60 



the territories of Dunmail were laid waste, they were bestowed by 

 Edmund on his ally Malcolm. 



The circular heap of stones which forms the pile called Dunmail 

 Raise, and gives its name to the mountain pass between the dales 

 of Grasmere and Wythburn, is seen adjoining the high road, and is 

 crossed by the wall which here marks the boundary between the 

 counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. The cairn measures 

 twenty-four yards in diameter, and it rises gradually to an elevation 

 of six feet. It is flat on the top, and the centre is indicated by a 

 well-defined space, of rather larger stones. Mr. Gilpin conjectures 

 it was probably intended to mark a division not between the two 

 counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, but rather between the 

 two kingdoms of England and Scotland in elder times, when the 

 Scottish border extended its present bounds. "The generally 

 received tradition is," he adds, " that this cairn was raised to com- 

 memorate the defeat of Dunmail, the last king of Cumbria on the 

 occasion above related. But," says Gilpin, "for whatever purpose 

 this rude pile was fabricated, it hath yet suffered little change in 

 its dimensions, and is one of those monuments of antiquity which 

 may be characterised by the Scriptural phrase of remaining to this 

 very day." The assertions of modern philologists seem to be at 

 variance with history. They tell us that the meaning of the 

 syllables Dun-mail-raise is "heap, heap, heap," in three different 

 languages or dialects ; that it is common for a modern affix to be 

 added to an ancient name bearing the same signification. It 

 appears from the above that the name or names by which the 

 cairn was originally known to a race of men who held the country 

 for a time, was retained by their successors whose language differed 

 from that of the former race. They in turn had their own word 

 for the heap, and added it to the name by which it had been 

 distinguished. In length of time we have Dunmail-raise, and in 

 our own day when the cairn is spoken of as Dun Mail Raise Heap 

 we make use of four words wliich have each the same meaning in 

 as many different languages. Judging from the foregoing reasons, 

 it seems doubtful whether the people of Cumberland ever had a 

 King Dunmail. 



