38 Anniversary Address. 



been often told, and need not to be here repeated at length. It 

 begins far back, for it is alleged that the domain was in posses- 

 sion of a family of the name of D'Eivill soon after the Norman 

 Conquest. From this family, it is assumed, was derived the 

 name of the place, Dyvelstoun, afterwards contracted into Dilston. 

 From the same family name is derived the designation of the 

 stream, on the precipitous bank of which the castle stands, — 

 Devil's Water, — certainly a fitter parentage for the title of this 

 beautiful little river than the inappropriate one which the modern 

 spelling of the name suggests. From the lords of Dyvelstoun 

 the castle and lands passed, in default of direct issue, into the 

 hands of various kindred families in succession, until, through 

 marriage, they became in the end of the 15th century the pro- 

 perty of the Eadcliffes of Derwentwater. It is with the Ead- 

 cliffes that the romance of Dilston is associated, and chiefly with 

 James, Earl of Derwentwater, the last of the race who bore the 

 title. Few histories are so sad as that of this young and popular 

 nobleman, — the bright promise of his morning quenched in 

 blood on a scaffold ere the noon of life was reached, — his splen- 

 did home left to the mercy of rapacious strangers and underlings, 

 by whom the costly furniture was scattered far and wide in the 

 neighbourhood, either sold or given away,— his lordly halls and 

 chambers seized and tenanted by homeless vagrants, until at last 

 it was deemed necessary to lay the building in ruins in order to 

 disperse ** the rookery." The Commissioners of Greenwich 

 Hospital, to whom the Government made a grant of the forfeited 

 lands of the Eadcliffes, by the studied neglect with which they 

 treated Dilston Castle, would appear to have wished to wipe out 

 all association of the name of Eadcliffe and the title of Derwent- 

 water with the district. Better days, however, were in store for 

 the place. Under the care of the late Mr John Grey, the resident 

 representative of the Commissioners, great alterations were made 

 on the grounds around the Castle ; the surface was cleared of 

 unsightly rubbish, and care was taken to preserve the ruins from 

 wanton destruction. A commodious and elegant house, for the 

 use of the Commissioners' representative, was erected at a short 

 distance from the old mansion, commanding a beautiful view up 

 the Devil's Water. The gardens, walks, and shrubberies con- 

 nected with this house now give a finish and richness to the 

 grounds, a contrast to the desolation which prevailed a hundred 

 years ago. In the year 1874, the possessions of Greenwich 



