[j^atterlJale, 203 



tioned little now remains — one tower being almost the only- 

 remnant of the once magnificent Shap Abbey, and the 

 farmers having made so free with the granite blocks which 

 once marked the area of ©'arl J^oftg,its boundary is difficult 

 to trace. It was once a strip of land half-a-mile long by 

 about twenty-five yards broad, covered by huge granite 

 blocks placed at intervals of ten or twelve yards. To the 

 west of Pooley Bridge, the main-road leads to Keswick. 



^enritSi is a neat litde town, busy from the fact of its 

 being a great thoroughfare of the district, but not particu- 

 larly interesting, except for some Druidical remains in the 

 neighbourhood, a curiosity in the churchyard, and Brougham 

 Castle. The circle called Long Meg and her daughters is six 

 miles from Penrith ; and no relic of the kind in England is 

 better worth a visit. In the churchyard of Penrith is the monu- 

 ment about which nobody really knows anything, though 

 it goes by the name of the Giant's Grave. It consists of 

 two stone pillars, with four slabs between them, set up on 

 edge. There are some unintelligible carvings on the upper 

 part of the pillars. This was the monument which Sir 

 Walter Scott's family could not get him past, (though they 

 had all seen it * dozens of times '), when, failing and infirm, 

 he set out on his last sad journey in pursuit of health. Pass- 

 ing through Penrith, he would see the Giant's Grave ; and 

 thither he limped, to wonder once more what it could mean. 



The parish of Brougham, Burg-ham (meaning Castle-town) 

 was the Bovacum of the Romans, where, as we learn from 

 Nicholson and Burn, they had a company of Defensores, 

 and left many tokens of their presence in antiquities which 

 have come to light from time to time. The village of 

 Brougham passed into the hands of the Veteripoints in the 

 reign of John or Henry III. The Castle of Brougham has 

 been held by the Veteripoints, Cliffords, and Tuftons, and is 



