Old English,

            Scandinavian or Celtic.

1106    Wetheral priory founded by Ranulf le Meschin, being conveyed to the Abbot of St. Mary’s,

            York, as a Benedictine cell of the Abbey.  There was an  apparently considerable number

            of  recruits to St.Mary’s Abbey  in the first hundred  years following its  foundation in 1088,

            allowing the Abbey to send monks to set up cells of between one and ten monks in

            Cumbria, Lincolnshire and Suffolk.

1120    The first Norman lord of Cumberland granted tithes from his demesnes in Appleby, Mauld’s

            Meaburn and Great Salkeld to St. Mary’s Abbey at York.

            Monastery at Wetheral was a cell of St Mary’s Abbey at York, reflecting close links

            developing between Cumberland and York.

            Gille, son of Buet, was the first Lord of Gilsland, with no evidence that he ever had to

            fight for his lands.

1133    Foundation of St Kentigern’s Church, Irthington

1135    Carlisle occupied by the Scots, and no evidence that there was local resistance in a period

            when lordships held precedence rather than nationhood.

            Substantial migration from England to Scotland in this period, and considerably from

            Yorkshire.

1149    Links between Carlisle and York clearly established. Property in Carlisle  held by religious

            houses in York.

1150    Mill at Corby.

1157    Henry II recovered Carlisle for England. Settlement subsequently expanded in

            northern England, population grew and the region prospered.

            Barony of Gilsland granted to Hubert de Vaux.

1166    Lanercost Abbey founded.

1178-79  ‘County’ of Cumberland first appears.

1180    Archdeacon of Carlisle also canon of St Peter’s at York. The canons of the Bishop’s

            chapter at Carlisle had properties and lands at High and Low Crosby.

1200’s Scottish kings held court at Wark in Northumberland when it was part of Scotland.

1204    Bernard of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) appointed Bishop of Carlisle. Appointments of

            Carlisle bishops apparently made from York.

1207    Thomas de Multon, Lord of Gilsland, during reign of Henry II.

1222    Penrith granted a market and fair.

1237    Treaty of York settles Anglo-Scottish border and made Carlisle an indisputably English

            community with a firm identity.

1279    Emma of Waynhoppe beheaded for theft at Wark in Northumberland.

1292    Carlisle destroyed by fire.

1296    Beginning of Scottish wars; Carlisle destroyed by fire for third time in the 13th  Century.

            Irthington a source of coal for Carlisle.

1297    Cumberland invaded by William Wallace.

1300’s Brampton had achieved grant for a market and fairs. There was a felt-making mill in the

            Irthing Valley area in this century, being one of many associated with Cumberland’s role

            as one of England’s major  wool  producing regions. But wool from Cumberland,

            Westmoreland and Northumberland was considered to be of low quality, fetching smaller

            price than from counties of Midlands and Yorkshire. Nonetheless, exports to Europe.

            Migrants to Carlisle prior to 1300 had come from all over Cumberland and northern

            England. Nearby places like Warwick and Wetheral also contributed to  Carlisle’s growth.

1307    Death of Edward II began  the great period of border raids.  Cumberland and

            Northumberland became a war zone between Scots and English, abruptly ending

            colonisation from early 1300’s to the early 1800’s.

1311    Robert the Bruce ‘burnt all the land of the Lord of Gillesland’. Inhabitants of Irthington and

            other parts may have been forced into subjection  to the Scots.

1314    After English defeat at Bannockburn, the English borders were defenceless and victorious

            Scots poured into and devastated northern Cumbria and Northumberland, ravaging

            Tynedale

            Robert the Bruce came again but was bought off with money.

1315    High Crosby raided by Scots.

1315-22  Sustained economic decline in the North in 1300’s and 1400’s, particularly after harvest

            failures and famine in 1315 – 1317 and then livestock plagues in years 1315- 22.

1317    Dacres gained Gilsland by marriage.

1318    The Abbott of St Mary’s, York, asked to sell surpluses of his tithes of grain from

            Westmoreland to keeper of the king’s victuals at Carlisle.

1319    Scots raided again, devastating north-west England and burning Gilsland and carrying off

            inhabitants.

            ‘The best and richest of the country about Gillesland and Lidell’ reported as having

            changed sides and allied themselves to Scots, following Scots invasion  and their

            abandonment by the English king. Protection extended by Scots to men of Gilsland and

            Liddel.

1322    Widespread devastation by Scots including Skelton, Greystoke and Blencow.

1328    Treaty of Edinburgh concedes Scottish independence.

1333    Particularly savage burning and ravaging of Gilsland by Scots led by Archibald  Douglas.

1334    Naworth became main seat of the Dacres for next two centuries; an impregnable castle.

1337    Lord of Gilsland raided and burned into Scotland with counter attacks on his  lands.

1341    Inquisitiones Nonarum  blames county’s impoverishment at this time upon many men

            having become horsemen and archers in wars against the Scots, and also  extensive

            disease of murrain affecting sheep in all parts of the county except in Crosby and Stanwix

            parishes.

1345    Great Scots raid on Gilsland and the Eden Valley, with burning of Penrith, Blencow,

            Greystoke and Skelton.

1346    Lanercost Priory ransacked by Scots.

1349    First outbreak of Black Death, which killed at least a third of Carlisle’s people by 1352.

1350    Production  of wool goods concentrated in southern Cumbria around  Kendal and

            subsequently ceased to be an extensive cottage industry in northern Cumbria.

1352    Income from demesne land at High Crosby remained low because ‘ it  could not be

            demised better after the pestilence’.

1361-62 Second major outbreak of the Black Death, whose worst effects may have been limited

            to the Carlisle area and the Eden Valley.

1369    Plague revisited Cumbria.

1377    Poll Tax return records 678 names of over-14 year olds living in suburbs as well as inside

            Carlisle city walls.

            Ropes made at Naworth.

1379    Almost entire population of Newton in Northumberland killed by the Black Death, which

            had reached Durham in 1349.

1388    Cumberland and Westmoreland devastated by Scots. Destruction at Irthington and at other

            settlements.

1391    1500 houses and buildings comprising much of Carlisle destroyed by fire.

1402    Scottish invasion of Cumberland.

1413-15  Western marches reinforced with extra men-at-arms and archers.

1420    Scots raiding and taking prisoners near Carlisle.  All priories, benefices and monasteries

            in Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland and Coupland exempted from

            requirement to pay taxes  because of costs following Scottish depradations and three

            years of pestilence. Exemption continued for rest of the century.

            Waynhop, Thoma  ‘empcio Equorum. Et In 5 Jumentis Empt. De homa  Waynhop,

            Prec. 76s. 8d. ‘  Durham Account Rolls

1436-37 Border wars.

1438    Tenements at Corby said to have been seriously reduced in value for lack of tenants

            consequent upon heavy deaths from pestilence.

1448-49 Border wars.

1450-60 Percy-Neville feud, a cause of the Wars of the Roses. The Nevilles ascendant in the

            North West since reign of Richard II.

1457    Reign of Henry VII one of comparative peace and fair prosperity, encouraging 1509

            men from Kendal, Cockermouth, Penrith, York and elsewhere in the North to go to

            Carlisle.

1461    Unsuccessful siege of Carlisle by Anglo-Scots forces raised by Queen  Margaret,  wife of

            Henry IV, who with her husband had fled to Scotland after the Lancastrians defeated by

            the Yorkists at Battle of Towton.

1462    Dacre stronghold of Naworth held out against Yorkists until 1462, when Humphrey

            surrendered his lands to Edward, having failed in his campaigns on behalf of the

            Lancastrians.

1473    Humphrey, who had switched from the Lancastrian to  the Yorkist cause, had his manners

            restored i.e. Irthington, Burgh-by-Sands, Lazonby, Dacre and Barton in  Cumberland and

            Westmoreland.

Later 1400’s.  Reversal of economic decline in the North.

            Wetheral and Corby the source of numerous litigants at Carlisle, with whom connections

            made them almost part of the city.

1480-82 Border wars

            Bewcastle refortified and Bishop of Carlisle made his fortress at Linstock  over  to his

            tenants for the safe-keeping of their persons and property.

1485    Death of Humphrey, Lord Dacre.

            Relatively high proportion of freeholds in this part of England, with security of succession.

            Common way of holding land was by tenant- right, normally with  hereditary succession,

            a military obligation on part of tenants and with dues  based on numbers of horned cattle;

            in Cumberland this service was probably only in defence of the home district.

1486    Thomas, Lord Dacre, appointed Deputy Warden of the West March

            Domp. Rob. Wanhope admitted to Corpus Christi Guild, York.

1487    Alexander Waynhop Rector of Newbigginge and Chaplain to Thomas Aglionby of Nunnery.

1495    Sir Richard Salkeld the lord of Corby appointed captain of the city and castle of Carlisle.

1496    William Senhouse who was from a Cumbrian gentry family became Bishop of Carlisle from

            1496 to 1502, retaining his position as Abbot of St. Mary’s, York.

1502    Robert Wanhope succeeds William Senhouse as Abbot of St. Mary’s , York (St. Mary’s,

            Holy Trinity and St. Clement’s were Benedictine  monasteries)

1500’s  Considerable population growth in this and the following century - by circa 46% or

            13,000-14,000 in the rural deaneries of the Carlisle bishopric.  Open fields reached their

            greatest extent and height of importance in Cumberland and persisted in Gilsland, in

            respects similar to run-rig cultivation. North-east Cumberland unimportant for arable

            farming in the 16th. Century, when the extensive wastes and  mosslands were used for

            seasonal grazing by migrant stock in a predominantly pastoral economy. There was an

            absence of a wealthy yeoman farmer class comparable to that buying up land in the

            English Midlands at this period. Most Cumbrian farmers were impoverished. In Hayton

            the open fields were very large and 1,108 acres were shared between the settlements of

            Heads Nook, Fenton, Faugh and How.

1502    Treaty of peace with Scotland.

            Dacre took possession of the Greystoke lands.

            Roger Laybourne succeeded William Senhouse as Bishop of Carlisle until his  death in

            1507.

            Eccclesiastical ties between Carlisle and York continued to parallel the economic ones.

1513    Scots defeated at Flodden. Tynedale reivers plunder returning English forces.

1522    Probable harvest failure and associated ‘great death’ as in Durham.

1523    Riders from Tynedale and Redesdale attack Scottish Middle March.

1525    Death of Thomas, Lord Dacre, Warden of the West March

1527    William Lord Dacre appointed Warden of the Western March; riots between his followers

            and those of the Earl of Cumberland.

            John Blennerhasset was Lord Dacre’s tenant of the manor house at Irthington.

1528    Dacre tenants accused of stealing corn and harrassing the King’s tenants on the Carlisle

            estates, allegedly with support of Lord Dacre. Lord Dacre pleaded that he could not

            govern the Marches if obstructed by Carlisle, whereupon he was awarded its

            governorship in 1539.

1532-34  War with Scotland in which Dacres heavily involved. At end of the war,  Christopher

            Dacre arrested by the King following the replacement at Henry VIII’s court of the Dacres’

            supporter, Cardinal  Wolsey, by Thomas Cromwell. The Dacres had administered

            Wolsey’s northern estates. But Dacre acquitted.

1534    Acquitted of treason, Dacre was displaced as Warden of the Western March by the Earl

            of Cumberland.

            Dacre’s Gilsland tenants hindered soldiers from Carlisle garrison in capturing Anthony

            Armstrong, a suspected March traitor, accused of selling horses to the Scots.

            Muster roll of citizens allows estimate of Carlisle’s population as 1700.

1535    Dacre given licence  to retrieve what he could of property stolen from him by Wharton

            men and taken to Clifford lands. Rioting by Dacre men in the process

            Earl of Cumberland attempted to take action against criminals in Gilsland.

            Dispute at Langrigg over tithes, which had been leased to local husbandmen by

            St. Mary’s, York, which derived large tithe incomes from Cumbria.

            Harvest failures in 1535 and 1536

1535-66  Of immigrants to York in the period 1535-66, many more came from the poorer lands

            to the north-west than from other directions, including 33 from Cumbria where the soil

            was poor and the population large. Kendal cloth found its way down to York, and it

            would not be surprising if Cumbrians wishing to become apprenticed should take the

            same route.  York had a close connection  with Cumbria through trade in Kendal cloth,

            and this was no short-term phenomenon of the 16th. century.

1536    William, Lord Dacre, ordered a reform of his estate’s policy.  However, the Dacres retained

            vestiges of feudalism to maintain  tenants’ loyalty and an  effective military force thereby.

            Dacre tenantry had a reputation for military strength.

1536-37  Pilgrimage of Grace. Rising in the North with motives including resistance to  religious

            change and the dissolution of the monasteries, but also following sharp rise in grain

            prices in 1534-35; the consecutive bad harvests in 1535 and 1536 caused considerable

            price inflation. Resentment at extortionate fines charged by landlords at changes of

            tenancy was largest of the economic complaints behind Cumbria’s contribution to the

            Pilgrimage of Grace.

            Punitive action by King Henry VIII, with 66 of the ‘commons’ hung in various villages in

            Cumberland and Westmoreland.

            Having escaped the charge of treason three years before, Dacre played an uncommitted

            part throughout the Pligrimage of Grace. Initially taking a defensive position at Naworth,

            he subsequently went apparently to Yorkshire. His departure signalled  that he would

            not  frown upon his tenants participating in the Pilgrimage, while giving them no direct

            encouragement.

            Over a third of the region’s population of 70,000 may have been active rebels. Greystoke

            joined the rebellion on 23 October; William Buntyng subsequently executed. The two

            townships of the Irthing Valley to join were Gilsland and  Lanercost Priory, but none from

            there executed.

1537    Council of North  established under William Senhouse ( Sever), Abbott of St. Mary’s and

            Bishop of Carlisle. St Mary’s connected to Linstock when the Bishop of Carlisle apparently

            owned and administered the estate.

            Serious plague ravaged north of England in years following 1537, including Carlisle and

            Cumbria

1538    Tenants at Holm Coultram in three classes: men holding 15 to 20 acres liable to be called

            to go to war armed and mounted; demys holding 10 to 12 acres, were  not expected to be

            so well mounted; footmen, holding 2 to 6 acres, were expected to be armed only with

            bows or spears.

1539    Wetheral and Lanercost priories closed.

1542    Defeat of Scots by Sir Thomas Wharton at Battle of Solway Moss, after which prisoners

            brought to Carlisle.

1543    Dissolution of Lanercost Abbey, when as part of the barony of Gilsland the manor of

            Walton was granted to Thomas Dacre, who declined Wharton’s proposition that he should

            yield Gilsland and Naworth to the King, although in 1552 he agreed to exchange some

            lands at Bewcastle  for others at Papcastle.

1549    Inability of Wharton to cooperate with other border figures led to his  replacement by Dacre

            as Warden of the Marches. Tynedale and Redesdale notorious for thieving.

1552    Scots Dyke built across the Debateable Land.

1554    Plague in Penrith, although not as severe as that forty years later.

1558    End of legalised Catholicism in England.

1559    Failure to negotiate peace with Scots.

1560    Treaty of Edinburgh ended the ‘Auld Alliance’ of Scotland and France and withdrawal of

            French troops from Scotland. The Scottish Protestant revolution saw England and

            Scotland become religious allies.

1561    Mary Stuart crowned Queen of Scots.

            Dacres now losing their authority and being opposed by effective rivals.

1563    Cumberland’s population possibly 45,000  Irthington estimated to have 33 to 37

            inhabitants per sq. mile, or up to twice as densely settled as Greystoke parish.  Population

            of Carlisle about 1800, but only 140 households in Penrith. Cumberland and other northern

            counties exempt from a statute against  middlemen in markets, because the region was

            deficient in grain production and required corn dealers to provision it from supply cities

            such as York.

            Lord William Howard born.   Soon after, following the death of his mother, his father

            married the widow of Thomas, Lord Dacre of Gilsland.

1564    Catholicism stubbornly surviving in the North, with mass openly celebrated in some

            Cumberland and Westmoreland churches.

1568    Mary Queen of Scots landed from exile at Workington; seized by Elizabeth and  confined

            to Carlisle Castle.

            Plagues from 1568 to 1570.

1569    Beginnings of land enclosure in Cumberland in second half of 16th.Century. First

            enclosures initiated by Steward of Westward Forest.

            Only in this period did small landowners in Cumberland find capital to rebuild their

            farmsteads, although in the Midlands and in southern England rebuilding in stone had

            been possible for a century before.

            Rising of the Northern Earls, marching south to Yorkshire in support of Mary before

            collapse of the enterprise. The Earls sought shelter at Naworth,  but were driven away by

            Leonard, the putative Lord Dacre. Many executions  followed. However, Leonard was

            suspected of having his own ambitions to restore Mary and the Catholic Supremacy. The

            Council of the North sent the Warden of the West  March, Lord Scrope, to Carlisle to arrest

            him. Hundreds hanged in Tynedale, Redesdale and elsewhere. Much  plundering and

            confiscation of land.

1570    Leonard had force of 3000 Gilsland men(and women) and Scots borderers at Naworth, with

            further 1500 or so of Scots and English sympathisers on their way to join him in a

            rebellion.

            Leonard foolishly left his impregnable castle to attack a lesser force of the Warden of the

            Middle March at the High Gelt Bridge, a mile SW of Brampton. Leonard’s men were

            comprehensively beaten and he fled to Scotland, before going into exile in Flanders, his

            property being seized by the Crown and attained while any Dacre male lived.

1572    Parishes in England became responsible for collecting money to relieve their poor.

            Blencow Grammar School endowed by Thomas Burbank.

Late 1500’s  Tynedale a nest of reivers and a target for Scottish raids. However, Cumbrian riders

            inflicted more damage on Scotland than their lands suffered in return. Tynedale and

            Redesdale men collaborated with those from Liddelsdale in raiding.

1580    Naworth Castle had become considerably dilapidated.

            At the Cumberland muster of 1581:

                     Thomas Wanopp of Wetheral had a spear and cap

                     Peter Wanope of Mickle Corby had a lance

                     Christopher Wanope of Mickle Corby had a jack, spear and steel cap

                     Thomas Wanopp of Irthington Parish had a spear

1583    Kinmont Willie raided the Milburns in Tynedale, attacking eight villages, stealing 800 cattle,

            killing six men and carrying off 30 prisoners.

1584    Kinmont Willie raided again in Tynedale with 300 riders, stealing 1300 cattle and 60 horses,

            killing ten men and burning 60 houses.

1587-88  Probable peak of famine and mortality in Cumbria following bad harvest.

1588    Spanish Armada.

1589    The crown occupied the Dacre baronies, following its earlier acquisition  of Bewcastle and

            monastic estates. The royal tenure of Gilsland contributed to the decay of the West March.

            Camden described Brampton as a ‘little market town’ possessing 14 shops.

1592-94  Catholics harried in the North, when justices of the peace made a general search all

            over Yorkshire, Richmondshire, Cleveland and the Bishopric of Durham and

            Northumberland.

1593    Scrope became Warden of the West March and had numerous stewards, bailiffs and

            keepers of castles in Bewcastle and the former Dacre baronies of Burgh and Gilsland,

            operating largely free of Scrope’s interference. Thomas  Musgrave, the constable at

            Bewcastle and his bailiff Thomas Routledge of Crookburn, were amongst the most

            notorious reivers in the lordship.

            Biggest raid of all on Tynedale; Kinmont Willie and 1000 men carried off 2000 beasts.

1595    At muster of Castle and Morpeth Wards in Middle Marches, at Prestwicke in

            Northumberland, John Wanhopp and four others were recorded as ‘defective’.

1596    Foray by Wat of Harden into Gilsland, taking 300 cattle and 20 horses, and burning 20

            houses. Scots raiding frequently into Tynedale.

1597    Terrible plague hit Carlisle. Peak of amine and mortality following bad harvest, with

            Cumberland being amongst the upland regions of England in which harvest failure in the

            1590’s was associated with deaths over a wide age-range.

            The leading Cumberland gentry attributed the decline of the Borders in large  measure to

            the stealing of the clansmen of Bewcastle and Gilsland.

            Christopher Blennerhasset was bailiff of the Irthington Manor in this year, responsible under

            the Land Serjeant  who supervised the barony which remained attained by the Crown.

            Reprisals by Tynedale men against the Scots.

1596-98  Severe plague in Gilsland, accompanied by famine. Death from plague of 583

            St.Andrew’s parishioners  amongst  Penrith’s population of 2,000 and a further 1,700 in

            outlying parishes of the  district died from the plague at this time. Despite the plague,

            Lakeland population tended to grow during the Tudor period.

1598    Death of Thomas Carleton, land sergeant of barony of Gilsland.

1600    Scottish marauders spoiled, robbed and burned throughout Cumberland. On September

            15, the Graemes robbed at Newby, Holm Ends, Hayton, Wetheral and Corby, attacking and

            attempting to displace Gilsland tenants.

            Tenant right by custom remained prevalent form of tenure, whereby a tenant passed his or

             her right of occupation on to their eldest child but was obliged to pay tithes and rents.

            Increasing pressure from the mid 1500’s for tenants to switch to leasehold, but they could

            more readily resist for as long as obliged to bear arms  under their tenancy. When the

            Scottish threat to the border areas dissolved after 1606, the  landlords could more readily

            press leasehold on tenants, as Howard of Naworth came to do in 1610.

            Yeomen were technically men who held land to the value of two pounds a year (‘40 shilling

            freeholders’), which gave them political rights and a vote in parliamentary elections. But

            the term was applied to a wider range of people, tending to relate to size of holding. It was

            usually  yeomen who held office as churchwardens, overseers of the poor and quarter

            sessions jurymen.

            Tynedale and Redesdale reputed to be particularly irreligious.

1600’s Open fields declined as enclosures broke them up. Primogeniture introduced amongst

            Cumberland freeholders in 16th century.

            Population of  the rural deaneries of Carlisle bishopric rose from circa 30,000 in 1563 to

            circa 45,000 in 1688. The land was able to support a growing population, without any

            apparent fall in living standards.

1601-1618  Various  entries in Carlisle City Court Books refering to debts to John Wannop,

            yeoman of Newby.

1601    Poor Law Act established that parishes should tax property to support poor and sick.

            Reluctantly, Queen Elizabeth at last agreed that Lord William Howard should  take

            possession of  the Dacre patrimony of Gilsland. Howard  was not welcome in Cumberland,

            however, so he built up a small following outside the main gentry groupings to counter the

            loyalty of the Gilsland tenants to the Dacre name.

            The surname leaders acceded to Scrope’s demand to make themselves answerable to him

            for their tenants and dependants, and they submitted 442 names accordingly. The

            Grahams had established near Longtown after their expulsion from Scotland because

            of their reiving and notorious behaviour. The Cumberland alliance was dissatisfied with the

            surname leaders’ notification of the 442 names, because they wished to replace  the

            Grahams with dependable farmers. The Grahams fought back, continuing to murder

            tenants outside their own bounds.

1603    ‘Busy Week’ marauding following the death of Elizabeth I on 24  March saw pillaging from

            the western Borders into the West March, as far south as Penrith. Final severe assault by

            the Grahams. Buccleuch made a raid ‘ of bloodshed and ruthless rapine’ in Tynedale.

            Transition from the Tudors to the Stuarts had immediate effect on the West March.

1604    Howard’s repossession of Gilsland restored strong aristocratic management to the lands

            south of the Lyne which was lacking during Scrope’s wardenship. Eager to protect his

            tenantry and to achieve the full potential of revenues from his estates, Lord William

            Howard undertook survey of the manors in his Barony of Gilsland.  Each manor had a

            separate bailiff. Vast majority of tenants still held tenure through tenant-right. Manorial

            courts held at Brampton. Vast majority of tenancies held by tenant-right, despite

            Howard’s attempts to end it.

            A remarkable feature was great extent of common land, there being 44% in Gilsland as a

            whole, excluding Irthington; there was 68% in Hayton and Castle Carrock together. This

            suggests tenants mainly pastoral rather than agricultural, though there was fertile land in

            Hayton, Walton, Irthington, Brampton and Nether Denton. A good deal of open field

            cultivation in Castle Carrock, Cumrew and Hayton. Tenants of open fields and enclosed

            holdings were often blood relations. No Wannop tenants are listed in the Survey, perhaps

            because – uniquely - the Irthington manor was excluded from the Survey Book, apparently

            because still in charge of the Crown.

            Open fields reached their maximum extent about 1600, but probably less than 50% in the

            Walton and Corby area. Not subject to periodic allocation, the strips (‘rigs’) were cultivated

            by individuals and not groups. In Hayton, the strips were sown in grain year after year,

            without fallow spells. Unenclosed commons and waste land was used for grazings.

            Pacification of the Borders followed accession of James VI of Scotland and I of the Union

            of England and Scotland. Main effort of disarming the Marches in the first four years,

            with forced evacuation of riding families – particularly the Grahams. A Border Commission

            of 5 Scots and 5 English was appointed in 1605 to ensure what became a barbarous

            suppression of past miscreants and creation of a new order. In this period it became safe

            to hold Border land, and there were rich pickings for new gentry by dispossession from

            previous holdings.

1604    Inventory for possessions of late Christopher Wannop of Langthwaite  (In Carlisle Record

            Office)

1606    Union of the Crowns: accession of James VI of Scotland and I of England.

            Chief source of trouble in north Cumberland after 1606 was Bewcastle, where Thomas

            Musgrave, the constable, continued to support the Grahams and the thieves. Firm control

            of Gilsland and Nichol Forest isolated Bewcastle in continuing criminality. Tynedale

            suffered punitive action by the Border Commission, which also arranged to transport the

            Grahams. Their removal cleared the way for Cumbrians to take Graham lands.

            Horses relatively numerous because of need in Border defence.

1610    Lord William Howard was first landlord to pursue leasehold comprehensively by a

            document dated 4 October 1610. Most but not all tenants agreed to give up tenant-right,

            and the leaders of an uprising at Gelt Brigg in 1611 were imprisoned in the Fleet Prison.

1611    ‘Rule of violence’ ceased with last of traditional Border raids, but last of cavalrymen not

            withdrawn until 1621 when the Borders were judged to be quiet enough.

1612    John Waynop was ‘bayly at Nuby.’ Bailiffs were appointed by landlords to carry out estate

            duties including rent collection. Revenues to Howard reached £213 (by 1633 they had

            reached £1100; the Howards had properties also in Northumberland and Yorkshire).

1621    Last of cavalrymen withdrawn when the Borders judged to be quiet enough.

1623    Likely peak of famine and mortality in Cumbria following bad harvest.

1624    John Waynop paid for ‘looking to the corn at Nuby’.

1626     ---  Wannop of Corby married Jenneta (Hayton parish)

1628    Thomas Wannop married Janeta Graeme (Hayton parish)

            William Wannope paying rent for ‘his right of a tenement at Longthwate’.

1634    Christopherus  Wannopp of Newby married  Isabella Graeme (Hayton parish)

1641    Christopher Wannop of Newlands, Carleton, Carlisle

            Thomas Wannop of Fishergate, Carlisle

            Christopher Wannopp of Hayton

            John Wanoppe of Newby

            Tho Wannoppe of Newby

   ( All five Wannops above from Protestation Returns, but none recorded as recusants)

1642    Civil war brought poverty despite absence of fighting in the Lake District

1645    John Wannop, senior, of Newby (Carlisle City Court Books).

1646    Charles Howard (born 1628) converted from the papacy  to the Church of England in April

            1646, having been brought up at Naworth by his great-uncle Robert, who was a

            Benedictine monk.

1647    Christopher Wannopp of Little Corby buried  (Hayton parish)

1648    John Waynopp, ‘bayliffe at Irdington Manor’, and also at Newby, Crosby and Weobie.

            Payment to John Waynopp for fees relating to suit against Laversdale tenants.

            Cromwell and troops arrived at Naworth in November, before moving off apparently prior to

            Christmas.

1649    Christopher Waynopp paying rent for Brigwood foote, Brampton Manor.

            Christ. Waynopp paid for oats delivered to Rob. Trewman.

            Thomas Waynopp paying ‘Composican fine of a tenement called the Cott at Newby’

1650    John Waynopp, ‘bayliffe’

1652    John  Waynopp, ‘bayliffe at Newbie, Crosby and Weobie’

1653    George Fox preached Quaker message across Cumberland and was gaoled at Carlisle.

1656    Christopher Wannop of Holme End

1658    John Waynopp paying fines at Newby (note:  fines were paid by copyholders  at the death

            of a lord or of a tenant , or at an exchange of tenants)

1660    Quakers unpopular and persecuted after 1660. There were circa 300-350 Quaker families

            in Cumberland in the mid18th century.

1664    John Wannop, senior, recorded as a Quaker  refusing to take an oath as churchwarden at

            St Kentigern’s, Irthington

            Christopher Wannop of Holme Ends fined for not making up his portion of the  churchyard

            hedge at Crosby-on-Eden.

            Hearth Tax paid by Cutbt. Wanhop (? uncertain about interpretation) of  Kirkoswald and

            Thomas Wannup sen. (? uncertain about senior) of Warwick. (note: no Hearth Tax returns

            for Irthington)

1667    Horse and cattle thieves who had been robbing in Tynedale also broke into the house of

           Christopher Wannope of the Holm in Cumberland. Although William Oglethorpe of the

            Cumbrian gentry was not present at the break-in, the thieves were apparently abetted by him.

            John Bell of the three accused was sentenced to death but reprieved.

1669    Margreta, wife of Christopher Wannopp of Holm Ends buried (Crosby parish)

1674    John Wannopp of Newby. Old churchwarden.

            John Wannopp of Newby. New churchwarden.

1676    Thomas Wannopp of Holm Ends buried  (Crosby parish)

1677    Humphrey Wannop of Hayton and Katherine Scott of Irthington married at Irthington

1680    Christopher, son of Humphrey Wannop baptised at Hayton-by-Brampton

1681    Isabell Wannop married Tho. Burtholme at Irthington

1682    Maria, daughter of Christopher Wannop baptised at Crosby Upon Eden

            Thomas, son of Humphrey Wannop of Newby baptised at Irthington

            Jonathon, son of Thomas Wannopp baptised at Irthington

1683    An indenture was made between Humphrey Wannopp and Catherine Wannopp his wife of

            Irthington and John Gill of Great Corby in the parish of Wetherall.

1685    Johannes, son of Christopheri baptised at Crosby on Eden.

1686    Christopher Wannop buried (Crosby parish).

            Charles, son of Thomas Wannopp  baptised at Irthington.

1687    Katherine, daughter of Humphrey baptised at Irthington.

            Mary, wife of Thomas Wannopp buried at Irthington.

            Charles, son of Christopherus Wannop baptised at Crosby Upon Eden.

1688    Cumberland population was 60,000 to 65,000, rising to 117,000 in 1801 and growing at a

            rather faster rate than for England and Wales. Thomas Dentonʼs ʻPerambulation of

            Cumberlandʼ reported 345 inhabitants in Walton parish and 640 in Irthington, including

            several freeholders. At Newtowne, John Scot had an estate but all others were customary

            tenants - as at Holmends and Crosbye. Whitehill belonged to the manor of Lanercost,which

            was for the most part pasturage but with diverse roe deer in the woody part of thedemesne

            the Parke.

1689    John Wannopp of Newby buried at Irthington.

1690    Thomas, son of Tho. Wannopp baptised at Irthington.

1691    Thomas Wannop buried at Irthington.

1696    Howards of Corby remained Roman Catholic.

1700’s  Apparently three enclosures of arable fields in Cumberland, at Skelton, Blencoward

            and Irthington (incl. Laversdale and Newby),the latter affecting 3,680 acres.

1730    Probable arrival of potatoes in Cumberland.

1731    Feb.. 18  Christopher Wannop of Holmehouse purchased from Edward Atkinson of

            Brampton (?)……. In Newby Holme at a place called Crabtree Dales….other at a place

            called North Croft…..rent for Moorhouse (?)

1738    September 29 On death of Charles, late Earl of Carlisle, Christopher Wannop paid fine due

            as Ancient Customary Rent for a tenement at Nuby.

            November 8 Christopher Wannop purchased land from Henry Gill.

            December 9 Christopher Wannop, younger, paid rents and fine for messuage and

            tenements in Little Corby.

1740    Peak of real wages for agricultural labourers - a ‘golden age’.  Real wages declined

            thereafter to 1820’s, after which they showed sustained tendency to rise.

1745    Prince Charles Edward Stuart marched south into England late in the year, pausing with his

            supporting army at Brampton, putting siege to and capturing Carlisle before moving on

            to Derby where his retreat began. The ragged residue of the forces returned north by

            Penrith, before their defeat at Culloden early in 1746.

1756    Philip Howard of Corby (near Wetheral) was first in Cumberland to grow turnips and

            artificial grasses. Provided winter food for cattle and stimulated growth of livestock farming

            of both sheep and cattle.

1760 -80  Relatively little opposition to enclosures in Cumberland and the amounts of wasteland

            enclosed in this decade were:

                        Farlam 2,300 acres  Irthington 3,679 acres Brampton, 2,000 acres

1781    Great fall in wool prices following spread of Arkwright’s water frame spinning-machine

            (patented in 1769).

            Late 1700’s Cumberland had virtually no farms let on leases.

1801    Cumberland population rose by  approximately a third between 1801 and 1821. Population

            of England doubled in the first half of the century.

1809    English grain, meat and wool prices reached a general peak in 1809, thereafter declining to

            a trough around 1830. Poor harvests 1809-1812.

1815    Stress of Cumberland weavers became marked  as wool’s dominance  was terminated by

             cotton, mechanical spinning and loss of trade after the American war.  Sharp rise in

            emigration to North America.

1826    At the cotton spinning factory at Langthwaite, Warwick Bridge, weekly wages were 23

            shillings for good workmen, and 3 to 10 shillings for women and children,

            depending on age. Day labourers worked from 6 am to 7.30 pm.

1830    Fall in real wages brought Captain Swing riots amongst agricultural labourers in southern

            England.

1841    The plight of handloom weavers in and around Carlisle had become pitiful, following a

            halving of wages since 1838. Lancashire was sucking textile manufacturing south to the

            burgeoning mills of the Industrial Revolution. Carlisle and traditional northern weaving was

            hard hit.

1850    New artificial fertilisers just coming on to the market, and together with more varied and

            intensive cropping this was the apogee of the conventional ‘agricultural revolution’. Around

            75 to 80% of land of England controlled by  landlords on short term leases to tenant

            farmers.

1851    51% of Cumberland agricultural occupiers employed labour.

1852    Very wet autumn followed by two years of above average rain. Following this and the

            outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853, prices of grain, beef and mutton rose sharply. Mutton

            and wool prices rose until mid 1860’s.

1861    Widespread decline in agricultural employment in England due to falling demand from

            farmers and by alternative job opportunities and  greater mobility amongst younger men.

1862    Adam Wannop  and his wife Barbara moved trom Hillfield Farm, Walton, to Little Blencow

            Farm,  near Greystoke. With them moved three  of their children - Arthur, Mary and Ann -

            who were all born at Walton. Ann was christened at Walton in May 1861,  but she died

            at Blencow in  September 1863., thus dating the family’s move  to somewhere in this period

            of time. Thomas, Arthur Robson Wannop’s father, was born at Blencow about 1865.

            The family move was made at a time of relative prosperity for sheep  farming, prior to the

            harder times  for agriculture  starting in the mid 1870’s.

1865    Mechanical hay and grain reapers had become effective.

            Severe outbreak of cattle plague (rinderpest) spread rapidly through the country.

1867-1868  Two years of drought,almost  halving store sheep prices since three years before.

1870    27% of Cumberland farms were of over 100 acres.

1870-71  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 438-13-5 and

            income  £ 446-6-1. Net income per acre(130 acres) £0-1-2.

1871-72  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 454-6-8 and

            income  £ 534-7-0. Net income per acre(130 acres) £0-12-4.

1872-73  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 469-11-8 and

            income  £ 625-13-9. Net income per acre(130 acres) £1-4-0.

1873    General level of prosperity amongst farmers in England, but they were becoming worried

            by the spread of union movement, of which Joseph Arch was the inspiration.

            There were 24,413 Lesser Yeomen in England and Wales, amongst 973,011 landowners

            from peers and peeresses to cottagers.

1873-74  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 549-16-5 and

            income  £ 137-0-7. Net income per acre(130 acres) £1-1-1.

1874    Lockouts of farmworkers in East Anglia.

1874-75  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 366-18-1 and

            income  £ 647-7-6. Net income per acre(130 acres) £ 2-3-1.

1875    Start of a great twenty year depression in British agriculture, brought on by rising volume of

            imports.

            Average earnings from agriculture in Britain reached a peak after a steep growth over the

            preceeding 30 years. Earnings fell steeply from this peak for ten years before they began

            to slowly rise again. Rent of agricultural land in England and Wales also reached a peak

            around 1875, subsiding up to 1900 when it bottomed out but failing to recover for many

            years.

            After a short lived recovery from a fall starting in mid 1860’s, wool prices in England fell

            away to barely 60% of their level of the average of the ten years before. However, mutton

            prices rose from 1868 to 1883.

            Wet autumn followed by abnormally heavy rainfall in winter of 1876-77 and spring of 1878

            began nearly three years of exceptional cold and wet. This began a generally hard

            financial decade for English farmers, but less so in the north west where grazing was

            prevalent. Area of grazing increased while area to wheat reduced. Cattle numbers grew

            but sheep numbers reduced.

1875-76  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 602-11-6 and income  £ 644-17-0.

           Net income per acre(130 acres) £ 0-6-6. 96 fat sheep sold and 126 lambs bought .

1876-77  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 702-13-10 and income  £ 931-12-9.

            Net income per acre(130 acres) £1-15-2. 135 fat sheep sold and 121 bought.

1877    Last epidemic of cattle plague in England.

1877-78  Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 698-13-0 and income  £ 794-4-11. Net

            income per acre (130 acres) £ 0-14-8. 104 fat sheep sold and 72 lambs bought. ( c.f. In

            period 1865-68, one progressive demonstration farmer on 175 acres of Essex clay made

            an average profit of £440 pa, or £2.50 to £3.00 per acre. He kept 30-40 bullocks and about

            200 sheep. By estimate from sales of animals, Little Blencow may have stocked only about

            half as many of each.

1879    Long and severe winter particularly disastrous to livestock,  but Cumberland did not suffer

            as much excess of rain as south and east England, where gross return from an acre of

            wheat fell to only half that of 1876.

1881-83  Severe outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease cut sheep numbers in England by a fifth in

            four years.

1885    The years 1885-95 became the ʻGreat Depressionʼ in English farming. Arable areas hardest

            hit, but even in grazing counties the area to wheat halved in the next ten years,falling to a

            third that of 1875. Prices for meat, livestock and dairy products fell between 20and 50%.

            Main explanation lay in the rising tide of imports from Europe, North America, Australia and

            New Zealand. The contribution of agriculture to national output fell from one-sixth in 1867-9

            to under one-tenth in 1890, and to under one-fifteenth by 1911-13.Rents in the north west fell

            little, if at all, but collapsed in the arable areas of eastern and southern England. Land agents

            from the south sought new tenants from the north.Sheaf binders had become well

            established.

1894    Sharp fall in meat prices when severe drought  followed a dry 1893. A 30 year increase in

            cattle numbers came to a halt before rising again in the first decade of the 20th. Century.

            Big shift towards dairying.