They are but narrow bridges for foote or horse and at such floods they are fforced in many places to boate it till they Come to those arches on the great Bridges wch are across their great Rivers; this happens sometymes on sudden great showers for a day or two in ye summer, but ye winter is often or mostly soe that there are deep waters so as not Easily Cross’d; but once in 3 or 4 years there is some of those very greate floods I mentioned before, that they are fforced to boate from bridge to bridge wch is little Enough then to secure them. I passed by at Least half a dozn of these high single arches besides severall great stone Bridges of 4 or 6 arches which are very high also over their greatest rivers. Preston stands on a hill and is a very good market town; Satterday is their market wch day I was there and saw it was provided with all sorts of things—Leather, Corn Coales, butter, Cheese and fruite and garden things: there is a very spacious Market place and pretty Church and severall good houses. At ye Entrance of ye town was a very good house wch was a Lawyers all stone work 5 windows in ye front and high built according to ye Eastern building near London; the ascent to ye house was 14 or 15 stone stepps Large and a handsome Court with open jron Pallasadoes in the gate, and on Each side, the whole breadth of ye house, wch discover’d the gardens on Each side of the house, neately kept flowers and greens; there was also many steps up to ye house from ye Court—it was a Compleate building. There was 2 or 3 more such houses in ye town and Indeed the Generallity of ye buildings, Especially in 2 or 3 of ye great streetes were very handsome, better than in most Country towns and ye streetes spacious and well pitch’d. I was about 4 houres going this twelve mile and Could have gone 20 in the tyme in most Countrys, nay by the people of these parts this twelve is as long and as much tyme taken up in going it as to go from thence to Lancaster wch is 20 mile, and I Can Confirme this by my own Experience for I went to Goscoyne wch is 10 miles and halfe way to Lancaster in two houres, where I baited, and here it was I was first presented wth ye Clap bread wch is much talked of made all of oates. I was surpris’d when the Cloth was Laid, they brought a great Basket such as one uses to undress Children with and set it on the table full of thin waffers as big as Pancakes and drye that they Easily breake into shivers, but Coming to dinner found it to be ye only thing I must Eate for bread. Ye taste of oate bread is pleasant enough and where its well made is very acceptable, but for ye most part its scarce baked and full of drye flour on ye outside. Ye description of how its made ought to Come in here but I Reserve it to ye place I saw it made at the best way. As I Come to this place which was much over downs or a Race ground I Came along by some of ye old Picts walls, ye ruines of which here and there remaines in many parts of ye Country. Gascoyn is a little market town—one Church in it wch is a mile off from ye town, and ye parish is 8 miles long, which discourag’d me in staying there being Satterday night and so pressed on to Lancaster.
I percieve most of ye parishes are a great tract of Land and very Large and also beneficial, for all over Lancastershire the revenues of ye parsonages are Considerable 2 and 300£ 500 and 800 a piece, ye parson at Liverpoole has 1100 a yeare, and its frequent Everywhere 3 or 400£. Thence to Lancaster town 10 mile more which I Easily Reached in 2 hours and a halfe or 3 hours; I passed through abundance of villages almost at ye End of Every mile, mostly all along Lanes being an Enclosed Country. They have one good thing in most parts of this principality, or County palatine its rather Call’d, that at all Cross wayes there are posts wth hands pointing to each road wth ye names of ye great town or market towns that it Leads to, wch does make up for ye Length of ye miles yt strangers may not Loose their Road and have it to goe back againe. You have a great divertion on this road haveing a pleasing prospect of ye Countrys a great distance round, and see it full of jnclosures and some woods, three miles off ye town you see it very plaine and ye sea, Even ye main ocean; in one place an arm of it Comes up wth in 2 mile of ye town. Ye River Liene runs by the town and so into ye sea. Ye situation of Lancaster town is very good, ye Church neately built of stone, ye Castle wch is just by, both on a very great ascent from ye Rest of ye town and so is in open view, ye town and River Lying Round it beneath. On ye Castle tower walking quite round by ye battlements I saw ye whole town and river at a view, wch runs almost quite round and returns againe by ye town, and saw ye sea beyond and ye great high hills beyond yt part of ye sea, wch are in Wales, and also into Westmoreland to the great hills there Called ffurness ffells or hills, being a string of vast high hills together: also into Cumberland to ye great hill Called Black Comb hill whence they digg their black Lead and no where Else; but they open ye mine but once in Severall yeares. I also saw into Yorkshire,—there is Lead, Copper, gold and silver in some of those hills and marble and Christall also.
Lancaster town is old and much decay’d: there has been a monastery, the walls of part of it remaine and some of ye Carv’d stones and ffigures; there is in it a good garden and a pond in it wth a little jsland on wch an apple tree grows—a Jenitin; and Strawberys all round its Rootes and ye banks of the Little jsle. There are 2 pretty wells and a vault that Leads a great way under ground up as farre as ye Castle, wch is a good distance. In the River there are great weres or falls of water made for Salmon ffishing, where they hang their nets and Catch great quantety’s of ffish, wch is neare the bridge. The town seemes not to be much in trade as some others, but the great store of fish makes them Live plentifully as also the great plenty of all provisions. The streets are some of them well pitch’d and of a good size; when I came into the town the stones were so slippery Crossing some Channells that my horse was quite down on his nose, but did at length recover himself, and so I was not thrown off or jnjured wch I desire to bless God for, as for the many preservations I mett with. I Cannot say the town seemes a lazy town and there are trades of all sorts, there is a Large meeteing house, but their minister was but a mean preacher; there are 2 Churches in the town which are pretty near Each other.
Thence I went to Kendall in Westmoreland over steepe stony hills all like Rocks, 6 miles to one Lady Middleton, and by some Gentlemen wch were travelling that way that was their acquaintance, had the advantage of going through her parke, and saved the going Round a bad stony passage. It was very pleasant under the shade of the tall trees. It was an old timber house, but the family being from home we had a free passage through it on to the Road againe, much of wch was stony and steep—far worse than the Peake in Darbyshire. This Lady Middleton was a papist and I believe the Gentlemen yt was travelling were too. Thence to Kendall ten mile more, most of ye way was in Lanes when I was out of the stony hills, and then into jnclosed Lands, here in 6 miles to the town you have very Rich good Land Enclosed—Little round green hills flourishing wth Corn and grass as green and fresh, being in the prime season in July. There is not much woods but only the hedge rows round the grounds wch Looks very fine. In these Northern Countyes they have only the summer Graine, as barley, oates, peas, beans, and Lentils, noe wheate or Rhye for they are so cold and Late in their yeare they Cannot venture at that sort of tillage, so have none but what they are supply’d out of other Countys adjacent. The Land seemes here in many places very ffertile; they have much Rhye in Lancashire Yorkshire and Stafford and Shropshire and so Herriford and Worcestershire, wch I found very troublesome in my journeys, for they would not own they had any such thing in their bread, but it so disagrees wth me as allwayes to make me sick wch I found by its Effects whenever I met wth any, tho’ I did not discern it by the taste; in Suffolke and Norfolke I also met wth it, but in these parts its altogether ye oatbread. Kendall is a town built all of stone, one very broad streete in which is the Market Crosse; its a goode tradeing town mostly famed for the Cottons: Kendall Cotton is used for blanckets and the Scotts use them for their Plodds and there is much made here and also Linsi-woolseys, and a great deale of Leather tann’d here, and all sorts of Commodityes—twice a weeke is ye market ffurnished wth all sorts of things.
The River Can wch gives name to the town is pretty Large but full of Rocks and stones that makes shelves and falls in the water, its stor’d wth plenty of good ffish and there are great ffalls of water partly naturall and added to by putting more stones in manner of Wyers, at wch they Catch Salmon when they Leape with speares. The Roaring of ye water at these places sometymes does foretell wet weather; they do observe when the water roares most in the fall on the Northside it will be ffaire, if on the Southside of the town it will be wet. Some of them are falls as high as a house. The same observation is at Lancaster at the Wires where they Catch Salmon; against Stormes or raines it will be turbulent and Rore as may be heard into the town. There are 3 or 4 good houses in the town, ye rest are like good traders houses very neate and tight. The streetes are all pitch’d wch is Extreame Easy to be repair’d, for the whole Country is like one Entire Rock or pitching almost all ye Roads. At the Kings arms, one Mrs Rowlandson, she does pott up the Charr ffish the best of any in the Country: I was Curious to have some and so bespoke some of her, and also was as Curious to see the great water wch is the only place that ffish is to be found in, and so went from Kendall to Bondor 6 miles thro’ narrow Lanes, but the Lands in ye jnclosures are Rich. But here Can be noe Carriages, but very narrow ones like Little wheele-barrows that with a horse they Convey their fewell and all things Else. They also use horses on which they have a sort of Pannyers some Close, some open, that they strew full of hay turff and Lime and Dung and Every thing they would use, and the reason is plaine, from the narrowness of the Lanes where is good Lands they will Loose as Little as they Can, and where its hilly and stoney no other Carriages Can pass, so they use these horse Carriages, and abundance of horses I see all about Kendall streetes with their Burdens. This Kendall is the biggest town and much in ye heart of Westmoreland, but Appleby 10 mile off is the shire town where the session and assizes are held and is 7 miles to this great Lake Wiandermer or great standing water wch is 10 mile long and near halfe a mile over in some places. It has many Little hills or jsles in it, one of a great bigness of 30 acres of ground on which is a house, ye Gentleman that is Lord of ye Manour Lives in it—Sr Christopher Phillips; he has a great Command of ye water and of ye villages thereabout and many Priviledges, he makes a Major or Bailiff of ye place during life; its but a small mean place, Mr Majors was the best Entertaining house where I was. Ye Isle did not Looke to be so bigg at ye shore, but takeing boate I went on it and found it as large and very good Barley and oates and grass. The water is very Cleer and full of good ffish, but ye Charr ffish being out of season Could not Easily be taken, so I saw none alive but of other ffish I had a very good supper. The season of the Charr ffish is between Michaelmas and Christmas; at that tyme I have had of them, wch they pott with sweete spices. They are as big as a small trout, Rather slenderer and ye skinn full of spotts, some Red Like the finns of a Perch and the jnside flesh Looks as Red as any salmon if they are in season; their taste is very Rich and fatt tho’ not so strong or Clogging as the Lamprys are, but its as fatt and Rich a food. This great water seemes to flow and wane about with ye wind but it does not Ebb and flow Like the sea with the tyde, neither does it run so as to be perceivable, tho’ at ye End of it a Little Rivulet trills from it into the Sea, but it seemes to be a standing Lake Encompass’d with vast high hills, yt are perfect Rocks and barren ground of a vast height, from which many Little Springs out of ye Rock does bubble up and descend down and fall into this water. Notwithstanding great raines ye water does not seem much Encreas’d tho’ it must be so, then it does draine off more at the End of the Lake. These hills wch they Call Ffurness Ffells a long Row Continued some miles, and some of them are Call’d Donum ffells and soe from the places they adjoyne to are named, but they hold the whole length of the water wch is 10 mile; they have fome parts of them that has wayes that they Can by degrees in a Compass ascend them and so they go onward. In the Countrys, they are fferried over the Lake when they go to market. On ye other side over those ffells there is a sort of Stones Like Rubbish or Broken pieces of stones, wch Lies about a quarry, that Lies all in the bottom of ye water; where its so shallow as at the shores it is and very Cleer you see the bottom; between these stones are weeds wch grows up, that I had some taken up just Like samfyer and I have a fancy its a sort of sampire that Indeed is gather’d in ye Rocks by the sea and water, and this grows in the water but it resembles it in Coullour, ffigure and the taste not much unlike—it was somewhat waterish. There was also fine moss growing in the bottom of ye water. Here it was I saw ye oat Clap bread made. They mix their flour with water, so soft as to rowle it in their hands into a ball, and then they have a board made round and something hollow in the middle riseing by degrees all round to the Edge a little higher, but so little as one would take it to be only a board warp’d, this is to Cast out the Cake thinn and so they Clap it round and drive it to ye Edge in a Due proportion till drove as thinn as a paper and still they Clap it and drive it round, and then they have a plaite of jron same size wth their Clap board, and so shove off the Cake on it and so set it on Coales and bake it; when Enough on one side they slide it off and put the other side; if their jron plaite is smooth and they take Care their Coales or Embers are not too hot but just to make it Looke yellow, it will bake and be as Crisp and pleasant to Eate as any thing you Can jmagine, but as we say of all sorts of bread there is a vast deal of difference in what is housewifely made and what is ill made, so this if its well mixed and Rowled up and but a little flour on the outside which will drye on and make it mealy is a very good sort of food. This is the sort of bread they use in all these Countrys, and in Scotland they breake into their milk or broth or Else sup that up and bite off their bread between while they spread butter on it and Eate it with their meate. They have no other Sort of bread unless at market towns and that is scarce to be had unless the market dayes, soe they make their Cake and Eate it presently, for its not so good if 2 or 3 dayes old. It made me reflect on the description made in Scripture of this Kneeding Cakes and bakeing them on the hearth whenever they had Company Come to their houses, and I Cannot but thinke it was after this manner they made their bread in ye old tymes Especially those Eastern Countryes where their bread might be soone dry’d and spoil’d. Their little Carts I was speakeing of they use hereabout, the wheeles are fastned to the axletree and so turn altogether, they hold not above what 5 wheelbarrows would Carry at three or four tymes, which the Girles and Boys and women does go about with drawn by one horse to Carry any thing they want. Here is a great deal of good grass and Summer Corn and pastures, its Rich Land in the bottoms as one may Call them Considering the vast hills above them on all sides, yet they Contain a number of Lesser hills one below another, so that tho’ at one Looke you think it but a little Land Every body has; Yet it being so full of hills its many acres wch if at Length in a plain would Extend a vast way. I was about a quarter of an hour in the boate before I reach’d ye island wch is in the midst of the water so by that you may guesse at the breadth of the water in the whole, they fferry man and horse over it; its sometymes perfectly Calme. Thence I Rode almost all the waye in sight of this great water, some tymes I lost it by reason of ye great hills interposeing and so a Continu’d up hill and down hill and that pretty steep, even when I was in that they Called bottoms wch are very rich good grounds, and so I gained by degrees from Lower to higher hills wch I allwayes went up and down before I Came to another hill. At last I attained to the side of one of these hills or ffells of Rocks, wch I passed on the side much about the Middle, for Looking down to the bottom it was at Least a Mile all full of those Lesser hills and jnclosures, so Looking upward I was as farre from the top which was all Rocks, and something more barren tho’ there was some trees and woods growing in ye Rocks and hanging over all down ye Brow of some of the hills. From these great ffells there are severall springs out of ye Rock that trickle down their sides, and as they meete with stones and Rocks in the way, when something obstructs their passage and so they Come with more violence, that gives a pleaseing sound and murmuring noise. These descend by degrees at last fall into the Low grounds and fructifye it wch makes ye Land soe ffruit full in the valleys, and upon those very high ffells or Rocky hills its (tho’) soe high yet a moorish sort of ground whence they digg abundance of Peat wch they use for their fewell, being in many places a barren ground yeilding noe wood &c. I rode in sight of this Winander water as I was ascending another of those barren ffells wch tho’ I at last was not halfe way up, yet was an hour going it up and down on the other side, going only on the side of it about ye middle of it, but it was of such a height as to shew one a great deale of ye Country when it happens to be between those hills, Else those interposeing hinders any sight but of ye Clouds. I see a good way behind me another of those waters or mers but not very bigge. These great hills are so full of Loose stones and shelves of Rocks yt its very unsafe to Ride them down.
There is good Marble amongst those Rocks. As I walked down at this place I was walled on both sides by those inaccessible high rocky barren hills wch hangs over ones head in some places and appears very terrible, and from them springs many Little Currents of water from the sides and Clefts, wch trickle down to some Lower part where it runs swiftly over the stones and shelves in the way, wch makes a pleasant Rush and murmuring noise, and Like a snowball is Encreased by Each spring trickling down on either side of those hills, and so descends into the bottoms wch are a moorish ground in wch in many places the waters stand, and so forme some of those Lakes as it did here. Ye Confluence of all these little springs being gathered together in this lake, wch was soe deep as the Current of water yt passed through it was scarce to be perceived till one Came to the farther End from whence it run a good little River and pretty quick, over wch many bridges are Laid. Here I Came to villages of sad little hutts made up of drye walls, only stones piled together and ye Roofs of same slatt; there seemed to be little or noe tunnells for their Chimneys and have no morter or Plaister within or without. For the most part I tooke them at first sight for a sort of houses or Barns to fodder Cattle in, not thinking them to be dwelling houses, they being scattering houses, here one, there another, in some places they may be 20 or 30 together; and the Churches the same. It must needs be very Cold dwellings, but it shews some thing of ye Lazyness of ye people; indeed here and there there was a house plaister’d, but there is sad Entertainment—that sort of Clap bread and butter and Cheese and a Cup of beer all one Can have, they are 8 mile from a market town and their miles are tedious to go both for illness of way and length of ye miles.
They reckon it but 8 mile from the place I was at the night before, but I was 3 or 4 hours at Least going it. Here I found a very good smith to shoe ye horses, for these stony hills and wayes pulls off a shoe presently, and wears them as thinn that it was a Constant Charge to shoe my horses every 2 or 3 dayes, but this smith did shoe them so well and so good shoes yt they held some of the shooes 6 weekes. Ye stonyness of the wayes all here about teaches them ye art of makeing good shooes and setting them on fast. Here I cross’d one of ye stone bridges yt was pretty Large wch Entred me into Cumberlandshire. This River together with ye additionall springs Continually running into it all the way from those vaste precipices Comes into a Low place and form a broad water wch is very Cleer and Reaches 7 mile in Length, Uleswater its Called, such another water as that of Wiandermer only that reaches 10 mile in Length, from Amblside to ye sea, and this is but 7 such miles Long. Its full of such sort of Stones and flatts in the bottom as ye other, neer the brimm where its Shallowe you see it Cleer to ye bottom; this is secured on Each side by such formidable heights as those Rocky ffells in same manner as the other was. I rode the whole Length of this water by its side, sometyme a Little higher upon the side of the hill and sometyme just by the shore, and for 3 or 4 miles I Rode through a fine fforest or Parke where was deer skipping about and haires, wch by meanes of a good Greyhound I had a Little Course, but we being strangers could not so fast pursue it in the grounds full of hillocks and ffurse and soe she Escaped us. I observed the boundaries of all these great waters (which are a sort of deep Lakes or kind of standing waters) are those sort of Barren Rocky hills wch are so vastly high. I Call this a standing water because its not like other great Rivers as ye Trent Severne, Hull or Thames &c. to appear to Run wth a streame or Current, but only as it Rowles from side to side Like waves as the wind moves it; its true at the End of this being a Low fall of Ground it runs off in a Little streame. There is Exceeding good ffish here and all sorts of provision at ye market towns. Their market town was Peroth 10 long miles. A mile or two beyond this Ullswater,—Tuesday is the market day wch was the Day I came thither. Its a Long way for ye market people to goe but they and their horses are used to it and go wth much more facility than strangers. At ye end of this Ullswater is a fine round hill Look’d as green and full of wood very pleasant, wth grass and Corne very ffruitefull, and hereabout we Leave these Desart and Barren Rocky hills, not that they are Limitted to Westmoreland only for had I gone farther to ye Left hand into Cumberland I should have found more such, and they tell me farr worse for height and stony-nesse about White haven side and Cockermouth, so yt tho’ both the County’s have very good land and fruitfull, so they equally partake of ye bad, tho’ Indeed Westmoreland takes it name from its aboundings in springs which distilling itself on Lower ground, if of a spungy soile made it marshy or Lakes, and in many places very fruitfull in summer graine and grasse, but ye northerly winds blow Cold so long on them yt they never attempt sowing their Land with wheate or Rhye. Ye stones and slatt about Peroth Look’d so Red yt at my Entrance into the town thought its buildings were all of brick, but after found it to be the Coullour of the stone wch I saw in the Quarrys Look very Red, their slatt is the same wch Cover their houses. Its a pretty Large town—a good Market for Cloth that they spinn in the Country—hempe and also woollen. Its a great Market for all sorts of Cattle, meate Corne &c &c. Here are two Rivers one Called ye Emount wch parts Cumberland and Westmoreland, wch bridge I should have passed over had I Come the direct Roade from Kendall to Peroth, but strikeing off to Ambleside to Wiandermer I came another End of ye town. In this River are greate falls of waters Call’d Cataracts, by Reason of the Rock and shelves in it wch makes a great noise wch is heard more against foul weathers into the town, tho’ the bridge be halfe a mile out of ye town. The other River is Called Louder wch gives name to Lord Landsdown’s house Call’d Louder hall wch is four mile from Peroth. I went to it through fine woods, the front is just faceing the great roade from Kendall and Lookes very nobly, wth severall Rows of trees wch Leads to Large jron gates, open barres, into the stable yard wch is a fine building on ye one side of ye house very uniform, and just against it is such another Row of buildings ye other side of ye house Like two wings wch is the offices. Its built Each Like a fine house jutting out at Each End and ye middle is wth Pillars, white, and Carvings Like the Entrance of a building. These are just Equal and alike and Encompass the two sides of the first Court wch Enters, with Large jron gates and jron Palasadoes in the breadth, and then there is an ascent of 15 stone steps turned round, very Large, and on the top Large jron gates pallisad of jron betweene stone pillars, wch runs the breadth of the front. This Court is with paved walks of broad stone, one broad one to the house, ye other of same breadth runs aCrosse to the stables and offices, and so there is 4 Large Squares of grass in wch there is a large Statue of Stone in the midst of Each, and 4 Little Cupids or Little Boys in Each Corner of the 4 squares. Then one ascends severall more steps to another Little Court vth open Iron Railes, and this is divided Into severall grass plotts by paved walks of stone to the severall doores, some of wch are straight, others slope: the grass plotts being seven and in Each statue the middle-most is taller than the rest, this is just the front of ye house where you Enter a porch wth Pillars of Lime stone, but ye house is ye Red sort of stone of ye Country. Below staires you Enter a space that Leads severall wayes to all the offices, and on one side is a Large parlour wch Lookes out on these green plotts wth images. The staircase very well wanscoated and Carv’d, at ye top you are Landed into a noble hall very Lofty, the top and sides are exquisitely painted by ye best hand in England which did the painting at Windsor. The Top is the Gods and goddesses that are sitting at some great feast and a great tribunal before ym; Each Corner is the seasons of the yeare wth the variety of weather Raines and rainbows, stormy winds, sun shine, snow and frost with multitudes of other fancys and varietyes in painting and Looks very natural—it Cost 500£ that roome alone. Thence into a Dineing room and drawing roome well wanscoated of oake, Large pannells plaine, no frettwork nor Carvings or Glass worke, only in Chimney pieces. 3 handsome Chambers, one scarlet Cloth strip’d and very fashionably made up, the hangings the same, another flower’d Damaske Lined with fine jndian Embroidery, the third Roome had a blew satten bed Embroider’d. In this Roome was very fine orris hangings in wch was much silk and gold and silver; a Little Roome by in wch was a green and white Damaske Canopy bed wch was hung wth some of the same hangings being made for ye Duke of Lortherdale and had his armes in many places—by his Dying were sold to Lord Landsdon.
They Containe a Scottish story of the 4 quarters of the yeare. The roomes are all well pitch’d and well ffinish’d, and many good Pictures of ye family, and severall good fancy’s of human and animals, a good gallery so adorn’d wch Leads to a Closet that Looks into ye Chappell; all things very neate tho’ nothing Extraordy besides ye hall painting. The Chimney pieces are of a dark Coulld Marble wch is taken out of the ground just by—its well polish’d. There was some few white marble vein’d, but that is not Dug out of this Country. The house is a flatt rooffe and stands amidst a wood of Rows of trees, wch wth these statues and those in two gardens on Each side (wch for their walks and plantations is not ffinish’d but full of Statues) which with the house is so well Contrived to be seen at one view. Ye Lady Landsdown sent and treated me with a Breakfast, Cold things and sweete meates all serv’d in plaite, but it was so Early in the morning that she being jndisposed was not up. So I returned back 4 mile to Peroth and Came in sight of Severall Genteele seates or Gentlemens houses, and Came by a Round green spott of a Large Circumfference which they keep Cut round wth a banke round it like a Bench; its story is that it was the table a great Giant 6 yards tall, used to Dine at, and there Entertain’d anothr of nine yards tall which he afterwards killed; there is the Length in the Church yard how far he Could Leape—a great many Yards. There was also on the Church at Peroth a fine Clock wch had severall motions—there was the Starrs and signes, there was the Encrease and Changes of ye moone, by a Darke and golden side of a Little Globe. A mile from Peroth in a Low bottom and moorish place stands Mag and her sisters; the story is that these soliciting her to an unlawfull Love by an Enchantment are turned wth her into stone; the stone in the middle wch is Call’d Mag is much bigger and have some fforme Like a statue or ffigure of a body, but the Rest are but soe many Craggy stones, but they affirme they Cannot be Counted twice alike as is the story of Stonidge, but the number of these are not above 30. However what the first design of placeing them there Either as a marke of yt sort of moorish Ground or what Else, the thing is not so wonderfull as that of Stonidge, because there is noe such sort of stone in 20 miles off those downs and how they of so vast a bulk and weight should be brought thither, whereas all this Country abounds with Quarrys of stone and its mostly Rocks. The waye from thence to Carlisle over much heath where they have many stone Quarrys and Cut much peate and turff wch is their Chief fuel. Its reckon’d but 16 mile from Peroth to Carlisle, but they are pretty Long, besides my going out of ye waye above 3 or 4 mile wch made it 20. They were very Long and I was a great while Rideing it. You pass by the Little hutts and hovels the poor Live in Like Barnes—some have them daub’d wth mud-wall—others drye walls.
Carlisle stands in view at Least 4 mile distant, ye town is walled in and all built of stone. The Cathedrall stands high and very Eminent to be seen above ye town. You Enter over the Bridge and Double gates wch are jron grates and Lined wth a Case of doores of thick timber, there are 3 gates to the town, one Called the English gate at which I entred. The other the jrish wch Leads on to Whitehaven and Cockermouth, the other ye Scottish gate through which I went into Scotland. The walls of the town and Battlements and towers are in very good Repaire and Looks well. Ye Cathedrall all built of stone which Looked stately but nothing Curious; there was some few houses as ye Deans and treasurer and some of ye Doctors houses walled in with Little gardens, their fronts Looked Gracefully; Else I saw no house Except the present Majors house of brick and stone, and one house which was ye Chancellors built of stone very Lofty, 5 good sarshe windows in ye front, and this within a Stone wall’d Garden well kept, and Iron gates to discover it to view with stone Pillars. Ye streetes are very broad and handsome well Pitched.
I walked round the walls and saw the River wch twists and turns itself round the grounds, Called the Emount, wch at 3 or 4 miles off is flow’d by the sea. The other River is the Essex wch is very broad and Ebbs and flows about a mile or two off. There Remaines only some of the walls and ruines of ye Castle, wch does shew it to have been a very strong town formerly. The walls are of a prodigious thickness and vast great stones, its moated round and with draw bridges. There is a Large Market place wth a good Cross and hall, and is well supply’d as I am Inform’d wth provision at Easye rate, but my Landlady notwithstanding ran me up the Largest Reckoning for allmost nothing, it was ye dearest Lodging I met with and she pretended she Could get me nothing else; so for 2 joynts of mutton and a pinte of wine and bread and beer I had a 12 shilling Reckoning, but since I find tho’ I was in the biggest house in town I was in the worst accomodation, and so found it, and a young giddy Landlady yt Could only Dress fine and Entertain the soldiers. From hence I tooke a guide the next day and so went for Scotland and Rode 3 or 4 mile by ye side of this River Emount wch is full of very good ffish. I Rode sometymes on a high Ridge over a hill, sometymes on the sands, it turning and winding about that I went almost all the way by it and saw them with boates fishing for Salmon and troute, wch made my journey very pleasant. Leaving this River I Came to the Essex wch is very broad and hazardous to Crosse Even when the tyde is out, by which it leaves a broad sand on Each side, which in some places is unsafe, made me take a good guide which Carry’d me aboute and a Crosse some part of it here, and some part in another place, it being Deep in ye Channell where I did Crosse wch was in sight of ye mouth of the river that runs into the sea. On the sand before the water was quite gone from it I saw a great bird wch Look’d almost black picking up ffish and busking in the water, it Looked like an Eagle and by its dimentions Could scarce be any other bird. Thence I went into Scotland over the river Serke which is also flowed by ye sea, but in the Summer tyme is not soe deep but Can be pass’d over—tho’ pretty deep but narrow. It affords good ffish, but all here about wch are Called borderers seem to be very poor people wch I impute to their sloth. Scotland this part of it is a Low Marshy ground where they Cutt turff and peate for the fewell, tho’ I should apprehend ye sea might Convey Coales to them. I see Little that they are Employ’d besides ffishing wch makes provision plentifull or Else their Cutting and Carving turff and peate, wch the women and great Girles bare legged does Lead a horse wch draws a sort of carriage, the Wheeles like a Dung-pott and hold about 4 wheele barrows. These people tho’ with naked Leggs are yet wrapp’d up in plodds, a piece of woollen Like a Blanket, or Else Rideing hoods—and this when they are in their houses. I tooke them for people wch were sick, seeing 2 or 3 great wenches as tall and bigg as any woman sat hovering between their bed and Chimney corner, all jdle doing nothing or at Least was not settled to any work tho’ it was nine of the Clock when I Came thither, haveing gone 7 long miles that morning. This is a Little Market town Called Adison Bank the houses Look just Like the booths at a fair, I am sure j have been in some of them that were tollerable dwellings to these, they have no Chimneys, their smoke Comes out all over the house and there are great holes in ye sides of their houses wch Letts out the smoake when they have been well smoaked in it. There is no Roome in their houses but is up to ye thatch and in which are 2 or 3 beds, Even to their parlours and buttery, and notwithstanding ye Cleaning of their parlour for me I was not able to beare the roome; the smell of the hay was a perfume and what I Rather Chose to stay and see my horses Eate their provender in the stable than to stand in yt roome for I Could not bring my self to sit down. My Landlady offered me a good dish of ffish and brought me butter in a Lairdly Dish with the Clap bread, but I Could have no stomach to Eate any of the ffood they should order, and finding they had noe wheaten bread I told her I Could not Eate their Clapt out bread, soe I bought the ffish she got for me wch was full Cheape Enough, nine pence for two pieces of Salmon halfe a one neer a yard Long, and a very Large trout of an amber Coullour, soe drinking wth out Eateing some of their wine wch was Exceeding good Claret wch they stand Conveniently for to have from France, and Indeed it was the best and truest Ffrench wine I have dranck this seven year and very Clear, I had ye first tapping of ye Little vessell and it was very fine. Then I went up to their Church wch Looks Rather Like some Little house built of stone and bricke such as our ordinary people in a village Live in. Ye doores were and ye Seates and pulpit was in so disregarded a manner that one would have thought there was no use of it, but there is a parson which Lives just by, whose house is ye best in the place, and they are all fine folks in their Sundays Cloathes. I observe ye Church yard is full of grave stones pretty Large with Coates of armes, and some had a Coronet on the Eschutcheons Cut in the stone. I saw but one house that Look’d Like a house about a quarter of a mile, wch was some gentlemans that was built 2 or 3 roomes and some over them of brick and stone, the rest were all Like Barns or hutts for Cattle. This is threescore miles from Edenborough and the neerest town to this place is 18 miles, and there would not have been much better entertainement or accomodation, and their miles are soe long in these Countrys made me afraid to venture, Least after a tedious journey I should not be able to get a bed I Could Lye in. It seemes there are very few towns Except Edenburough Abberdeen and Kerk wch Can give better treatement to strangers, therefore for the most part persons yt travell there go from one Noblemans house to another. Those houses are all Kind of Castles and they Live great tho’ in so nasty a way as all things are in even those houses one has Little Stomach to Eate or use anything, as I have been told by some that has travell’d there, and I am sure I mett with a sample of it enough to discourage my progress farther in Scotland. I attribute it wholly to their sloth for I see they sitt and do Little. I think there were one or two at Last did take spinning in hand at a Lazy way. Thence I tooke my ffish to Carry it to a place for the English to dress it and repass’d the Serke and the River Essex and there I saw ye Common people men women and Children take off their shooes, and holding up their Cloathes wade through the rivers when ye tide was out, and truely some there were that when they Come to ye other side put on shoes and stockings and had ffine Plodds Cast over them and their Garb seemed above ye Common people; but this is their Constant way of travelling from one place to anothr—if any river to pass they make no use of Bridges and have not many. I Came to Long town wch is 3 long mile from Addison Bank and is Called a Border and Indeed is very like ye Scotsland. Thence I Cross’d over a tedious long heath to Brampton a mile over Lime River and here I had my dinner dress’d—thence to Mucks hall 6 miles. Here I pass’d by my Lord Carletons which stands in the midst of woods. You goe through Lanes and Little sort of woods or hedge rows and many Little purling rivers or Brooks out of ye rocks. At Muneks Hall I Cross’d such another brooke and so out of Cumberland I Entred Northumberland. This is ye place ye judges Dine, its a sorry place for Entertainement of such a Company; here the Sherriffs meete them, it being the Entrance of Northumberland wch is much Like the other County. This it seemes Camden relates to be a Kingdom. This I am sure of, the more I travell’d Northward the Longer I found ye miles, I am sure these 6 miles and ye other 6 miles to Hartwhistle might with modesty be esteemed double the Number in most of ye Countys in England, Especially in and about 30 or 40 miles off London. I did not go 2 of those miles in an hour. Just at my Entrance into Northumberland I ascended a very steep hill of wch there are many, but one about 2 mile forward was Exceeding steep, full of great Rocks and stone—some of it along on a Row (the remainder of the Picts walls or ffortification) at ye bottom of wch was an old Castle the walls and towers of which was mostly Standing. Its a sort of Black moorish ground and so wet I observ’d as my Man Rode up that sort of precipice or steep his horses heeles Cast up water every step, and their feete Cut deepe in, Even quite up to ye top. Such up and down hills and sort of boggy ground it was and ye night Drawing fast on, ye miles so Long, that I tooke a guide to direct me to avoid those ill places. This Hartwhistle is a Little town, there was one Inn but they had noe hay nor would get none, and when my servants had got some Else where they were angry and would not Entertaine me, so I was forced to take up in a poor Cottage wch was open to ye Thatch and no partitions but hurdles plaistered. Indeed ye Loft as they Called it wch was over the other roomes was shelter’d but wth a hurdle; here I was fforced to take up my abode and ye Landlady brought me out her best sheetes wch serv’d to secure my own sheetes from her dirty blanckets, and Indeed I had her fine sheete to spread over ye top of the Clothes; but noe sleepe Could I get, they burning turff and their Chimneys are sort of fflews or open tunnills, yt ye smoake does annoy the roomes. This is but 12 miles from another part of Scotland, the houses are but a Little better built, its true the inside of them are kept a Little better. Not far from this a Mile or two is a greate hill from which rises 3 rivers: the Teese wch is ye border between Durham and York, ye Ouse that runns to Yorke, and the River Tyne which runns to NewCastle and is the divider of Northumberland and Durham. This river Tyne runns 7 miles and then joyns wth the other river Tyne that Comes out of Northumberland and so they run on to NewCastle. From Hartwhistle I went pretty much up hill and down and had the River Tyne much in view for 6 miles, then I cross’d over it on a Large stone bridge and so Rode by its bank or pretty much in sight of it on the other side to Hexholme 6 mile more. This is one of the best towns in Northumberland Except NewCastle, wch is one place the Sessions are kept for the shire; its built of Stone and looks very well, there are 2 gates to it, many streetes, some are pretty broad, all well pitch’d, wth a spacious Market place wth a town hall on the Market Crosse. Thence I went through ye Lord Darentwaters parke just by his house wch is an old building not very Large, for 3 mile in all, to a Little village where I cross’d over the Tyne on a Long Bridge of stone wth many arches. The river is in some places broader than in others, its true at this tyme of ye yeare being Midsumer the springs are the Lowest and the Rivers shallow, and where there is any Rocks or stones Left quite bare of water.