A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



the former grants to Holmcultram. It is also 

 very noticeable that the Derwent could supply 

 20 salmon on Midsummer day, a thing which 

 is very certain it could not do now. 



The monks seem to have been very aggressive 

 in all matters connected with their possessions. 

 The prior of St. Bees * was worsted at an assize 

 held in Carlisle 1278-9, when the jurors pre- 

 sented and the whole county complained 'that 

 the prior of St. Bega has two engines called 

 " cupe " for catching salmon in his pool of 

 Staynburn, where in time past he had but one, 

 and the other was set up six years ago without 

 warrant and after the last justice eyre. There- 

 fore he is in amercement.' The sheriff is 

 ordered to remove the second ' cupa ' at sight 

 of the jury at the prior's expense. This 

 seems to be the first mention of coops at 

 what is now Salmon Hall, where Lord 

 Lonsdale's coops are still situated. All the 

 fishing previous to this may have been 

 lower down between the bridge and the 

 sea, unless the word ' piscariam ' refers to 

 some engine, which is unlikely. In all pro- 

 bability the whole fishing was done by net 

 until the coops at Stainburn were erected. 



This assize is also especially interesting for 

 the glimpse afforded of the practical working 

 of fisheries in this county during the thir- 

 teenth century. On this occasion the jurors 

 of the county made a presentment regarding 

 the great destruction of salmon coming up to 

 spawn, and likewise of the young fry going 

 down to the sea. The whole county, knights 

 and freeholders, unanimously decided that 

 they should observe a close time, ' that 

 from Michaelmas to St. Andrew's Day no 

 net shall be drawn or placed at weirs, pools, 

 or mills, or mill-ponds, and that none fish in 

 the above or any other waters in the county 

 with nets, stergilds, or other engine within 

 said close time or without engine. Also that 

 from the feast of the Apostles Philip and 

 James until the Nativity of St. John Baptist 

 no net or " wile " or " borache " shall be placed 

 at pools or mills or mill-ponds in said waters.' 

 Only approved nets were to be employed, 

 and the meshes were required to be wide 

 enough to let the salmon fry through, viz. of 

 four thumbs length. Persons convicted of 

 illegal practices were to be summarily disposed 

 of by being sent to the king's prison. 



The voluntary adoption of close time and 

 regulations for fishing seems to prove that up to 



1 William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle, by his 

 charter granted and confirmed to the church of St. 

 Bees in Coupland, all his ancestors' grants, that is to 

 say, the salmons which they had by the gift of Alan, 

 son of Waltheof, and six salmons which they had 

 by the gift of the Lady Alice de Romely. 



this time there had been no legal close time. 

 It also seems to point to the fact that all kinds 

 of fishing had greatly increased, and that the 

 nets and fixed engines were getting very de- 

 structive. We can well understand this if 

 there were no regulations attached to their 

 working. This presentment would also argue 

 that fishing was now general on the river and 

 not confined to the mouth as previously. 

 The coops at Stainburn were probably a de- 

 velopment of the fishery formerly carried on 

 between the bridge and the sea, and not an 

 older or separate fishery. It would be found 

 easier and more profitable to have a coop than 

 to use nets, or if nets were used there were in 

 addition the coops, and the business qualities 

 of the monks have been shown before. One 

 of the enactments of this jury survived until 

 the last century, viz. their order that illegal 

 nets were to be burnt in public when seized. 

 In 1827 a large and no doubt useful collec- 

 tion of fishing nets was publicly burnt in 

 the market-place of Appleby. This part of 

 the presentment lasted, therefore, throughout 

 the intervening period. 



To the reign of Edward I. we must refer for 

 the first attempt to make statutable provision for 

 a close time for salmon. ' It is provided,' reads 

 the statute of Westminster the Second (1285), 

 ' that the waters of Humber, Ouse, Trent, 

 Don, Aire, Derwent, Nid, Yare, Severn, 

 Tees and all other waters wherein salmons be 

 taken in the realm shall be in defence for 

 taking salmon from the Nativity of our Lady 

 unto St. Martin's day.' Richard II. reincor- 

 porated these provisions in an Act of the 

 1 3th of Richard II. (1389) and further de- 

 clared that ' no fisher or garthman nor any 

 other of what estate or condicion that he be 

 should put in the waters of ... nor any 

 other waters of the realm nets called stalkers, 

 nor any other nets or engines whatsoever by 

 the which the fry or the breed of the salmon, 

 lampreys or any other fish might in anywise 

 be taken or destroyed.' Four years later the 

 justices of the peace of all the counties of 

 England were appointed conservators of the 

 above mentioned Acts of Edward I. and 

 Richard II. for the preservation of salmon ' in 

 the counties where they be justices.' This 

 was in 1393. History does not state that 

 these close times were carefully observed, and 

 the feud between the upper and lower riparian 

 owners would be as bitter then as it is to-day. 

 The only mention of salmon about this 

 period in the upper waters of the Derwent is 

 that salmon are seen at 'spawning time.' 

 Evidently they were very scarce except at 

 that time. 



Coming to a later period we get references 



412 



