Townships: Ulverston

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1914.

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'Townships: Ulverston', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1914), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp348-356 [accessed 15 October 2024].

'Townships: Ulverston', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1914), British History Online, accessed October 15, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp348-356.

"Townships: Ulverston". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1914), , British History Online. Web. 15 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp348-356.

In this section

ULVERSTON

Ulvrestun, Dom. Bk.; Olveston, 1155; Ulvereston, 1180; Ulveston, 1202; Ulvestun, 1208; Ulreston, 1246; Ulverestone, 1302. A final e was commonly used a century ago. The local pronunciation is Ooston.

The township of Ulverston occupies the southern end of the parish, and consists in the main of a slightly undulating country with a general rise from the Leven estuary westwards, 200 ft. above sea level being attained on the south-east border of Pennington. North of the town the surface rises more rapidly, and Hoad Hill to the north-east, crowned by the Barrow monument, is 435 ft. above sea level; another, named Flan Hill, on the border of Mansriggs, is 476 ft., and at the head of Hasty Gill, on the north-west, the 700 ft. level is reached. South-east of the town are the hamlet of Dragley Beck, Gascow, and the site and park of Conishead Priory, with Chapel Island off the coast; while south-west are Swarth Moor and Trinkeld. Roshead, formerly Rosset, lies on the western border, extending north up the valley called Hasty Gill. A fine view of the whole district may be obtained from the Barrow monument. The area is 3,120 acres, (fn. 1) and in 1901 the population was 10,064.

The market town of Ulverston, which became the chief place in Furness on the destruction of the abbey, stands at the northern end of the township, just where the hills begin to rise from the plain country. The market-stead, (fn. 2) formerly the centre of the trade of the district, lies on the western side of the present town, which is expanding to the east or shore side. From the square the road south, at first called Queen Street, leads to the railway station, and beyond that to Urswick and Aldingham; to the west go roads to Dalton and to Kirkby Ireleth; to the east Market Street (fn. 3) leads to County Square, and by the Ellers and Ratton Row (fn. 4) (Quebec Street) to Greenodd; to the north the short King Street leads to a point called Little Cross, from which various roads diverge—Mill Street west to a large open space called the Gill, where the fairs are held; Soutergate, north to Town Bank, where was the grammar school, Flan Hill, and Broughton; Church Walk, north-east to the parish church; and Fountain Street, east to the head of the canal, and then to Newland and Greenodd. The canal, a mile and a half in length, which connects the town with the sea, was constructed in 1794, and led to a considerable increase in the shipping trade; it was a remarkable work in its time, but the opening of the railway and the docks of Barrow have long rendered it practically useless. Recently at the sea end, Canal Foot, and at Sand Side villages have sprung up, iron furnaces having been constructed there in 1876, and a paper factory and a chemical works also. There are tanneries and corn mills in the town, and minor industries, including the making of patent shutters. (fn. 5) Agriculture occupies the outlying parts of the township. The weekly market is well frequented, and in the summer tourists find Ulverston a convenient centre from which to make excursions through an interesting district.

The growth of the town has obscured some of the natural features. Levy Beck is still unaffected; it flows down Hasty Gill and then turns east through a wooded defile, changing its name to Dragley Beck at the hamlet so named; thence it winds its way through the level country till it reaches the Leven estuary at Saltcotes. It is joined by Lund Beck, which flows under the centre of the town from the Gill, (fn. 6) having its source in Osmotherley, 2 miles to the north. Lightburn, another brook, used to run along the south side of the town to join Lund Beck; it was once famous for its purity, and soda water and other drinks were made from it. (fn. 7) At Plumpton was a small medicinal spring.

From the town, as already indicated, roads lead away in all directions, and there are numerous crossroads. Along the southern border is one now called Red Lane, from the red dust of the ore that used to be carted down to Conishead for shipment; it was formerly called Streetgate, and has sometimes been asserted to be on the line of a Roman road from White Thorn on the shore of Morecambe Bay westward to Lindal and Dalton. The Furness railway passes through the township to the south of the town, where there is a station, and it has a branch line along the eastern shore to Conishead Priory. There is also a mineral line connected with the furnaces.

There are clubs and institutions of various kinds in the town. Among these are the North Lonsdale Agricultural Society, founded in 1838, holding its show every August, and the Rose Society (1884), which has an important exhibition each summer. A cottage hospital was opened in 1873 and was enlarged in 1904. There are four banks, two of which are opened daily; also a Savings Bank, first opened in 1816, and established in its present building in Union Street in 1838.

A volunteer corps was raised in 1804, but disbanded in 1806; the colours used to be preserved in the parish church. In 1860 a corps of Rifle Volunteers was raised; it became the 1st V.B. The King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). Under the Territorial system it is the 4th Battalion King's Own Regiment.

The old distinction, of unknown origin, between the 'town' and the 'hamlet' of Ulverston is still recognized in the election of churchwardens.

A printing press was at work in the town in 1798, (fn. 8) when the Rev. W. Atkinson's Principal Part of the Old Testament, &c., was issued as 'printed and sold' by George Ashburner, bookseller of Ulverston. (fn. 9) A library was instituted in 1797. (fn. 10)

Barony Manors

In 1066 Turulf held ULVERSTON as six plough-lands, together with Bolton and Dendron to the south, which descended separately after the Conquest. Ulverston was in the king's hands in 1086, (fn. 11) and as part of the honour of Lancaster was held by Stephen Count of Boulogne in 1127, when he specially named it as included in his grant of a moiety of Furness to found the abbey. (fn. 12) It was probably at that time held immediately by the Lancaster family, for about 1162 Henry II confirmed an agreement made between the monks and William de Lancaster I as to the division of Furness Fells. (fn. 13) William chose the moiety to the west of Coniston Water; thus he would obtain the lordship of an unbroken territory, that of the parish of Ulverston, extending north to the boundary of the county. In 1196 a further agreement was made, by which Ulverston and the western moiety of the Fells were by the monks confirmed to Gilbert Fitz Reinfred and his wife Helewise, the heiress of William de Lancaster, at rents of 10s. and 20s. respectively. Gilbert and Helewise renounced all claim to Newby in Yorkshire and to hunting rights in the eastern moiety of the Fells; they also promised the monks a free passage through Ulverston and Crakeslith to the Crake fishery and the land beyond. (fn. 14)

On the division of the Lancaster estates after 1246 (fn. 15) Ulverston was held in moieties like Nether Wyresdale. (fn. 16) The Lindsay moiety passed to Coucy, (fn. 17) and on escheat to the Furness monks as superior lords (fn. 18); the other moiety was granted to Roger de Lancaster, from whose descendants it was acquired, as related below, by the Harringtons of Aldingham. These moieties came to the Crown in the 16th century by the surrender of Furness Abbey in 1537 (fn. 19) and the forfeiture of the Duke of Suffolk in 1554. (fn. 20) The former moiety was sold by James I in 1609 (fn. 21) and became the property of Kirkby of Kirkby Ireleth, (fn. 22) and the other in 1613, (fn. 23) soon afterwards coming into the hands of Thomas Fell (fn. 24) of Swarthmoor. This descended to his son-in-law Daniel Abraham, who also purchased the Kirkby moiety in 1718. (fn. 25) The whole manor was in 1736 sold to the Duke of Montagu, (fn. 26) from whom it has descended in the same way as the lordship of Furness to the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry and his son the Earl of Dalkeith. Courts are held annually at Ulverston.

The profits of the manor were thus described in 1774: 'Free rents, customary rents, encroachment rents, hen rents, greenhew rents, shearing rents, moss rents and saltcote rents; the town term, which is held every seventh year; the fines and amercements, two court leets and a court baron; the fines of customary tenants upon every alienation by death or purchase of the tenant: (these are by custom certain, though different in many of the estates; and in some of the estates the tenants pay a certain fine upon the death of the lord:) and all other liberties and advantages usually belonging to such courts; the profits of a fair at Ulverston, and the free fishing upon Thurston Water, within the several parishes of Ulverston, Dalton, Hawkshead, Colton, Otterstock, Napingtree and Watergarth.' (fn. 27) These customs remain almost the same to the present time. (fn. 28)

The above-named Roger de Lancaster, illegitimate half-brother of William de Lancaster III, (fn. 29) obtained a grant in fee of the moiety of Ulverston from the Brus heirs and a life-grant from the Lindsays, as appears from an agreement between Roger and the Abbot of Furness made in 1282, by which Roger was recognized as holding immediately of the abbot, and did homage in Cartmel Church. (fn. 30) Roger had in 1266–7 obtained a charter of free warren, (fn. 31) and in 1280 he further procured a charter for a Thursday market at Ulverston and a yearly fair on 7–9 September, (fn. 32) but the abbot objected to the market, as it was to the injury of his own market at Dalton, (fn. 33) and the market is stated to have remained in abeyance till the overthrow of the abbey, when it was revived as more conveniently placed at Ulverston than at Dalton. (fn. 34) Roger was living in 1291, (fn. 35) but was in that year succeeded by his son John, who was involved in various suits. (fn. 36) Ingram de Gynes and Christiana his wife claimed against him the moiety of thirty-seven messuages, a mill, saltpit, bakehouse, two forges and various land, (fn. 37) and the king summoned him to prove his right to free warren in Ulverston. (fn. 38) He made John de Hudleston his forester for the barony of Ulverston, (fn. 39) but at a later time the validity of the grant was denied and puture was accordingly refused. (fn. 40) John de Lancaster took part in the wars of the time in Scotland, and was made a knight. (fn. 41) In or before 1334 he granted his part of Ulverston to John de Harrington, (fn. 42) and from that time till 1554, as stated above, it descended with Muchland. (fn. 43)

NEVILL HALL manor originated in a grant by William de Lancaster to his knight Lawrence de Cornwall of the mills and various lands. (fn. 44) John son of Lawrence de Cornwall (fn. 45) was engaged in various disputes in 1292, (fn. 46) and left sons named Lawrence and Mauger, (fn. 47) whose inheritance by 1332–47 came to Sir Edmund de Nevill and to his son William and Aline his wife. (fn. 48) It descended in this family, which was seated at Liversedge in Yorkshire, till the 16th century, (fn. 49) when Sir John Nevill having taken part in the northern rising of 1569, it became forfeited to the Crown (fn. 50) and was afterwards sold in parcels. (fn. 51) The customs of the manor were thus described in 1774: The admittance fine was two years' rent in addition to the ordinary rent; the fine on change of lords, half a year's rent; the running gressom or 'town's term,' half a year's rent every seventh year; the widow, if a first wife, had half the tenement as dower, but if a later wife then one-third. Formerly a tenant paying 20s. rent had been bound to keep a horse harnessed for the king's service. (fn. 52) The hall was sold to the town authorities for a workhouse in 1753, and so used till 1838, when the new workhouse in the Gill was built. It was sold in 1844. (fn. 53) The present police station (1872) stands on the site, the last remaining portion of the old hall having been pulled down in 1881 to make way for the superintendent's residence. The manor is supposed to have been dissipated by various changes and to be extinct. (fn. 54)

CONISHEAD (fn. 55) became the seat of a priory of canons and its earlier history has been related elsewhere. It had lands in Ulverston, Plumpton, Gascow and Swarthmoor in addition to the site. (fn. 56) There is little to record of the priory's tenure, but a fishery dispute in 1351 has some points of interest. The prior complained that Thomas de Leek, Thomas del Bate and many others had fished in his several fishery at Ulverston and had taken salmon, bream, flukes, eels, flounders, &c. The defendants asserted that in right of their tenements in Ulverston they could fish there. The jury found that the Leven fishery was the several fishery of the prior, except that the free tenants of the town had always been accustomed to fish in the Leven with nets called 'hanes,' and also in the sands and streams during the ebb for all fish except salmon. The defendants having taken salmon were convicted, and were fined 5s. each. (fn. 57) Some court rolls are preserved. (fn. 58)

After the Dissolution the site was purchased from the Crown by William Sandys son of William Sandys of Hawkshead. (fn. 59) He came to a violent end in 1559, (fn. 60) holding the capital messuage called Conishead, with land, of the queen in chief by knight's service. (fn. 61) His son Francis, only nine years old, died at Esthwaite without issue in 1583 and his halfsisters, Margaret and Barbara, became heirs. The former was living in London, the wife of Miles Dodding, and the latter at Crook, the wife of Miles Philipson. (fn. 62) Miles son of Miles Dodding was seated at Conishead in 1613, when he recorded a pedigree. (fn. 63) He died in 1629. (fn. 64) His son George in 1632 purchased the Philipson moiety. (fn. 65) When the Civil War broke out he took the Parliament's side with great zeal, raising troops and acting as colonel. (fn. 66) He fought at Marston Moor, where many of his men were killed. (fn. 67) He died about 1650, administration to his estate being granted in 1651. His son Miles, born about 1642, entered St. John's College, Cambridge, as a fellow commoner in 1659. (fn. 68) He recorded a pedigree in 1664 (fn. 69) and died in 1683, leaving one child surviving, Sarah wife of John Braddyll of Portfield near Whalley. (fn. 70)

Dodding of Conishead. Azure in chief two estoiles and in base a crescent or.

John Braddyll settled at Conishead, and showed himself a benefactor to the church of Ulverston. He died in 1728 and his wife Sarah in 1744. (fn. 71) Their son Dodding succeeded. He represented Lancaster in the Parliament of 1715–22 as a Whig. (fn. 72) He was succeeded in 1749 by his only surviving son Thomas, (fn. 73) who died unmarried in 1776, leaving all his estates to his kinsman Wilson Gale, who took the name and arms of Braddyll. (fn. 74) Wilson Braddyll was member of Parliament for Lancaster 1780–4 and for Carlisle 1791–6 as a Whig. (fn. 75) By inheritance and marriage he had large estates; he had an office at court and entertained royalty at Conishead. (fn. 76) He died in 1818 and his son Col. Thomas Richmond Gale Braddyll built the present Conishead Priory. The mansion stands in the centre of a lofty plateau sloping gently to the shores of the bay, about 2 miles to the south-east of Ulverston, on or close to the site of the ancient religious house. The situation is one of much natural beauty, commanding extensive views, and Conishead has been termed 'the Paradise of Furness.' (fn. 77) The present house was begun in 1821 (fn. 78) by Colonel Braddyll from the designs of Philip Wyatt, and is a large building in the Gothic style of the day, generally two stories in height, the chief external features being the two octagonal turrets flanking the entrance on the north side, which rise to a height of about 100 ft. The hall, which is 60 ft. by 25 ft. and 41 ft. high, is said to occupy the site of the north transept of the conventual church, (fn. 79) and the walls of one of the rooms are entirely lined with 17th-century carved oak panelling of elaborate character brought here by Col. Braddyll. (fn. 80) The building takes the place of an earlier residence said to have been erected at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries out of the ruins of the priory, but it had apparently been either rebuilt or considerably altered before 1821, the south front being then in the ' modern taste.' (fn. 81) Col. Braddyll acted as high sheriff in 1821. He was a liberal and kindly man, but by extravagance and reverses of fortune was about 1850 compelled to sell Conishead. (fn. 82)

Braddyll. Argent a cross lozengy vert over all a bend compony ermine and azure.

The priory of Conishead was bound to find a guide across Leven sands towards Cartmel. He was called the carter. John Hartley held the office at the Dissolution at a wage of £3 6s. 8d (fn. 83) The duty is still provided for, as will be gathered from the report on the parish charities. The chapel on the island on the way across, which is now in Holker in Cartmel, was probably an oratory where travellers might pray before or after crossing the sands.

ROSHEAD was divided among a number of persons by William de Lancaster III. (fn. 84) These portions appear in various inquisitions and records of later times. (fn. 85) More recently the Fells of Dalton Gate had a considerable estate there, which was sold to Myles Kennedy of Stone Cross about 1870. (fn. 86)

SWARTHMOOR (fn. 87) was acquired by the Fells of Hawkswell in Lowick, (fn. 88) and about 1635 the house there became the residence of Thomas Fell, a barrister. (fn. 89) He acquired a moiety of the manor of Ulverston. He was a zealous Parliamentarian, and in 1645 was member of Parliament for Lancaster. (fn. 90) In 1651 he was appointed a judge for Cheshire and North Wales, whence his name 'Judge Fell,' and was ViceChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He died in 1658, leaving money for a grammar school at Ulverston. (fn. 91) His wife Margaret daughter of John Askew of Marsh Grange in Dalton was a woman of heroic type and one of the early disciples of George Fox. Swarthmoor became a centre for Fox's missionary travels. Judge Fell himself was friendly, and his widow in 1669 married Fox. (fn. 92) In 1689 two Quaker meetings were registered, one at Swarthmoor Hall and the other at a new building upon Swarthmoor. (fn. 93) The latter is the meeting-house still used by the Society of Friends. It has over the porch the inscription 'ex dono g. f. 1688,' and Fox's Bible is there preserved. Others of the early Quaker teachers were connected with the place, as William Caton (fn. 94) and Thomas Salthouse. (fn. 95)

Fell of Swarthmoor. Argent three lozenges in fesse vert between as many damask roses proper seeded or barbed of the second.

Judge Fell left a son George and seven daughters, and on the Restoration a general pardon was granted to George Fell of Swarthmoor, lately of age, whose father had been 'a grand malignant.' (fn. 96) In 1665 the son obtained a grant of the estates of his mother Margaret Fell, forfeited on her conviction at Lancaster assizes; 'she had run herself into a premunire for embracing the fanatic opinions of the Quakers during the late usurpation and obstinately adhering thereto.' George Fell had done his best to induce her to conform. (fn. 97) George died in 1670, and Rachel his youngest sister, wife of Daniel Abraham, or her husband, appears to have acquired a large part of the estates. (fn. 98) Daniel Abraham was son of John Abraham of Manchester. He was a Quaker, and suffered for his religion (fn. 99); he died in 1731, and his son John sold the manor of Ulverston as above stated; and Swarthmoor also was disposed of in 1759. John Abraham died at Skerton in 1771. (fn. 100)

Abraham of Swarthmoor. Sable a cheveron between three estoiles argent.

SWARTHMOOR HALL, a plain rough-cast, threestory building of Elizabethan or early Jacobean date, stands on high ground on the edge of Swarthmoor about three-quarters of a mile to the south-west of Ulverston. (fn. 101) The building, which is L-shaped on plan, has a principal frontage of 48 ft. to the east, with a large bay window going up the full height and terminating in a broken-roofed gable on the south end. (fn. 102) The building has long been used as a farm-house, and was in a ruinous and neglected condition up to about 1890, (fn. 103) when it was repaired and the interior a good deal modernized. The house, however, retains its low stone mullioned windows, those to the bay alone having transoms, but many of them at the sides and back are built up; the roofs are covered with modern blue slates. The hall is in the south-east corner with the bay window facing east, but it has been reduced in size at the west end by the erection of a wall in the position of the screen, making a passage or lobby between it and the kitchen. In front of the south doorway now at the end of the passage a later porch has been built which bears the date 1726, and other work seems to have been done to the house or outbuildings earlier in the 18th century, one of the latter bearing a stone with the initials of Thomas Fell, 1651, and of John Abraham his grandson, 1715. (fn. 104) The hall and kitchen have flagged floors, but are without architectural interest. The staircase is a good specimen of Jacobean oak work built round four continuous square newels, forming a well 2 ft. square the full height of the house and filled in with turned balusters. On the first floor are two oak-panelled rooms, in one of which is a good fireplace with Ionic pillars. In the hall are preserved George Fox's desk and other relics, and a doorway on its north side leads to a small room once his study. On the first floor is another small room with an external doorway on the east front, in front of which there was formerly a balcony from which Fox used to address the people. The doorway, which may have been an insertion in Fox's time, has a stone head with carved ornament. The outbuildings are situated on the west side of the house, the principal approach to which was from the high road to Urswick on the edge of the moor. (fn. 105)

TRINKELD is mentioned in various ways. (fn. 106) At one time, from 1595 onwards, another Fell family lived there, an offshoot of the Fells of Pennington. (fn. 107) In 1642 Richard Pettie, Bryan Asliffe and James Fell, on behalf of themselves and the other customary tenants in Trinkeld, complained of the heavy fines exacted by William Pennington of Muncaster on changes of tenancy, and after the death of his father Joseph. (fn. 108) Trinkeld is here styled a manor.

A few other names of owners can be gleaned from the records, (fn. 109) but they are of little interest. Thomas Urswick of Urswick in 1519 held a close called the Moot How. (fn. 110) The 'Hee' was in dispute in 1563. (fn. 111) As the name Ulverston is used for the parish and the barony it is not always possible to ascertain the exact places referred to. The freeholders named in 1600 were Christopher and George Fell and Francis Corker. (fn. 112) No sequestrations or forfeitures occur in the Commonwealth period.

An inclosure of common lands was made in 1813. (fn. 113)

Borough

The foundation of the borough of Ulverston is unknown, but about 1200 Gilbert son of Roger son of Reinfred granted certain liberties to his 'free burgesses' there; he limited the forfeiture of the tongue to 4d., other forfeits to be according to the customs of the boroughs in the neighbourhood; and while allowing to sell ale 1d. the gallon (sextarius) dearer than at Appleby, he required them to sell to him at 1d. less than to their neighbours. (fn. 114) Roger de Lancaster in 1285 released the burgesses from the duty of being chamberlain and from doing anything but what the burgesses of Kendal did; and Ingram de Gynes and Christiana his wife also allowed exemption from the chamberlainship. (fn. 115) Further grants were made, (fn. 116) and the name of burgages was kept up in the 16th century, (fn. 117) but the borough did not acquire any independence. The township and parish were ruled to a large extent by 'the Twenty-four' and the manor courts. (fn. 118) In modern times a local board was formed in 1871 (fn. 119); this became an urban district council in 1894. There are fifteen members, chosen by four wards—Central, North, East and South. A school board was formed in 1875. (fn. 120) Ulverston is also the head of a rural district council for the whole of Furness and Cartmel except Barrow. Gas was supplied to the town in 1834 (fn. 121); the water supply comes from a reservoir at Pennington. (fn. 122) The district council offices in Queen Street were built in 1903; the market hall owned by the council dates from 1875–8, and there is a cattle market (1877) in Victoria Road belonging to a private company. The cemetery, to the south of the town, was opened in 1878, and is under the care of the council.

The parish church has been described above. It has two mission churches in the township—St. Jude's, Sandside, 1874, and a mission-room in Ratton Row, 1867. Holy Trinity Church, consecrated in 1832, is in the gift of trustees. (fn. 123)

Whiterleld preached in the town in 1750 and Wesley in 1752, but with little result. The old Wesleyan Methodist chapel in the Ellers was built in 1814; the present church on an adjoining site in 1901. A. mission chapel was opened in 1875. There is also a Primitive Methodist chapel. The Bible Christians hold services.

The Congregational church in Soutergate was first erected in 1778, and was enlarged in 1847. It does not appear that this had any connexion with the old Nonconformity of 1662, though William Lampett, the incumbent then ejected from the parish church, had a licence for his house in 1672 as an Independent. (fn. 124) The next Independent minister occurs in 1777, but he had probably been stationed there a year or two already. Though strong enough to pass through a time of persecution the cause does not seem to have made much progress till about 1835, when the Rev. Francis Evans took charge. (fn. 125) It has been self-supporting since 1848. (fn. 126) There is a mission hall.

The house of a Baptist was licensed for meetings as early as 1745, but the present chapel in Fountain Street dates from 1871 only. The Salvation Army and the Church of Christ are represented. There is a Spiritual church, also, and various other organizations have been represented at times.
The Society of Friends still maintains the Swarthmoor meeting-house of 1688 already mentioned; it has also another in New Church Lanc, Ulverston.

The history of the Roman Catholic mission in Furness has been told in the account of Dalton. (fn. 127) In 1779 its seat was removed to Ulverston. It was served sometimes by Jesuits and sometimes by secular priests. The first place of worship built was a school in Tarnside; then a church, now the Oddfellows' Hall, in Fountain Street, 1823; and this was succeeded by the present church of St. Mary of Furness in Victoria Road in 1895. The Jesuits finally resigned charge of the mission in 1863. (fn. 128) The stones for the foundation of the tower of the older church were taken from Furness Abbey.

Footnotes

  • 1. 3,172 acres, including 28 of inland water; Census Rep. 1901. There are also 96 acres of tidal water and 104 of foreshore.
  • 2. Now called the Market Place. In the centre was anciently the market cross, afterwards replaced by a pillar or obelisk; this was removed in 1822. On the east side were the fish stones and on the south side the stocks and whipping post. Views are given in C. W. Bardsley, Chron. of Ulverston. For the crosses see also Lancs, and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxi, 9–11.
  • 3. On the north side of Market Street is a street or passage called the Weint.
  • 4. Ratton Row was anciently the main thoroughfare for traffic from Ulverston eastward.
  • 5. In 1825 there were manufactures of linens, checks, sail canvas, ropes, hats, and homespun woollen yarn, which was then giving place to the cotton manufacture; Baines, Lancs. Dir. ii, 573. In 1842 there were manufactures of cotton, checks, canvas and hats; Jopling, Furness and Cartmel, 45.
  • 6. Above the town it is called Gillbanks Beck.
  • 7. Jopling, op. cit. 44.
  • 8. Loc. Glean. Lancs, and Ches. i, 53.
  • 9. Information of Mr. Gaythorpe. Ashburner printed other books in 1807 and 1812.
  • 10. Ibid.
  • 11. V.C.H. Lancs, i, 289b.
  • 12. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 302.
  • 13. Ibid. 310. It appears that the fells were in dispute between the monks as lords of Furness and William son of Gilbert as lord of Kendal. The northern boundary was fixed by the Brathay, the eastern by Windermere and the Leven; the central partition line was by Yewdale Beck, Thurston Water and the Crake. His choice of the western half appears to show that he was then lord of Ulverston. William de Lancaster II was certainly lord of Ulverston about 1180, as appears by his grant to Conishead; ibid. 356. By the partition agreement William de Lancaster was to pay 20s. a year to Furness Abbey, and his son was to do homage; he was to have hunting and hawks on the eastern side as well.
  • 14. Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 5. Both grants from the abbey have the same form, so that as Furness Fells was not newly given in 1196 it seems to follow that Ulverston also was no fresh grant. William de Lancaster III in 1242 held half a knight's fee in Ulverston in demesne, paying to the Abbot of Furness 30s. a year; the abbot held of the king; Lancs. Inq. and Extents (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 154.
  • 15. William de Lancaster III, who died in 1246, made a number of alienations in Ulverston; West, Furness (ed. 1774), 36–8. He granted a rent of £15 a year from it to Robert de Kyme; Final Conc. i, 143.
  • 16. In 1297 Sir Ingram de Gynes and Sir John de Lancaster held Ulverston, paying 10d. for castle ward; ibid, i, 292. John de Hudleslon was tenant for life. About 1300 Lindsay and Fauconberg and others held half a fee in Garstang and Ulverston; ibid, ii, 236. In 1322 the Abbot of Furness was recorded as holding Ulverston by Ingram de Gynes, 10d. being rendered for castle ward; ibid. ii, 126. The abbot's right was in 1346 called a moiety of the vill; Survey of 1346 (Chet. Soc), 76.
  • 17. William de Coucy was in 1343 found to have held a moiety of the vill of Ulverston of the Abbot of Furness by homage and a rent of 30s.; by suit at the court of Dalton when a brief of the king's might be pending therein, or when a robber was to be tried; and by paying 5d. to the exchequer at Lancaster; Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 51. Another inquisition (for William son of William de Coucy) states that the assized rents amounted to 47s. 9¼d. and a sor sparrow-hawk (or 12d.); in the borough of Ulverston to 32s. 5½d. In Ulverston also he had a moiety of the common oven, the dye-house, and the fines of brewers for breach of assize. He had a tenement at Plumpton and dues called Gresmales and Colemale in Plumpton and Blawith; newly measured lands in Newland held by tenants at will, and a water mill; lands and rents in Blawith. The list of free tenants is then given: John de Pennington, Tilberthwaite; John Fleming, Coniston; Edmund de Nevill, Ulverston; Adam Bell, Roshead; Thomas de Nettleslack, Stainton and Nettleslack; Roger Child, Thomas Child, John de Harrington, William de Asmunderlaw, Roger Bell, and Henry Dunn in Ulverston. The totals were: 32 acres which make 3 oxgangs; 3½ oxgangs; 1½ plough-lands, with the tenth part and the eighteenth part of a knight's fee; Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. III (2nd nos.), no. 63.
  • 18. The moiety of Ulverston with the other Coucy lands was given to John de Coupland and Joan his wife for life with reversion, in the case of Ulverston, to the Abbot of Furness, of whom it was held by knight's service and 15s. rent; Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. III, pt. i, no. 22, 29 (after the death of Joan). The forfeiture, it appears, was incurred by the adherence of the Coucys to the French side in the war with Edward III, but after the heir had made peace with the king and married his daughter an attempt was made to put aside the charter of 1357, by which the reversion to Furness Abbey was secured, on the ground that the then abbot had stated falsely that William de Coucy had 'no heir'; Inq. p.m. 49 Edw. III, pt. i, no. 29; 21 Ric. II, no. 75. The matter had come into the courts, for in 1352–4 the abbot claimed the moiety of the manor of Ulverston against John de Coupland; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 2, m. viii; 3, m. iv. The king's grant to John de Coupland was first made in 1347; Cal. Pat. 1345–8, p. 370; 1346–9, pp. 333, 453. His later charter (1355) to Coupland is printed in the Furness Couch. (Chet. Soc), ii, 368, and the grant of the reversion to Furness (1357), ibid. 376. Joan as widow of John de Coupland in 1364 demised her moiety to the abbot for thirty years at a rent of 20 marks; ibid. 389. See Cal. Pat. 1354–8, pp. 590, 643. The abbots do not seem to have had much direct control in Ulverston. In 1276 Adam son of Roger de Holland complained that the abbot had deprived him of certain common of pasture; Assize R. 405, m. 2. The claim was not prosecuted. John de Torverin 1341 complained of wrongful distraint by the abbot, six oxen and four cows having been taken. The abbot replied that Christiana de Lindsay had held forty messuages and four plough-lands in Ulverston by homage, &c., rendering 5s. a year for a moiety of the vill. After her death 50s. was due to him as relief, and another 50s. after the death of her son William, and he had distrained for these sums. A verdict was returned for the abbot; De Banco R. 326, m. 191 d.
  • 19. The abbey rental shows that 30s. was received from free rents and burgages, 15s. from the heirs of Lord Harrington, and 30s. from the mill; Rentals and Surv. portf. 9, no. 73.
  • 20. There was a demise of the Duke of Suffolk's forfeited lands in Blawith, Newland and Ulverston to Curwen and Hudson in 1557–8; Pat. 4 & 5 Phil, and Mary, pt. viii.
  • 21. Pat. 7 Jas. I; to George Salter and John Williams.
  • 22. The manor of Ulverston is named as early as 1582 among the possessions of the Kirkbys; Pal of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 44, m. 190. It does not appear what the tenure was nor how they acquired it. This manor continued to be named in Kirkby settlements, &c., from 1610 onwards to 1689 (ibid, bdles. 78, no. 17; 101, m. 9; 233, m. 41), and in a recovery in 1718; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 506, m. 2.
  • 23. Pat. 10 Jas. I, pt. xxi; to William Whitmore and others. The sale included the manor of Ulverston as held by Henry Marquess of Dorset and rent for land called Stainton; also lands and rents in Osmotherley, Tilberrfrwaite, Roshead, Mansriggs and Ulverston.
  • 24. Bardsley, Chron. of Ulverston, 5; it was in his possession in 1658. The manor of Ulverston is named in a fine relating to the Fell estates in 1691; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 227, m. 108.
  • 25. West, Furness (ed. 1774), 45.
  • 26. Ibid.; the manor was sold to Thomas Dummer, who at once transferred to the duke.
  • 27. Ibid. 46.
  • 28. Information of Mr. S. Hart Jackson.
  • 29. He is called 'my brother' in William de Lancaster's gift to Furness Abbey; West, op. cit. 35.
  • 30. Furness Couch. i, 2–7. It is stated that William de Lancaster had erected a gallows at Ulverston contrary to the right of the abbey. See also Assize R. 1265, m. 4 d.
  • 31. Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 792.
  • 32. Chart. R. 73 (8 Edw. I), m. 4, no. 28.
  • 33. De Banco R. 41, m. 15 d.; 50, m. 6. Roger levied no toll at his Thursday market, and so drew all the merchants to it.
  • 34. West, op. cit. p. xvi. Sir Robert de Harrington in 1387 obtained a confirmation of the charter of 1280 for both market and fair; Cal. Pat. 1385–9, p. 330.
  • 35. Assize R. 1294, m. 10. It must have been another Roger de Lancaster who in 1302 obtained land in Ulverston from Simon Tailor and Beatrice his wife; Final Conc, i, 199.
  • 36. a Philippa widow of Roger de Lancaster claimed dower in 1291 against John the son and heir of Roger; Cal. Close, 1288–96, pp. 168–9. She was defendant in 1294 when Maud wife of Richard de Bootle recovered messuages in Ulverston as her inheritance from Mabel her mother, wife of Richard de Cornwall, the messuages having been given in free marriage by Mabel's father William de Skilmeresford; Assize R. 1299, m. 17. It was alleged that Roger de Lancaster and Philippa had been enfeoffed by William de Cornwall.
  • 37. Assize R. 408, m. 29, 34; the name of the place was in one writ called 'Ulveston,' but plaintiffs had to admit that it should have been 'Ulverston in Furneys.' Ingram de Gynes, sitting on the bench by the justices, said that he held his wife's tenement in Ulverston by barony. The Prior of Conishead demanded against John de Lancaster, Ingram de Gynes and Christiana his wife common of pasture in Ulverston of which he said Roger de Lancaster had disseised his predecessor and his claim was allowed; ibid. m. 10 d.; Assize R. 1306, m. 16 d.; Coram Rege R. 188, m. 12. John the Marshal of Dalton and Christiana his wife claimed a tenement in Ulverston against John son of Roger de Lancaster, but were non-suited; Assize R. 408, m. 60.
  • 38. Plac. de Quo Warr. 792. Gallows and infangenthef were not claimed.
  • 39. In 1296 Ingram de Gynes and Christiana his wife desired a partition of the wood in Ulverston held by them and John de Lancaster; De Banco R. 111, m. 143.
  • 40. This comes out by a claim for puture in 1343 by Robert son of Robert de Leyburne, who claimed by grant of John de Hudleston. Among the defendants were John Fleming, Christopher de Broughton and John Towers; they asserted that William de Lancaster held the barony in the time of Henry III, but had no forestry, and that he gave half to Roger de Lancaster, bastard, who was succeeded by his son John; Assize R. 1435, m. 41. If the last statement is correct the grant to Roger by the Brus heirs must have been a confirmation. Richard son of John de Hudleston acquired an estate in Ulverston in 1314; Final Conc. ii, 17.
  • 41. He was at the siege of Caerlaverock in 1300; Nicolas, Roll of Arms, 8. His arms occur also in a roll of the time of Edward II, also printed by Nicolas (p. 12). His seal is appended to Duchy of Lanc. Anct. D. (P.R.O.), L 289.
  • 42. In 1336 it was alleged that the Abbot of Furness had made a wrongful distraint, having taken a horse for the rent due to him from Ulverston, which town (with forty messuages and four ploughlands) was held of him by 5s. a year and other services. John de Lancaster had enfeoffed John de Harrington the elder and the abbot's rent had fallen into arrears for two years; De Banco R. 306, m. 164 d. The dispute led to an agreement as to the tenure; Furness Couch, ii, 386–7; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 171. The Harringtons would already have had some part of Ulverston by inheritance, for in 1292 William de Cansfield claimed the third part of a plough-land there held by Joan wife of Thomas de Culwen in right of a former husband, John de Cansfield; Assize R. 408, m. 69.
  • 43. The moiety of the manor of Ulverston was included in a Harrington settlement in 1336; Final Conc, ii, 194. Sir John de Harrington of Aldingham died in 1347 holding the moiety of the Abbot and convent of Furness by homage and fealty, suit at the court at Dalton thrice a year—viz. at Michaelmas, Christmas and Easter—and a rent of 15s. The moiety was worth 20 marks yearly, made up of the rents of free tenants (42s.), tenants at will (£9 17s. 6d.), perquisites of the courts (20s.) and value of a close at Torver (6s. 8d.); Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 53. The next John de Harrington held similarly in 1363, when the payment of 5d. for castle ward is recorded; ibid. 37 Edw. III (2nd nos.), no. 52. See also Feudal Aids, iii, 90. Robert and John Harrington in 1406 and 1418 also held the moiety of the manor of Ulverston of the Abbot of Furness by 15s. rent; Chan. Inq. p.m. 7 Hen. IV, no. 55; 6 Hen. V, no. 25. This moiety is mentioned again in 1450; Final Conc. iii, 117. The market, fair and right of free warren were subjects of inquiries in 1498 and 1500; Pal. of Lanc. Writs Prothon. 13 & 15 Hen. VII. The tenure was recorded as before in 1530; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 15 (Thomas Marquess of Dorset). A compotus roll 1514–15 is in B.M. Add. Chart. 24451. For Ct. R. of the barony see Lancs. and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 12.
  • 44. Furness Couch, ii, 350; they were to be held by knight's service and rents of 30s. and 12d. Lawrence is styled 'my knight' in a charter already cited; ibid. 35. He is probably the Lawrence son of Richard who in 1274 claimed that William de Lindsay should take his homage and reasonable relief; Assize R. 1341, m. 23.
  • 45. Robert de Kirkby in 1285 called upon John son of Lawrence de Cornwall to fulfil a covenant regarding a messuage, mill and lands in Ulverston, but afterwards released his right, receiving an acknowledgement of £40 owing to him; De Banco R. 58, m. 41.
  • 46. He claimed suit to his mill from William de Asmunderlaw, but failed; Assize R. 408, m. 42. He also claimed common of pasture against John de Lancaster; ibid. m. 75, 77. He recovered suit at his mill in Ulverston against Adam son of Benedict de Ulverston, Thomas le Verrer and others, the jury agreeing that William de Lancaster had enfeoffed Lawrence, plaintiff's father, who was seised until Roger de Lancaster raised another mill; ibid. m. 40. The mill stream had been diverted by John de Salkeld, Adam de Bardsey and others, apparently in the interest of John de Lancaster, who was at the time in Scotland. John de Cornwall afterwards obtained amends from him, and in 1292 recovered damages of 17s. 6d. from Salkeld and the others; ibid. m. 11 d. From the executors of Thomas Fobel, formerly lessee of the mill, he claimed a debt of 79s. 1d. and recovered a moiety, with damages of half a mark; ibid, m. 37 d. Fobel's last account was rendered in 1289, when he had delivered to the lord and to William his reeve £24 for four years; for the next year he had paid 40s. 11d. and therefore owed £3 19s. 1d. as above; ibid. m. 8. The surname Fobel occurs later, e.g. in 1376 and 1379 (Coram Rege R. Mich. 50 Edw. III, m. 22, 24; Final Conc. iii, 6), also in 1400; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xl, App. 528. The Prior of Conishead claimed 3 acres as belonging to his church of Ulverston, alleging that Lawrence father of John de Cornwall had intruded himself into them. John alleged the grant by William de Lancaster, and called the Lancaster heirs to warrant, viz. Walter son of Walter de Fauconberg and Walter the father (still holding by the law of England), Lucy daughter and heir of Robert son of Lucy (wife of Marmaduke de Thweng), under age, Margaret de Ros and Isabel wife of Miles de Stapleton, Joan sister of Isabel and John de Bellew (tenant by the law of England) and Christiana wife of Ingram de Gynes. The charter proffered testified that William de Lancaster granted the whole lordship to Lawrence; Assize R. 408, m. 17 d. The defendant is called Sir John de Cornwall in 1297; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 168.
  • 47. In 1304 William son of Alexander de Lindeby complained that John de Cornwall, Mauger his son and William de Holme had obstructed his roadway from his house to Leven sands by setting up a hedge. The defendants asserted that the path was one for foot passengers and for leading a horse by the hand and not for carts as plaintiff alleged. The jury agreed with this defence; Assize R. 420, m. 10. John son of Lawrence de Cornwall and Joan his wife in 1309 obtained seventeen messuages, two mills, ten plough-lands, &c, in Ulverston from Stephen son of John de Cornwall; Final Conc, ii, 2. This was a settlement in favour of Lawrence son of John de Cornwall. Joan widow of John son of Lawrence de Cornwall appears in pleadings of 1312 and later; De Banco R. 195, m. 331 d.; 204, m. 215 d. Lawrence de Cornwall was defendant in 1319–20; Assize R. 424, m. 11. Mauger de Cornwall and Idonea his wife occur 1323–4; ibid. 425, m. 3.
  • 48. The manner of acquisition has not been ascertained. There are a few charters in Dods. MSS. viii, fol. 224b–226. Sir Edmund de Nevill must have been in possession as early as 1332 when Joan widow of Lawrence de Cornwall claimed dower in seventeen messuages, ten ploughlands, two water mills, &c., in Ulverston. The defendant said that Lawrence was living at Paris, but Joan averred that he had died at Florence and was buried in the church of B. Mary there; De Banco R. 291, m. 218 d. Sir Edmund de Nevill made a settlement of his estate in 1337 (Final Conc. ii, 104), and died at the end of 1346 holding messuages, three mills, &c., in Ulverston of the king, as of the lands formerly William de Coucy's by the service of a sparrow-hawk or 12d. and rents of 30s. and 3s. 3½d. William his son and heir was of full age; Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 39; Cal Pat. 1346–9, p. 205. Sir Edmund de Nevill has been noticed under Middleton near Lancaster. William de Nevill and Aline his wife were at once involved in a dispute as to the inheritance with Peter de Catterall and Aline his wife. It was stated that Lawrence son of John de Cornwall had left a son Edward, and that Aline de Catterall was his heir, being a daughter or sister of Edward; but the Nevills replied that they had the estate (two plough-lands, &c.) of Mauger de Cornwall, who was in possession in 1309 when the fine above cited was made; De Banco R. 351, m.409; 354, m. 213; 356, m. 157. The names of the tenants are given at the last reference. In the end the Catteralls ceased to prosecute their claim, Aline widow of Peter failing to appear in 1350; ibid. 363, m. 34. See also Furness Couch, ii, 352–62.
  • 49. John son of William de Nevill had in 1364 to defend his title against Richard son of Peter de Catterall as cousin and heir of Lawrence son of John son of Lawrence de Cornwall; De Banco R. 418, m. 396 d.; 450, m. 417. The same John sued Sir Robert de Harrington in 1370 for waste in his lands in Ulverston; De Banco R. 440, m. 390. Two years later there were further proceedings between them about an agreement as to the manor of Ulverston made by Sir Robert with William de Nevill; ibid. 445, m. 267 d. John de Nevill in 1373 complained that Thomas atte Bote had broken his mill dam; ibid. 450, m. 417. John de Nevill in 1378 held of the Abbot of Furness the mills of Ulverston by knight's service and 30s. rent; the Ladermanes by rendering a goshawk or 12d.; Mansriggs by 12d.; also land in Roshead by 3½d.; Lansdowne MS. 559, fol. 41. Thomas son of John Nevill was in possession in 1409; Furness Couch. ii, 350. Sir John Nevill and Maud his wife in 1501–2 gave this manor to his sons John and George, and in the following year Maud as widow of Sir John released her right; Dods. MSS. viii, fol. 224b–226. For the pedigree see Foster, Yorks. Visit. 246. A settlement of the manor of Ulverston, &c., was made by Sir John Nevill in 1563; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 25, m. 47.
  • 50. West, Furness, 247.
  • 51. The site of Nevill Hall, parcel of the lands of Sir John Nevill, attainted, was granted on lease to Thomas Park in 1590; Pat. 32 Eliz. pt. vi. Land at Swarthmoor, part of the estate, was leased to Richard Paice in 1591; Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. xvi. The manor was sold in 1609 to George Salter and John Williams, together with other lands; Pat. 7 Jas. I, pt. xxxiv. In 1613 Thomas Fell and Janet his wife were engaged in a dispute with William Kilner as to the title to Kirktarn in the manor of Nevill Hall, parcel of the barony of Ulverston; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 15. A family named Corker were at one time residents. Francis Corker died in 1606 holding a messuage of the king as duke by knight's service and 2s. 5d. rent, and leaving a son William, aged about fourteen; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 61. James Corker died the same year holding a like estate; his heir was a brother William, aged twelve; ibid, i, 69. Thomas Corker of Lund was registrar in 1649.
  • 52. West, op. cit. 169. A tenement at Dragley Beck was in 1608 held by Matthew Ashburner as of the manor of Nevill Hall; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 12, 13. For Ashburner of Dragley Beck see pedigree of Remington in Burke, Landed Gentry.
  • 53. Bardsley, Chron. of Ulverston, 46; see the account of the charities.
  • 54. There is a view of the hall in North Lonsd. Mag. iii, 203.
  • 55. Cuningesheued, 1180.
  • 56. Farrer, Lancs. Pipe R. 357, 359. Sir Lawrence son of Richard (de Cornwall) about 1275 granted, with the consent of John his son and heir, to the priory land in Gascow (Gartschou) for a chaplain to celebrate for the souls of the founder, Helen his wife, William de Lancaster, Agnes his wife, &c.; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 193.
  • 57. Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 1, m. 3 d. For an earlier fishery dispute with the Abbot of Furness see Coram Rege R. 184, m. 40.
  • 58. Lancs, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 12.
  • 59. West, op. cit. 197, 272. The site of the priory with demesne lands and pastures called Elistonflat, Hedbank, Great and Little Ladyflat, Eglisfield, Knotts, Gascow Wood and Hagg, Hedwood, &c., was in May 1547 granted to William Paget; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xxiii, 10 d. Sir William Paget and Anne his wife sold the manor, with two dovecotes, mill, &c., to John Machell and William his son in 1548; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 201. John Machell and Joan his wife sold the same to William Sandys in 1554; ibid. bdle. 15, m. 98. The title was in some way defective, and fresh grants were made in 1602 and 1612; West, op. cit. 215.
  • 60. An inquiry into his death showed that it resulted from a dispute about tithes claimed by the Bardsey family in Gleaston Flat. Nicholas and Robert, sons of William Bardsey of Bardsea, and John Broughton their servant, killed Sandys. John Preston of the Manor was uncle of Nicholas Bardsey's wife, and was accused of sheltering the guilty parties. There had been previous quarrels between the neighbours; Duchy of Lanc. Spec. Com. 12.
  • 61. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xi, no. 59.
  • 62. Ibid, xiv, no. 18; the will of William Sandys the father is recited, bequeathing Conishead to his son Francis, with remainders to the daughters named. Roger Sandys, next of kin and heir, was forty years old. This Roger afterwards released all claim to Conishead; West, op. cit. 214. Fines respecting Conishead are: 1585, by Miles Dodding, Margaret his wife, Miles Philipson and Barbara his wife; 1586, by Miles and Barbara Philipson; 1593, by all four; 1595, by the Philipsons; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 47, m. 45; 48, m. 282; 55, m. 146; 57, m. 20. In the third fine a fishery in the Crake in Hawkshead was included. The Philipsons at first resided at Conishead, as appears by the Ulverston registers; the manor went to Christopher, a son of Miles and Barbara, who died in 1600 holding his moiety of the queen as of her duchy of Lancaster by the hundredth part of a knight's fee. His parents were then alive. His heir was a son Miles, under two years old. His widow Bridget afterwards married James Bowskill; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 245. Margaret and Miles Dodding died within a month of each other in December and January 1606–7. They are commemorated by a brass in Ulverston Church.
  • 63. Visit. of 1613 (Chet. Soc.), 72; George his son was ten years old. A grant or confirmation of arms had been given to the elder Miles Dodding in 1588; West, op. cit. 213.
  • 64. His effigy is in Ulverston Church. He held the capital messuage called Conishead and half the Crake fishery of the king by the eightieth part of a knight's fee; also mills in Dalton and messuages in Chancery Lanc, London, &c. His wife Ursula survived him. His son George was twenty-five years old; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xxv, no. 47.
  • 65. Pal. of Lanc Feet of F. bdle. 119, no. 9. The deforciants were Miles Philipson, Margaret his wife and Bridget 'Buswell' widow. A warrant was given against Christopher Philipson deceased (father of Miles), Miles and Barbara (grandparents) and heirs. In 1633 a settlement was made by George Dodding, William Ellison and Ursula his wife; ibid. bdle. 123, no. 19.
  • 66. At the outset of the struggle he was made a deputy-lieutenant by the Commons; Civil War Tracts (Chet. Soc), 2. In 1643 he was made a sequestrator of Royalists' estates and in 1645 a member of the Lancashire Committee; ibid. 90, 210. He was at one time a prisoner in Lord Derby's hands; Lancs. War (Chet. Soc.), 26.
  • 67. Ibid. 50. Afterwards he attacked and defeated a Royalist force near Preston; Civil War Tracts, 205.
  • 68. Admissions (ed. Mayor), i, 141.
  • 69. Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 99.
  • 70. West, op. cit. 216. Miles Dodding's monument in Ulverston Church describes him as 'a faithful son of the Church of England.' For the earlier generations of Braddyll see the account of Whalley.
  • 71. Bardsley, op. cit. 91–2. Settlements of the manor of Conishead were made by John and Sarah Braddyll in 1688 and 1714; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdles. 220, m. 56; 274, m. 60.
  • 72. Pink and Beaven, Parl. Repre. of Lancs. 123.
  • 73. There was a recovery of the manor in 1751, Thomas Braddyll being vouchee; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 575, m. 7.
  • 74. Bardsley, op. cit. 93. Dodding Braddyll's sister married Christopher Wilson of Bardsea, whose daughter Sarah married John Gale of Highead in Cumberland. They had two sons, Wilson and Henry Richmond, of whom the younger had an estate in Bardsea.
  • 75. Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 127.
  • 76. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York paid it a visit in September 1789; North Lonsd. Mag. i, 126.
  • 77. Antiq. of Furness (ed. Close), 1813, p, 27. In the original edition of 1774 the expression is ' the Wooburn Farm of Furness' (p. xxvii). The term ' Paradise' is therefore apparently Close's.
  • 78. It occupied about fifteen years in erection.
  • 79. Dr. Philip, Guide to Conishead Priory, 11. Baines says that the site of the church was accidentally discovered in 1823 on the lawn to the south of the house; Lancs. (1st ed.), iv, 683. The church was apparently aisleless; in 1540–1 it was reported to have 'hade never no pyllers'; Duchy Plead. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), ii, 149.
  • 80. The modern house is described in Dr. Philip's Guide to Conishead Priory (1880) and in Canon Ayre's Guide to Ulverston (1904), 92–5. It has been a 'Hydropathic Establishment' since 1878.
  • 81. West, Antiq. of Furness (1774), p. xxvii. There is an illustration of the south front of this building in the Lonsd. Mag. iii, 201 (June 1822), where it is stated that ' it is expected in a few years that Conishead Priory will be one of the most splendid buildings in the north of England, being now rebuilding after a plan by Mr. Wyatt. A conservatory is already erected. . . . The road which led so near the south front has been diverted and a fine open park spreads round it on every side'; ibid. 211. The old north front is described by West, in 1774, as being 'in the Gothic style. This and a piazza supported by clustered Gothic pillars and three series of ox-eye windows crowned with a battlement give to the whole an elegant and respectable appearance'; Antiq. of Furness, p. xxvii.
  • 82. –3 Bardsley, op. cit. 95–6. Col. Braddyll died in 1862. For descendants see Burke, Landed Gentry—Braddyll of Highead. The purchaser of Conishead was Henry William Askew; for pedigree see Foster, Lancs. Pedigrees.
  • 83. Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surv. bdle. 5, no. 8.
  • 84. Furness Couch, ii, 351. The lands were held by knight's service and rent.
  • 85. Richard son of Alan de ' Reuesath ' about 1270 granted lands on Croskelloc, Gothelands and Drakelow with easements in the vill of Reuesath to Adam son of Adam de Pennington; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxvi, App. 171. Lawrence de Asmunderlaw died in 1343 holding 7 acres in 'Reuesset' in the vill of Ulverston of the king as of lands lately William de Coucy's, by suit at the court of Ulverston from three weeks to three weeks and 6d. rent; Inq. p.m. 18 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 24. His son William succeeded; ibid. 20 Edw. III (2nd nos.), no. 63. He seems to have died soon afterwards, leaving a son and heir John, aged twentyeight; Add. MS. 32107, no. 160. Evan de Asmunderlaw, living in 1409, held two portions, one by a rent of 6d. and the other by 2½d., having done homage to the Abbot of Furness and paid relief in 1404; Furness Couch, loc. cit. Adam Bell in 1346 held half an oxgang of land in 'Resheved' in the Coucy part of Ulverston, and the other small tenements named in the inquisition may have been there-those of Roger and Thomas Child, Roger Bell and Henry Dun; Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. III (2nd nos.), no. 63. Roger Bell in 1346 claimed a moiety of certain messuages in Ulverston against John Towers; De Banco R. 349, m. 60 d. John de Harrington of Aldingham in 1347 held 20 acres in 'Resset' in Ulverston of the king as of William de Coucy's lands by fealty only; Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. III (1st nos.), no. 53. Gilbert de Nevill in 1347 held an oxgang of knd there by knight's service in William de Coucy's fee; Inq. p.m. 21 Edw. III (2nd nos.), no. 96. The Heatons of Birchley in Billinge had later an estate in Roshead, Golderwith (Gorthwaite) and Stonedikes (see Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 151, m. 8), which was sold to Christopher Anderton of Lostock; he in 1573 sold to Richard Chisnall of Gray's Inn, and Edward Chisnall in 1606 sold to Allan Coward and others; Agecroft D.; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 42, m. 167. Richard Chisnall held his estate in Roshead, &c, in 1587 of the queen as of the late abbey of Furness by 6d. rent; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xiv, no. 39. James Anderton of Clayton in 1630 had land there as part of his Bardsea estate; ibid, xxvii, no. 56.
  • 86. Inform, of the late John Fell of Flan How.
  • 87. Conishead Priory had part of Swarthmoor, and in 1538 a dispute arose between the farmer of the Conishead lands and the Nevills as to their rights there; Ducatus Lanc. ii, 57, 91; iii, 25.
  • 88. Bardsley, Chron. of Ulverston, 65. Thomas Fell obtained messuages, &c, from Miles Fell and Blanche his wife in 1582; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 44, m. 55. George Fell the elder and George the younger of Swarthmoor compounded for refusing knighthood in 1631; Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 220.
  • 89. He was baptized at Ulverston 13 Mar. 1599–1600; Reg.
  • 90. Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 118.
  • 91. There is a notice of him in Dict. Nat. Biog. He obtained a grant of arms in the time of the Commonwealth, but as its validity was afterwards called in question his descendant Lieut.-Col. Robert Edward Fell in 1772 procured a re-grant or confirmation of the coat; Barber, Swarthmoor Hall, 24, 33 (with short pedigree).
  • 92. She became Fox's convert in 1652 and entreated Cromwell to protect the Quakers. In 1661 she obtained from Charles II the release of over 4,000 Friends. Later she pleaded for her husband Fox, but refused a 'pardon,' as she regarded him as innocent. She died in 1702; Dict. Nat. Biog.
  • 93. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 231. See Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. Soc. (new ser.), vi, 237, where the accounts are cited.
  • 94. He was born in 1636 and became one of Fox's converts at Swarthmoor in 1654; afterwards he travelled in England, Scotland and Holland as a preacher, being sometimes roughly handled or imprisoned. He died in 1665 and his autobiography has been printed; Dict. Nat. Biog.
  • 95. He was born in 1630, probably at Dragley Beck. He was Judge Fell's land steward, and became a Quaker at Swarthmoor in 1652. He was frequently fined and imprisoned for preaching; Dict. Nat. Biog. In 1895 was printed the Autobiography of Henry Lampe, M.D., a German who became a Quaker and settled in Ulverston in 1693; he died in 1711.
  • 96. Cal. S. P. Dom. 1660–1, p. 50.
  • 97. Ibid. 1664–5, p. 161.
  • 98. In 1691 a fine was made regarding the estates which included the manors of Ulverston and Blawith, messuages, mills, lands, &c, in Ulverston, Swarthmoor, Dragley Beck, Hawkswell, Lowick, Dalton, Nibthwaite, Bethecarr, Colton, Hawkshead, Urswick and Pennington, and fisheries in Coniston Water and the Leven. The deforciants were Charles Fell and Mary his wife, Margaret Fox widow, Hannah Fell widow, John Rous and Margaret his wife, Abraham Morrice and Isabella his wife, William Meade and Sarah his wife, Thomas Lower and Mary his wife, William Ingram and Susan his wife, Daniel Abraham and Rachel his wife, James Groves and Isabella his wife; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 227, m. 108. Charles Fell was the son of George named in the text.
  • 99. He was imprisoned at Lancaster in 1684; Webb, Fells of Swarthmoor, 431. In 1699 he was presented for not paying his Easter offering to the vicar.
  • 100. Bardsley, op. cit. 71; Baines, Lancs. (ed. 1870), ii, 660. John Abraham is frequently named in the Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. v, 30, &c. He had a house at Smithy Door in 1668; ibid. 249. His will, dated and proved in 1681, is printed ibid, vi, 143; Daniel Abraham, as heir, was summoned to do his suit and service at the court. A full account of the Fell family was published by Maria Webb in 1865, entitled The Fells of Swarthtnoor Hall, cited above.
  • 101. To the north-east flows the Levy Beck in a picturesque wooded ravine and a small brook passes the house on the east side at a distance of about 20 yds.
  • 102. The south may have been originally the principal front, two long label mouldings apparently indicating the presence at one time of long mullioned windows on this side to the hall and room above, three lights of which now only remain in each case.
  • 103. Barber, Furness and Cartmel Notes, 228.
  • 104. Roper, Churches, Castles and Old Halls of North Lancs, i, 123. Abraham may have put up his grandfather's initials as well as his own.
  • 105. Barber, op. cit.
  • 106. Trinkeld is named in the description of the bounds of Conishead about 1180; Farrer, op. cit. 357. Thomas Urswick of Urswick died in 1519 holding among other estates land called Trinkeld of Henry Earl of Wiltshire and Cecily his wife (in her right) by services unknown; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 17. In 1548 there was a dispute as to Trinkeld lands between the king and the Marquess of Dorset; Ducatus Lanc. ii, 97. For later disputes see ibid, iii, 3, &c. The canons of Conishead had leave to make a water-course from the well called 'Trankelde' to the priory by a ditch 12 ft. wide; Furness Couch. ii, 424.
  • 107. Bardsley, op. cit. 72, 74.
  • 108. Duchy of Lanc. Plead, bdle. 372 (Mich. 18 Chas. I). The complainants alleged that they and their ancestors held according to the customs of the manor of 'Trenkold,' the usual fines being two rears' rent on an alienation by a tenant and one year's at the lord's death. The lordship was formerly a part of Muchland, which came to the Crown by the attainder of Henry Duke of Suffolk; but before that Trinkeld had been separated and sold to 'one Mr. Bardsey deceased,' the customs being the same as those in Muchland. Joseph Pennington purchased from Bardsey, and had the deeds, court rolls, &c. He charged arbitrary fines of six or seven years' rent at a change of tenancy, which his son continued; and the son more recently assessed the fines after his father's death at a very high rate above the two years' rent.
  • 109. In 1292 Emma daughter of Adam de York was non-suited in her claim for a tenement in Ulverston held by Thomas Skilhare and Juliana de Wath; Assize R. 408, m. 58. At the same time Adam son of Ralph de Kirkby recovered a messuage and land against Thomas de Skilhare, who had entry through Richard de Broughton, to whom Ralph son of Alan son of Orm demised them. Thomas was to be compensated by Richard de Broughton; ibid. m. 68 d. An Alice de York occurs in 1376; De Banco R. 422, m. 292 d. Ulverston occurs as a surname. William son of William son of Simon de Ulverston was plaintiff in 1305; Assize R. 420, m. 6 d. In 1306 Richard son of Agnes de Ulverston obtained land from Adam Gernet and Katherine his wife; Final Conc. i, 209. Emma widow of Thomas the Goldsmith was plaintiff in 1340; De Banco R. 323, m. 157. Other trade names occur, as Tailor, Collier and Slater. Roger son of Richard the Glaswright in July 1351 claimed a messuage against John de Townend and Cecily his wife. It appeared that a John the Glaswright had held it, and his daughter Ellen being under age her aunt Cecily had taken possession; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 1, m. 2. In 1353 Alice daughter of William son of Thomas del Bouth (which William died in his father's lifetime) claimed a messuage against Thomas del Bate and Alice his wife, daughter of Thomas del Bouth. It appeared that this Thomas and his daughter Alice were sick of the plague in the same house and Thomas (who died) gave the messuage to Alice (who recovered), but the plaintiff succeeded; Assize R. 435, m. 18. John Pye died without issue in 1363 holding a messuage and 4 acres in Ulverston of the lords of the barony of Ulverston, the Abbot of Furness and Sir Robert de Harrington, separately; Lancs. Inq. p.m. (Chet. Soc), i, 46. Some local place-names occur in a pleading of 1311, when Gilbert son of Adam son of Richard del Gill claimed a messuage against Adam de Claife and Agnes his wife as kinsman and heir of William de Rossett, who was brother of plaintiff's grandfather Richard del Gill; De Banco R. 187, m. 204 d.; 205, m. 202 d. In 1421 Thomas Hamondson granted two messuages in Ulverston called Raton Row to John son of William Salthouse; Kuerden MSS. iii, K 8 (258). The same place is named in the Conishead rental, 1537, Thomas Addison of ' Ratonrawe' paying 4s. rent; Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surv. bdle. 4, no. 4. Roland Kirkby of Ulverston was denounced among traitors in 1464, having adhered to the deposed king Henry VI, after having sworn allegiance to Edward IV; Rolls of Parl. v, 512.
  • 110. Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 17.
  • 111. It had belonged to Conishead Priory, in right of Ulverston rectory; see the account of the church.
  • 112. Misc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 231.
  • 113. Lancs, and Ches. Rec. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), i, 56; the Act was passed in 1799. Another Act was passed in 1874; 37 & 38 Vict. cap. 154.
  • 114. The charter, known from an inspeximus of 10 Hen. (IV), is printed in West's Furness (ed. 1774), App. vii. Each burgess might take as many tofts as he would and might sell as he pleased, but 3d. rent was to be paid to the lord for each toft. They might take wood for building thereon from his woods (except Plumpton Hey) by view of the foresters. They should have turbary and pasture like other men of Ulverston as far as Pennington, on the south side. The lord retained the bakehouse, dyehouse and fulling place in his own hands. For the corn grown on their own land the burgesses were to pay multure like the lord's other men, for other corn to the twenty-first measure. If he owed them anything and did not pay within forty days they might refuse further credit.
  • 115. These charters are printed ibid. App. iii, iv.
  • 116. John son of Roger de Lancaster confirmed the exemption made by his father; ibid. App. vi. Henry IV, as above stated, gave an inspeximus. The grants of market and fair have been mentioned in the text.
  • 117. Burgage rents of £1 10s. were due to Furness Abbey in 1535; Valor Eccl. v, 269. Thomas Levens died in 1540 holding a burgage in Ulverston of the king as of his barony of Ulverston by a rent of 12d.; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vii, no. 35.
  • 118. Bardsley, op. cit. 17; they were the sidesmen or vestry.
  • 119. Lond. Gaz. 5 May 1871.
  • 120. Ibid. 17 Nov. 1874.
  • 121. This was in the hands of private owners. The works were in 1865 taken over by an incorporated company (27 & 28 Vict. cap. 92), from which they were acquired by the local board in 1874; 37 & 38 Vict. cap. 154.
  • 122. Water was supplied by a company incorporated in 1851 by 15 & 16 Vict. cap. 70. The works were taken over by the local board in 1874 as above.
  • 123. The incumbent from 1873 to 1905 was Canon Legh Richmond Ayre, M.A. (Emmanuel Coll., Camb.). He was grandson of the celebrated Legh Richmond, and distinguished himself by his interest in the antiquities of Ulverston and the district. He published a Guide to the place, edited the North Lonsd. Mag., published a Hist, of Furness, written in 1777 by a Quaker schoolboy named William Fell, and assisted in editing the Ulverston Reg. From 1860 to 1873 he was vicar of Rusland in Colton.
  • 124. Cal. S. P. Dom. 1672, p. 676.
  • 125. He was a native of Aberayron and had charge of the Ulverston Church 1835–52 and 1858–68, when he died. He was the author of Furness and Furness Abbey, quoted in the present work, and of other books.
  • 126. Nightingale, Lancs. Nonconf. i, 255–66.
  • 127. Only four 'Papists' were known in the parish of Ulverston in 1717 and thirteen in 1767; Trans. Hist. Soc. (new ser.), xviii, 220.
  • 128. Liverpool Cath. Annual, 1901; Foley, Rec. S. J. v, 355. Patrick Everard, D.D., the priest in charge from 1802 to 1814, became president of Maynooth and (1820–2) Archbishop of Cashel.