PREFACE 
volume. It is believed that the value of the section will be enhanced 
by the postponement. ; ; 
No attempt has been made to disturb popular usage in the spelling 
of place-names. A reasonable liberty has been allowed to contributors 
to adopt the methods with which they were familiar. Local nomen- 
clature as it was employed at different periods of history will be discussed 
in the Topographical section of this work. 
Since the present work was undertaken the promoters have had to 
deplore the removal by death of two valued contributors, from one of 
whom much was expected and whose loss to the History is almost irre- 
parable. Richard Saul Ferguson, chancellor of the diocese of Carlisle, 
who held for a quarter of a century the hegemonic place in all matters 
of local knowledge, died before his first contribution was set in type. 
His unrivalled knowledge of the county, as well as his genial and help-. 
ful sympathy, have been greatly missed by the colleagues engaged with 
him in the production of this work. William Hodgson, a man of 
another type, the venerable botanist, who loved nature in all its moods, 
passed away after he had given the final touches to his catalogue of the 
flora of the county. In their respective spheres both men were dis- 
tinguished, both were Cumbrians by birth and descent, and both deserve 
an honoured place in the dictionary of Cumbrian biography. 
The nature and scope of the Victoria History of Cumberland may 
best be gathered from a perusal of the General Advertisement which is 
prefixed to this volume. The main section of the work will consist of 
the history of the parishes and manors in the county, to which the 
greater portion of the succeeding volumes will be devoted. The work 
which has already been done in this field of research will be duly con- 
sidered in the later volumes. 
The editors are anxious to acknowledge their obligations to Mr. 
J. Horace Round for valued assistance and criticism, and to Mr. George 
Neilson for not a few suggestions as the contribution on the Domesday 
Book, Pipe Rolls, and Testa de Nevill was passing through the press. It 
should be mentioned that the writer of that article is alone responsible 
for the statements there made. For the right to reproduce certain of 
the illustrations in this volume they are indebted to the courtesy of 
Mr. John Murray of Albemarle Street, London ; to the Cumberland 
and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archeological Society ; and to 
Mr. C. W. Dymond of Ambleside. 
XX 
