INDUSTRIES 



the lords of Egremont in the fourteenth cen- 

 tury. 1 It was stipulated in 1338 when the 

 lands of John de Multon were parcelled 

 among his three co-heiresses that the iron 

 mines of ' Thernby ' and ' Grabergh ' and 

 the forges in the market-place of Egremont 

 and opposite the rector's wall should be held 

 in common. 2 Another mine at Egremont 

 was given to the monks of Holmcultram by 

 William, Earl of Albemarle. 3 



The lords of Coupland were most generous 

 to Holmcultram in the matter of mines and 

 forges within their fee. In addition to the 

 above mentioned mine at Egremont the same 

 earl granted a forge at Winfel, and as much 

 green and dead wood as was necessary to make 

 charcoal (carbonem) for its maintenance. In 

 the confirmation of the grant by Cicely his 

 wife, the location of the forge is described as 

 being in her forest of ' Wynfell,' and the 

 liberty of cutting wood was confined to the 

 district between the Ehen (Eigne) and Cocker 

 (Koker). 4 This monastery carried on an ex- 

 tensive industry in the manufacture of iron. 

 Lambert de Multon gave twenty-four measures 

 of his iron ore (xxiiij duodenas mine ferrt) in 

 Coupland annually to sustain one forge, when- 

 ever he and his men worked the mine, with 

 free access through his land on condition that 

 the monks should not smelt the said ore with- 

 in the barony of Coupland. The same privi- 

 lege was afterwards accorded by his heirs with 

 further provisions about the digging of the 

 mine and carrying away the ore. The monks 

 had furnaces within their own lordship of 

 Holmcultram and rented land at Whitehaven 

 from their brethren at St. Bees for the purpose 

 of smelting. John, abbot of Holmcultram 

 (temp. Henry III.), acknowledged himself bound 

 to the prior of St. Bees for the payment of six 

 pence of silver yearly for setting up their 

 furnace at Whitehaven, but the prior was at 

 liberty to remove it at any time. 6 In the 

 grants of wood for the maintenance of the 

 abbey the lords of Coupland forbad the monks 

 to make charcoal for their forges in the lord- 

 ship of Holmcultram 8 without his special 

 licence. 



Another historic industry contingent on the 

 geographical position of the county was the 

 manufacture of salt, which for several centuries 



1 Inq. p.m. 1 5 Edw. II. No. 45. 

 Pat. 12 Edw. III.pt. I, m. 10. 

 3 Reg. of Holmcultram, Harl. MS. 3911, f. 

 50^ ; Dugdale, Mm. v. 597. 



1 Reg. of Holmcultram, Harl. MS. 3911, ff. 



5,5', 52- 



6 Reg. of St. Bees, Harl. MS. 434, x. 7. 



6 Reg. of Holmcultram, Harl. MS. 3891, ff. 

 15, 1 6. 



was plied on the seaboard from the mouth of 

 the northern Esk to the sands of Duddon. 

 In various districts the low-lying marshes 

 bordering the principal estuaries, with extensive 

 peat mosses to landward, were well adapted 

 for the furtherance of this industry. Though 

 no saltpans have been worked in Cumberland 

 for more than a century, evidence that it was 

 once a flourishing business is still visible almost 

 everywhere along the coast. Survivals of the 

 hollow basins formed by embankment with 

 convenient access to the sea in which the 

 brine was stored for the purpose of evapor- 

 ation may still be traced in many places. But 

 perhaps a stronger proof of its prevalence and 

 antiquity may be gathered from the number 

 of place-names which still carry a reminiscence 

 of its former existence. The names on the 

 ordnance map could be multiplied to any ex- 

 tent from ancient documents. The northern 

 boundary of the manor of Rocliffe in 1589 

 was ' Salt Coote Hylles on the syde of the 

 ryver of Eske.' Then again Salcotes near 

 Newton Arlosh was so named as early as the 

 reign of Edward I." In fact the marshes 

 about the common estuary of the Wampool 

 and Waver were celebrated for their saltpans 

 from an early period. 8 As we proceed further 

 south we meet successively with Salta and Salta 

 Moss north of Allonby; Saltern, with its ex- 

 tensive ruins, the name of the point north of 

 Parton; Saltom Bay between Whitehaven and 

 St. Bees Head; Saltcoats beside Ravenglass, 

 and Salthouse on the sands of Duddon near 

 Millom. But saltworks were not confined to 

 those places which retain the name, for in 

 numberless other localities along the shore we 

 know that the industry was carried on with- 

 out having bequeathed the name to the 

 ordnance survey. 



The importance of the industry may be 

 reckoned in some measure from the nature of 

 the concessions made to religious houses by 

 local magnates who owned land on the coast. 

 The priory of Carlisle received from William 

 Engaine a grant of four saltpans (salinas) 

 between Burgh and Drumburgh 9 on the banks 

 of the Eden where the waters are tidal. Two 

 saltpans in the same district were given to the 

 priory of Wetheral, one by Ralf Engaine and 

 the other by William his son aforenamed, both 

 of which gifts were afterwards confirmed by 

 Simon de Morville, 10 who succeeded to the 

 barony of Burgh in 1157. The same house 



? Cal. of Doc. Scot. (Scot. Rec. Pub.), iv. 



39 2 ~3- 



8 Liber Quot. GarJerobte (Soc. Antiq.), 123. 



9 Dugdale, Man. vi. 144. 



10 Reg. ofWetherhal, 187-8. 



341 



