Report of Meetings for 1880, by James Hardy. 279 



GilleslDueth. who was slain in truce (by) Eob de Yaulx at Feter- 

 lana now Lanercosta."^'' It is from this Gilles, it may be re- 

 marked, that Gilsland obtains its name ; and Bewcastle still 

 commemorates Bueth his sire. 



The priory is not older than 1164. It was liable to be 

 grievously disturbed and pillaged by the Scots. In 1280, 

 Edward I. and his queen dwelt here to enjoy the recreation of 

 hunting in Inglewood Forest. In 1296, the Scottish army burnt 

 the conventual buildings; and in 1297, William Wallace and 

 his men plundered it once more. In winter 1306-7, Edward I., 

 breathing out vengeance against the Scots, on his last campaign, 

 resided here during a long illness ; having, it is thought, occu- 

 pied on that occasion the Edwardian tower. In August, 1311, 

 Eobert Bruce and his army rested here three days ; and in 1346, 

 David II., during an invasion, spoiled it so completely that it 

 henceforth relapsed into obscurity.f On the suppression of the 

 monasteries the priory and adjacent lands were granted to an 

 illegitimate branch of the Dacre family. 



What is called the Chronicle of Lanercost, was the work of a 

 friar minor at Carlisle, and has no other connection with the 

 place, than that the MS. was preserved in the library of the 

 priory. The Chartulary or Eegister of Lanercost is to be found 

 in the Transactions of the Eoyal Society of Literature, vol. viii., 

 new series.^ 



We re- crossed the Irthing on our return to Naworth, took the 

 footpath up a secluded dean in the woods, which ultimately be- 

 comes a steep ravine as it winds round behind the castle, and is 

 enlivened at the bottom by a little burn, which forks into a 

 second " beck". These streams enclose between them the 

 elevated tongue of land on which the castle flanked by precipices 

 is situated. The following plants were noticed near the path- 

 way : — Equisetum Telmeteia {maximum) ; E. syhaticum ; Stellaria 

 nemorum ; S. Solostea ; Hieracium horeale ; Mercurialis perennis ; 

 Ctrccea Lutetiana ; Asperula odorata ; Lonicera Periclymenum ; 

 Viburnum Opulus ; Ajuga reptans ; Eubus suherectus ; Geranium 

 Rohertianum ; Melica uniflora ; Polystichum aculeatum ; Vacci% 



* Archseologia iEliana, N.S. vol. vii., p. 83. For the opposite opinion se( 

 Jenkinson's Guide, &c., p. 88 ; Sidney Gibson's Northumbrian Castles, iii. 

 p. 6. 



t Se© Jenkinson's Guide, pp. 91-92. t Ibid, pp. 89-90. 



