INDUSTRIES 



It is very interesting for the light it throws on 

 the common law and ancient custom of fishing 

 in the rivers of the county. 1 



It will be expedient to refer to the proceed- 

 ings of the assize in 1278 at some length, for 

 here we touch upon what may be termed the 

 foundation of legal enactments in connection 

 with fishing customs in Cumberland. The 

 records of the court may be construed as 

 follows : The jurors of Lythe and Eskdale 

 and of Cumberland and Allerdale made a 

 presentment regarding the great destruction 

 of salmon coming up to spawn and of the fry 

 going down to sea in the waters of Eden and 

 Esk and other rivers of the county. There- 

 fore the whole county, knights and free- 

 holders, unanimously determined that from 

 Michaelmas to St. Andrew's Day no net 

 should be drawn or placed at weirs, pools or 

 mills, or mill pools, and that none should fish 

 in any waters of the county with nets, 'ster- 

 kilds' or other engine, or without engine, 

 within the said close time. Also that from 

 the feasts of the Apostles Philip and James till 

 the nativity of St. John the Baptist no net or 

 ' wile ' or ' borache ' should be placed at pools 

 or mills or mill pools, nor any net placed at 

 weirs, save by the conservators of rivers, and 

 that the meshes should be wide enough to let 

 the salmon fry through, viz. of four thumbs' 

 length. It was provided also that so often as 

 any fisher or miller or other person infringed 

 this provision and was convicted he should be 

 sent to the king's prison and not repledged, 

 unless by consent of the conservators. The 

 jurors likewise attested that Thomas de Multon 

 of Gillesland, as his ancestors had done before 

 him, took fines from all illegal nets in the 

 Eden at a place called Polleburgh by view of 

 knights and others appointed to the custody 

 of the waters ; but if the king's bailiffs had 

 arrived, then the judgments pertained to the 

 king for that turn. 



It was also provided that all ' boraches ' at 

 mills should henceforth be removed under for- 

 feiture of forty shillings for each conviction, 



1 Fisheries in Cumberland were not altogether 

 confined to salmon. The herring was a staple 

 article of food at an early date. Waldeve son of 

 Gospatric and William Engaine, two magnates who 

 owned land on the western seaboard, gave to the 

 priory of Carlisle the tithes of their herring 

 fisheries, which grants were confirmed by Henry 

 II. about 1175 (Dugdale, Mon.vi. 144). Waldeve 

 and Alan his son bestowed a manse and a herring 

 fishery in Eltadala or Allerdale on the canons of 

 Hexham (The Priory ofHexham [Surtees Soc.] i. 59). 

 A fishery for lampreys in the Eden near Cumwhitton 

 belonged to the Dacres in 1485 (Cal. of litq. p.m. 

 Hen. Vll. i. 69). 



and that there should be no more than three 

 small nets in the Eden by custom, the meshes 

 whereof with a knot should be of three 

 thumbs' length for catching lampreys ; and 

 none should fish with these except from the 

 feast of St. Andrew till the quinzaine next 

 before the feast of St. John Baptist. The 

 king for his castle of Carlisle should have one ; 

 the citizens of Carlisle another in their pool 

 at the garden leased to the city for 15, in 

 which none should fish without leave of the 

 citizens ; and if more nets were found they 

 might be put down by the conservators. The 

 jury presented and the whole county com- 

 plained that the prior of St. Bees had two 

 engines called coops (cupe) for catching sal- 

 mon in his pool of Stainburn, where in times 

 past he had but one ; and the other was set 

 up six years before without warrant and after 

 the last circuit of the judges, on which account 

 he was amerced. The sheriff was instructed 

 to remove the second coop at the prior's ex- 

 pense. It was enjoined moreover that in each 

 pool of the Eden, Esk and Derwent and other 

 waters where salmon might be taken, in mid- 

 stream by ancient custom there ought to be a 

 pass wide enough for a sow with her five little 

 pigs ; and as the following were unduly 

 narrowed, viz. at Cockermouth, Camerton, 

 Stainburn and Workington, these openings 

 ought to be so enlarged at the costs of those 

 who contracted them. The judges then named 

 as conservators twelve persons chosen by con- 

 sent of the whole county, who were obliged to 

 make oath in court for the faithful discharge 

 of their office. It was also provided that all 

 nets and engines found on the waters contrary 

 to law and custom should be burned in the 

 presence of the conservators. This enact- 

 ment was to endure for ever to the good of 

 the whole county and others adjacent. 2 



The width of the fish-gap or free passage 

 in midstream, ' according to old custom wide 

 enough for a sow with her five little pigs,' is 

 a subject of curious interest in the history of 

 Cumberland fisheries. The same measure- 

 ment was in use several years later. In 1293 

 a plea was heard at Newcastle before the 

 itinerant justices against the monks of Weth- 

 eral for raising the fish pool and contracting 

 the fish pass in the Eden contrary to ancient 

 custom, by which the gap was to be wide 

 enough for a sow with her five little pigs to 

 pass through. 3 It would be difficult to deter- 

 mine in feet and inches the exact width of 



* Cal. of Doc. Scot. (Scot. Rec. Pub.) ii. 



38-9- 



3 Assize R. (Northumb.), No. 651, 21 Edw. I. 

 rot. 36 ; Reg. of Wttherhal (op. cit.), 400-1. 



335 



