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register would seem, however, to shew that traces of that old institution remained to a much later date than is generally supposed, inasmuch as a domestic servant appears to have had a troublesome form to observe ere she was allowed to leave her servitude, at a period so late as the middle of the 17th century.

Ma—That the 13th day of June 1664 James ffisher of Amblesyde yeoman came to me with a certificate under the hands of Thomas Braithwaite of Hawkshead field and Richard Knipe of Coniston Constable and Bayliff, Patrick Parker and George Kirkby of Coniston aforesaide which declared unto me that Jane Nicolson late servant to William Sawrey of Coniston Waterhead hadd the free consente of her saide master to departe out of his service & soe left. CHRISTOPH. EDMONDSON,

Pasto Ecc. æ

June 27 1664.

My next extract, which has already appeared in the newspapers, goes to prove that our ancestors had much more practical notions of making capital punishment a deterrent example than we can boast in our day.

1672 Aprill 8-Thomas Lancaster who for poysonninge his own family was Adjudgt att the Assizes at Lancaster to be carried back to his owne house at Hye Wray where he lived and was there hanged before his owne doore till he was dead for that very fact, & then was brought with a horse and a carr on to the Coulthouse meadows and forthwithe hunge oopp in Iron Chaynes on a Gibbet which was sett for that very purpose on the south syde of Sawrey Cassy neare unto the Pool Stang and there continued until such tymes as he rotted away bone for bone.

I

may mention that the scene of this exhibition still bears the ill-omened name of "The Gibbet Moss."

The following is a tolerably graphic account of the damage done by a flood:

Bee it remembered that upon the Tenth day of June att night in the yeare of our Lord God one thousand six hundred eightye and sixe; there was such a fearfull Thunder with fyre and rayne which occasioned such a terrible flood as the like of it was never seene in these parts by noe man liveinge; for it did throwe downe some houses and mills and tooke away several briggs and the water did run through houses and did much hurte to houses; besydes the water washt away great trees by the rootes and the becks and gills carried them with other great trees, stocks and stones a greater way of and layd them on mens ground; yea further the water did so fiercely run downe the hye-ways and made such deepe holes and ditches in them that att several places neither horse nor foote could passe; and besydes the becks and rivers did soe breake out of their wayes as they brought exceedinge great sandbeds into men's ground at many places which did great hurte as never the like was known, I pray God of his great mercy grante that none which is now living may ever see the like again. The next relates a somewhat unpleasant casualty; but the richly quaint and matter of fact style in which the narrative is conveyed, gives it an irresistible claim to being copied and preserved.

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1689 December 16 Bernarde Swaineson, who was Edward Braithwaite's Apprentice went with William Stamper a greate while within nighte into William Braithwaite's shopp in Hawkshead for to beare him company a little; and at their meetinge these three younge youths were all very sober and in good health and About Twelve o' the clocke o' the nighte they made a bett; that if this Bernard Swaineson could drinke of nyne noggins of brandy; then William Braithewaite and William Stamper was to pay

for them; but if Bernard fayled and could not drinke of nine noggins of brandye then he was to pay of his own charge for that he had dranke; now this Bernard dranke of these noggins of brandy quickly; and shortly after that fell downe upon the floore, and was straightwaye carried to his bed where hee layde four and Twenty houres; duringe which tyme he coulde never speake noe nor never did knowe any body though many came to see him and soe he dyed.

Sometimes it has been thought necessary to record the manner of death as well as the sepulture, as my two last excerpts will shew.

1691 May 15.-Clement Askew who was cutting downe a tree at Coniston Waterhead & slayne by the fall of it.

1697 Sept 16: James Braithwaite late of Crofthead did goe to the water-foote for a boate load of lyme-stone with William Braithwaite of Cunsie; and as he was cominge backe Agayne was drown'd in Windermere water; and three men that were with him by God's great mercy gott all out of the water and saved their lives; the boate which they were in being laden with lym stones was lost and did. sinke into the bottom of the sayde water; and he was buryed the day of the month last mentioned.

With these specimens of the "short and simple Annals of Hawkshead two hundred years ago I may close my extracts from the documentary history of the place; and, with regard to the town, I have only to add that James I granted letters patent to Adam Sandys, of Graythwaite, to establish a weekly market and certain fairs there. The quotation given already from Braithwaite's remains gives the credit of obtaining this charter to his kinsman Allen Nicholson, who might be in some minor degree instrumental in securing these privileges to Hawkshead; but the original document so granting them

Or, as the quotation says, " Ancient Charter," it may refer to the restoration of some old privileges lost by disuse.

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to their ancestors, is still, I believe, preserved by the Sandys family at Graythwaite Hall.

So long as the Dale's people continued to spin their wool at home, these markets were of some importance. The women chiefly brought the yarn thither every Monday to sell to the manufacturers from Kendal and elsewhere, who attended for the purpose. That it was also a market for other varieties of produce, a curious proof came to light a few months ago. In clearing out the rubbish that had accumulated during many years in a building near the church, formerly used to shelter the parish hearse, two small but heavy and substantial vessels of bronze or bell metal were found. These were pronounced by some respectable authorities to be ancient sacramental vessels; but I agree in the opinion of certain others who hold them to be the standard quart and pint by which the measures used of old in the market had to be regulated. This is borne out by the capacities of the vessels, and the impress of a crown and the letters W.R., which also serve to fix their date. The large square of Hawkshead was formerly lined with open verandahs, or penthouses, to protect the market people from the rain, which falls both frequently and heavily there, and some of these remained until long after the market became little more than a name. The erection by subscription of a market house and town hall rendered these rude shelters unnecessary, even if the general adoption of spinning machinery had not, by causing the wool to be sold at home in the fleece, stopped the supply of the staple merchandise. A bequest by a benevolent lady provided a service in the church on the Monday forenoons, for the special benefit of the people coming to market, which, like the penthouses, was also maintained long after those for whose behoof it was provided ceased to avail themselves of it.

Hawkshead was originally a chapelry under Dalton and, as already stated, is believed to have existed at a very remote

date. In the earliest annals of Furness Abbey it is referred to as, even then, a place of some standing and importance. Thus between the years 1198 and 1200, we find that Honorius, Archdeacon of Richmond, granted the convent permission to celebrate mass at their private altars with wax candles, during an interdict; for which purpose he assigned the Chapelry of Hawkshead &c. to the monks.

And again, in 1219 the Abbot wished to relieve the inhabitants of Furness Fells, then increasing much in numbers, from the laborious necessity of carrying their dead for interment to the mother church at Dalton, upwards of twenty miles distant; but, being strongly opposed by the Vicars of Dalton and Urswick, at length made an appeal to the Papal court, when the Pope gave a commission to the Priors of St. Bees, Lancaster and Cartmel to enquire into and adjudge the case, which judgment was in favour of the Abbot and ordered the chapel yard at Hawkshead to be consecrated for sepulture. At the dissolution it appears that the income of this chapelry was nearly three times that of the Rectory of Dalton --v was indeed worth more than the whole of Low Furness. It must be noted, however, that the chapelry included what constitutes now the parishes both of Hawkshead and Colton.

Hawkshead was made parochial in 1578 by Archbishop Sandys, a native of the chapelry. The present stipend, £150, arises from glebe lands, a warehouse in Friday Street in the City of London, and £20 paid by the different quarters or townships, Graythwaite Hall, and Graythwaite Low Hall, in lieu of small tithes, which were impropriated at the dissolution of the Abbey.

An interesting relic of the connection of Furness Abbey with the spiritual affairs of Hawkshead remains in the old building adjoining the farm offices of Hawkshead Hall-its archway forming the entrance to the farm yard. Of this

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