400 British kingdom of Strathclyde. Blencow is Celtic name in origin (blaen is Celtic; alsoCumbrian counterpart of Welsh pen , as in Penrith ).
410 End of Roman rule in Britain, but many Roman soldiers and their families remained onHadrian’s Wall as subsistence farmers.
450 Angles from Schleswig Holstein began to settle in north and east England and had probablyseized 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 theHumber.
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 milesaround. Northumbrian expansion ended when King Ecgrith killed fighting King Brudeof Caledonia.
866 Following raids for almost a century previously, the Vikings took over York and began tosettle permanently. However, they took less interest in Bernicia until 875 when they raidedbut did not settle there.
942 Following defeat by King Edmund of Northumbria, Cumbria handed to Malcolm, King ofScots.
1000 During first millenium, low lying Cumbrian lands including Carlisle plain favoured byRomans, by native Britons in the post-Roman period and by Anglians who displaced Britishrulers in 7th and 8th Centuries.Hills and uplands were extensively settled only in 10th Century by a new wave ofScandinavian settlers, mostly Norwegians from Ireland, Scotland and the Western Isles, butalso 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, buthe failed to control his earldom.
1056 Chapel of wattle built at Triermain in Gilsland some time between 1056 and 1071, being adependency 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 intoNorman England. Subsequent creation of Baronies of Liddell, Levington, Gilsland andBurgh on the Border, and also of Greystoke. This helped protect the approaches fromScotland in Henry II’s settlement of Cumberland.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that after returning to London, William Rufus sent manycountry folk to Carlisle, with wives and cattle, to settle and cultivate. At the same time, anumber 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 encroachedinto 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 wasprimarily the work of Henry I after 1106. The native lord Gile who held Gilsland, held outagainst the Norman incursion. Indeed, the period 1110-1135 saw a resurgence of thenatives, when the king showed favour for the northern Anglo-Saxons. Prior Athelwold – thefirst Bishop of Carlisle – came from the East Riding. Others from Yorkshire were givenlands in Cumberland, including Greystoke.A chain of motte and bailey castles was built along Tynedale and Redesdale to protect theEnglish border. The North of England was primarily stock-rearing with transhumance tosummer sheilings. Extensive colonisation caused notable growth of wealth in the 1200’s inthe North.No surviving list of inhabitants of Carlisle in the 1100’s, but eighty people identifiable asoriginating 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 numberof 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 inCumbria, Lincolnshire and Suffolk.
1120 The first Norman lord of Cumberland granted tithes from his demesnes in Appleby, Mauld’sMeaburn 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 linksdeveloping between Cumberland and York.Gille, son of Buet, was the first Lord of Gilsland, with no evidence that he ever had tofight 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 periodwhen lordships held precedence rather than nationhood.Substantial migration from England to Scotland in this period, and considerably fromYorkshire.
1149 Links between Carlisle and York clearly established. Property in Carlisle held by religioushouses in York.
1150 Mill at Corby.
1157 Henry II recovered Carlisle for England. Settlement subsequently expanded innorthern 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’schapter 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 ofCarlisle 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 Englishcommunity 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 theIrthing Valley area in this century, being one of many associated with Cumberland’s roleas one of England’s major wool producing regions. But wool from Cumberland,Westmoreland and Northumberland was considered to be of low quality, fetching smallerprice than from counties of Midlands and Yorkshire. Nonetheless, exports to Europe.Migrants to Carlisle prior to 1300 had come from all over Cumberland and northernEngland. 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 andNorthumberland became a war zone between Scots and English, abruptly endingcolonisation 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 andother parts may have been forced into subjection to the Scots.
1314 After English defeat at Bannockburn, the English borders were defenceless and victoriousScots poured into and devastated northern Cumbria and Northumberland, ravagingTynedaleRobert 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 harvestfailures 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 fromWestmoreland to keeper of the king’s victuals at Carlisle.
1319 Scots raided again, devastating north-west England and burning Gilsland and carrying offinhabitants.‘The best and richest of the country about Gillesland and Lidell’ reported as havingchanged sides and allied themselves to Scots, following Scots invasion and theirabandonment by the English king. Protection extended by Scots to men of Gilsland andLiddel.
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 menhaving become horsemen and archers in wars against the Scots, and also extensivedisease of murrain affecting sheep in all parts of the county except in Crosby and Stanwixparishes.
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 andsubsequently ceased to be an extensive cottage industry in northern Cumbria.
1352 Income from demesne land at High Crosby remained low because ‘ it could not bedemised better after the pestilence’.
1361-62 Second major outbreak of the Black Death, whose worst effects may have been limitedto 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 insideCarlisle city walls.Ropes made at Naworth.
1379 Almost entire population of Newton in Northumberland killed by the Black Death, whichhad reached Durham in 1349.
1388 Cumberland and Westmoreland devastated by Scots. Destruction at Irthington and at othersettlements.
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 monasteriesin Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland and Coupland exempted fromrequirement to pay taxes because of costs following Scottish depradations and threeyears 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 tenantsconsequent 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 theNorth West since reign of Richard II.
1457 Reign of Henry VII one of comparative peace and fair prosperity, encouraging 1509men from Kendal, Cockermouth, Penrith, York and elsewhere in the North to go toCarlisle.
1461 Unsuccessful siege of Carlisle by Anglo-Scots forces raised by Queen Margaret, wife ofHenry IV, who with her husband had fled to Scotland after the Lancastrians defeated bythe Yorkists at Battle of Towton.
1462 Dacre stronghold of Naworth held out against Yorkists until 1462, when Humphreysurrendered his lands to Edward, having failed in his campaigns on behalf of theLancastrians.
1473 Humphrey, who had switched from the Lancastrian to the Yorkist cause, had his mannersrestored i.e. Irthington, Burgh-by-Sands, Lazonby, Dacre and Barton in Cumberland andWestmoreland.
Later 1400’s Reversal of economic decline in the North.Wetheral and Corby the source of numerous litigants at Carlisle, with whom connectionsmade them almost part of the city.
1480-82 Border warsBewcastle refortified and Bishop of Carlisle made his fortress at Linstock over to histenants 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 MarchDomp. 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 from1496 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% or13,000-14,000 in the rural deaneries of the Carlisle bishopric. Open fields reached theirgreatest extent and height of importance in Cumberland and persisted in Gilsland, inrespects similar to run-rig cultivation. North-east Cumberland unimportant for arablefarming in the 16th. Century, when the extensive wastes and mosslands were used forseasonal grazing by migrant stock in a predominantly pastoral economy. There was anabsence of a wealthy yeoman farmer class comparable to that buying up land in theEnglish Midlands at this period. Most Cumbrian farmers were impoverished. In Haytonthe open fields were very large and 1,108 acres were shared between the settlements ofHeads 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 in1507.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 followersand 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 Carlisleestates, allegedly with support of Lord Dacre. Lord Dacre pleaded that he could notgovern the Marches if obstructed by Carlisle, whereupon he was awarded itsgovernorship in 1539.
1532-34 War with Scotland in which Dacres heavily involved. At end of the war, ChristopherDacre arrested by the King following the replacement at Henry VIII’s court of the Dacres’supporter, Cardinal Wolsey, by Thomas Cromwell. The Dacres had administeredWolsey’s northern estates. But Dacre acquitted.
1534 Acquitted of treason, Dacre was displaced as Warden of the Western March by the Earlof Cumberland.Dacre’s Gilsland tenants hindered soldiers from Carlisle garrison in capturing AnthonyArmstrong, 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 Whartonmen and taken to Clifford lands. Rioting by Dacre men in the processEarl of Cumberland attempted to take action against criminals in Gilsland.Dispute at Langrigg over tithes, which had been leased to local husbandmen bySt. 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 landsto the north-west than from other directions, including 33 from Cumbria where the soilwas poor and the population large. Kendal cloth found its way down to York, and itwould not be surprising if Cumbrians wishing to become apprenticed should take thesame 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 retainedvestiges 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 religiouschange and the dissolution of the monasteries, but also following sharp rise in grainprices in 1534-35; the consecutive bad harvests in 1535 and 1536 caused considerableprice inflation. Resentment at extortionate fines charged by landlords at changes oftenancy was largest of the economic complaints behind Cumbria’s contribution to thePilgrimage of Grace.Punitive action by King Henry VIII, with 66 of the ‘commons’ hung in various villages inCumberland and Westmoreland.Having escaped the charge of treason three years before, Dacre played an uncommittedpart throughout the Pligrimage of Grace. Initially taking a defensive position at Naworth,he subsequently went apparently to Yorkshire. His departure signalled that he wouldnot frown upon his tenants participating in the Pilgrimage, while giving them no directencouragement.Over a third of the region’s population of 70,000 may have been active rebels. Greystokejoined the rebellion on 23 October; William Buntyng subsequently executed. The twotownships of the Irthing Valley to join were Gilsland and Lanercost Priory, but none fromthere executed.
1537 Council of North established under William Senhouse ( Sever), Abbott of St. Mary’s andBishop of Carlisle. St Mary’s connected to Linstock when the Bishop of Carlisle apparentlyowned and administered the estate.Serious plague ravaged north of England in years following 1537, including Carlisle andCumbria
1538 Tenants at Holm Coultram in three classes: men holding 15 to 20 acres liable to be calledto go to war armed and mounted; demys holding 10 to 12 acres, were not expected to beso well mounted; footmen, holding 2 to 6 acres, were expected to be armed only withbows or spears.
1539 Wetheral and Lanercost priories closed.
1542 Defeat of Scots by Sir Thomas Wharton at Battle of Solway Moss, after which prisonersbrought to Carlisle.
1543 Dissolution of Lanercost Abbey, when as part of the barony of Gilsland the manor ofWalton was granted to Thomas Dacre, who declined Wharton’s proposition that he shouldyield Gilsland and Naworth to the King, although in 1552 he agreed to exchange somelands at Bewcastle for others at Papcastle.
1549 Inability of Wharton to cooperate with other border figures led to his replacement by Dacreas 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 ofFrench troops from Scotland. The Scottish Protestant revolution saw England andScotland 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 37inhabitants per sq. mile, or up to twice as densely settled as Greystoke parish. Populationof Carlisle about 1800, but only 140 households in Penrith. Cumberland and other northerncounties exempt from a statute against middlemen in markets, because the region wasdeficient in grain production and required corn dealers to provision it from supply citiessuch as York.Lord William Howard born. Soon after, following the death of his mother, his fathermarried the widow of Thomas, Lord Dacre of Gilsland.
1564 Catholicism stubbornly surviving in the North, with mass openly celebrated in someCumberland and Westmoreland churches.
1568 Mary Queen of Scots landed from exile at Workington; seized by Elizabeth and confinedto Carlisle Castle.Plagues from 1568 to 1570.
1569 Beginnings of land enclosure in Cumberland in second half of 16th.Century. Firstenclosures initiated by Steward of Westward Forest.Only in this period did small landowners in Cumberland find capital to rebuild theirfarmsteads, although in the Midlands and in southern England rebuilding in stone hadbeen possible for a century before.Rising of the Northern Earls, marching south to Yorkshire in support of Mary beforecollapse of the enterprise. The Earls sought shelter at Naworth, but were driven away byLeonard, the putative Lord Dacre. Many executions followed. However, Leonard wassuspected of having his own ambitions to restore Mary and the Catholic Supremacy. TheCouncil of the North sent the Warden of the West March, Lord Scrope, to Carlisle to arresthim. Hundreds hanged in Tynedale, Redesdale and elsewhere. Much plundering andconfiscation of land.
1570 Leonard had force of 3000 Gilsland men(and women) and Scots borderers at Naworth, withfurther 1500 or so of Scots and English sympathisers on their way to join him in arebellion.Leonard foolishly left his impregnable castle to attack a lesser force of the Warden of theMiddle March at the High Gelt Bridge, a mile SW of Brampton. Leonard’s men werecomprehensively beaten and he fled to Scotland, before going into exile in Flanders, hisproperty 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 ridersinflicted more damage on Scotland than their lands suffered in return. Tynedale andRedesdale 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 andmonastic 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 allover Yorkshire, Richmondshire, Cleveland and the Bishopric of Durham andNorthumberland.
1593 Scrope became Warden of the West March and had numerous stewards, bailiffs andkeepers of castles in Bewcastle and the former Dacre baronies of Burgh and Gilsland,operating largely free of Scrope’s interference. Thomas Musgrave, the constable atBewcastle and his bailiff Thomas Routledge of Crookburn, were amongst the mostnotorious 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 inNorthumberland, 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 20houses. Scots raiding frequently into Tynedale.
1597 Terrible plague hit Carlisle. Peak of amine and mortality following bad harvest, withCumberland being amongst the upland regions of England in which harvest failure in the1590’s was associated with deaths over a wide age-range.The leading Cumberland gentry attributed the decline of the Borders in large measure tothe stealing of the clansmen of Bewcastle and Gilsland.Christopher Blennerhasset was bailiff of the Irthington Manor in this year, responsible underthe 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 583St.Andrew’s parishioners amongst Penrith’s population of 2,000 and a further 1,700 inoutlying 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 September15, the Graemes robbed at Newby, Holm Ends, Hayton, Wetheral and Corby, attacking andattempting to displace Gilsland tenants.Tenant right by custom remained prevalent form of tenure, whereby a tenant passed his orher 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 couldmore readily resist for as long as obliged to bear arms under their tenancy. When theScottish threat to the border areas dissolved after 1606, the landlords could more readilypress 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 shillingfreeholders’), which gave them political rights and a vote in parliamentary elections. Butthe term was applied to a wider range of people, tending to relate to size of holding. It wasusually yeomen who held office as churchwardens, overseers of the poor and quartersessions jurymen.Tynedale and Redesdale reputed to be particularly irreligious.
1600’s Open fields declined as enclosures broke them up. Primogeniture introduced amongstCumberland freeholders in 16th century.Population of the rural deaneries of Carlisle bishopric rose from circa 30,000 in 1563 tocirca 45,000 in 1688. The land was able to support a growing population, without anyapparent 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 takepossession 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 theloyalty of the Gilsland tenants to the Dacre name.The surname leaders acceded to Scrope’s demand to make themselves answerable to himfor their tenants and dependants, and they submitted 442 names accordingly. TheGrahams had established near Longtown after their expulsion from Scotland becauseof their reiving and notorious behaviour. The Cumberland alliance was dissatisfied with thesurname leaders’ notification of the 442 names, because they wished to replace theGrahams with dependable farmers. The Grahams fought back, continuing to murdertenants outside their own bounds.
1603 ‘Busy Week’ marauding following the death of Elizabeth I on 24 March saw pillaging fromthe western Borders into the West March, as far south as Penrith. Final severe assault bythe 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 landssouth of the Lyne which was lacking during Scrope’s wardenship. Eager to protect histenantry and to achieve the full potential of revenues from his estates, Lord WilliamHoward undertook survey of the manors in his Barony of Gilsland. Each manor had aseparate bailiff. Vast majority of tenants still held tenure through tenant-right. Manorialcourts held at Brampton. Vast majority of tenancies held by tenant-right, despiteHoward’s attempts to end it.A remarkable feature was great extent of common land, there being 44% in Gilsland as awhole, excluding Irthington; there was 68% in Hayton and Castle Carrock together. Thissuggests tenants mainly pastoral rather than agricultural, though there was fertile land inHayton, Walton, Irthington, Brampton and Nether Denton. A good deal of open fieldcultivation in Castle Carrock, Cumrew and Hayton. Tenants of open fields and enclosedholdings were often blood relations. No Wannop tenants are listed in the Survey, perhapsbecause – uniquely – the Irthington manor was excluded from the Survey Book, apparentlybecause still in charge of the Crown.Open fields reached their maximum extent about 1600, but probably less than 50% in theWalton and Corby area. Not subject to periodic allocation, the strips (‘rigs’) were cultivatedby 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 Unionof 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 Commissionof 5 Scots and 5 English was appointed in 1605 to ensure what became a barbaroussuppression of past miscreants and creation of a new order. In this period it became safeto hold Border land, and there were rich pickings for new gentry by dispossession fromprevious holdings.
1604 Inventory for possessions of late Christopher Wannop of Langthwaite (In Carlisle RecordOffice)
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 ThomasMusgrave, the constable, continued to support the Grahams and the thieves. Firm controlof Gilsland and Nichol Forest isolated Bewcastle in continuing criminality. Tynedalesuffered punitive action by the Border Commission, which also arranged to transport theGrahams. 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 adocument 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 notwithdrawn 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 estateduties including rent collection. Revenues to Howard reached £213 (by 1633 they hadreached £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, CarlisleThomas Wannop of Fishergate, CarlisleChristopher Wannopp of HaytonJohn Wanoppe of NewbyTho 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 April1646, having been brought up at Naworth by his great-uncle Robert, who was aBenedictine 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 toChristmas.
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 deathof 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 familiesin Cumberland in the mid18th century.
1664 John Wannop, senior, recorded as a Quaker refusing to take an oath as churchwarden atSt Kentigern’s, IrthingtonChristopher Wannop of Holme Ends fined for not making up his portion of the churchyardhedge at Crosby-on-Eden.Hearth Tax paid by Cutbt. Wanhop (? uncertain about interpretation) of Kirkoswald andThomas Wannup sen. (? uncertain about senior) of Warwick. (note: no Hearth Tax returnsfor Irthington)
1667 Horse and cattle thieves who had been robbing in Tynedale also broke into the house ofChristopher Wannope of the Holm in Cumberland. Although William Oglethorpe of theCumbrian 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 EdenThomas, son of Humphrey Wannop of Newby baptised at IrthingtonJonathon, son of Thomas Wannopp baptised at Irthington
1683 An indenture was made between Humphrey Wannopp and Catherine Wannopp his wife ofIrthington 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 arather faster rate than for England and Wales. Thomas Dentonʼs ʻPerambulation ofCumberlandʼ reported 345 inhabitants in Walton parish and 640 in Irthington, includingseveral freeholders. At Newtowne, John Scot had an estate but all others were customarytenants – as at Holmends and Crosbye. Whitehill belonged to the manor of Lanercost,whichwas for the most part pasturage but with diverse roe deer in the woody part of thedemesnethe 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, Blencowardand 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 ofBrampton (?)……. In Newby Holme at a place called Crabtree Dales….other at a placecalled North Croft…..rent for Moorhouse (?)
1738 September 29 On death of Charles, late Earl of Carlisle, Christopher Wannop paid fine dueas 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 andtenements in Little Corby.
1740 Peak of real wages for agricultural labourers – a ‘golden age’. Real wages declinedthereafter 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 hissupporting army at Brampton, putting siege to and capturing Carlisle before moving onto Derby where his retreat began. The ragged residue of the forces returned north byPenrith, before their defeat at Culloden early in 1746.
1756 Philip Howard of Corby (near Wetheral) was first in Cumberland to grow turnips andartificial grasses. Provided winter food for cattle and stimulated growth of livestock farmingof both sheep and cattle.
1760 -80 Relatively little opposition to enclosures in Cumberland and the amounts of wastelandenclosed 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. Populationof England doubled in the first half of the century.
1809 English grain, meat and wool prices reached a general peak in 1809, thereafter declining toa 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 inemigration to North America.
1826 At the cotton spinning factory at Langthwaite, Warwick Bridge, weekly wages were 23shillings 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 southernEngland.
1841 The plight of handloom weavers in and around Carlisle had become pitiful, following ahalving of wages since 1838. Lancashire was sucking textile manufacturing south to theburgeoning mills of the Industrial Revolution. Carlisle and traditional northern weaving washard hit.
1850 New artificial fertilisers just coming on to the market, and together with more varied andintensive cropping this was the apogee of the conventional ‘agricultural revolution’. Around75 to 80% of land of England controlled by landlords on short term leases to tenantfarmers.
1851 51% of Cumberland agricultural occupiers employed labour.
1852 Very wet autumn followed by two years of above average rain. Following this and theoutbreak of the Crimean War in 1853, prices of grain, beef and mutton rose sharply. Muttonand wool prices rose until mid 1860’s.
1861 Widespread decline in agricultural employment in England due to falling demand fromfarmers 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 BlencowFarm, 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 diedat Blencow in September 1863., thus dating the family’s move to somewhere in this periodof 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 theharder 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 andincome £ 446-6-1. Net income per acre(130 acres) £0-1-2.
1871-72 Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 454-6-8 andincome £ 534-7-0. Net income per acre(130 acres) £0-12-4.
1872-73 Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 469-11-8 andincome £ 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 worriedby 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 landownersfrom peers and peeresses to cottagers.
1873-74 Little Blencow Farm accounts show expenditure £ 549-16-5 andincome £ 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 andincome £ 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 ofimports.Average earnings from agriculture in Britain reached a peak after a steep growth over thepreceeding 30 years. Earnings fell steeply from this peak for ten years before they beganto slowly rise again. Rent of agricultural land in England and Wales also reached a peakaround 1875, subsiding up to 1900 when it bottomed out but failing to recover for manyyears.After a short lived recovery from a fall starting in mid 1860’s, wool prices in England fellaway to barely 60% of their level of the average of the ten years before. However, muttonprices rose from 1868 to 1883.Wet autumn followed by abnormally heavy rainfall in winter of 1876-77 and spring of 1878began nearly three years of exceptional cold and wet. This began a generally hardfinancial decade for English farmers, but less so in the north west where grazing wasprevalent. Area of grazing increased while area to wheat reduced. Cattle numbers grewbut 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. Netincome per acre (130 acres) £ 0-14-8. 104 fat sheep sold and 72 lambs bought. ( c.f. Inperiod 1865-68, one progressive demonstration farmer on 175 acres of Essex clay madean average profit of £440 pa, or £2.50 to £3.00 per acre. He kept 30-40 bullocks and about200 sheep. By estimate from sales of animals, Little Blencow may have stocked only abouthalf as many of each.
1879 Long and severe winter particularly disastrous to livestock, but Cumberland did not sufferas much excess of rain as south and east England, where gross return from an acre ofwheat fell to only half that of 1876.
1881-83 Severe outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease cut sheep numbers in England by a fifth infour years.
1885 The years 1885-95 became the ʻGreat Depressionʼ in English farming. Arable areas hardesthit, but even in grazing counties the area to wheat halved in the next ten years,falling to athird 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 andNew Zealand. The contribution of agriculture to national output fell from one-sixth in 1867-9to under one-tenth in 1890, and to under one-fifteenth by 1911-13. Rents in the north west felllittle, if at all, but collapsed in the arable areas of eastern and southern England. Land agentsfrom the south sought new tenants from the north.Sheaf binders had become wellestablished.
1894 Sharp fall in meat prices when severe drought followed a dry 1893. A 30 year increase incattle numbers came to a halt before rising again in the first decade of the 20th. Century.Big shift towards dairying.
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The origins of the Wannop name