Whalton and its Vicinity, by the Rev. J. E. Elliot. 235 



house within the liberties of the castle for the same purpose. 

 It does not appear that they had any residence on the barony, 

 either from their belonging to great families who had castles 

 elsewhere, or from its vicinity to the important castle of Ogle, 

 the fee of which was frequently held with it, and which was 

 kernelated or fortified by permission of Edward III., at the 

 time when the Scropes of Masham obtained possession of 

 Whalton in 1341. From this circumstance it happened that 

 the character of the village differed from either Ogle or Belsay; 

 where, the huts of the inhabitants clustering under the Avails 

 of the great baronial castle were held chiefly by the immediate 

 followers of the lord of the demesne, ready to take refuge 

 within its walls and defend them against hostile attacks, and 

 prepared at all seasons to attend their liege lord in huntings, 

 and hostings, or when occasion demanded theii services; — who, 

 in fact, constituted his court, and shared his hospitality and 

 festivities as well as his dangers and toils. Whalton, on the 

 contrary, was probably composed of bastle houses, similar in 

 their construction to the pele towers, though not so strong or 

 well built ; and inhabited by the vassals employed in culti- 

 vating the outlying farms. These were, in fact, the onsteads 

 of the different farms in the immediate neighbourhood, col- 

 lected together for mutual aid and protection against the 

 desultory incursions of the Border reivers. The farms also 

 had probably been laid out with a similar object ; they lie in 

 long narrow strips radiating from the place where each farm 

 house originally stood, so as to admit of the stock being 

 driven out in the morning, and grazing back to the homestead, 

 to be placed in safety ere the shades of evening exposed them 

 to be swept off by the "minions of the moon." These old 

 bastle houses have now disappeared from the village, and 

 been replaced by good farm steadings, now conveniently 

 situated on the lands ; but the old people of the place can 

 still remember and point out where each originally stood. 

 The last of them, belonging to the Broomhill, a farm about a 

 quarter of a mile from the village, was taken dowui about fif- 

 teen years since. It had the usual vaulted apartment on the 

 ground floor ; and a heavy stone spout projected over the 

 doorway, which tradition affirmed to have been used to pour 

 boiling water on the heads of those who sought to force an 

 entrance. There was also kept in it a heavy swivel gun, 

 said to have been for repelling marauders, which I have 



