Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/794

Rh WESTMORELAND. 782 WESTMORELAND. length is 39 miles, and its greatest breadth from E. to W. about 30 miles. In the earliest times it appears to have been the seat of the hill tribes, Voluntii and Sistuntii, offshoots of the Sriyantes, and after its reduction by the Romans formed part of the province Maxima Ctfsarietisis. The Saxons early planted it, and annexed it to their kingdom of Northumbria under the name of Applebiscire, which was afterwards exchanged for that of Westmoringaland. At the time of the Norman conquest it was held by the tenure of Border service, and was divided into the two baronies of Kendal and Appleby, or the Bottom of Westmoreland, the former being possessed by Ivo de Tallebois, and the latter by Ranulph de Meschines, from whom it afterwards passed to the Morville, Vipont, Clif- ford, and Tuftoii families. The surface, with the ex- ception of a small portion in the S., sloping towards Morecambe Bay, is mountainous, being all moors and fells, with deep valleys between, watered by numberless lakes and streams. The most extensive vales are that of the Eden, reaching from about 10 miles S.E. of Kirkby- Stephen in a north-westerly direction by Appleby, to- wards Pemith; and that of Kendal, more particularly southward and westward of that town. Loose masses of rock or boulders, of various sizes and descriptions, are scattered over all the lower hills and the champaign parts of the county ; and on the southern side of Shap, along the road towards Kendal, different streams, and especially "VVastdale-beck, force their passage amidst stupendous blocks of rounded granite. Cross Fell, at the north-eastern extremity of the county, which is the highest of tbe chain of mountains extending along the eastern borders of Westmoreland and Cumberland, rises to the height of 2,901 feet above the level of the sea. The other greatest elevations included wholly or partly within its limits are Helvellyn, 3,055 feet high ; Bowfell, 2,911 feet high; Rydal Head, 3,090; Fail-field, 2,950; Langdalc Pike, 2,400 ; and High Street Fell, 2,730 ; Wastdale Crag, 1,500, being the highest of the Shap fells, besides numerous other fells and hills, the forms of which are mostly rugged and irregular in outline. All these mountains command extensive prospects, and from Rydal Head are seen the lakes Windermere, with its 13 islands, Elter-water, Grassmere, and Rydal-water. The other principal lakes are Ulleswater, 8 miles long, of which the higher part is wholly within the limits of this county, but the lower end, called Ousemere, is divided between it and Cumberland ; Hawswater, situated in the narrow vale of Mardale ; and Broad water, about a mile above the head of "Ulleswater ; there are besides several smaller lakes, commonly called tarns or meres, abounding in trout, some of which weigh 30 IDS., pike, perch, tench, roach, char, eels, and wild fowl. There are mineral springs at Shap Wells, Clifton, and Roundthwaite, and numerous petrifying wells on the banks of the river Kent, and in the cave called Pate-hole. The rivers of Westmoreland are little more than mountain streams. The Eden, the largest, flows 30 miles, and the Lunc, the next in size, 27 miles within the county, without becoming navigable. The Kenn, or Kent, though not so long as either, is more important from forming the broad estuary which terminates in Morecambe Bay. The head waters of the streams which run N. to Ulleswater and the Lowtherare separated by the mountain ridges of Fairfield and Shap Fells from those running S. to Windermere and the rivers Kent, Lune, and Eden. By means of the canal uniting Kendal with Lancaster, there is water commu- nication with the general system of inland navigation. It is traversed by part of the main lino of the Lancaster and Carlisle railway, which passes by Burton, Miln- thorpe, Kendal, Tebay, Shap, Clifton, and Penrith, to the West Lowlands, with a branch line to the S. skirting Morecambe Bay, and another branch from Kendal to Windermere. A line also joins the Northumberland rail- way, passing to the N.E. by Orton. The Eden Valley railway joins the Stockton and Darlington line with the Lancaster and Carlisle, at Clifton, in Cumberland. The roads are generally good, considering the uneven and rugged character of the surface, and owing to the number of tourists the county is better provided with travelling accommodation than its thin population would otherwise afford. Notwithstanding the numerous enclosures and improvements that have taken place since the com- mencement of the present century, the cultivated lands scarcely amount to a moiety of the whole extent of the surface. The arable land is mostly confined to the val- leys, where the soil usually consists of a dry gravelly loam. The far greater part of the remaining surface is natural pasture, particularly in high situations ; and as farmers, during the summer months, pasture their cattle on the extensive commons and moors, with which the county abounds, their chief object is to get as much hay as pos- sible from their enclosed lands. Draining is now generally practised, andlime abounds. Most of the fencesare of rough stone, and the estatesmen or small farmers, who frequently hold from 20 to 300 acres as freeholds or copyholds, still live in a primitive way. Timber is chiefly found in the plantations, which are numerous, especially around Low- ther Castle and other seats, and at Rydal, Whinfell, and Milbourne, where are remains of the old forests which once covered all the hills, but are now supplanted by bog and peat. The larch is generally the most flourishing tree, though oak, ash, alder, holly, birch, and hazel are indigenous, and when planted thrives with a degree of vigour hardly to be expected from the bleak and ex- posed situations which they often occupy. The wastes or commons comprise generally extensive mountainous tracts, termed fells and moors, which produce little besides a coarse grass, heath, and ferns, provincially called ling and brackens, but some of the commons in low situations possess a good soil, and are capable of much improvement. In the hills the climate is bleak and humid, but along the borders of the lakes and in the sheltered valleys warm and genial. The rain-fall is very heavy, ranking among the highest in England, yet the country is very healthy. A remarkable feature of Westmore- land is the large number of persons who emigrate to other parts of England, or the colonies, yet leaving the proportion of the sexes nearly equal. The population is sturdy, industrious, and intelligent, and almost purely English, there being but a small admixture of Irish, Welsh, or Scotch. In 1700 the county contained about 28,600 inhabitants ; in 1801, the first year for which there is a census, it had increased to 40,805 ; and in 1861 to 60,817, showing a gradual augmentation consequent upon the improvement of husbandry and grazing, and the development of manufacturing and mining industry. Among the manufactures, which, however, constitute but a secondary interest in the county, are woollen, worsted, carpets, and rugs, flax, linen, hosiery, sacking,, canvas, and buckram, with a small business in paper and gunpowder. The minerals include graphite, for which Borrowdale was long famous; lead, which is extensively worked at Dunfell or Dunall, and at Eagle Craig, Greensido, Glenriddling, and Staveley in Patter- dale ; also copper is worked near Ashby, Kirkby-Stephen, Orton, Raine, and Shap, and coal of an inferior quality at Casterton, Mallerstang, and Stainmoor. Iron has been found near Appleby. Gypsum is quarried at Acorn- bank ; marble near Kendal, Ambleside, and Kirkby Lons- dale ; good roofing slate at Kentmere, Ambleside, Timing Crag, and Whitemoss ; pink and blue granite in Wast- dale Crags, besides many detached blocks, along with ragstone and coarse galliard slate, dispersed about in all parts. The prevailing strata in the E. and S.E. belong to the carboniferous or mountain limestone formation, which constitutes the whole of the Ravenstonedale and Wildboar fells ; towards the N. in the vale of the Eden, the new red sandstone appears in connection with a small troubled coal-field, and in the N.E., millstone grit, granite, and porphyry, especially between Shap and Moorland, and near Tebay ; the rest of the shire in the W. belongs to the Lower, and in the centre to the Upper Silurian formation. For administrative purposes the county is divided into four wards, viz., Kendal, or the Vale of the Kenn, in the S.W. ; Lonsdale, or the Vale of the Lune, in the S. ; West ward, in the N. W. ; and East ward, in the N.E. ; there was formerly another ward called Middle ward, but it has been divided between