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Page 3:-
BOOK FIRST.
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book 1
chapter 1
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Westmorland
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WESTMORLAND.
CHAP. I.
Harts-horn Tree, -- Countess's Pillar, -- Brougham
Castle, -- the Hospital, -- View of Carleton Hall, --
Brougham Hall, -- Lowther Bridge, -- Clifton, -- Ancient
customary service at Clifton, -- the Battle of Clifton-Moor,
-- the Village of Lowther, -- the Lowther Family, --
Arthur's Round Table, -- General Sketch of Westmorland, --
Mayburgh.
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Hart Horn Tree
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I SHALL begin my observations at the Countess's
Pillar, where likewise my plans commence: I shall,
however, exceed this bound, to take notice of a very large
Oak Tree in Whinfield-Park, called the Harts-horn
Tree. Concerning this tree there is a tradition,
confirmed by Anne Countess of Pembroke in her memoirs, that
an hart was run by a single dog from this place to
Red-Kirk in Scotland and back again: when they came
near this tree the hart leaped the wall but the dog, worn
out with fatigue, was unable to follow him, and died there;
the hart, equally fatigued, could proceed no farther, and in
this situation they were found by the hunters, the dog dead
on one side of the wall, and the deer on the other. In
memory of this remarkable chace, the hart's horns were fixed
upon this tree, whence it obtained its name; and as all
extraordinary events were in those days recorded in rhymes
we find the following popular one upon this occasion, from
which we learn the dog's name likewise:
"Hercules kill'd Hart of Greece,
"And Hart of Greece kill'd Hercules."
This story appears to have been literally true, as the Scots
preserve it without any variation, and add, that it happened
in the year 1333 or 1334, when Edward Baliol King of Scots
came to hunt with Robert de Clifford in his domains at
Appleby and Brougham. I cannot, however, help thinking the
Countess is mistaken in calling the dog a Grey-Hound, as he
must have run upwards of 80 miles, even supposing the deer
to have taken the direct road; and this no one, who is
acquainted with the nature of dogs, can suppose a grey-hound
capable of performing.
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Countess Pillar
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We come now to the Countess's Pillar, which is twelve feet
high, and built of hewn stone: it has a large quadrangular
capital, each of whose faces answers to one of the cardinal
points. On the East, West, and South, are dials, and on the
North, the following inscription:
"This Pillar was erected A.D. 1656, by the Right Honourable
Anne Countess of Pembroke, and sole heir of the Right
Honourable George Earl of Cumberland, for a memorial of her
last parting, in this place, with her good and pious mother
the Right Honourable Margaret Countess Dowager of
Cumberland, the 2d of April 1616. In memory whereof she has
left an annuity of L.4 to be distributed to the poor
within the Parish of Brougham, every 2d day of April for
ever, upon the stone hereby. Laus Deo."
This money was secured to be paid out of certain lands at
Brougham; but afterwards when those lands came into the
possession of James Bird, he transferred the security to
some lands at Yanwath.
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Brougham Castle
roman fort, Brougham
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The next place worthy the traveller's notice is Brougham
Castle; a fine old ruin, built
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of
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gazetteer links
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-- "Brougham Castle" -- Brougham Castle
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-- "Countess's Pillar" -- Countess Pillar
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-- "Hartshorn Tree" -- Hart Horn Tree
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