62 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



with the rest of the barony of Barton. The manor consisted 

 of small tenements. ' The forest lands are held on the common 

 forest tenure, the tenants having what grass they can take with 

 the scythe. They likewise covenant not to drive the lord's deer 

 out of it at any time of the year. In summer, however, the deer 

 seldom come there, they being mostly red deer, which always 

 frequent the tops of the mountains in that season. Whenever 

 the lord goes to hunt the stag, the Bailiff summons all the ten- 

 ants before sunset the preceding night, to attend to their drones 

 or stations. These stations are at two places, viz., Bampkin and 

 Bannerdale, where the deer chiefly lye, and where the tenants 

 stand with their dogs, to prevent the deer escaping to the moun- 

 tains. This service, which they are to render once a year, is 

 called a Boon Day, and for this every tenant has his dinner and 

 a quart of ale. It is also a custom here that the person who 

 first seizes the hunted deer shall have his head for his trouble. 

 It is remarkable that the first buck taken here was seized by a 

 woman : she, for the sake of his head, laid hold on him as he 

 stood at bay upon a dunghill, threw him down, and getting upon 

 his neck, held him fast. The late Mr. Hassel frequently called 

 upon the tenants for this service.' l 



The Rev. W. Eichardson, writing in 1793, informs us that 

 ' Stags still range the hills of Martindale, and are the property of 

 Edward Hassel, Esq. of Dalemain. Old people speak of the noble 

 diversion of hunting the Stag ; and they describe, with peculiar 

 pleasure, Philip Duke of Wharton, riding on a gallant steed, after 

 travelling in his coach and six as far as he could, preceded by a 

 running footman in white. Sometimes the Stag is driven into 

 the lake, and taken up by boats. There were many noble stag- 

 chases about four years ago [1788-9], when Mr. Hassel sold 

 some of the breed, which were afterwards hunted in the county 

 of Surrey. ' 2 



The oldest inhabitants of Martindale and the neighbouring 

 valleys still recall the days when ' t'auld Squire Hasell ' enter- 

 tained his friends at Dale Head, in a house which was eventually 

 burnt down. They like to descant on the extraordinary merits 



i Survey of the Lakes, p. 34. 



2 Hutchinson, History of Cumberland, vol. i. p. 449. 



