A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



monastic buildings was standing on the west 

 side of the dwelling house. 1 The field in 

 which the sanctuary pillar was erected is still 

 called ' Cross Close ' to the north-east of the 

 site. At a short distance was the burial 

 ground, a small square of land surrounded by 

 lofty trees. At this place was found a monk's 

 head with a cowl very rudely cut in stone. 

 When the old nunnery was taken down, as it 

 is said, in 1715, a small painting on copper 

 of a Benedictine nun, with a rosary, cross, a 

 book in her hand and a veil on her head, was 

 found in a niche in the wall. In the north- 

 west end of the present house a stone from 

 the old buildings was inserted bearing the 

 following couplet : 



Though veiled Benedictines are remov'd hence, 

 Think of their poverty, chastity, faith, obedience. 



Near the site of the old house there is a 

 spring still called the Chapel Well. Nicolson 

 and Burn, 2 writing in 1777, printed a fac- 

 simile of an old inscription on a bed-head at 

 Nunnery, then called the nun's bed, which 

 may be read, ' Mark the end and yow shal 

 naver doow amis.' Hutchinson, 3 a few years 

 later, could not trace the inscription or find 

 anybody who had ever seen it. 



PRIORESSES OF ARMATHWAITE 



Isabel, 4 died 1362 



Katherine de Lancaster, 5 elected 1362 

 Isabel, 6 occurs 1480 

 Isabel Otteley, 7 died 1507 

 Agnes or Annis Elvyngton, 8 died 1507 

 Agnes or Anne Derwentwater, 9 occurs 

 1535, 1537 



8. THE NUNNERY OF SETON OR 

 LEKELEY 



The nunnery of Seton occupied a pictur- 

 esque position on the northern boundary of 

 the parish of Bootle beneath the rising grounds 

 of Corney. It was originally called the nun- 

 nery of Lekeley from the name of the land in 

 the vill of Seton on which it was built. No 

 fewer than four religious houses owned land 

 in this vill. The abbey of Holmcultram 

 had the whole of Lekeley with the exception 



1 Leath Ward, 239-41. 



2 Hist. ofCumb. ii. 431. 



3 Hist, of Cumb. i. 192. 



Carl. Epis. Reg., Welton, ff. 98, 99. 

 Ibid. 



Cal. of Pat. 1476-85, p. 208. 

 ? Dugdale, Mm. iii. 272-4. She is perhaps the 

 same person as the previous Isabel. 

 " Ibid. 270. Ibid. 272. 



of the land granted to the nunnery, 10 and the 

 priory of St. Bees had a grant of land in Seton 

 from Henry son of Thomas, which Thomas 

 was at one time parson of Bootle. 11 Before 

 1 190 the abbey of Cockersand was in posses- 

 sion of 6 acres in Seton in Coupland with a 

 share of the pasture of the vill. 12 



The nunnery was founded at Lekeley by 

 Henry son of Arthur son of Godard, lord of 

 Millom, towards the close of the twelfth 

 century. Though the foundation charter is 

 not forthcoming, we have authentic evidence 

 of the grant. When Henry son of Arthur, 

 with the consent of Godit, his wife, gave 

 Lekeley in free marriage to Henry son of 

 William with his daughter Gunnild, he 

 excepted the land there which he had already 

 bestowed on the nuns (excepta terra in Lekeleya 

 quam dedi sanctimonialibus servientibus Deo et 

 sancte Marie in Lekeleya). 13 As Henry Kirkby 

 was reputed to have been the founder at the 

 time of the dissolution, 14 it must have been 

 Henry son of Arthur, lord of that district, to 

 whom reference was made. The nunnery 

 was entitled in the name of the Blessed 

 Virgin and its inmates observed the Bene- 

 dictine rule. 15 



Religious associations of women did not 

 flourish in Cumberland. The rough life and 

 continual warfare of a border county did not 

 tend to promote institutions more adapted to 

 settled and peaceful districts. Though the 



10 Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. ff. 60-2. 



11 Reg. of St. Bees, MS. xiii. 8-9. 



2 Cockersand Chart. (Chetham Soc.), i. 4. 



13 Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. f. 60. Henry son 

 of Arthur appears to have succeeded to the lordship 

 of Millom in 1185 {Pipe R. 30 and 31 Hen. 

 II.). The grant to the nuns was made before his 

 daughter's marriage. As Dugdale printed an 

 irrelevant charter under the title of this house 

 from the Register of Holmcultram in the Harleian 

 collection, the usual accounts of the priory of 

 Seton are misleading. J. Denton, who had seen 

 the copy of the register now in the custody of 

 the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle, has not been 

 misinformed (Cumberland, pp. 134)- It was 

 Henry son of Arthur who gave a portion of 

 Lekeley to the nuns. The rest of Lekeley, after- 

 wards bestowed on his daughter Gunnild in 

 marriage, was granted in her widowhood to the 

 monks of Holmcultram and confirmed by other 

 members of her family. 



14 L. and P. Hen. nil. x. 364. 



15 ' Monasterium Beate Marie de Ceton in Cop- 

 landia, Ordinis sancti Benedicti Dioc. Ebor' 

 (Durham Obit. R. [Surtees Soc.], 19, 54). Tanner 

 was in error when he said that the nunnery was 

 ' dedicated to St. Leonard,' thus confusing the 

 real dedication with that of the hospital of 

 Lancaster which belonged to the nuns (Notitia 

 Monastica, 77). 



192 



