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Dove Cottage : Lowther.74
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Print, engraving, Penrith Castle, Penrith, Cumberland, by I Pye, 1775.
Pasted in the Lowther scrapbook, vol.4; between pp.404-405; with descriptive text:-
PENRITH CASTLE, CUMBERLAND. / THIS castle stands near the west end of the town: both its builder and the time of its construction are unknown. Leland, who mentions it in his itinerary, calls it 'A strong castel of the kinges;' an appelation it does not from its remains appear to have deserved. / CAMDEN also speaks of it, but neither mentions the date of its erection, nor its founder: he, indeed, says, it was repaired in Henry the Sixth's time, out of the ruins of Mayburg. This is by his last editor justly deemed a mistake, and contradicted in a marginal note. / IT is built of a course red sandstone, and was nearly square, each side measuring about 25 feet. All but a small fragment of the north wall is tumbled down. There seems to have been a small bastion-like projection on the south-west angle, but by much too trifling to serve for a defence. The south-east and north-west cannot be discovered, those angles being entirely demolished. In the middle of each face was a small projection like a buttress or turret, and round the top of the walls run brackets, such as usually support machicolations; but these seem to have been intended rather for shew than use. Neither the height nor thick[ness]
[thick]ness of the walls are extraordinary; the former nowhere exceeding thirty, nor the latter five feet. / THIS building seems to owe its present ruinous state to more violent causes than the slow depredations of time and weather: yet history does not mention it as the scene of any great military achievement; neither was its form destitute of flanks, by any means calculated to sustain a seige. Perhaps the value of its materials may have conduced to its destruction; for such a propensity have our farmers to destroy an ancient monument, that they will bestow more labour to disjoint a few stones to mend their buildings, than would earn them enough to purchase three times the quantity. / THIS castle, it is said, continued in the crown till the reign of King William the Third, when that prince granted it, together with the honour of Penrith, to William Bentinck, earl of Portland, ancestor to the present duke of Portland. / IN a pleasing description of this part of the country, entitled 'An Excursion to the Lakes,' there is the following agreeable portrait of this castle: / 'WE viewed the ruins of Penrith Castle:- it is said to have arose on the foundations of a Roman fortress, the traces of which are not now to be discovered. The buildings form a square, and are situate on a rising ground surrounded with a ditch.- The scite towards the town is much more elevated than on any of the other quarters. This front consists of the remains of an angular tower to the east, which now stands separately from the rest by the falling of the walls: the centre, which projects a little from the plane of the front, is hastening to decay, presenting to the eye broken chambers, passages, and stairs.- This part of the building is still connected with the western angular tower, an open hanging gallery forming the communication.- Below this gallery a large opening is made by the falling of the building, forming a rude arch, through which, and the broken walls to the east, the interior parts of the ruin are perceived in a picturesque manner.- Nothing remains within but part of a stone arch vault, which, by its similitude to places of the like nature which we had formerly seen, we conceived to have been the prison.' / This view, which represents the north-west aspect, was drawn anno 1774.
inscription:- printed bottom left and right
April 13 1775. / I. Pye.
wxh, print:- 147x100mm
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