INDUSTRIES 



the abbey of Holmcultram and Gilbert de 

 Feritate, rector of Bowness, an amicable 

 agreement was arrived at whereby the rector 

 conceded to the abbot the tithe of fish of a 

 standing net (retis stantivi) and all kinds of 

 fishing practised in the Eden by the people of 

 Burgh-by-Sands, and the abbot in turn yielded 

 to the rector the fish tithes of Bowness and 

 Drumburgh, except the fishing of the river 

 reaches at Polleburgh. 1 In a similar dispute 

 which the same abbey had with the priory of 

 Carlisle, bishop Walter acted as mediator. 

 The bishop awarded that the tithe of fish 

 caught in the Eden at Fleminghalse, Vaer- 

 halse, Depedraif, and at other places within 

 the parish of Rocliffe, and drawn to land in 

 that parish, should belong to the canons of 

 the priory as rectors of the church, but that 

 for the sake of peace the canons should pay 

 the monks an acknowledgment of two shillings 

 a year. 3 



Disputes about fishing rights and fish tithes 

 were not confined to the religious houses at 

 this early period. The fisheries of lay pro- 

 prietors were also guarded with jealous care. 

 In 1208 an action was decided in the king's 

 court at Carlisle before the justices itinerant 

 between Alan de Pennington and others, com- 

 plainants, and Richard de Lucy, lord of Aller- 

 dale, deforciant, in which the fisheries of 

 Ravenglass formed a conspicuous feature. At 

 that time fishing rights on the Mite (Mighet) 

 and Esk were considered worth a suit at law. 3 

 Other instances might be given to show that 

 fishery disputes were not confined to recent 

 centuries. 



A singular reservation of the eighth fish, 

 which appears to have been a feudal rent, is 

 mentioned in several charters in connection 

 with the fisheries in Eden belonging to the 

 monks of Wetheral. 4 William son of Odard 

 of Corby reserved the eighth fish from the 

 coup of the monks as his own perquisite of 

 the fishery granted to them by his ancestors. 

 This tribute reminds us of the practice of the 

 bishop of Glasgow, who claimed the eighth 

 of the royal profits issuing out of the civil 

 courts of that diocese. 5 



It is unfortunate that the earliest record 



' Reg. of Holmcultram (Harl. MS. 3891), f. 



Ibid. ff. 20-1 ; Dugdale, Mm. v. 598. 



=> Fines (Rec. Com.), 10, u. 



4 Reg.ofWetherbal(<Z\\m\>. andWestmld. Arch. 

 Soc.), 84, 93 ; Dugdale, Man. iii. 588-9 ; Neilson, 

 Annals of the Soltvay, 53. 



6 Reg. Efts. Glasguensls (Bannatyne Club), i. 

 12, 22. It should be noticed that this perquisite 

 was granted by David, king of Scotland, and was 

 applicable per totam Cumbrian 



evidence is so silent about the tenure of 

 fisheries and methods of fishing. In the upper 

 parts of rivers the tenure is simple enough. 

 Though the running water in common law 

 belonged to no one, riparian ownership ex- 

 cluded the public as trespassers on the lands 

 adjoining the rivers. In 1393, when the 

 famous fishing statute of 17 Richard II. cap. 

 9 was passed, it was found on inquisition that 

 the owner of the Honor of Cockermouth had 

 the oversight of the Derwent from source to 

 sea with power to punish trespassers and to 

 burn nets and unlawful engines. In the 

 barony of Burgh-by-Sands there appears to 

 have been a common right in the fishing of 

 the Eden, which forms its northern boundary. 

 Like right of pasture on common land, the 

 tenants possessed a certain interest in the 

 fishing in proportion to the value of their 

 tenements. Hugh de Morvill granted to the 

 monks of Holmcultram an entire net at 

 Polleburgh and in all other places on the 

 Eden in common with the men of the vill 

 of Burgh, together with a booth and a fit 

 place to dry their net. 6 At a later date, 

 about 1240, in an agreement between Thomas 

 de Multon and the same abbey about a net in 

 the Eden, which was appurtenant to the ten- 

 ancy, it was stated that a carucate of land in 

 the barony carried with it the right of fishing 

 with two nets. 7 In a similar manner the 

 tenants of Workington were associated with 

 the lord in the fishing of Derwent. Patric 

 son of Thomas son of Gospatric conceded to 

 Holmcultram the whole of his fishery of Seton 

 and one free net in Derwent wherever his 

 free men drew the river. 8 The manorial 

 aspect of fishing rights is very interesting at 

 this early period. 



The earliest methods of fishing of which 

 there is documentary evidence do not seem to 

 h?.ve differed from those now in use. Angling 

 with a hook and fishing with a net obtained 

 in the twelfth century as they do to-day. In 

 the concession of William son of Odard to 

 the monks of Wetheral about 1175 the ex- 

 clusive right of fishing was granted in a portion 

 of the Eden near the priory, so that neither 

 he nor his heirs could fish with hook or 

 net or in any other way between Munchewat 

 and the mill pool. 9 Fish coops, coffins or 

 baskets were employed in the upper reaches 

 of the Cumberland rivers. The monks above 

 named obtained from the owner of Corby, a 



8 Reg. of Holmcultram, Carl. Cath. Lib. ff. 5, 6. 

 7 Ibid. ff. 19-20. 



s Reg. of Holmcultram, Harl. MS. 3891, 54-5. 

 Reg. of Wetherhal (Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. 

 Soc.), 84. 



333 



