London, made his will, in which he desired to be buried in the chancel of the church of St. Leonard's in "Estchepe," and amongst other bequests left £10 "to the more needy poor within the Isle of Hertye in the county of Lancaster "; to his son, John Doget, he left £100 (having already given him £200 before his marriage); the residue of his estate he left to his wife Alice. This will was proved in London, 31st Aug. 1387. There can be no possible doubt but that the island of Hertye and Hert are identical, and that it was situate somewhere off the coast of Dalton parish, probably forming one of the group of islands not far from Peel. Fordbotle was near to the sea level, and assumedly between Aldingham and where the town of Barrow now stands.

According to West,' about the middle of the last century ruins of a village were visible on the sands at low water near Aldingham, which village he assumes to have been called Tower Scales; he also adds that tradition says that the church of Aldingham, then standing within the reach of high tides, formerly stood in the centre of the parish, the portion lying adjacent to the sea having all been washed away. One thing, however is clear, namely, that Fordbotle and the Isle of Hert (or Hertye) were both well known at the end of the fourteenth century, and that they have since disappeared, leaving not even a tradition behind them. That they were both destroyed by encroaching of the sea or the shifting of the sand banks we at once take for granted; but to fix the date when their destruction took place is not quite so easy. The existing records of the fifteenth and the earlier part of the sixteenth centuries referring to this district are by no means numerous, and both places may have survived that period and yet no notice of them been discovered; but after the

4 Register Courteney, fol. 223, Lambeth Palace. 5 Antiquities of Furness.

middle of the latter century, when we have wills and parish registers to assist us, this could scarcely have been the case, and therefore the probability is that these places were certainly submerged long before the end of the sixteenth century. They may have been gradually destroyed by the slow encroachment of the sea, or they may have been swept away by unforeseen physical causes. We are inclined to think that to the latter must be attributed their final disappearance, and that this event took place early in December, 1553.

This may perhaps seem a bold statement to make, but we believe there is sufficient evidence to warrant it. In the first year of Queen Mary, the inhabitants of the Isle of Walney, Ramsed, Salthouse, Marshgrange, and Sowerby Lodge, all in the parish of Dalton, and of Angerton Moss in Kirkby Ireleth, and of Salthouse in Cumberland, made complaints to the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster that on or about the 6th December then last past (viz., 6th Dec. 1553) a great part of the said towns adjoining the sea by " great tempes'tious, rages, surges and highe springes of the "sea was surrounded and overflown either by the sea or sand, to the great detriment of the complainants. In answer to this the Queen directed Thomas Carus, vice-chancellor of the county, John Preston, deputy steward, and William Sandes, receiver of the Crown's possessions belonging to the dissolved monastery of Furness, to go to the Island of Walney, and " "by view and examination "of witnesses find out the damage done. may be noted that the effect of this storm as here indicated extended all along the coast line from the extreme south of the parish of Dalton to the north of the mouth of the Dudden in Kirkby Ireleth-a distance of 15 miles.

It

On the 30th September, 1554, the commissioners above named repaired to Walney Island, and exa

mined six substantial witnesses, to wit-James Hunter, John Ronalson, William Robynson, Robert Nycolson, Laurence Bolton, and Nicholas Yowdelles-whose evidence proved that certain of their Majesties' land, in the occupations of Richard. Richardson, John Goweth, and John Yeattes the younger, tenants at Southend (in Walney), had been as alleged overflown "by the sea and sand " within the space of two years past to the extent of 8 acres. The lands in Biggar (in Walney), in the occupation of their Majesties' tenants John Yeates, John Parker, Laurence Torver, John Quynfell, Edward Decanson, James Decanson, John Gybson the younger, Christopher Bolton the elder, Christopher Bolton the younger, William Bolton son of John Bolton, Rowland Lange and James Haverygge, had been damaged to the extent of 5 acres of arable land, I of meadow, and 14 of pasture. Of the Crown lands in North Scale (in Walney) 2 acres of pasture were "wasted by sea and "sand"; the tenants of these lands were William Bolton son of Christopher Bolton, George Cawsey, Alexander Gibson, William Wynrey and others. The lands held by Geffrey Wylde, Richard Bankes at North End in Walney were inundated to the extent of 4 acres of arable ground, and 4 acres of pasture. Of the lands at Ramsed 2 acres of arable and 4 acres of pasture land were wasted. As this place is described as in the island, it may not be identical with Rampside; there is a very small island between Walney and the mainland still called Ramsey Island. At Salthouse the tenants of the duchy were Richard Hunter, William Dagget, Matthew Hunter, the wife of James Dagger; their lands were wasted to the extent of 4 acres. Sowerby Lodge, though on the mainland, is described as in the island; here the tenant, Robert Herteley, only lost 3 roods of meadow land. Marshgrange, held by the widow of Roger Ask

At

ewe, was inundated to the extent of 3 acres. Angerton Moss in Kirkby Ireleth 7 acres of arable land and 2 acres of meadow were destroyed; the tenants of the Crown here were the heirs of Perceval Woodhouse, James Walley, Nicholas Woodburn, Nicholas Richardson, Richard Shepherd, John Postlethwaite, Robert Askewe, Richard Walley, and others. In Cumberland at Salthouse (in Coupland) there were also some duchy tenants who fared even worse than the Lancashire ones; lands were wasted, houses, hedges, and ditches were broken down and destroyed.

The commissioners further reported that it did not appear possible to recover any of the lands submerged, on account of the vehemency of "the sea "which is continually flowing, and that no defence

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can be made against the great rage thereof.” The land destroyed was of the yearly value of 16d. an acre for àrable land, 2s. an acre for meadow, and 8d. an acre for pasture. The tenants at Biggar had spent 1800 days' work repairing their ditches; but one great hole remained which might be repaired for 10 spent in timber to make spylys" and other things to fill it up. At Salthouse and Marshgrange "spylys and wyndynges "and a sluce or hough were necessary for the "safeguard of their Majesties' inheritance." extent of the damage done by this storm to the sea-coast of Walney Island and its neighbourhood is recorded by the fact that over 49 acres were utterly destroyed or buried by the sea; and this land was only the portion occupied by the tenants of the duchy. The Island of Hertye and the place called Fordebotle may have been owned by freeholders.

The

Before leaving the Furness district, it may be

6 Probably piles, the wyndynges being the watlie or rods and twigs used to fill up the spaces between the piles.

7 Duchy Pleadings, vol. lxvi. R. 3, 1 Mary.

noted that besides the sea there were other agencies at work to destroy the small villages in the neighbourhood. The abbot of Furness, in 1516, it appears on most credible authority, pulled down the whole of a town called Sellergarth, in Furness, which consisted of 52 tenements, and turned the third part of the town to pastures for his own use, and at the same time he laid waste many other houses.8

At a much earlier period than that in which the lands in Furness were submerged, there was a great influx of the sea which seriously affected the Lancashire coast. According to Domesday Book, there were somewhere in West Derby two carucates of land, worth 8s. and free of all taxes except the gelt, and this land was held by Wilbert, and was known as Erengermeles. This place was assumed by Baines and others to be identical with Ravensmeols, a hamlet in the parish of Waltonon-the-Hill; we are now in possession of evidence to prove that this is not the fact, but that the land in question formed a part of the ancient parish of North Meols, and was so recognized for several centuries subsequent to the compiling of the Domesday Book.

In the 33 Hen. III [1248-49], Thomas de Betham died seised of Argarmell and other lands; and in the 39 Hen. III [1254-55], Radulphus de Betham died in possession of the same. From a charter without date (but about A.D. 1280) it appears that Hugh, son of Roger de Derebry, gave to Robert, son of Richard de Formby, son of Albin the priest, a selion of land in the "vil" of Formby, lying in that place called le Wra, and running from the garden of Alan Norreys (?) to Hongelowe, and also a garden which the said Hugh had near the Higfin' brigge, and a messuage which Roger

8 Duchy Pleadings, vol. ii. C. 3, 8 Hen. VIII. 9 Inq, Post. Mort.