Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society (Volume vol 8 no 1) online

One would think they must have been rung when the
city was recaptured by the duke of Cumberland. But,
whether rung then or not, they then ran a risk of being
doomed to an endless period of silence. Prebendary
Wilson, writing on the 9th of January, 174I, to Chancel-
lor Waugh, who was then in London, says : —

A demand made by Major Belfour, in the Duke's name, of the bells
of our Cathedral, as a perquisite to the train of the artillery, was a
surprise to the members of the Chapter here, and very ill relished by
them. Mr. Birkett, Mr. Head, and myself, waited on the Duke to
desire his protection. . . . The answer given us was that the Duke
would not interfere in it ; that if it was a perquisite we could say
nothing against it. The Chapter here wod be glad to have your
sentiments in this affair. — (Mounsey, p. 173).

The chancellor's " sentiments in this affair " were on this

wise : —

I had heard of the demand of the bells, but would not believe it was

so



THE BELLS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL. 159

so much in earnest : it surprises every person I have mentioned it to,
and am fully persuaded that no law of this land, nor any military
law, will justify Mr. Belfour's demand. ... I dined this day with an
old Lieut.-Gen. of great reputation (and others in that way of great
consideration) who was out of patience at the mention of it. — (lb. p.
180).

Under the influence of these " sentiments " the demand
collapsed. Mr. Wilson, replying to the chancellor, says :

Mr. Belfour has left the town without pressing the matter further. . .
Scandalous, unprecedented, and illegal demand ! — (lb. p. 181).

Discussion on this matter, if instituted in Notes and Queries,
would probably elicit plenty of precedent for demand so
astonishing to prebendaries, chancellor, and " old Lieut-
Gen, of great reputation ". Likely enough church bells
of many a captured town have been melted down as " per-
quisite to artillery train ". The duke seems to have
thought it a matter of course. London Society of Ringers,
at that time known as the " London Scholars ", had they
been aware of his royal highness's views on this subject,
would have thought twice before "greeting the victorious
Duke of Cumberland with a welcome home-peal on his
return from the Scottish campaign " {Bell News, vol. ii.
p. 66). Worse still, they were " allowed to call themselves
the Royal Cumberland Youths, a medal, long in their
possession, being struck as atrophy of the circumstance "
(ibid). Cumberland Youths, of all names, so called after
the would-be destroyer of Carlisle cathedral bells!

But how is the tradition of the bells never having been
rung since 1745 to be reconciled with the statement of one
of them having been "'cracked while ringing during the
rejoicing for peace after the Battle of Waterloo " ? There
may be no one now living who has any distinct recollection
of having heard them on that occasion. But there should
be persons still living who have heard them since, if the
real facts of the case be as thus related in 1838 by Billings
(p. 44) :—



l6o THE BELLS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL.

A few years back, from the supposition that the ringing of the bells
shook the tower, it was resolved not to ring them any more. Small
cords were then attached to the tongues (over pulleys) and conveyed
through the groining to the floor of the tower, and one person can
now comfortably make the whole give a faint sound.

It was then that the bell alleged to have been cracked in
1815 was "removed to the back of., the altar", to return a
few years later to the belfry, recast, as shown by inscription
on the present fourth bell, at the Whitechapel foundry, by

C & G MEARS FOUNDERS LONDON 1S45.

It has now nearly reached the fortieth year of its renewed
existence without ever having once been rung. Whether
it has ever been sounded by means of a cord tied to its
clapper is not known. It is now subject to no such in-
dignity. For what reason, then, was it placed in the belfry,
and what purpose does it now serve ? Its sole rai 'son d'etre
at present is to supply the note A in the tune " St. David ",
played by the chimes* at noon and 4 p.m. But its date,
exactly coinciding with the termination of the century
for which the bells are traditionally believed to have
been condemned to silence, looks as if the dean and
chapter had intended to humour the tradition by having
the ring in full swing again on the expiration of the
hundredth year after the '45. Yet Billings, in 1838, writes
as if he had never heard of the tradition. On the other
hand, an old Cockermouth ringer has told Mr. W. C.
Parker, captain of the St. Stephen's (Carlisle) ringers, that
he well remembers having taken part in practising a peal
at Cockermouth with a view to handling a rope in the
expected ringing of the cathedral bells at the end of the
hundred years. The ringing for the peace after Waterloo,
Mr. Ferguson suggests, as there have been no wheels
to the bells within living memory, and may have been



* The third note in "St. David", for want of the higher F, is struck on the
treble (D).

none



THE BELLS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL. l6l

none in 1815, perhaps may have been an exceptional
arrangement of cord and clapper work, very likely to crack
one of the bells. Possibly the publication of this paper
may elicit information from our venerable friend " the
oldest inhabitant " which will clear up the mystery.

The chimes, worked by the clock, the sound produced
by hammers striking each bell on the sound-bow, have
been shown to be an institution at least as old as the time
of the commonwealth. But the commonwealth chimes
were not the same as those now in use. Mr. Robert
Wardale, curate of Stanwix, writing to Chancellor Waugh
in April, 1747, says : —

I think we have nothing new in Carlisle worth your hearing but the
chimes, which began yesterday, the Duke's birthday, and go very
well. — (Mounsey, p. 269).

It is to be hoped it was only by accident, though it looks
rather like deliberate choice, from the way in which Mr.
Wardaie mentions it, that the new chimes " began on the
Duke's birthday ".

The arrangement, described by Billings, whereby " one
person can comfortably make the whole give a faint sound ",
which must not be confounded with the chimes, has of late
years been somewhat shorn of its original proportions,
neither the Whitechapel bell nor the treble having now
any cord attached to its clapper. Nor is the tongue of
" Maria ", though still retaining its cord, any longer
wagged in this ignominious way, the usage of the " ser-
vice bell ", as she was formerly called when sounded whilst
the clergy and choir were filing to their seats, having for
some years been discontinued. The only bells now ever
heard, except in connection with the clock and chimes, are
Nos. 2 (Fleming) and 3 (Orbell) for service, and the tenor
for death knell, age or sex of deceased not indicated. The
mode of ringing these three bells, however " comfortable "
for the " one person " whose duty it is to pull the cords,

is



l62 THE BELLS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL.

is objectionable. No need to go far afield in search of
warnings against it, cord and clapper having, only a few
years ago, proved fatal to two church bells in Carlisle, and
but a few months ago to the gaol bell.

But what help is there for this if the ringing of the
cathedral bells would endanger the tower? Perhaps it
would do nothing of the kind. The way in which bells
have been the cause of injury to towers is thus explained
by Mr. Ellacombe : —

In order to keep the cage steady, wedge after wedge would be driven
between the timbers and the walls of the tower; and hence the
irreparable damage done to many a beautiful building. — (Belfries and
Ringers, p. 34).

Carlisle can furnish a case in point. St. Stephen's church
was built in 1865 at the expense of Miss (now Baroness)
Burdett Coutts, who also gave it a ring of eight bells ; the
cage of which has been made " steady " * after the manner
described above, and already there is a crack in the tower.
Mr. Ellacombe adds: —

It is of the greatest consequence that the timbers should take their
bearing independent of the masonry, i. e. not fixed into it. — (lb. p. 35).

It is not only easy to avoid this mistake in Carlisle
cathedral : it is difficult to make it, owing to the size of
the belfry. The late archbishop of Canterbury, when
dean of Carlisle, evidently anticipated no danger to the
tower from the ringing of the bells. Appealing for funds
for the restoration of the cathedral, he said : —

The inhabitants of Carlisle will hardly wish to see their cathedral
restored without having the bells put in thorough repair, which are
said never to have been rung as a peal since 1745. This improve-
ment could, I understand, be made for a few hundred pounds. — (Cir-
cular, June 19, 1855).

Dean Tait here writes as if he had taken professional



* Mr. Warskitt, of the Whitechapel foundry, who hung the bells, says that this
was not done by him.

advice



THE BELLS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL.



T63



advice upon the subject. It might be well if this matter
were again taken into consideration ; and, if it should
appear, after full inquiry, that the ringing of the bells
would do no injury to the tower, there is doubtless public
spirit enough in the present generation of " Gentree of the
Countie and Citie " to emulate the good work done by
their forefathers in the days of the commonwealth.

Nor should they be content with a ring of six, there
being ample room in the belfry for a dozen or more ; there
should be at least eight.* The completion of the octave
would not greatly increase the expense of " having the bells
put in thorough repair ", provided the addition were made
at the treble end of the ring, in which case the present
treble in D, which weighs about 5^ cwt., might be recast
as F, whilst two new bells, of about 5! and 6f cwt., would
be required for E and D.

The following table, in which an asterisk denotes a new
bell, whether cast from old or new metal, will enable the
reader better to understand the successive changes which
have occurred in the belfry, as well as the change now
proposed : —





1401


1 60S


Note


Cwt.


1657-9


1728


1845


Note


Cwt.


?


Note


Cwt.




















I*


F


5i






















2*


E


51












1"


1


1


D


5i


3*


D


6|












2*


2*


2


C


7f


4


C


7^


Orbell .




1*


B^


9l


3


3


3


Bt>


9f


5


B7


94




1*


2


A^




4*


4


4 :;:


A


13


6


A


13


Maria .


2*


3


G


17


5


5


5


G


l 7


7


G


17




3*


4


F




6*


6


6


F


2\\


8


F


2l|




4*


5


E?





















*Hutchinson (ii., 658) mentions the cathedral as having in his time(i794) "a
ring- of eight bells ". Clearly a mistake.

It



164 THE BELLS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL.

It is here assumed that the condition of the bells is such
that none of them need to be recast. Possibly an expert
might — I do not know that he would - suggest the recast-
ing of them all. But to such a proposal the local anti-
quarian society, and a good many other persons, would no
doubt strongly object, preferring to allow them to remain
as they are rather than to relegate "Maria" to the furnace.
Let us hope that whoever may be called in as professional
adviser in this matter may prove equal to dwelling together
in unity with archaeologists, and refrain from suggesting
anything likely to impair the historical interest of bells
associated with honoured names of Willielmus de Strick-
land, Orbell L. M., Jeremy Tolhurst, and Fleming D. D.
Decanus.



NOTE.

(Ante, p. 141).



We scarce had won the Staneshaw bank
When a' the Carlisle bells were rung.

Among the bells which were rung on the occasion of the rescue of
Kinmont Willie in 1596 by the bold Buccleugh, when " the castle
bells rang out" and "those of the cathedral and Moot Hall answered
them ", were two, besides the cathedral " Maria", which have been
described by Messrs. Ferguson and Nanson in these pages (ante,
vol. vii, pp. 237-244), viz., the " Old Market Bell ", dated 1584, and
the " Muckle Toun Bell o' Carlisle ", which bears the name of its
donor, " Radulphus Comes de Westmorland ", who died in 142 1.
The market bell has the following inscription, in Roman capitals : —

I - S - MAIORE : T - V - I - S - BA : 1584-

I - I

The initials I S, T V, and I S, are those of the " mayor and bailiffs".
The initials I • I below are doubtless those of the bellfounder, whom
we have not been able to identify. Nor have we yet succeeded in

identifying



THE BELLS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL.



I6 5



identifying the founder of the " muckle toun bell". We here en-
grave his initial cross and one of his letters, in the hope that they





may come under the notice of some campanologist who may be able
to inform us to what foundry they belonged.



(i66)



Art. XVI.— The Seal used by the Archdeacon of Carlisle;
with Notes on the Seal of Chancellor Lowther. By R. S.
Ferguson, F.S.A.

Communicated to the Society, at Seascale, September 25th,
18S4.

PHE registrar of the Diocese of Carlisle, Mr. Mounsey,
recently called my attention to the seal used by the
Archdeacon of Carlisle, and was kind enough to allow me
to examine the matrix, or rather matrices, for there are
two, and to take impressions in wax and in gutta percha.
The seal is of pointed oval form, about two inches long,
rather over, and represents the Virgin and Child with St.
Peter under tabernacle work of three canopies. St. Peter
occupies the dexter side, and his keys are of gigantic size
compared with St. Peter himself. The engraving is rude,
and the countenances of the figures are somewhat gro-
tesque. The background behind them is cross hatched,
with small crosses and saltires. The triquetra is below
their feet. The legend in Gothic characters is

S'CVSTODIS : SPVALITATIS : KARLIL : DIOC' SEDE : VACANTE.

The directors, Messrs. Franks, Tucker, and Way, of the
Museum formed at Carlisle, on the occasion of the visit
of the Archaeological Institute to that place in 1859,
assigned this seal to a late period in the fourteenth century.
They appear to have only seen one of the matrices, which
I shall now describe as Nos. 1 and 2.

No. 1 is clearly the original ; it is a thin plate of brass,
soldered, or in some way fixed to an iron back, which
again has had another iron back, now loose, once soldered
to it. The marks of a hinge show that this second iron

back



SEALS OF THE DIOCESE OF CARLISLE.



167



back has superseded a hinged flap or flaps, which formed
a handle to the matrix. No. 2 is a solid piece of brass,
and is an inferior copy of No. 1 ; the cutting is shallower
and more regular, and the rude rigour of the irregularities
of No. 1 is superseded by a poor tameness. The engraving
given in the text is from an impression taken from No. 1,
but the engraver has softened down the irregularities ; for
instance in No. 1, one side of the canopy work is cut deeper
than the other, a peculiarity which is hardly shown in the
engraving, but which comes out in a wax cast.




The legend tells us that this is the seal of the custodian
of the spiritualities of the diocese of Carlisle while the
see is vacant ; and the device is appropriate, for during
a vacancy of the see of Carlisle, the Archbishop of York
becomes guardian of the see, and in modern times, at least,
appoints the Chancellor of Carlisle his commissary. During
the vacancy caused by the death of Bishop Halton in
1324, William de Ayrmynne, Canon of York was appointed
to take charge, as appears by his letter of resignation,

printed



1 68 SEALS OF THE DIOCESE OF CARLISLE.

printed in " Letters from Northern Registers," from the
Reg. Melton at York.

Venerabili in Christo patri ac domino suo reverendissimo, domino
W. Dei gratia archiepiscopo Ebor., Angliae primati, suus clericus
humilis et devotus, W. de Ayrem ynne, canonicus Ebor., obedientian
ac reverentiam debitam cum promptitudine complacendi. Pater ac
domine revere nde, de innumeris beneficiis et honoribus mihi per vos
impensis, vobis, non ad quales debeo, sed quantas possum, ad multi-
plices assurgo gratiarum actiones. Verum, pater reverende, audito
nuper rumore quod sanctissimus in Christo pater et dominus, dominus
Johannes Divina providentia papa xxij episcopatum Kariiolensem
reservavit, et eidem ecclesiae providit de pastore, statim administra-
tionem mihi in spiritualibus et temporalibus commissam re et verbo
dimisi cum effectu, et super hoc scribo magistro Johanni de Skiren,
officiali loci praedicti, et idem dominationi vestrae reverendas significo,
si placet. * * * Ad ecclesiae Suae regimen Altissimus vos conservet
per tempora feliciter longiora, mihi, vestro in omnibus, prascipientes
vestrae beneplacita voluntatis. Scripta London, xiiij die Aprilis
[1325]-

It is clear that Messrs. Franks, Tucker, and Way only
saw matrix No. 2, and assigned it to late in the fourteenth
century. Matrix No. 1 might well be assigned to an earlier
date, and may have been made for W. de Ayrmynne,
Canon of York, who may have been the first cvstos to
have hit on the happy idea of symbolizing his office by
placing on his seal the saint to whom York Minster is
dedicated, and the B. V. M., to whom is dedicated the
Cathedral of Carlisle. Matrix 2 is, I have no doubt, a
a modern copy of No. 1, but when engraved, or why,
I cannot ascertain.

The question yet remains of why this seal should be
used by the Archdeacon of Carlisle. It is very probable
that the seal of the Archdeacon of Carlisle was lost in the
long and stormy interval between the death, in 1643, of
Isaac Singleton, Archdeacon and Chancellor of Carlisle,
and the appointment of a new Archdeacon, Lewis West,
in 1660. The new Chancellor, Robert Lowther, appointed

in



SEALS OF THE DIOCESE OF CARLISLE.



169



in 1661, got a new seal, which was exhibited at Carlisle
in 1859, by the Rev. Tullie Cornthwaite, a nd is described



on the catalogue as




Brass matrix of pointed oval form, a seal of a Chancellor of Carlisle.
A figure in a flowing dress and flat cap, appears seated under a round
arched canopy ; beneath it is an escutcheon charged with this bearing :
six annulets, 3, 2, 1, (Lowther). Legend

4- REVEREND. EPISC. CARLIOL. CANCELL.

A new seal was also procured in 1660 by the Dean and
Chapter of Carlisle ; it is the seal they still use, and has
on it the date 1660. It is thus clear that during the
troubles of the Commonwealth, the seals of the Dean and
Chapter, of the Chancellor, and of the Archdeacon, all

went



I70 SEALS OF THE DIOCESE OF CARLISLE.

went astray and were lost. The Dean and Chapter and
the new Chancellor procured new ones, but Mr. Arch-
deacon West did not see any use in going to the expense
of a new seal ; he had very little use for one, nor had any
of his successors, only for the sealing, Mr. Mounsey tells
me, of inductions, and these were unfrequent.* Hence,
probably, Mr. Archdeacon West thought, and so did his
successors, that any old seal in the registrar's possession
would do, as indeed it would in law.



APPENDIX.

Since the above was written, I have by the kindness of Mr. Percival.
Treasurer, vS.A., obtained access to a cast of Chancellor Lowther's
seal, preserved in the collection of the -Society of Antiquaries, and
from it the engraving given on page 169 was made. It is as
described before, of pointed oval shape ; Chancellor Lowther, is
seated in a large chair, with huge round knobs on the corners of the
back, and at the ends of the elbow. The chair is within a round
arched canopy, supported by fluted pillars with Corinthian capitals.
The Chancellor is bearded. I imagine the flowing dress and flat cap
to be the velvet cap and gown of a graduate of the civil law.
According to Nicolsonand Burn ,f Chancellor Lowther held the degree
of LL.B. ; he was instituted as rector of Bewcastle in 1663, and held
that preferment until his death in 1671, but lie resigned the Chan-
cellorship in 1666. As his seal was, in 1859, in the possession of the
Rev. Tullie Cornthwaite, it is probable that the seal of Chancellor
Lowther continued to be used by his successors, until the death of
Thomas Tullie, Chancellor of Carlisle, 1683 to 1727, from whom the
Rev. Tullie Cornthwaite was descended. It may also have been used
by Dr. Waugh, Chancellor 1727 to 1765, who married a daughter of
Chancellor Tullie. The Rev. Tullie Cornthwaite inherited much of
Chancellor Waugh's property, including his papers.

I am not without hope that the matrix of this seal may yet be
recovered, although at present it cannot be found. It is described as
very massive, with a large knob or handle on the back.



*The Bishop of Carlisle is his own Archdeacon, and executes most of the
functions through his Chancellor.
f Vol. II, p. 307 and 47S.



d7i)



Art. XVII. — The Brough Inscription. From the Athenceum,
of Nov. 22, 1884.

fPHE inscription from Brough, in Westmoreland, which
-*- has recently been purchased for the Fitzwilliam
Museum, is the longest and by far the most interesting of
the four or five Greek inscriptions which have hitherto
been found in Britain. Brough-under-Stainmore, as it is
called to distinguish it from Brough in Yorkshire, occupies,
as the name implies, the site of ancient earthworks, now
crowned by the ruins of a mediaeval castle, well described
in Mr. Clark's recent work on English castles. Brough
commands the fertile valley of the Eden, and has been
identified with the Roman station of Verteras on the
Roman road which led from the south to Appleby and
Carlisle. In 1879, when the church was restored, a
number of sculptured slabs were discovered built into the
walls and foundations of the porch. One was a Latin
inscription containing the name of Septimius Severus ;
another was a thick slab of coarse-grained carboniferous
sandstone, apparently obtained from a neighbouring quarry,
23 in. in length and 12^ in. in width. It bore an in-
scription in twelve lines, in parts somewhat damaged,
owing seemingly to the slab having at some period formed
part of the pavement of the porch. The writing was
considered by local antiquaries to be Runic, and casts were
sent to Prof. Stephens, of Copenhagen, in 1880. He
doubted the Runic character of the inscription, and sub-
mitted it to his colleague, the Professor of Greek, who
after a fortnight's examination, gave it as his opinion that
it was in no classical language or alphabet. It was also
submitted, we believe, to Profs. Mommsen, Hiibner, and
Kaibel, the highest epigraphic authorities in Germany,

who



172 THE BKOUGH INSCRIPTION.

who failed to decipher it. Prof. Stephens then attempted
to read it as a Runic inscription, and dealt with it as such
at great length in the third volume of his " Runic Monu-
ments."* He pronounced it to contain unique forms of the
Runic letters, the language being a peculiar Anglian dialect,
otherwise unknown. His translation, a wonderful tour de
force, consisting, however, largely of strange proper names,
made the inscription to be the gravestone of an early
Christian martyr. That such a reading should have been
possible may be accounted for by Mr. Isaac Taylor's recent
discovery of the Greek origin of the Runic letters. On
the publication of Prof. Stephens's engraving, several
scholars, including Prof. Sayce, Mr. G. F. Browne, and
Mr. Isaac Taylor to whom Prof. Stephens had sent early
copies of his book, came independently to the conclusion
that the inscription was not in Runes, but in uncial Greek
characters. By the united efforts of the above mentioned
scholars, aided by Profs. Rhys, Ridgeway, and Hort,
Messrs. E. B. Nicholson, Bradley, Arthur Evans, and
Hicks — some of whom took the trouble of a journey into
Westmorland in order personally to examine the readings
— the inscription has at last been satisfactorily deciphered
and interpreted, though not till several months of eager
discussion.

It proves to consist of five very fair Greek hexameters,
perpetuating the memory of one Hermes of Commagene, a
Syrian youth who, at the age of sixteen, lost either his life
or his liberty in an expedition against the Cimmerians — an
expedition which may very possibly be identified with the
Caledonian campaign of Septimius Severus in 209 a.d.
The Latin inscription at Brough written in the reign of this
emperor, and the peculiar forms of several letters, especi-
ally the omega, in the Greek inscription, are in favour of