A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



garthis for the dew lauboring and occupying 

 of the said fischins; ' for the annual rent of 



O 



' four seme of salmond fisch, ilk seme con- 

 tenand xiij fisch salmand ' payable ' to our 

 capitan constable, and keparis of our castell of 

 Lochmabane.' It does not appear how this 

 agreement was brought about, though possibly 

 it was reckoned at the time the most feasible 

 way to overcome the difficulty. But it did 

 not last long, for at various periods from 1502 

 up to the time of the Union the fish-garth on 

 the Esk was the subject of negotiation between 

 the people of both realms. 1 Taken as a 

 whole the fisheries occupy a prominent place 

 among the industries of the county and supply 

 an interesting aspect of its history. 2 



The mineral wealth of the county was 

 known at the earliest period of which there 

 is trustworthy record. The first Norman 

 settlers soon made themselves acquainted with 

 the numerous veins of metalliferous ores 

 which run through the upper strata, and have 

 been one of the chief sources of Cumberland 

 industries. The silver mines of Carlisle may 

 be said to occupy the place of pre-eminence, 

 as they have supplied the first distinctive in- 

 dustry on record, and their fame has been 

 great in the history of the district. When 

 one of the chroniclers stated that a vein of 



1 The authorities and references in Bruce Arm- 

 strong's History of Liddesdale, 1724, should be 

 consulted. 



a Much information about the later history 

 of this industry, as carried on in the Eden and 

 northern Esk, may be gathered from a curious 

 pamphlet entitled The Fisherman's Defence (8vo, 

 pp. vii. 79), published in 1807 by Charles Waugh, 

 a fisherman of Bowness on Solway. Its sub-title 

 will be sufficient to indicate its character and con- 

 tents : ' A few remarks and observations on some 

 sections of " An Act of Parliament " made and 

 passed in the Forty-fourth year of the reign of His 

 Majesty King George the Third intituled " An 

 Act for the better regulating and improving the 

 Fisheries in the Arm of the Sea between the 

 county of Cumberland and the counties of Dum- 

 fries and Wigton and the Stewartry of Kirkcud- 

 bright : and also the Fisheries in the several streams 

 and waters which run into or communicate with 

 the said arm of the sea." Also, a description of 

 several sorts of nets used in the arm of the sea, 

 showing the strength of twine used in making, and 

 the manner of knitting, rigging, setting, cleaning 

 and using the said nets. Also, a short description 

 of several sorts of fish taken in the arm of the sea, 

 which are not prohibited by the Act to be taken 

 in close time, showing the time of their spawning 

 being in full perfection &c. To which is annexed 

 the substance of a letter sent to the committee 

 appointed by owners, farmers, or occupiers of 

 fisheries in the rivers Eden, Esk, &c. to carry the 



Act into execution.' 



silver had been discovered at Carlisle in 1 133 3 

 he must have been in error about the date, for 

 these mines were worked by the citizens of 

 Carlisle and other lessees several years before. 

 As a matter of course much is known of 

 them, 4 as they were retained in possession of 

 the Crown, and from them metal was obtained 

 for the royal mint at Carlisle. They occupy 

 a prominent place in the sheriff's annual re- 

 turns of the revenues of the county. By a 

 curious fiscal arrangement, the mines were 

 recorded at the Exchequer as the mines of 

 Carlisle though they were situated at Alston, 5 

 a parish on the border of Northumberland 

 nearly thirty miles away. It is strange that they 

 should be called silver mines, for they are 

 really lead mines with a small impregnation of 

 the more precious metal. 



From the Pipe Rolls may be gathered many 

 interesting particulars about the lessees and 

 rents of the mine of Carlisle during the 

 twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In 1158 

 the rent paid by William son of Erembald 



3 Eti/offum Historiarum (Rolls Ser.), iii. 64 ; Pipe 

 R. (Rec. Com.) 31 Hen. I. p. 142. 



4 The mine of Carlisle was not the only lead 

 mine in Cumberland in the king's hand. In 

 1331 Robert de la Forde and Richard Campion 

 were appointed to search for a mine of silver and 

 lead reported to exist in Minerdale and Silverbeck 

 in Cumberland and Harcla in Westmorland, by 

 view of Robert de Barton whom the king nomin- 

 ated keeper of the mine (Pat. 5 Edw. III. pt. 2, m. 



13). 



" A jury declared in 1414-5 'quod mmeatores 

 minere de Aldeston que currit in Scaccario domini 

 Regis per nomen minere Karlioli tempore quo 

 minera predicta fuit in manu domini Edwardi, 

 nuper Regis Anglic, proavi domini Regis nunc, 

 etc., semper habuerunt quasdam libertates ' (Inq. 

 a. q. d. 3 Hen. V. No. 7). It is evident that 

 reference is made here to letters close of 1356, 

 in which the mine of ' Cardoil,' as understood at 

 the Exchequer, is identified with the mine of 

 ' Aldeneston' (Rymer,/Wa,vol. iii.pt. I, p. 330). 

 The same view is expressed in letters patent of 1414 

 when William de Stapleton was lessee of the mines 

 (Pat. 2 Hen. V. pt. 2, m. 1 3). 



6 Hodgson has suggested with much probability 

 that William son of Erembald or Erkenbald may 

 have been an unfortunate German speculator, as the 

 name has a German sound (Hist. o/Northumb. vol. iii. 

 pt. 2, p. 45). Germans and Dutch, it will be seen 

 hereafter, have been associated with mining in 

 Cumberland from an early period. In 1359 Til- 

 man of Cologne, of whose nationality there can be 

 no doubt, was the lessee of the mines of silver, 

 copper and lead in ' Aldeston More,' in which 

 year he obtained letters of protection for himself 

 and his workmen so that they might carry on their 

 mining without molestation (Rymer, Faedera, vol. 

 iii. pt. i, p. 422). 



338 



