5G0 
PENRITH. 
The defeat of Rees ap Tudor was a little before the Nor¬ 
man conqueft. A conliderable part of rhe ruins of the 
caftle are Itill vifible. See Oxwich, vol. xviii. Penrife 
is fourteen miles welt'-north-weft of Swanfea, and 219 
weft of London. Lat. 51. 46. N. Ion. 4. 10. W. Britijh 
Birp.Slorij, vol. v. 
PENRITH' (New), a market-town in the county of 
Cumberland, is fituated in a vale within the diftridt 
called Inglewood Foreft, eighteen miles from Carlifle, 
and 283 from London. It is a place of confiderable an¬ 
tiquity, and was fucceflively in pofleftion of the Englifli 
and Scottifh fovereigns ; d tiring whole contentions it fuf- 
fered by the depredations of the Scots, by whom it was 
burned in the 18th of Edward III. and again in the fol¬ 
lowing reign. About that period the plague raged in 
Penrith : and in the year 1598, a fecond vifitation of this 
dreadful diforder nearly depopulated the parifti for 583 
perfons fell viftims to it according to the regifter, but in- 
corredily ftated on a brafs plate in the church as amount¬ 
ing to 2260. The fear of infection prevented the conti¬ 
nuance of the regular markets; and places were ap¬ 
pointed, without the town, for purchafing the provifions 
brought by the country people. 
Penrith is an inland town; not large, but has, when 
viewed colledtively, a very neat appearance, many of the 
houi'es being handfome ftrudtures, built of red freeftone, 
and covered with that lading and beautiful article called 
blue date. It is perhaps the greateft thoroughfare in the 
north of England ; paffengers to and from the metropolis 
to Ireland, crofting the fea at Port Patrick, or White¬ 
haven, pais through this town; and, ftnce the improve¬ 
ments of the roads, thofe who are travelling from Scot¬ 
land to London moftly take this way. In 1715 the Scots 
highland rebels entered this town, and quartered here 
one night, in their way to Prefton, without doing much 
harm; but in the laft rebellion, in 1745, they were very 
rapacious here, and cruel. Its handfome fpacious church 
above mentioned has its roof fupported by pillars, whofe 
ftiafts are of one entire reddifh ftone, dug out of a neigh¬ 
bouring quarry. 4 
The population of Penrith, in the year 1811, amounted 
to 4328, occupying 938 houfes. The inhabitants are 
chiefly employed in agriculture, and in weaving checks 
and fancy-cloths for waiftcoats. A weekly market is kept 
on Tuefday, and a fmaller one on Saturday ; and here are 
live annual fairs. The ftations for marketable commo¬ 
dities are difpofed in a Angular manner: the wheat-mar¬ 
ket is in one part of the town, barley is fold in another 
part, rye and potatoes in a third ; cattle, hogs, and horfes, 
have alfo diftindl places of fale. 
The church is a neat, but plain, ftrudlure: the body 
was rebuilt of red ftone in the year 1722, at the expenfe 
of 2253I. and connected with the ancient tower. In the 
church-yard is a Angular monument of antiquity, called 
the Giant’s Grave, the origin of which has frequently 
exercifed the fagacity and /'peculations of antiquarians. 
It conAlts of two ftone pillars, (landing at the oppoftte 
ends of a grave, about the diftance of flfteen feet afunder, 
eleven feet Ax inches in height, and nearly Ave feet in 
circumference at the bottom, where they are mortifed 
into round ftones embedded in the earth. The fpace be¬ 
tween them is two feet in breadth, and is inclofed by 
four thin femicircular ftones, two on each Ade, of une¬ 
qual lengths, but little more than twenty inches in 
height. Three of thefe ftones have an ornament of fo¬ 
liage, rudely fculptured, remaining round their upper 
edges; the fourth is plain, of a different kind, and feems 
to have been placed in the room of one-decayed. The 
pillars taper upwards; their lower parts are rounded to 
about the height of feven feet, where they aflume a fquare 
form, and appear to have terminated in a point; but the 
tops are broken. On the fquare parts are fome traces 
of ornamental fretwork; and the interior Ade of one 
pillar has a rude delineation of fome animal, refembling 
a bear. Near the fummit of each pillar are the veftiges 
of a raifed crofs, now almoft obliterated. Bifliop Lyt- 
tleton, in his remarks on this monument, (publifhed in 
the Archasologia,) inclines to the opinion of its being 
the fepulchre of fome Britifh prince interred here fubfe- 
quent to the introduction of Chriftianity; and tradition 
afcribes it to the Britifti king Ewain, a warrior of gigan¬ 
tic Aze, who reigned in this county in the time of 
Athelftan, or Ida. That this Ewain was a&ually buried 
at Penrith, appears in the highelt degree probable, from 
the notice of his fepulchre in the “ Verfes of the Graves 
of the Britifli Warriors,” written about the clofe of the 
Axth century. At a fmall diftance from this monument, 
with which, however, it does not appear to have any con¬ 
nexion, is a Angle ftone, called the Giant’s Thumb, Ave 
feet eight inches in height, about fourteen inches broad 
at the lower part, but contracting upwards to ten inches: 
the head, which appears to have been circular, expands 
to the diameter of about eighteen inches. This feems to 
have been an ancient ftone crofs. 
Previous to the j'ear 1400, the inhabitants of Penrith 
were frequently diftrefled for frefh water ; but about that 
time, Strickland, bifliop of Carlifle, purchafed a fufft- 
ciency of the water of the river Peteril, which he con¬ 
veyed to the town at his own expenfe. He alfo founded 
a chantry here, and endowed it with Ax pounds annually 
for the fupport of a pried. The revenues of this efta- 
blifliment were given by queen Elizabeth to an ancient 
fchool (inftituted fo early as the year 1340,) which fhe 
re-founded, by the title of “ The Free Grammar School 
of Queen Elizabeth in Penrith.” 
A little to the fouth of the town, on a fmall elevation, 
Hand the remains of an old caftle, of which we have no 
certain account, either of the time of its foundation or 
even of the time of its being demoliflied. Previous to 
Edward IV. his uncle, Richard duke of Gloucefter, (af¬ 
terwards Richard III.) reAded here in quality of (heriff 
of Cumberland, who repaired it, and lived here Ave years 
together, doubtlefs with a defign to colleft his friends 
in the north, and intimidate thofe of the houfe of Lan- 
cafter. The duke’s repairs, confiding of a tower, por¬ 
ter’s lodge, &c. have been pulled down and taken away; 
but that part of the ancient building which is (till (land¬ 
ing is too Armly cemented to be feparated by the efforts 
of the workmen employed for that purpofe, and proba¬ 
bly mull remain till the all-fubduing hand of time mould¬ 
ers the materials, and levels it with the ground. This 
caftle, with the manor of Penrith, was part of a grant 
from William III. to William Bentick, efq. (afterwards 
earl of Portland,) in which family it continued till 1784, 
when the third duke of Portland fold it to his brother- 
in-law the duke of Devonfliire. 
Greyftoke Caftle is near Ave miles to the weft of Pen¬ 
rith, a feat belonging to the late duke of Norfolk, and 
the place of his nativity. His grace added feveral 
thoufar.d acres to the ancient demefne, and built fome 
curious ediftces upon the improved lands. 
Dalemain, a handfome modern ftone building, be¬ 
longing to Edward Hafell, efq. is fomething more than 
three miles to the fouth-weft of Penrith, on the right of 
the road leading from Penrith to Ulfwater, taking the 
Cumberland Ade of the river Eden, (there being another 
road leading to Ulfwater on the Weftmoreland Ade of the 
faid river.)—A little further on the fame road, but at a 
greater diftance from it, (lands Dacre Caftle, an old 
tower, though pretty entire, and formerly the feat of the 
Dacres. It appears to have been (landing at the time of 
the Saxon invaflon, and probably much earlier. This 
caftle alfo belongs to Edward Hafell, efq. 
Hutton-John, a feat belonging to the ancient family of 
Huddleftone, is about Ave miles and a quarter from the 
town of Penrith, a little to the left of the road leading 
to Kefwick. It is out of Aght in pafling along the road, 
(landing on the declivity of a hill facing the louth; but 
its Atuation may be nearly known to travellers by fome 
fmall groups of flrs, &c. adjoining to the road.—Hutton 
Hall* 
