The following is copied from a parish history attributed to William S Ponton, the schoolmaster of Allhallows School, which was first published in the Allhallows Parish Magazine, and subsequently as a series of articles in The Wigton Advertiser in 1901.
Our Parish (From the Wigton Advertiser)
We quote the following from the Allhallows Parish Magazine. It is signed “W.S.P.”- Mr. W. S. Ponton, of Allhallows, we suppose:-
“Leaving Whitehall and its legends for a little while, let us in thought cross the park, and we shall soon come to the old corn mill, which in olden days every landowner had or tried to have on his estate. Many years ago this mill was tenanted by a family named Sharp. It is just under the protection of the second old Peel Tower of the parish, namely, Harby or Harraby Brow. The corn mill has been deplenished, and is now used as an electric generating station to supply power and light to Whitehall and its Home Farm. It is under the superintendence of Mr. Miller Tiffin.
The old tower of Harby Brow gives a good idea of its former appearance. Though repaired by the late Mr. George Moore, no modern ideas have been worked into it, but the small doorways and narrow windows are there. The lower storey is now used as a milk-house, and a capital one it makes. The Harby Brow Farm is one of the largest farms in the parish, and is held by Mr. John Barnes. Not very far to the north of Harby Brow, across the fields, stands Upmanby, or Uckmanby, once a manor house; as old records tell us of the “Lord of the Manor of Aspatria and Upmanby,” or, as it is – “Lorde of the Manoure of Aspatrick and Ukmanby.” The holder of Upmanby was no doubt required to do military service for his over-lord, and perhaps more than was usual, for at a little distance is Watch Hill, a most suggestive name, taking us back to the time when “watch and ward” must be kept against our Scottish neighbours. Watch Hill is one of the first hills we come to when leaving the Solway plain. It is not noticeable for its great height, as it is only about 350 feet above sea level, but from its position, a beacon fire on Watch Hill could be seen across the Ellen valley to Moota, the Wythop Fells, and Binsey, warning people of the Derwent valley, Cockermouth, Keswick; seen from Skiddaw, warning the east of the county as well as the north; seen from Carlisle, from Maryport, or very near to it. The name is evidently taken from the watch kept there, and “short shrift and a long rope” would the “reivers” get if captured, as not very far away is Gallahow of the Gallows Hill, where the lords of Whitehall and Upmanby had the gallows. Gallahow is now a small farmhouse, with a reputation that the house is 400 years old. Some portions may be, but it must have been re-roofed. The interior arrangements of the living room or kitchen lead us to see that parts of the house are of great age. It has been for five or six generations owned by a family named Bell. At the foot of Watch Hill is an interesting old farmhouse, whose name is suggestive of the tradition attached to it. I refer to King Gate, the gate on to the Allhallows Common. King Gate has been in the tenancy of the Pattinson family, one branch or another, for upwards of two hundred years. Tradition states that it was the last resting place of King Edward I., before marching to Carlisle, on his last expedition to Scotland. The story is feasible, as King Gate is about a day’s march from Carlisle. It is said that a soothsayer warned Edward that he would die at Brough. To escape Brough-on-Stainmore, which lies on the direct road between London and Carlisle, Edward led his army along the west coast of Cumberland, and so found himself and his army on this moor or common, as it was then. The prediction, apparently, was fulfilled, as Edward, one day’s march out from Carlisle, at Brough-on-the-Sands, or as it is now called, Burgh-by-Sands”.
Since writing my notes of last month, I have unearthed another place-name referring to the old gates, and giving incidentally, a little help to the ancient topography of our parish. I allude to “Mere Gate,” which stood between the Knowe and Gowrie, and was no doubt by the side of a mere, which occupied the low lying land there. Of Allhallows Common, a part of Aspatria East Moor – which lay on the north side of the parish, from near Heathfield to the Firs, and down to the Crummock Beck – there is little to be said except that it was enclosed in 1825, and allotted to those landowners who had rights of pasturage or common rights. It is not within the scope of the present article to argue out the matter of Enclosure of the Commons, but it seems hard upon the poor cottagers, who would let their cows graze, and so help to provide a good meal for their families. After noting that the parish stretches along the side of the Ellen to the south of Brayton Hall, westward to Gilgooden and the Fitz, near Aspatria New Colliery [Harriston / Brayton Daomin No.3 Pit], we will return to the eastern end, namely Leesrigg. Leesrigg Farm was till recently the property of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, but is now owned by W. Parkin-Moore, Esq. It was for many years farmed by the Miller family, whose names “Millers of Leesrigg,” is as well known as the “Pattinsons of King Gate.” The farm is now in the occupation of Mr. Paterson. Near Leesrigg are three quaint little cottages [one survives], two of them built by the late Mr. Robert Leeming,” who built them himself, having no assistance except when compelled, which was very seldom. When we consider that he built them in his leisure time as a coal miner it speaks volumes for his industry and application. On Leesrigg stands the Vicarage, first a small thatched cottage-like structure, then a cosy little house, so embosomed in trees that it could scarcely be seen. About 20 years ago, he present Vicarage was built, close to the site of the old one, and looks a suitable companion to the church close by. At a little distance from the Church and Vicarage, are Leesrigg Pasture Cottages [Leesrigg Cottages], and Leesrigg Pasture Farm, the latter held for many years by the Clark family. It is the property of Lord Leconfield, the Lord of the Manor. Another family of Clarks for many years owned the farm of Hill Top, a house on the hill overlooking Mealsgate, or “Meol’s Gate.” The present representative of the Clarks, of Hill Top, is Mr. A. B. Clark, of Aspatria. After glancing at Hole House, once a farmhouse, then a joiners shop, and now the lodgings for Mr. Parkin-Moore’s gardeners, and noting Knapethorn, the old home of the Richmonds, and now the residence of the manager of Allhallows Colliery, we finish our itinerary of the old part of our parish at Priestcroft Farm, which is situated at the extreme south-east corner of the parish. The name is puzzling:- the Priest’s Croft. The most feasible idea is that as the land belonging to this farm is mostly in Bolton, it is so named as the Bolton Priest’s Croft. This, however, is mere conjecture. It was the property of John Drewery, or Drewry, a member of the Society of Friends, and a colliery owner, owning and working several small pits in the neighbourhood. Standing chatting with an old miner many years ago, I was told by him that he distinctly remembered the “horse and gin” method of winding up the coals at one of these little pits. It is said of John Drewrey that he made and lost a fortune twice or thrice. His last venture was the so-called Priestcroft Colliery, which was really on the Knapethorn estate. At Mr Drewrey’s death, about 1860, the colliery was sold to Mr. John Taylor, of Sowerby Row, now of Dunville, Ontario, Canada. He closed the pit about 1865 or 1866, and the “plant” was sold. At this sale a very curious relic of early enginewright’s work was destroyed. This was the old pumping and winding engine – an improved “Watt and Newcomen.” Its exact counterpart is carefully preserved in the South Kensington Museum [now The Science Museum] as a great curiosity, being, it is said, the only one in existence. At the edge of the Priestcroft estate, nearest to this pit, stands what was until 1876 the only row of cottages in the parish of more than three in number. Here at “Collier Row,” or as they are now called, “Priestcroft Cottages,” are six cottages [five have since been demolished] at the roadside and one at right angles to it. The construction of the Bolton loop of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway, and the subsequent sinking of the Allhallows Colliery, soon changed the outward appearance of the parish, for the Colliery Co. purchased the Knapethorn estate, and on May 8th, 1876, was laid the foundation stone of what is now the most populous portion of the parish – Fletchertown. Along the sides of what was then an occupation lane, leading to nowhere in particular; where in spring the Allhallows schoolboys found many a birds nest; where in the eventide rabbits came out to play by dozens; where the partridge in the season called undisturbed to his mate, and where now and then a hare came “loping” fearlessly along, there are now long rows of houses, with their numerous inhabitants, where from “early morn to dewy eve” are heard the various noises attendant on human life and work; and in place of the rustic lane, so narrowed with whin bushes that a cart going along brushed against them on both sides, there is a kind of road, seldom clear from vehicular traffic of one kind or another. I may, in passing, just say that the school at Allhallows, close to Fletchertown, was built in 1854, chiefly by the exertions of the late Mr. George Moore and the late Rev. W. M. Gunson. It was enlarged by voluntary contribution in 1880, and again enlarged in 1887. We have now, in thought, gone around “Our Parish,” and should I be permitted, I may in my next endeavour to fulfil the promise I made in the first of these articles
Our Parish
(Continued. From the Allhallows Parish Magazine)
In my notes for May I observed that it would be almost impossible for an old house like Whitehall to be without its legends, and one or two about Whitehall lose nothing of their quaintness by being comparatively modern, and two in particular by their contradictory nature. I give them as nearly as possible as they were given to me by old John Clark, of Leesrigg Pasture Farm, and the first illustrates the far-seeing qualities of our north-country folk. When Henry Salkeld, of Whitehall, was meditating “going out” with Charles Edward Stuart in 1745, he and his cousin Charlton, of Hazleside, who held the rights of King George, agreed to settle their estates, the one upon the other, so that whichever side should win, the victor might assist the vanquished to enjoy his own possessions, even in exile. The great difficulty in this is to reconcile it with the law suit alluded to in my notes on Whitehall. The other story goes that the Salkeld of the day, previous to taking part in the rising of 1715 with the Earl of Derwentwater, concealed a large sum of money in an earthen pot, and built it into a wall. Not coming back to recover his treasure, the money remained until some repairs were needed, when it was found by a waller engaged in the work, who somewhat dishonestly appropriated it, and so laid the foundation for which his descendants have enjoyed, and are still partially doing. This story may have some substratum of fact, the said waller may have found a few stray coins, but the fortune referred to is well known to have been acquired in a widely different fashion. However that may be, my informant was a firm believer in both stories. Again, many of the older generation firmly believed that a subterranean passage led from Whitehall to Harby Brow Tower, and pointed to the enormous thickness of the wall between two of the rooms as concluding that, of course, according to their theory, being walled up entrances at the Whitehall end. In the almost total demolition of the old building in 1858, the chances of the discovery of such a passage, if one existed, were great. Again, the passage must at certain places have been below the level of the Dow Beck and of the River Ellen, except it was so near the surface that it would have been in great danger of discovery when the Whitehall Park was drained. It rather shakes one’s confidence in the impossibility of the existence of such a passage, when so lately as about a month ago, the existence of a secret chamber at Netherhall was acknowledged in the newspaper by the owner. I am almost inclined to believe that there may be a Priests Chamber, or the remains of one, about Whitehall, as the Salkeld’s were Papists, and as such would require some hiding place for the Romish priests in the days when the English Church and the Parliament retaliated for the persecutions the Reformers had undergone. A year or two previous to the death of Mr. George Moore, two recesses were made in the above-mentioned thick wall to serve as book cases, one on each side of the fireplace, and I have it on the best authority – Mrs. Moore – that the work was almost like quarrying, the stonework was so close and hard; showing that our forefathers did not believe in “jerry” building. I am sorry for the sake of those who like a “creepy” story that I cannot find any trace of the legitimate appanage of old halls, a good old ghost, to come rattling its chains and giving out sepulchral groans, to the terror of all His Majesties lieges; but as the next best, I am enabled to turn to what is the legend of Whitehall, a story of love, war, grief, and piety. It has appeared several times in print, the last time being in the “Wigton Advertiser,” perhaps a dozen years ago. It is remarkable what a similarity these legends have, a regular family likeness, only varied a little by the surroundings, as environment creates a variation in the members of a human family. The dramatic persons are all here, the stern father and chief, the lovely daughter, the captive, the swashbuckler who is going to make all spin, the combat, the death of each combatant, the pining away of the lovely one, all are there. If our Rev. Editor does not think the legend out of place in our sober Parish Magazine I shall return to the subject next month, and give the legend in full.
W.S.P. [William S Ponton]