POLITICAL HISTORY 



affected gentlemen were carefully tabulated and distinguished from those 

 in whom confidence could not be placed. Special attention was given 

 to the musters of horse and foot with the view of ascertaining the force 

 that could be put in the field. When preparations like these were 

 taken in hand in 1580 by Lord Scrope as warden of the West March, it 

 was found that there were 520 light horsemen within his wardenry 

 besides gentlemen and their household servants to the number of 200. 

 The musters of footmen were taken according to the division of the 

 county into wards, the total in 1581 for the wards of Eskdale, Leath, 

 Allerdale-below-Derwent and Cumberland being estimated at over 6,000 

 men, in which returns ' is sett downe everie man as furnyshede at his 

 daye.' The equipment consisted of jacks, steel caps, spears, lances or 

 bows, but it cannot be said that there was a plentiful supply of such 

 weapons. In a few instances there is a gun ; while one adventurous 

 man, Richard Atkinson of Cumwhitton, whose name may be handed 

 down, was prepared to do battle ' with a piche forke.' l The survey of 

 the fortresses made by Christopher Dacre in 1580, showing the con- 

 dition of their armaments and recommending repairs, is of the greatest 

 interest. The frontier was studded with a chain of castles besides peels 

 and strongholds of lesser note. 2 Some thought these strongholds 

 insufficient to guard the western frontier, and at the height of the 

 panic a proposal was made to call into use the crumbling ruins of the 

 Roman wall. It might either be restored, or a similar barrier erected, 

 at a cost, it was reckoned, of some thirty thousand pounds.* The pre- 

 parations to resist invasion were not altogether valueless after the scare 

 had passed away. There was much to test the ability of the local autho- 

 rities in protecting life and property on the Border. Petty acts of 

 wrong-doing were on the increase ; no man's dwelling was secure from 

 attack ; the days of moss-trooping as an organized system of robbery 

 had begun. Pictures of forays at this period through 'Solway Sands, 

 through Tarras Moss,' so familiar to the readers of Sir Walter Scott, 4 



Border Papers (Scot. Rec. Pub.), i. 37-62. 



3 Bewcastle, three miles from Scotland, a place of great strength ; Askerton Tower, two miles south 

 by west from Bewcastle and six miles from Scotland ; Rocliffe Castle, two miles from Scotland and three 

 miles from Carlisle ; Carlisle Castle, a place of great respect : the Citadel of Carlisle, a fortress or bulwark 

 for the defence of the city, about a quarter of a mile to the south of the castle ; Drumburgh, neither castle 

 nor tower, but a house of convenient strength and defence, about six miles west and by north from Carlisle 

 Castle and two miles from Scotland, a very fit place of defence for that part of the Border ; Bowness Tower, 

 belonging to the parsonage, four miles west and by north from Drumburgh, adjoining a sea creek which 

 divides the English and Scottish borders, very necessary for defence, partly decayed, a new platform for ord- 

 nance required ; Wolsty Castle, about seven miles west and by south from Bowness Tower and a quarter of a 

 mile from the sea creek, ' and about 4 houres boring over the said crick to Scotland' ; the castles of Cocker- 

 mouth, Greystoke, Penrith, Kirkoswald, Naworth and Triermain. It was recommended that two new 

 fortresses should be built on the ring of the Border, between Wolsty and Rocliffe (ibid. i. 32 ; S.P. Dam. 

 Eliz. Add. rrvii. 44 [i.-iii.], mil. 70 pi.]. The rough outline of the defences of the West Border 

 in the Cotton Manuscript [Calig. B. viii. 239] probably belongs to this period. The date must be sub- 

 sequent to the division of the Debatable Land in 1552, for the Scotch Dyke is traced on the 'Plott.' 

 On the English portion of the district between Esk and Sark, south of the dyke, there are five towers, 

 and between Line and Esk nine towers : with the remark that ' all these little stone houses or towers 

 ar betwene Serk and Eske and betwene Eske and Leven and belong the Greyms.' 



3 Border Papers (Scot. Rec. Pub.), i. 300-2. 



4 For instance, see Lay of the Last Minstrel, i. 21. 



279 



