' Never, never, O Westmorland ! may thy race of statesmen be extinct, 

 nor the virtues that ennoble their households." — Prof. Wilson. 



WESTMORLAND AGRICULTURE 

 1800-1900 



" A time there was, ere England's griefs began, 

 When every rood of ground maintained its man." 



Goldsmith. 



INTRODUCTION. 



WESTMORLAND or Westmoreland is a name which so suffi- 

 ciently indicates the nature of the county from an agricultural 

 point of view as to make it unnecessary to contest the various 

 theories about its correct derivation. It is what Camden claimed it 

 to be a ' west-moor-land,' and it answers to his description to-day. 



Broken up by the great Pennine and Cumbrian mountain ranges, 

 it forms the most rugged and barren county in England, mountain 

 and valley being divided by large tracts of heightening moorland, the 

 valleys being formed by the spurs from the hills, each with its swift- 

 flowing stream uniting to join the rivers in the greater vales which 

 form the agricultural basis of the county. From Tebay to Helvellyn 

 the county is divided from east to west by a high rugged chain of fells 

 and mountains, completely cutting off the northern from the southern 

 portion of the county ; this range may be looked upon as the backbone 

 of Westmorland, the ribs and spurs on the northern side forming the 

 valleys and watersheds of the Eden — it is known as the ' Bottom of 

 Westmorland,' and constitutes the Barony of Westmorland. The 

 Barony is divided into two Wards, the East and the West. The spurs 

 on the southern side of this ridge form the vales of the Lune, and the 

 Kent, and the lake watershed of Grasmere, Rydal, and Windermere. 

 This portion of the county makes up the Barony of Kendal and is 

 also divided into two Wards — Kendal and Lonsdale. This is more 



B 



