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start of Cumberland |
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Page 181:-
perpendicularly 80 fathom below the sea (I suppose low-water
mark), and many underneath it. Sir James's riches in part
swim over his head, for ships pass daily above the very
ground where his colliers work. The coals are drawn up by an
engine, worked by two horses, which go a full trot every
eight hours, and three changes are employed in a day and a
night. The quantity drawn up is about twenty corfs in
an hour, each corf consisting of an oblong square 32 inches
long, 18 broad, and 22 deep, which cost 7d.½ Thus I
found the quantity of coal brought up in a year (Sunday
excepted), amounted to about 4,200£. but out of this
the colliers and other expences being paid, he cannot clear
above 500 or 600£. a year, out of this his largest
coalwork. He draws the water from his coal-seams by a
fire-engine with four pumps and four lifts: one of the pumps
goes down 80 fathoms, which brings up the water to a cistern
at 60 fathoms deep; from thence another pump raises it to
cistern of 40 fathoms deep from the surface on the top of
the sink; a 3d brings it up to 20, and a 4th to the level of
the sea at high water. The cylinder which gives life to this
motion is of brass 42 inches diameter, fixed in a boiler of
about 11 feet diameter. The coal, when brought up to the
level of the sea, is put in ships, and conveyed to the
cavity of a hill, whence it is drawn up by a second engine.
There it is put on great carts with low wheels, which gently
roll down to the harbour on oak boards. The method of
shipping it is no less curious. The strata are five or six
inches, the largest six feet thick, and sometimes seven or
eight. The next is five feet. One is three, another two
feet. Though the coal at Newcastle be much exhausted near
the sea, the strata continue all the way to Corbirdge and
Hexham, but at Whitehaven the strata are almost spent to the
length of Workington, at least no great fields of coal
remain. It is, however, certain, that some seams stretch
towards Newcastle, and are the same though broken and
interrupted, sometimes lying flat, sometimes on edge,
sometimes three or four feet thick, sometimes scarce an
inch; in which alteration I have sufficiently observed here
and in Scotland.
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copperas
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"The copperas works at Whitehaven are a curiosity that
deserves to be seen. The copperas is made by boiling the
water into a salt which comes from the brassy particles in
sir James's coals gathered from the rest of the coal when
brought above ground, and sold at the same price. To this
they add pieces of rusty iron without any other ingredient
[a]."
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MORBIUM. Moresby.
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Moresby
Morbium
roman inscription
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Mr. Ward [b] places MORBIUM at Templeburgh on the Don
in Yorkshire [c], and ARBEIA at Moresby, where, in
the Crofts, a field between the town and Barton, they
continually plough up stones and cement, which have all the
usual appearance of being Roman, though it seemed rather the
site of the town than the station. Something like two sides
of a fort appeared near the church: the rest may have been
washed away by the sea. The three inscriptions given by Mr.
Camden are not now to be found; but there is another and a
relief at a style in a field called Ingclose, a
little east of Moresby hall [d]. Mr. Camden had placed
Arbeia at Iresby, but there are no remains,
nor at Harbybrow or brough two or three miles
off. Horsley gives this inscription, Cumb. LXXV.
D. M.
SMERT
[C] MAC
M Co H I
H RAC
[triangle]Q[triangle]STII
X VICSIT
XXX[triangle]QV
Diis Manibus Smerius Tomacius miles cohortis primae
Thracum qui stipendiorum decem vixit annos triginta
quinque. Also a half figure in relief holding a scroll,
Cumb. LXXVI.
Moresby came from the Fletchers to the Broughams, and so to
the earl of Lonsdale [e].
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Hayes c.
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Hayes castle is the capital messuage belonging to
Distington manor. It belonged to the Moresbys, and is
now the property of Mr. Hartley, merchant in Whitehaven [f].
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Loweswater.
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Loweswater
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Loweswater, a chapelry in St. Bee's parish, has its
name from a lake in a deep vale surrounded by mountains two
miles broad abounding with pike, perch, and, as some say,
char [g].
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Newlands.
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Goldscope Mine
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The rich copper mine at Newlands are said to have
served all England and divers places beyond sea; but the
works being destroyed and the miners killed in the civil
war, they have never since been worked to any account [h].
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Caldre.
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Calder Abbey
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In St. Bride's parish on the north side of the Calder
stood Caldre abbey, founded for Cistercians by
Ranulphus son of the first Ranulphus de Meschines 1134,
valued at £.54 9s. [i] or as Burn [k] £.13.
10s. now the property of John Senhouse, esq.
"Caldher abbay of whyte monkes yn Copeland, not very far
from St. Beges and nere to Egremont castle [l]."
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Silla park.
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Sella Park
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A mile lower on the rill to the sea lies Silla park,
a cell and park of this house.
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Derwentwater.
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Derwentwater Family
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The Derwentwater family took their name from the
place where they were seated from the reign of Edward I. Sir
Nicholas Radcliffe of Dilston c. Northumberland, knt.
married the heiress of the family in the reign of Henry VI.
and his descendant Francis was created by James II. baron of
Dilston, viscount Langley and Radcliff, and earl of
Derwentwater; all which titles were forfeited with his
estate and life by his son James, beheaded on Tower-hill
1716 for engaging in the rebellion. The estate amounted to
£.20,000. a year, including the mines, was vested in
trustees for the support of Greenwich hospital, but restored
on the reversal of the attainder 177[ ]. [m]
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Brackmere. Castlerigg.
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Thirlmere
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At the foot of Wythburn fells is Brackmere, a
large lake, a mile by one and an half, well stocked with
pike, perch, and eels. Castlerigg was the antient
seat of the Derwentwater family, but after the marriage with
the Radcliffs went to ruin, and with the materials the
Radcliffs built a pleasure-house in one of the islands in
Derwentwater. The large and stately oaks were felled by the
trustees of Greenwich hospital, who lately replaced them by
some small plantations. In the neighbourhood of this place,
on the right hand of the road from Keswic to Penrith, is a
collection of stones of unequal size
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[a]
Reliq. Galeanae, p.326-328.
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[b]
Horsley, p.482,483.
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[c]
See before, p.31.
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[d]
Horsley, 285. Cumb. lxxv-vi. Burn, II. 47.
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[e]
Burn, II. 49.
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[f]
Ib. 50.
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[g]
Ib. 60.
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[h]
Ib. 69.
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[i]
Tan. 75.
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[k]
Ib. 29.
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[l]
Lel. VII. 71.
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[m]
G. Pennant, 41. Burn, II. 77-79.
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and
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gazetteer links
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-- "Caldre Abbey" -- Calder Abbey
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-- "Carles" -- Castlerigg Stone Circle
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-- (copperas works, Whitehaven)
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-- Goldscope Mine
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-- "Hayes Castle" -- Hayes Castle
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-- Lord's Island
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-- Loweswater
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-- "Loweswater" -- Loweswater
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-- "Moresby" -- Moresby
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-- "Arbeia" -- Gabrosentum
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-- "Silla Park" -- Sella Park House
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-- "St Bride's Parish" -- St Bridget Beckermet
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-- "Brackmere" -- Thirlmere
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-- Whitehaven Coalfield
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