A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Sessions at which the racing business was 

 transacted : 



Cockermouth, January, 169^. 

 Ordered that the High Sheriffe of this County doe 

 give twenty pounds to be divided into two Plates 

 equally. The one to be run for at Workington, 

 the last Wednesday in June. And the other to be 

 run for at Langwathby Moore the first Thursday 

 after Apleby Assizes and p'clamacon to be made a 

 moneth before each Race. 



Cockermouth, January, 1699-1700. 

 Agreed by the Justices of the peace with the con- 

 sent of the high Sheriffe That the Sheriffe give 

 fifteene pounds towards a Plate in Liew of Dinners 

 for the future. And to make the Plate as much 

 more as he pleaseth to be runn for at the usuall 

 course at Workington and Brough Marsh, the 

 money equally to be divided, viz., halfe of it to 

 be run for at the Race att Workington upon Wed- 

 nesday the twenty-sixth day of June. And the 

 other halfe to be runn for at Brough Marsh upon 

 Fryday the nineteenth day of July. 



Cockermouth, January, 1 70^. 

 Ordered that the Sheriffe finde a plate what he 

 pleaseth above the value of fifteen pounds to be all 

 in one plate & to be runn for the last Wednesday 

 in June, the foure miles course att Workington 

 tenn stone weight the bridle and sadle included in 

 the said weight, whosoever runns his horse to putt 

 in ffbrty shillings saveing the Cum'b'lnd gentlemen 

 who are only to putt in twenty shillings if theire 

 owne horses. And the Justices putting in theire 

 owne horses to pay nothinge and the second horse 

 to have the stakes. 



Carlisle, Easter, 1701. 



Whereas the Sheriffes of this county have for some 

 yeares by past been excused from entertaineing his 

 Ma"" Justices of the peace at the gen'all Quarter 

 Sessions of the peace for this county by reason of 

 their findeing a ffree plate to be yearely run for at 

 some horse course w*in the county which for 

 sev'all reasons is now found inconvenient and 

 p'ticularly for that the Justices at their said 

 Sessions doe not usually meete & eate together 

 whereby they want opportunity to conferr & con- 

 sider about the business of the country. It is 

 ordered & desired by the Justices at this present 

 Sessions that after this p'sent yeare the succeedinge 

 Sheriffes for this county will for the time to come 

 expend the wages of the Justices at their gen'all 

 Quarter Sessions in entertaineing of the Justices 

 with a dinner that they may have the better 

 opportunity to discourse & consult about the 

 countryes business. And it is ordered that the 

 said wages shall not be suspended or otherwise laid 

 out in any wise whatsoever. 



Cockermouth, January, 

 Ordered by this Cort that the order of this time 

 twelve month concerning the Justices haveing 

 dinners be discharged and that in lieu thereof 

 the Sheriffe doe pay fifteene pound for a plate to 

 be run for the last Thursday in August upon 



Langwathby-moore. The course to be three 

 heats fower miles each heate. And the course 

 to be set forth by John Dalston Esq r high Sheriffe 

 of the said county, each horse to carry ten stone 

 weight besides bridle and sadle. And each horse 

 that runns to be sold for thirty pounds after he 

 hath runn, the Sheriffe to have the first offer and 

 the Justices the next. And then who thinkes fitt. 

 And e'vy horse that runns to be entered with the 

 Sheriffe one weeke before he runns. And ev'y 

 Justice of peace horse that runns to be free. Every 

 gentleman in the county that putts in a horse to 

 pay ten shillings. And ev'y stranger to putt in 

 twenty shillings. And the second horse to have 

 the stakes. 1 



There is no necessity to point out the 

 significance of these extracts from the ses- 

 sional records in illustration of the sporting 

 proclivities of the county. One peculiarity in 

 these transactions is very striking. The pro- 

 fessional element is conspicuous by its absence. 

 The races were practically confined to the 

 people of Cumberland and Westmorland, and 

 as far as we can infer the instinct of sport 

 innate in Englishmen was the determining 

 cause of these county meetings. But the 

 interest of the justices was not confined to 

 their corporate action in promoting races. On 

 14 May, 1672, William Fletcher of Cocker- 

 mouth wrote to Daniel Fleming of Rydal, 

 that he was just starting to meet his relative, 

 Sir George, at Burgh Marsh, ' where we are 

 to have a famous race for a plate which he 

 and I have given to make sport among the 

 jockeys.' In the same strain Henry Fletcher 



1 The names of the justices who took part in 

 these sporting deliberations on the judicial bench 

 are as follows : Sir William Pennington, Sir 

 Richard Musgrave, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Sir Ed- 

 ward Hasell, George Fletcher, Richard Patrickson, 

 Leonard Dykes, Robert Carleton, John Aglionby, 

 John Briscoe, William Gilpin, Thomas Brougham, 

 Edward Stanley, Richard Lamplugh, Anthony 

 Hudleston and James Nicholson. There was evi- 

 dently a difference of opinion among them whether 

 the sheriff should provide a dinner or a racing 

 plate. On the four occasions when 'the ffree 

 plate ' was ordered there was but a small bench, 

 with Sir William Pennington in the chair, but at 

 the Carlisle Sessions in 1701, when the dinner was 

 substituted, it is evident Sir William was out-voted, 

 no less than nine justices being present. Again, 

 when the ' dinner ' order was discharged in favour 

 of the ' plate ' in 1 702, the Sessions was attended 

 only by Sir William Pennington, Sir Richard 

 Musgrave, Robert Carleton and William Gilpin. 

 With regard to the discontinuance of silver plate 

 as prizes, it may be mentioned here that 'George I. 

 was no racer, but he discontinued silver plate as 

 prizes, and instituted the Kings Plates, as they have 

 been since termed, being 100 guineas paid in cash' 

 (Quarterly Review, July, 1833, p. 386). 



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