button to main menu  Gents Mag 1831 part 2 p.400

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Gentleman's Magazine 1831 part 2 p.400
[east]ward, we see the vast range of Cross Fell, a line of lofty hills extending for many miles, while behind, Saddleback appears raised above the other hills.
The pillar consists of an octagonal shaft, each of the faces being twelve or fifteen inches in breadth. On this is raised a cube, over which is a kind of capital.
The shaft is plain; but on the face of the cube which is toward the road, are two shields of arms, which appear to have been recently repainted. The one presents Clifford impaling Vesci, Gules, 6 annulets Or, the marriage which gave the Cliffords their great northern possessions. The other is Clifford impaling Russell, the achievement of the father or the mother of the lady by whom the pillar was erected; but plainly intended for the lady, since there is no crest, while the red griffin of the Cliffords is given over the other shield.
There is also on this face the date 1654.
The three other faces of the cube serve as the plates of sun-dials; but in that on the side from the road is inserted a brass-plate containing the well-known inscription, of which the following is an exact copy:
THIS PILLAR WAS ERECTED ANNO 1650 / BY YE RT HONOLE ANNE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF / PEMBROKE, &C. DAUGHTER AND COHEIR OF YE RT / HONOBLE GEORGE EARL OF CUMBERLAND, &C. FOR A / MEMORIAL OF HER LAST PARTING IN THIS PLACE / WITH HER GOOD & PIOUS MOTHER YE RT HONOBLE / MARGARET COUNTESS DOWAGER OF CUMBERLAND, / YE 2D OF APRIL, 1616. IN MEMORY WHEREOF / SHE ALSO LEFT AN ANNUITY OF FOUR POUNDS / TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO THE POOR WITHIN THIS / PARRICH OF BROUGHAM EVERY 2D DAY OF APRILL / FOR EVER, UPON THE STONE TABLE HERE HARD BY. / LAUS DEO.
The inscription appears to be an addition to the original design, and not to have been put up until after the death of the Countess of Pembroke. It is awkwardly placed in the face of the sun-dial, and it is so much raised above the eye of the spectator, that it is read with difficulty.
The stone-table no longer exists, but a stone still fixed firmly in the ground very near the pillar, seems to mark the place where it stood; and a flat stone lying in the ditch under the hedge at a short distance, is what appears to have been the table slab. One cannot but regret that a monument of a very interesting character should not be kept up, and that since soome cost has been recently bestowed upon it, the table on which the benefaction of the Countess ought to be dispensed, has not been restored.
Brougham Castle is a ruin, but it is the ruin of a magnificent edifice. The room which is the most entire, was evidently the chapel, a room of good proportions, on the south side of the castle, and having apartment beneath it.
Brougham-hall, the seat of the Chancellor, is about a mile from the castle, in a beautiful situation; commanding extensive views of this fine country. The house itself has an air of ancestral pretension; the decorations of the old ceilings being the arms and quarterings or impalements of the Broughams. Great improvements are now in progress; and in making them, regard has been shown to the preservation of the Roman inscriptions which have been found here. They are inserted in one of the walls, and in a situation where they are protected from the weather.
The taste for inscriptions prevails in this district. I observed several (some of a recent date) at the little village of Gamont Bridge (sic). But there is one which invites attention, not more by the words themselves, than by the careful manner in which the letters have been cut:
OMNE SOLUM FORTI / PATRIA EST. H. P. 1671.
I could learn nothing of the person who placed this over his door. Perhaps some of your Correspondents may be able to say by whom the words were inscribed.
ANAMNESTES.
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