button to main menu  Simpson's Agreeable Historian, 1746

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Page 1019:-

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Westmorland
WESTMORELAND.
  county size
THIS is an Inland County, which has Lancashire on the South and South west; Cumberland on the West and North-west; and Yorkshire and the Bishoprick of Durham on the East and North-east. 'Tis commonly reckoned 30 Miles in Length, but not above 24 in Breadth, and about 120 in Compass. containing 510000 Acres of Land. Mr. Templeman makes it 36 Miles in Length, and 34 in Breadth, and gives it an Area of 633 square Miles.
  baronies
  wards
  diocese
  parishes

'Tis divided into the Barony of Westmoreland, which is a large, open, champain County, belonging to the Diocese of Carlisle, twenty Miles long, and fourteen broad; and the Barony of Kendal, which is full of Mountains, and belongs to the Diocese of Chester. Both these are subdivided into two Wards, each of which contains thirty-two Parishes, wherein are many Chapels of Ease, eight Market-towns, of which one only is a parliamentary Borough; and about 6600 Houses. In each of these Divisions are several Deaneries and Constablewicks, but no Hundreds, perhaps because anciently these Parts paid no Subsidies, being sufficiently charg'd in the Border-service against the Scots. The Gentlemens Houses in this County are large and strong, and generally built Castle-wise, for Defence of themselves, their Tenants, and their Goods, against the Scots Incursions, which before the Time of King James I. were very common.
The Barony, or Bottom (as 'tis also call'd from its low Situation) of Westmoreland, which is the northern Part, affords Plenty of arable Land, which bears good Store of Corn. The Barony of Kendale, or Candalia, which is the southern Part of the County, and so called from the River Can, which runs along the Valley, is pent up for
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button -- Diocese of Carlisle
button -- "Westmoreland" -- Westmorland
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