148 MAY 



works. This gives the name to Muncaster, from 

 Saxon times the home of the Penningtons, and 

 yielding in turn the title by which the head of that 

 family, English of the English, was raised to the 

 Irish peerage under one of the inscrutable rules of 

 modern chivalry. Muncaster Castle itself stands on 

 a steep bluff on the Esk, a mile or so above the 

 old camp. It is impossible to guess how long it has 

 endured as a stronghold; guarding, as it does, a 

 ford in the estuary, it was, no doubt, occupied and 

 fortified by native tribes long before the Roman 

 occupation. The conquerors would not be slow to 

 secure such an important position, and, in fact, the 

 foundations of the feudal keep are of Roman work. 

 During some alterations in the building a few years 

 ago a fine gold coin of Theodosius the Great was 

 discovered. The ancient tower still frowns across 

 the ford it was built to defend, the central block of 

 modern additions. 1 



i Over the lychgate of the old churchyard of Muncaster is graven 

 the following mediaeval inscription, which, seeing that it is in a 

 dead language, perhaps may be committed without offence to the 

 discreet obscurity of a footnote 



'f^tc locus tic saccr tst; fjic nulli tningm fas cst.' 

 The legend is paraphrased on the other side of the gate as follows: 

 ' 2U)is plate, tficsr bjalls anfc all arounD n&erc ; 

 Do nougfjt unfjolu or ungermlg fterr.' 



