button to main menu  Clarke's Survey of the Lakes, 1787

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Page 4:-
of a reddish free stone. Like most of our Northern strong-holds, this castle is built in a square form, with its sides facing the cardinal points; three of which have been defended by a ditch, and the other (the North side) is close to the river Emont. No place can exhibit more striking remains of that gloomy strength for which these edifices of defence were so remarkable; arched vaults, winding passages in the walls, so narrow as not to admit more than one person at once; the doors to these passages contracted to a mere hole, through which no one can enter without stooping; and the remains of vast bolts and massy hinges, give us a lively idea of those times of danger and jealousy, when the lord was almost a prisoner in his own castle.
Some of these vaults and holes are as curious as they are difficult of access; one of which contains what is called the Sweating Pillar, from it being continually covered with a moisture or dew. This vault should appear to have been the dungeon or keep where prisoners were confined, and is situated under the main body of the building; its walls are four or five yards thick, through which are several dark passages, some open, others blocked up. In the centre stands the pillar, which, at its top, where it reaches the roof of the vault, divides itself into eight branches; these branches are reflected along the curvature of the vault, like the arms of a tree; thus preserving, even in a dungeon, the true Gothic stile of architecture. The extremities of these branches terminate near the ground in deformed heads of animals, such as we constantly see in the buildings of our ancestors; and each of these heads holds in its mouth an iron ring, probably intended for the chaining of unruly and riotous prisoners. Part of the roof is now broken, and that side of the pillar opposite to the breach is now become dry, which furnishes us with a solution of the phaenomenon of the sweating.
Cambden calls Brougham Castle the Brovoniacum, and tells us, that the word signifies, that a company or band of defenders lay there, and adds, that there was a beautiful town there. For this he quotes Antonine, who places the Brovoniacum 20 Italian miles from Verterae: nor is it improbable that the foundation of this Castle was laid by the Romans, as the Roman causeway which leads from Carlisle, by the Ala Petriana, passes this place, Kirkby-Thore *, and Brough, under Stainmore.
The first authentic historical account we have of this Castle is in the reign of William the Conqueror, who granted it, and the estate belonging to it, together with the Barony of Westmorland, to Hugh de Abrinois. This Hugh de Abrinois, (who was surnamed Lupus, and was the son of a sister of the Conqueror's,) and his successors, held it till the year 1170, when it was forfeited by Hugh de Morville †. King John afterwards granted this Castle, together with Appleby, to Robert de Veteripont or Vipont, the son of Maud, daughter of Hugh de Morville: but Robert, the grandson of this Robert, espousing the cause of Montfort Earl of Leicester, forfeited his estates, which however were restored to Isabella and Ivetta, or Idonea, his two daughters. They being minors were in wardship to the King, who delegated this trust to Roger de Clifford of Clifford-Castle in Herefordshire, and Roger de Leybourne of the County of Kent: these guardians afterwards married them to their two sons Roger de Clifford and Roger de Leybourne. Idonea, who was married to Roger de Leybourne, died without issue, but Isabella became the mother of the illustrious family of the Cliffords. In the Clifford family this estate
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* Kirkby-Thore lies about a mile from Temple-Sowerby, and is a place of very great antiquity; it had its name from a Temple of the Saxon god Thor, (or Jupiter) which stood near it, the ruins whereof may be traced to this day. During the time our Island was under the dominion of the Romans,a body of Cuirassiers, under the command of the Duke of Britain, lay at Kirkby-Thore.
† Hugh de Morville was one of the knights who murdered Thomas á Becket. He, with his accomplices Renigald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, and Richard de Brito, fled from the hatred of the people, on account of this murder, to a castle at Knaresborough, belonging to Hugh de Morville; finding themselves likewise detested there, they went in the year 1172 to Rome for absolution, and are said to have all perished upon a black mountain, where they were commanded to do penance. / GUTHRIF.
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