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Print, engraving, Brough Castle, Westmorland, drawn by
Samuel Hooper, engraved by Sparrow, published by Samuel
Hooper, Ludgate Hill, London, 1775.
Included in The Antiquities of England and Wales, by Francis
Grose.
Pasted in the Lowther scrapbook, vol.2; between pp.464-466
(numbered 566); with descriptive text:-
BROUGH CASTLE, WESTMORELAND.
THIS castle stands near the north-east part of the county,
and on the western bank of the river Eden. It is by some
writers deemed a Roman building. Possibly a Roman fortress
might have stood here before the Conquest; but the present
edifice has incontestable marks of Norman origin. In the
Additions to Camden, printed in Bishop Gibson's edition, the
present structure is attributed to the Countess of Pembroke,
if the following words are to be taken literally: "Here also
stands the Castle of Brough, and a Tower called Caesar's
Tower, or the Fort before-mentioned. The Castle, having been
rased to the ground, was rebuilt, not long since, by the
Countess of Pembroke." But that this is a mistake, is
evident from an inscription formerly standing over the
gateway, but now thrown down, and laid under the water-wheel
of Brough Mill; of which this is a genuine copy:
THIS castle of Brough under Stainmore, and the Great Tower
of it, was repaired by the Lady Ann Clifford, Countess
Dowager of Pembroke-Dorse, and Montgomery, Baron Clifford,
Westmoreland and Visey, High Sheriff by inheritance of the
County of Westmoreland, and Lady of the Honour of Skipton in
Craven, in the year of our Lord God 1659; so as she came to
lie in it herself for a little while in September 1661,
after it had lain ruinous without timber, or any covering,
ever since the year 1521, when it was burnt by a casual
fire. Isa. chap. lviii. ver. 12. "God's name be praised."
THE above Inscription manifestly proves that the repairs
done by the Countess were chiefly internal, and that the
ruins now seen are those of the original building: but by
whom or when they were built, neither Leland, Camden, or any
other of the Topographical Writers (at least those in
print), mention; tho', as has been above observed, the
similarity of its Keep to those of Dover, Bamborough,
Rochester, the Tower of London, and many others, plainly
evince it was constructed on the Norman model.
THE present proprietor of these ruins is the Earl of Thanet.
Of late years they have been much demolished for the sake of
the materials, which have been used in building stables,
garden walls, and other conveniences; and particularly about
the year 1763, a great part of the north-east round tower
was pulled down to repair Brough Mill, at which time the
Mason therein employed, for the sake of the lead and iron
with which it was fixed, displaced the stone which the
Countess of Pembroke caused to be set over the gateway, on
which was the inscription before cited.
CAMDEN describing this country says, "Here Eden seems to
stop its course, that it may receive some rivulets; upon one
of which, scarce two miles from Eden itself, stood Verterae,
an ancient town mentioned by Antoninus and the Notitia; from
the latter of which we learn, that in the decline of the
Roman empire a Praefect of the Romans quartered there with a
band of the Directores. The town itself is dwindled into a
village, which is defended with a small fort, and its name
is now Burgh; for it is called Burgh under Stanmore, i. e. a
Brough under a Stony Mountain. It is divided into two. The
Upper, otherwise Church-Brough, where the Church standeth,
of which Robert Eglesfield, Founder of Queen College in
Oxford, was Rector, and procured the appropriation thereof
from King Edward III. to the said College." - And again:
"And near the Bridge is a Spaw-well, which hath not long
been discovered. The other village is called Lower Brough,
from its situation; and Market Brough from a market held
there every Thursday. In the time of the latter Emperors (to
observe this once for all) the Little Castles, which were
built for the emergent occasions of war, and stored with
provisions, began to be called Burgi; a new name, which,
after the translation of the Empire into the East, the
Germans and others seem to have taken from the Greek [ ].
And hence the Burgundians have their name from inhabiting
the Burgi; for so that Age called the dwellings planted at a
little distance from one another along the frontiers. I have
read no more concerning this place, but that in the
beginning of the Norman Government, the English formed a
conspiracy here against William the Conqueror. I dare be
positive that this Burgh was the Old Verterae; both because
the distance, on one side from the Levatrae, and the other
from Brovonacum, if resolved into Italian miles, exactly
agrees with the number assigned by Antoninus; and also,
because a Roman military road, still visible by its high
ridge, runs this way to Brovonacum by Aballaba, mentioned in
the Notitia; the name whereof is to this day kept so entire,
that it plainly shews it to be the same, and leaves no
ground for dispute; for instead of Aballaba we call it at
this day by contraction Appleby."
ANNO 1774, William King of Scotland taking advantage of the
absence of King Henry, then in France, quelling a rebellion
excited by his sons, invaded England at the head of an army,
chiefly composed of Flemmings, and took this Castle,
together with those of Appleby and Prudehow; but four
hundred horsemen being assembled by Robert de Stouteville,
Ralph Granville, William Vesey, Barnard Balliol, and
Odenotte de Humfreville, they came up with the Scots, who
were retiring from the seige of Alnwick; and finding them
dispersed over the country in search of plunder, whereby
they had left the King slightly guarded, they attacked, and
with very little bloodshed on either side made him prisoner.
THIS passage, which is mentioned by almost all our
Historians, serves to shew that Brough-Castle was then in
being; built, perhaps, at the time of the Conspiracy
mentioned by Camden
This View was drawn Anno 1774.
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from:-
Scrapbook, 4 volumes, History of Westmorland and Cumberland
Illustrated, of descriptive texts, maps, and prints of views
and coats of arms, for Westmorland and Cumberland, assembled
by a member of the Lowther Family, late 18th early 19th
century.
The volumes are quarter bound, with marbled paper on the
covers; each has a bookplate inside the front cover. The
pages cut from various sources are nicely mounted, two sided
pieces set neatly in a window in the scrapbook page.
The main content is the whole of the two volumes of The
History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and
Cumberland, by Joseph Nicolson and Richard Burn, published
London, 1777. Nicolson and Burn volume 1 is in scrapbook
volumes 1 and 2, volume 2 in scrapbook volumes 3 and 4. Maps
and prints are interspersed to make an illustrated version
of the history.
Some of the sources of maps and prints have been
recognised:-
Maps - coast of Cumberland etc by Andrew Dury, 1764;
Westmorland and Cumberland by Richard Blome, 1673; sheets
from Britannia Depicta, Emanuel Bowen, 1720; Cumberland by
John Speed, Henry Overton edn 1695; Cumberland by John Cary
1787.
Prints from the Set of prints, 20 engravings, Views of the
Lakes etc in Cumberland and Westmorland, drawn by Joseph
Farington, published by William Byrne, London, 1789. Note
that plate numbers vary from edition to edition of this set.
Prints from the Antiquities of Great Britain, drawings by
Thomas Hearne, engraved by William Byrne, published by
Hearne and Byrne, London, 1786-1807.
Prints from Britannia Illustrata, drawings by Leonard Knyff,
engraved by John Kip, published London, 1707-1740.
Print from A Tour in England and Scotland, by Thomas Newte,
published by G G J and J Robinson, Paternoster Row, London,
1788..
Some of the coat of arms are cut from A Display of Heraldrie
by John Guillim late Pursuivant at Armes, published London,
about 1610-11 to 1755.
Coats of arms probably from The Baronetage of England, by
Edward Kimber and Richard Johnson, published London? 1771.
Pages from The Antiquarian Repertory, by Francis Grose,
Thomas Astle, et al, published London, 1775-1809.
Text from the Baronetage of England by Collins?
Scraps cut from an unidentified gazetteer.
At the end is the title page and pp.7-51 from A General View
of the Agriculture of the County of Cumberland, by John
Bailey and George Culley, published by C Macrae, London,
1794.
Individual maps and prints are documented separately; with a
note of their position in the scrapbooks.
inscription:-
: embossed: label on spine: (tatty remains): HI[ ] / [
]/WEST[ ]M[ ] / [ ] / CUM[ ]M[ ] / ILLUS[ ]T[E ]
inscription:-
: printed & embossed: bookplate: gold on grey; crest, 6
annulets from the coat of arms, flowers, thistles: LOWTHER
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