70 



done if they had been subject to arbitrary fines on the death of the Lord 

 and the change of tenant. Long may the Yeomen hold their own ! The 

 Birketts of Rosthwaite can trace theij property to have been 400 years in 

 the family, and in all probability it has been so for double that length of 

 time. The Fishers of SeatoUer, the Youdales, the Jopsons and the 

 Braithwaites, are of equal antiquity. The Wilsons have been at Watend- 

 lath more than 300 years. The Threlkelds came from Patterdale 150 

 years ago. There were 37 tenements in all enfranchised and bought free by 

 the great deed of Borrowdale, and almost all the names exist, and many 

 of them still own the same property. The tenements at Seathwaite 

 were six in number, owned by Lamplugh, two Braithwaites, John 

 Jopson, Nicholas Dickenson, and Thomas Birkhed. At SeatoUer there 

 were eight tenements belonging to two Fishers, two Braithwaites, two 

 Birketts, a Jopson, and a Vickers. 



Although I have said that there are no remains of Roman roads or 

 masonry, yet there can be little doiibt that the Romans crossed from one sta- 

 tion to another by the mountain passes, where for temporary purposes they 

 seem to have laid down blocks of unhewn stone to make the road passable. 

 The nearest stations of the Romans were at Whitbarrow, at Caermot, at 

 Papcastle, and at Ambleside. Their base of operations was never from 

 the crown of a hill, but on a gentle slope commanding a view of the 

 adjacent country. In the earliest times, however, hostile tribes met in 

 deadly warfare, and these mountains and valleys have witnessed battles 

 when the weapons were Celtic hammer heads, arrows made of stone, and 

 similar missiles. No doubt the hardy mountaineers made good their 

 defence on many occasions against invaders, from the natural places of 

 defence which they could select as occasion required. 



Although we see nothing recorded in the histories of the civil wars 

 respecting the state of this neighbourhood, yet there are to be found from 

 time to time glimpses of the turmoil having reached this parish. 

 Sir Wilfred Lawson, of Isel, was a strong parliamentarian, and he 

 with Cromwell's Ironsides plundered Rydal Hall, and his followers even 

 tore up the flooring there, in search of treasure. His arsenal was on St. 

 Herbert's Island ; there he stored munitions of war and probably from 



