INDUSTRIES 



of Netherby are practically the sole owners. 

 In 1886 these two gentlemen, with a view 

 to improving their fisheries in the upper 

 waters for angling, rented the Earl of Lons- 

 dale's fishery and took off the nets. Curiously 

 enough this experiment had not the effect 

 expected from it, for, instead of improving, 

 the angling appears to have deteriorated, and 

 now the old arrangement has been reverted 

 to, and nets will again be used in the lower 

 waters. 



There is no doubt that the Esk is a very 

 fine river for angling. Large numbers of 

 sea trout and herling usually ascend in their 

 season, and furnish excellent sport. It is 

 also comparatively free from pollution, which 

 in dry weather gives it a great advantage 

 over the Eden. In Esk the water comes 

 down in flood very rapidly and subsides just 

 as rapidly. This is owing to the hilly nature 

 of its watershed, its principal tributaries being 

 the Lyne, Liddel, Tarras, Wauchope and the 

 Ewes, all of which carry the drainage of a 

 very mountainous district. There is no 

 Fishery Board which has jurisdiction over the 

 Esk, consequently there is no power to levy 

 licence duties, and the protection has to be 



undertaken by the proprietors. For the same 

 reason there is a slight difference as compared 

 with Eden in the weekly close time ; Esk is 

 governed by the statute, and has its close 

 time commencing at twelve noon on Saturday 

 and terminating at six a.m. on Monday, while 

 Eden, by virtue of a bye-law of the Fishery 

 Board, commences and terminates six hours 

 earlier. By another bye-law the Eden Board 

 extended the season for angling to Novem- 

 ber 15, while Esk ends on November i. 



Owing to the fact that Esk is partly an 

 English and partly a Scottish river, it has 

 occupied a somewhat anomalous position with 

 regard to legislation, the laws of the two 

 countries differing very materially. Previous 

 to 1862, when a Scottish Fishery Act was 

 passed, that portion of the Esk which is in 

 Scotland was subject to Scottish law and the 

 portion in England to English law. In 1865 

 an English Act placed the whole of Esk from 

 its source to the sea under the English law as 

 far as salmon are concerned, but while doing 

 so omitted to repeal previous statutes, thus 

 leaving the Scottish portion of the Esk under 

 four different and partly contradictory Acts, 

 which sometimes leads to confusion. 



DERWENT FISHERIES 



Some time after the Norman Conquest we 

 get the first insight of the value of the Der- 

 went fishery from old grants and charters. 

 Whenever we find in the history of the past 

 that some particular interest or industry has 

 at any time been protected by charter or 

 statute, it is safe to assume that that particular 

 interest or industry was at the time of its pro- 

 tection considered to be of some importance. 



In the middle of the twelfth century Gos- 

 patric son of Orm gave two parts of the 

 fishery in Derwent to the abbey of Holm- 

 cultram, except Waytcroft, which he gave to 

 the priory of Carlisle. Thomas confirmed the 

 grant of Flimby made by his father Gospatric 

 to the convent of Holmcultram, and gave to 

 that house the whole fishings of Derwent. 1 

 In 1190 we find in the papal confirmation of 

 grants to the abbey of Holmcultram amongst 

 a long list the following : ' Ex dono Thomas 

 filii Cospatricii, unum rete in Derwent cum 

 visneto, et unam piscariam in Derwent, et 

 unam mansuram in ripa ejusdem fluminis, 

 sicut carta ejusdem testatur. 2 This papal 

 confirmation is by Clement III. 



1 Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. ff. 34-6. 



1 Dugdale, Man. v. 600. Thomas son of Gos- 



411 



About forty years later we find that the 

 abbot and monks of Calder were claiming 

 the sole possession of these fisheries, and 

 indeed through all this period the religious 

 houses exacted and clung tenaciously to 

 rights of fishery which were confirmed as 

 occasion required by different sovereigns. The 

 monks of Calder seem to have been successful 

 in substantiating their claim, for Henry III. 

 confirmed to them their claims to the 

 fishery of Derwent and that of Egrein 1231. 

 The grant runs as follows : 'Ex dono Ranulphi 

 Meschin piscariam de Derewent et piscariam de 

 Egre Ex dono Thomae filii Gospatricii, 20 

 Salmpnes annuatim ad festum Sancti Johannis 

 Baptistas; et unum rete in Derewent, inter 

 pontem et mare.' 3 From this document we 

 gather that the grant to Calder Abbey was 

 made by Thomas son of Gospatric, who made 



patric gave 8 acres of land in Seton, adjoining to 3z 

 acres of their own there and one net in Derwent, 

 and one toft nigh the bank where they may abide 

 and manage the fishery. And John son of Alan de 

 Camberton released to them a pool which they had 

 made or should make to turn the water of Derwent, 

 or so much thereof as should be prejudicial to their 

 fishery of Seton. 

 Ibid. v. 34.1. 



