INDUSTRIES 



they should be let to farm for terms of seven 

 years, the farmer doing all repairs. George 

 Sowerby was then the lessee under a lease of 

 seven years at an annual rent of 24..* Ow- 

 ing to the change in the bed of the Eden at 

 King Garth, the citizens of Carlisle had some 

 trouble in maintaining their full right of fish- 

 ing there. A ' new goyt ' or ' gote,' com- 

 monly called ' the goat,' a dam course, gut or 

 sluice, was made about 1597, through which 

 the Eden afterwards broke its way, forsaking 

 its old channel and soon converting ' the goat ' 

 into the main stream. The fishing of the 

 new channel was the subject of negotiation 

 in 1683 and 1684 with the lord of the barony 

 of Burgh upon whose property the river had 

 encroached. 3 In 1 693 the dispute was settled 

 by an agreement with Sir John Lowther 

 whereby the right of fishing in the new bed 

 was demised to the Corporation for an annual 

 acknowledgment. By the action of the 

 owner of Burgh the agreement was terminated 

 in 1670 and the fishing of 'the goat' was the 

 occasion of a suit at law. Since that date the 

 citizens have had other lawsuits in defence of 

 their fishing rights. 3 In later years King 

 Garth has kept up many associations with 

 municipal life unconnected with fishing broils. 

 In 1733 need was felt for a house there for 

 the use of the lessees of the fishery, and the 

 mayor was empowered to contract for the 

 purchase of a piece of ground whereon to 

 erect the desired building. This house be- 

 came the rendezvous of the mayor and com- 

 monalty, and high revel was held from year 

 to year when the common councilmen treated 

 his worship to a good dinner and an inspec- 

 tion of the fishing grounds. The last dinner 

 to the mayor held at this place was celebrated 

 under canvas in 1892. 



As the northern Esk, from its junction with 

 the Liddel to the Solway, practically formed 

 the international boundary between England 

 and Scotland, the right of fishing in its waters 

 was the occasion of many disputes between 

 the Borderers, and the subject of many con- 

 ferences and arbitrations between the envoys 

 of both kingdoms. The inhabitants of Cum- 

 berland constructed a dam, known as a fish- 

 garth, on the river by which they intercepted 

 the fish on their way to the upper pools, thus 

 depriving the Scottish fishermen of their right- 

 ful share. The Scotsmen, denying the Eng- 



1 Some Municipal Records of the City of Carlisle 

 (Cumb. and Westrald. Arch. Soc.), 62, 307. 



Ibid. 273, 311, 318, 321. 



3 Plea of the Corporation of Carlisle against Lord 

 Lonsdak, printed in 1868, where the evidences are 

 embodied. 



lish right to stop the fish, removed the ob- 

 struction. The dispute which arose in 

 consequence of its removal lasted for about a 

 century and caused much ill-feeling between 

 the inhabitants in the neighbourhood of the 

 river. For the purpose of doing justice be- 

 tween the parties it was agreed at West- 

 minster in 1474, touching the matter in dis- 

 pute, that, 



certaine lordes, not bordurers, of both parties, 

 shall be auctorized by their princes to visile and 

 see the place and by inquisition and recorde taken 

 of the eldest and feithfullest persoones of the 

 Marches there, aswele of the one partie as of the 

 othir, and by alle othir convenient and reasonable 

 weyes and moyens, they shall enfourme thaym of 

 the truth, and hough in old tyme the said fishgaert 

 hath been kepte, and thereuppon put thaym in 

 thair devoir to fynyssh and determe that debate 

 and querelle. The lordes of both sides shall mete 

 in the Westmarche for this matier the tenth day 

 of Marche nex to come. Both princes shall wright 

 and gefe straitly in charge to thir subgiettes of 

 either side, that during the said inquisition noon 

 of thaym be so hardy to make any rode, dispoille, 

 brennyng or werre upon the othir, by occasion of 

 setting upp or taking downe of the said fishgaert, 

 nor for noon othir matier nor cause : but that the 

 trewes be observed and kept, and that they that 

 fyndeth themselves wronged or grieved sue for 

 redress to their superiors as reason requireth. 4 



But the dispute did not end with the appoint- 

 ment of this commission. Again and again 

 in subsequent years the English asserted their 

 right to erect and hold on the river Esk a 

 hedge or enclosure, commonly called a fish- 

 garth, where the fish might be more easily 

 caught by them, and they maintained that 

 such right belonged to the king of England 

 and his subjects by law and custom, while the 

 subjects of the king of Scotland as stoutly 

 maintained the contrary. In true border 

 fashion the fish-garth was destroyed by the 

 Scots as often as it was erected by the Eng- 

 lish. 5 Questions about the bounds of the de- 

 batable land were imported into the contro- 

 versy which did not tend to simplify matters. 

 After many abortive attempts to settle the 

 dispute, it was finally decided in 1493 that 

 damage to the fish-garth should not be con- 

 sidered a violation of the peace. Later on, 

 in 1498, Thomas lord Dacre had a grant 

 from king James of ' al and hale oure fisching 

 of the water of Esk for the space and termez 

 of thre yeris,' with power to put in ' garth or 



4 Rymer, Fcedera, vol. v. pt. iii. p. 53, old ed. ; 

 Bruce Armstrong, History of Liddesdale, 172. 



s Rot. Scoti<e (Rec. Com.), ii. 450, 452, 478, 

 490, 493, 498 ; Cal. of Doc. Scot. (Scot. Rec. Pub.), 

 iv. 317, 324. 



II 



337 



43 



