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Ee Ne i ed) Sata ed ie Be 
29 
another, until we come, about the middle of the 15th century, to 
the days when it received into its ranks the humble hero of our 
story, the youthful Simon Senhouse. 
I am afraid we can’t claim Prior Senhouse as strictly a native of 
Maryport, for he was not born at Netherhall, or Alneburgh, as it 
was then called. We might like to imagine him climbing as a 
boy over the hill on which the town now stands, or playing about 
the old manor house down by the Ellen, the peel-tower of which 
still remains. But unfortunately for the accuracy of this pretty 
picture, the Senhouses did not come to Netherhall until some time 
after his death. Our hero sprang from the family whilst it was 
still in its old home at Seascale ; and there he was born somewhere 
about the middle of the 15th century. The genealogy tells us that 
he was the son of Thomas de Sevenhouse, or Senhouse, of Sea- 
scale Hall, in the parish of Gosforth, by his wife, a daughter of 
Sir Richard Huddlestone, Knight-Banneret, of Millum Castle. It 
was his nephew, John Senhouse, who, in 1528, married Elizabeth, 
heiress of the Eaglesfields of Alneburgh, and thus brought Nether- 
hall into the possession of his family. Nor must you expect very 
full details of his youth, or indeed of any part of his uneventful 
life. He would probably be sent as a boy to be brought up in the 
cloister-school of the cathedral city. The school is historical ; 
many traces of its existence meet us in the old records; and it is 
the lineal predecessor of the present Grammar School. It was 
taught by the canons, one of whom enjoyed the title of “‘Scholarcha,” 
or Rector Scholarum, the office being endowed with portions of 
the livings at Stanwix and Dalston. Here we can fancy young 
Senhouse attracted by the blameless lives of his masters and the 
beauty of the services of the Church, and these early impressions 
may have determined the course of his life. Perhaps he was of 
gentle, studious disposition, with little zest for the more active 
professions. His youth coincided with the Wars of the Roses, 
when England was rent asunder by civil strife, and none but the 
most combative could have found pleasure in public life. From 
the school he would pass to the novitiate, where he would be 
exercised in new duties, proved in patience, obedience and the 
