Lakes Source, print, Cockermouth Castle

Cockermouth Castle


	item:- Dove Cottage : Lowther.46 image:- © see bottom of page	click to enlarge
	Print, engraving, Cockermouth Castle, Cockermouth, Cumberland, engraved by DL, 1775. Pasted in the Lowther scrapbook, vol.3; between pp.66-67; with descriptive text:- COCKERMOUTH CASTLE, CUMBERLAND. / (PLATE I.) / THIS was the baronial castle of the honour of Cockermouth, built, as is supposed, soon after the Conquest by William de Meschines, who possessed that honour by gift of his brother Ranulph, earl of Cumberland; to whom the Conqueror gave all that part of Cumberland called Copeland, lying between the Duddon and the Derwent. / FROM the said William this honour, for want of heirs male, came to Gilbert Pipard; and from him, for the like cause, to Richard de Lucy; whose daughter and co-heiress marrying Thomas de Moulton, had issue a son Anthony, who took upon him the name Lucy; and to him, as it appears in Madox's Baronia, this honour, together with the manor of Pappe Castle, were granted by Edward III. in the second year of his reign. This Anthony dying without issue, his estates devolved to his sister Maud, who first married Gilbert de Umfraville, and afterwards Henry de Percy, earl of Northumberland. She did, by a fine levied in the Octaves of St. John Baptist, in the reign of King Richard II. A.D. 1384, settle the castle and honour of Cockermouth, with a large proportion of her inheritance, upon her husband and his heirs male, with diverse remainders to the family of the Percy's, upon condition that they should always bear the arms of Lucy, which are, gules, three luces or pikes, hauriant, argent, in all shields, banners, ensigns, and coats of arms whatsoever, quarterly with their own. In this family it continued till Joceline, the last earl, leaving only a daughter, she carried it in marriage to Charles Seymour, duke of Somerset; and by the death of Algernon (the last duke) without heirs male, it descended, together with the title of earl of Egremont, to Sir Charles Wyndham, Bart. whose son is the present proprietor. / OTHER accounts attribute the building of this castle to Waldof, first lord of Allerdale, son of Gospatrick, earl of Northumberland, cotemporary with William the Conqueror. Waldof, it is said, resided first at Pappe Castle in this neighbourhood; which he afterwards demolished, and with the materials erected this edifice. / THIS castle stands on the west side of the Coker, on a mount, seemingly artificial, near the Darwent. The dimensions of the walls, which form nearly a square, are computed about 600 yards in compass; they are flanked by several square towers. The entrance is on the east side over a bridge. Over the outer gate are five shields of arms; four of them are said to be those of Moulton's, Umfraville's, Lucy's, and Percy's. In this gate are some inhabitable rooms, wherein the auditor holds a court twice every year. / WITHIN the walls are two courts: in the first are some small modern tenements inhabited by a person who takes care of the castle. From this court, through a gate, is the entrance into a second. On each side of this gate are two deep dungeons, each capable of holding fifty persons; they are vaulted at the top, and have only a small opening in order to admit the prisoners, who either descended by a ladder, or were lowered down with ropes. On the outside of the gate, just even with the ground, are two narrow slits; one on each side, sloping inwards. Down these were thrown the provisions alloted for the wretched beings confined there, who had no other light or air but what was admitted through these chinks. / WITHIN the second court stood the mansion, now in ruins. The Kitchen, as it is called, makes a picturesque appearance. It has one of those monstrous chimneys, so common in old mansions, which serve to give an idea of the ancient hospitality. Under it is a groined vault, said to have been the chapel, supported near the middle by a large polygonal column, and lighted by only one window. / DURING the civil war it was garrisoned, anno 1648, for the king; and being besieged and taken, was burned, and never since repaired; although the present earl has caused the outer walls to be new pointed, and the rubbish to be removed from the inner court. / This view, which represents the north-east aspect, was drawn anno 1774.
	inscription:-	printed bottom, left and right [29] Jany 1775 / DL
	wxh:-	152x110mm (approx)
	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