500 



CUMBE R L A N D. 





mines. 



F'ack lea 



mine 



Mineral 

 waters. 



ore? of lead. The breaks that are met with, are gene- 

 rally incrusted with heautifi.il spar. Ahout 1 1,000 men 

 are usually employed in the Aldston Moor lead works, 

 and the owners are said to clear upwards of £ 16,000 

 per annum. 



Copper ores combined with sulphur, and containing 

 iron and arsenic, are not uncommon ; The principal 

 copper mines are near Caldeck, in Borrowdale, and at 

 Nev.lands. At the last place, the celebrated mine of 

 Goldscarp is situated, from which, in former times, im- 

 mense quantities of copper were procured. In the pa- 

 rish of Egremont, is one of the most singular mines of 

 iron ore in the kingdom It lies at the depth of 12 fa- 

 thoms. The thickness of the seam, which is hard solid 

 metal, is between 24 and 25 feet. It was not much 

 wrought till 1 7S4. Great part of the ore is sent to the 

 Carron foundery. Native Prussian blue is sometimes 

 found in the peat mosses of Cumberland. Oxide of 

 lime, cobalt, antimony, oxide of manganese, and wol- 

 fram, likewise occur in different parts of the county. 



But the most singular mineral production of Cum- 

 berland is black lead. The mines are situated at the 

 head of Borrowdale. The black lead lies in the mine in 

 form resembling a tree : the root contains the finest, the 

 branches the worst, and the quality declines as their 

 distance from the stem increases. Sometimes the ex- 

 tremity of the branches appears on the surface of the 

 ground. There are two workings ; the lower 340 yards 

 above the level of the sea ; the upper nearly 390 : the 

 perpendicular height of the former is about 105 yards, 

 of the latter about SO. The black lead is generally 

 embedded in the fissures of a blue rock, and is found in 

 irregular masses. Between the rock and the black lead, 

 there is sometimes a wet sludge. In some places in the 

 mines, sops or lumps of the mineral are found without 

 branches. In the deepest mine, two veins cross each 

 other ; and the lead is richest, and in greatest abun- 

 dance, at the point of intersection. It is not known 

 when this mineral was first discovered. An act of par- 

 liament was made in the reign of George II. to pre- 

 vent its being stolen, in consequence of the owner of 

 a contiguous part of the mountain having secretly sunk 

 a shaft, and opened a passage diagonally to the mine. 

 At that time, from the words of the act, it seems to have 

 been principally used in the casting of bomb shells, 

 round shot, and cannon balls. In order not to over- 

 stock the market, the mines are only opened at intervals 

 for a short period, and while they are wrought, the la- 

 bourers are watched and examined very narrowly. 

 Over each entrance a house is built, which is occupied 

 by the stewards and workmen. 



Gilsland Spa, in the vale of Irthing, about eight 

 miles south-east of Bewcastle, is much frequented. 

 The principal spring is strongly impregnated with sul- 

 phur, but not so disagreeable to the palate as springs of 

 this kind usually are. At a small distance is a chaly- 

 beate spring, and four miles off another impregnated 

 with alum and vitriol. The banks of the river near 

 the Spa are very interesting to the geologist, as the stra- 

 tification is completely exposed to view. The height 

 id forty yards : The mould occupies six. inches ; coarse 

 clay tinged with oxide of iron, five yards ; argillaceous 

 shiver, two yards; coarse freestone, eight yards; lime- 

 stone, one yard ; black shiver strongly impregnated 

 with alum, one yard; schistus, sandstone, ironstone, 

 .aid limestone, curiously intermixed, six yards ; another 

 stratum of black shiver, from which the sulphureted 

 water issues ; and below this indurated argil, called 

 Juitch. About the year 1 6'9.5, a patent was granted 



to some gentlemen for pearl-fishing in the river lit, 

 near Ravenglass ; and one person is said to have ob- 

 tained as many as he sold in London for L. 800. None 

 are met with now. On the Derwent, a singular mode 

 of catching salmon is practised by persons on horse- 

 back, termed Sahnon-hiinlcrs ; they carry a spear with 

 .three points, with a shaft fifteen feet long. The hunts- 

 man plunges into the water, and while at a swift trot 

 strikes the salmon, which, by a sudden turn of his 

 hand, he raises to the surface, and, without dismount- 

 ing, runs it the readiest way to dryland. 



There are several Druidical and Roman antiquities in ^nrttjiri- 

 Cumberland ; of the former, the most remarkable and ties. 

 celebrated is an extensive circular arrangement of rude 

 and unhewn stones in the parish of Aldingham, about 

 three miles from Kirk-Oswald, called Loner Meg and 

 her Daughters. This monument is nearly 350 yards in 

 circumference : it consists of sixty-seven stones, some 

 nearly ten feet high, and from twelve to fifteen feet in 

 girth. The smallest are only about two or three feet 

 high, and of proportional diameter. They are placed 

 at regular distances on the south side ; but on the 

 north, east, and west, between two stones rather larger 

 than the rest, the distances are greater. Without the 

 circle, opposite the south-west, two stones are placed ; 

 and about seventeen yards farther off is the stone called 

 Long Meg, which is eighteen feet high, and at its 

 greatest diameter nearly fourteen in girth. It is a free- 

 stone, similar to what is found in a quarry a few miles 

 distant. Of the rest, some are flint, and many granite, 

 which must have been brought from a considerable 

 distance. There is no mark of a tool on any of them. 

 What is commonly called the Picts Wall, is the princi- 

 pal antiquity of Roman origin. It runs from the river 

 Tyne on the east, to the Solway Frith on the west. 

 It was begun by the Emperor Adrian, against the in- 

 cursions of the Brigantes and the Caledonians. At first 

 it was built in the manner of a mural hedge, with 

 large stakes" wreathed with wattles. It was repaired 

 by the Emperor Severus, or rather rebuilt with stone, 

 and strengthened by a ditch and a chain of forts. 

 About the year 430, just before the Romans left Bri- 

 tain, this wall was repaired, and rendered still stronger. 

 From Staniwix, a little village north-west of Carlisle, 

 where the Picts' wall crosses the Eden, its remains may 

 easily be traced westward to its extremity at Bulress, 

 a small town on the Solway Frith. From Staniwix 

 it may also be traced eastward for nearly eight miles ; 

 but in this space only the foundation of Severus' ram- 

 part, and the trench of Adrian, can be discerned. Far- 

 ther to the east it runs up a high hill ; from whence, 

 till it crosses the Irthing and enters Northumberland, 

 it is entire, in some places to the height of five feet, and 

 in others to the height of eight feet. 



Cumberland contains one city, 17 market towns, 

 and 112 parishes. The ward of Allerdale is in the 

 diocese of Chester, the rest of the county in that of 

 Carlisle. It sends six representatives to parliament, 

 pays one part of the land-tax, and raises 200 men for 

 the militia. 



Most antiquarians are of opinion, that Cumberland, Hktory. 

 at the time of the Roman invasion, was inhabited by 

 the Brigantes. Mr Whitaker, however, maintains, that 

 the Voluntii inhabited it as far as Adrian's wall on the 

 north. Its inhabitants were very warlike, and were 

 never completely, and for any length of time, subdued 

 by the Romans. It seems to have been governed by 

 its own princes, after the Romans left Britain, till the 

 10th century, when, according to some writers, it wag 



