CHIMNEY FARM, another chapel of St. James was mentioned in 1575, when it was sold as a 'cottage'. No earlier references have been found, and there is no evidence to link the chapel to Chimney's Anglo-Saxon burial ground. Part of an exceptionally large late Anglo-Saxon burial ground, in use from the mid 10th century and established presumably from Bampton minster, was excavated immediately west of Chimney Farm. Chimney was not separately noted in Domesday Book, though some of the 17 tenants (excluding servi) listed on Bampton Deanery manor may have lived there. In the 1630s Robert Veysey was accused of profaning the chapel, suggesting that it still served some ecclesiastical function, and in 1657 a 50year-old deponent remembered hearing the epistles, gospels, and Lord's Prayer read there; another recalled it being used as a school, however, and in 1634 Veysey asserted that it had been used for c. 70 years as a church house for Whitsun ales, claiming further to have rebuilt it in the early 1620s after Chimney's inhabitants refused to meet the cost. The medieval hamlet occupied the southern edge of a narrow gravel island in the alluvium.

By 1789 settlement was concentrated chiefly around the 17th-century manor house, then a farmstead, south-west of modern Chimney Farm, with a few agricultural buildings east of Lower Farm; there were then three farms, all including adjacent tofts and homesteads. In 1317 demesne produce was carried to Oxford by river, and in the 16th and 17th centuries several testators owned boats; in the early 19th century harvest produce was transported in punts along side streams from the Thames. In the late 1650s it was reportedly used for impounding cattle, and was demolished perhaps in 1758 and certainly by 1789. Its site, said in 1657 to be 'near' the Veyseys' manor house, is unidentified; the remains of 'Chapel Barn', west of modern Chimney Farm, are not identifiably medieval. The road northwards to Aston followed its later course by 1767 and was confirmed in 1855.

BRAMPTON is located about nine miles east of Carlisle on the road to Newcastle, and lies between the rivers Irthing and Gelt. It is bordered on the north by Lanercost and Walton parishes, on the west by Irthington, on the south by Hayton, and on the east by Nether Denton and Farlam. Among the older place-names are the following:—le Corourstrete, Strickelane, le Shopperowe (probably now Middle Row), Northmulane, Jacobsbern, Hulfed, the field of St. Edmund (behind the cemetery), le Foulsho, Pourputte, and Benethenstrete. It is difficult in the survey of the manor to distinguish whether the following places are in the parish of Great Berkhampstead or Northchurch, viz. Westhalfden, Wodgrene, le Synyldeffeld, Sokereweye, Polfotesland, Haryngeshangre, le Maysterland and Froggemordan. Brampton parish and market town in Eskdale ward, in the county of Cumberland, 9 miles to the E. of Carlisle, and 50 W. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is situated in a hilly country, on the banks of the rivers Irthing and Gelt, about 11 miles from the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, which passes to the S. and has a station at Milton. The townships of Easby and Naworth are included in this parish Brampton is a town of great antiquity, and is conjectured by Camden, the antiquary, to have been the site of the Roman station Bremetenracum, which is now usually assigned to Old Penrith. It is about 2 miles to the S. of the wall of Hadrian. On a rock by the river Gelt, 2 miles to the S. of Brampton, is a Roman inscription, attributed by some to the soldiers of Agricola, but by others considered to be of much later origin, probably about the yeare 207.

Brampton parish is parcel of the ancient barony of Gilsland, the lords of which had their principal seate at Naworth Castle, now one of the seats of the Earl of Carlisle. The town suffered to a great extent in the border wars of the 14th century. It was held for the Pretender in the rebellion of 1715, and was occupied by Prince Charles Stuart in 1745. It stands, in a deep valley, surrounded by well-wooded hills, and consists of two principal streets (the houses of which, being mostly, old, are irregularly built), and a spacious market-place. Great improvements, however, have lately taken place, and many of the houses have been rebuilt in a modern style. It is lighted with gas, and has a good supply of water.

Brampton 1871 The Bampton parish register shows that marriages were celebrated here in 1774 and it appears that services were chiefly held here at that time. The parish comprises the townships of Brampton, Easby and Naworth. The town of Brampton consists principally of two streets and the market square. In 1252, during the reign of Henry III, Brampton was granted a charter to hold fairs and markets and is thus one of the oldest market towns in England. In 1788 it was decided to abandon this site completely and major portions were taken down to supply materials for a new church which was considerably expanded in 1828, including a new organ and an excellent peal of bells. This church was, in turn, torn down and replaced by the present St. Martin's in 1878.

 

 

 

 

Carlisle Castle is supposed to occupy the site of the old Roman fort, and was repaired by Egdrid, king of Northumberland, in A.D. 680. After the destruction of it by the Danes in the ninth century, it remained in a dilapidated state till 1072, when its restoration was commenced by William Rufus. His successor, Henry I, in 1122, disbursed money for the erection of some part of the castle and fortifications; and in 1135, David, king of Scotland, who seized Carlisle, assisted in completing the works.

The castle was again in a ruinous state, in the reign of Henry III, in consequence of the damage done to it in 1216, when besieged by Alexander of Scotland. In 1256, the return to a commission of inquiry states that "the queen's chamber, Maunsell's turret, the turret of William de Ireby, the chapel, the great hall, kitchen, and other offices," were much decayed, having been the object of frequent attack. In 1344, an estimate of its repairs were made, when the expense of repairing the stone work was stated at £200; the wood works in the great tower, hall, and other buildings, at one hundred marks; and the reparation of the walls, turrets, runnels, and gates, at £300.

In the reign of Edward IV, Richard, duke of Gloucester, (afterwards Richard III) was governor of Carlisle, and sheriff of Cumberland; and Camden says, "this castle, king Richard III, as appears by his arms, repaired." In A.D. 1563, a report was made to queen Elizabeth, "that the dungeon tower (which should be the principal defence of the castle) was in a state of great decay, and although the walls were twelve feet thick, was in daily danger of falling." The castle, upon this report, was ordered to be thoroughly repaired, and it appears to have been of sufficient strength in the following century to stand a protracted siege.

Among the governors of the castle, in the reigns of Henry III, and the three Edwards, were John Baliol, and Robert Brus the younger, both afterwards kings of Scotland; William de Fortibus, earl of Albemarle; Peter de Gaveston, the favourite of Edward II; bishops Halton and Kirkby, and Andrew de Harcla, afterwards made the first earl of Carlisle. He attempted to convert it into a garrison for Robert Bruce, but was arrested within its walls, and executed as a traitor. After his death, the title of earl of Carlisle was not revived till the restoration, when Charles Howard, son of Sir William Howard, in the 13th of Charles II, was created lord Dacre of Gilsland, viscount Howard of Morpeth, and earl of Carlisle; in which honours he has been succeeded by his immediate descendants to the present time. The castle stands in the sockage manor of Carlisle, in that part of St. Mary's parish without the city.

 

 

Chaucer in Cornwall

1329 Edward III granted the castle and honour to John de Eltham, his brother, who died in 1336 without issue, when the king took possession as brother and heir.

17 March, 1336–7- By an Act of Parliament, the king created his son Edward (the Black Prince) duke of Cornwall and granted him the honour of Berkhampstead. This prince resided for some time towards the latter years of his life at the castle, and during his tenancy, John king of France was confined here as a prisoner of war, being brought from Somerton Castle in Somerset in 1360. From this date the honour followed the descent of the duchy of Cornwall and passed successively for some time to the eldest son of the reigning monarch.

1509 the honour was granted as jointure to Katherine of Arragon (fn. 66) and was afterwards held successively as jointure by Anne Boleyn (fn. 67) and Jane Seymour, queens of Henry VIII. From the date of the death of the latter the honour remained in the hands of the crown till the end of Henry's reign.

1550, Edward VI granted the manor and park to his sister the Princess Elizabeth for life, and upon her accession to the throne she in 1559 leased the site of the castle with the castle mead, the long stable mead, and two water-mills to Sir Thomas Benger for fifty years. This lease seems to have been surrendered and a fresh one made in 1580 to Sir Edward Carey and his wife,

1610- Sir Edward Carey who built the house now known as Berkhampstead Place, and when in 1610 the castle, manor, and lordship were granted to Henry, prince of Wales, eldest son of James I, the prince paid Sir Henry Carey, son of Sir Edward, £4,000 for the newly erected house.

1612- Prince Henry died, and in 1615 the honour was granted to his brother Prince Charles, (fn. 74) afterwards Charles I, who leased Berkhampstead Place to Thomas Murray.

1627 the grounds of the castle were disparked and reduced from 1,132 to 376 acres and were leased to Jane Murray. The unexpired term of the lease to Murray was in 1650 assigned to Major John Alford, in which yeare minute surveys were taken by the Parliamentary Commissioners.

1651 the trustees for the sale of the king's, queen's, and prince's lands sold to Henry Murray, son of Jane Murray, before referred to, the house and park containing 253 acres of land with the site of the castle, and in 1656, since it was found that the sale to Henry Murray was in reversion after the expiry of the lease, and that Murray had assigned his interest to Thomas Aldridge and Mordecai Herne, the premises were confirmed by Cromwell to Aldridge and Herne, (fn. 80) whose under-tenant, Colonel Axtel, was at the Restoration hanged as a regicide. (fn. 81) The honour and manor were sold by the same parliamentary trustees in 1652 to Godfrey Ellis and Griffin Phillips.