Parton Part one, from PastPresented

NOTES FOR ACT 2
To Page 57

Page & topicNotes
14: sketchesSketch plans in CRO D/LONS/W.10 folder of loose Parton plans, +
  Pellin plan (WRO microfilm JAC 358)
14: Moses developmentWRO YDX 225/4 (title deed for this property, dated 11 Oct 1703, referring to house as "lately built") +
  (title deeds for Quay House, including original dated 23 Dec 1702, referring to house of John Moses opposite, then "lately built")
14: William FletcherCRO D/Lons/W1/66, section "Observations about the Collierys" +
 CRO DRC/6/105/1, Moresby parish register 1702/3, Bishop's transcript.
14: Wilkinsons questionWRO YDX 225/4 (title deeds for Quay House, including original dated 23 Dec 1702, referring to "messuage of Elizabeth Wilkinson, widow") +
 CRO DRC/6/105/1, Moresby parish register 1701, Bishop's transcript: burial of John Wilkinson, 4? Oct
14: storm questionPRO "Calendar of State Papers (Domestic) 1702-3", letter from Sir John Lowther, 27 May 1702
14: manor courtCRO D/LONS/W.8/13/1: Moresby/ Distington manor court book.
 NB "Chamley" appears in various documents as "Charnley", "Chamney" and "Chambley", but has been standardised for this book.
14: Quay HouseWRO YDX 225/4 as above
14: 1704 courtCRO D/LONS/W.8/13/1 1704 tenants' list +
 numerous surviving deeds
14-15: Peter WalkerCRO D/LONS/W.8/13/1 list as above includes Walker, but deed of neighbouring property (William Tyson's) dated 28 Jan 1703/4, does not mention him
 -in CRO D/LONS/W.9/Box 1713
15: Quay House drawingBased on elevation and plan in WRO YDX 225/4
15: parish registersCRO DRC/6/105/1 Moresby parish register, Bishop's transcripts
15: ropewalkDeeds in CRO D Lons W.9/Box 1711
15-16: Lowther staithe banDeeds (most, ironically, in CRO D/LONS/W.9)
16: letter to LowtherQuoted in Wood "West Cumberland Coal"
16: Lowther plot purchaseDeed in CRO D Lons W.9/Box 1713, 18 Jul 1705
16: MPsBeckett "Coal and Tobacco" +
 Bean, William W. "The Parliamentary Representation of the Six Northern Counties of England" (1890)
16: petitions etc.CRO D/Lons/W1/66, "Observations about the Collierys" +
 PRO "Calendar of manuscripts of the House of Lords 1704-6", 19 Feb 1705/6
16-17: passage through LordsPRO "Calendar of manuscripts of the House of Lords 1704-6", 19 Feb 1705/6 +
 diaries of William Nicolson, sometime Bishop of Carlisle, volume 7 (JLC microfilm), entries for 2 Feb 1705/6 + 6 Feb + 19 Feb + 22 Feb + 25 Feb + 26 Feb (annoyingly omitted from the printed transcripts in CWAAS 2-03)
 Background on Wharton & Somerset from encyclopaedias.
 NB: reference to "judge Thomas Addison" may be mistaken, although he is described by Nicholson as "Mr Justice Addison". He is an intriguing character, combining the roles of businessman and civil servant, moving between Whitehaven and London as frequently as the Lowthers.
17: terms of ActSee extracts
18: Lamplugh at work"Victoria History" of Cumberland, volume 2 (1905) +
 Beckett "Coal and Tobacco"
18: Read paintingGreetings cards available at The Beacon, produced by the Friends of Whitehaven Museums. See also
 Burkett, Mary & Sloss, David "Read's Point of View" (1995)
 NB: The painting plays very sophisticated tricks with proportion and perspective. The background hills are as seen from Lowca Point, but are about 1.6 times higher than in reality (possibly achieved by using a pantograph to transfer from original field sketches, which would also help to explain Read's production of several near-identical paintings of Whitehaven over several years). The horizontal perspective of the village and pier (and, incidentally, of St. Bees Head, which would otherwise stick out a long way) is from a much closer point, on the beach near Spout House.
18-20: development plot sales
  (including map)		The largest single collection of early Parton deeds is in CRO D/LONS/W.9/Boxes 1711-1713
 but there are significant collections at WRO:
 T/BSC/1/12 +
 T/BSC/1/13 +
 T/BSC/1/14 +
 YDX 225/4
 Unlike modern deeds, the early documents do not include site plans, but rely on detailed descriptions of the size and orientation of each plot, and its relation to neighbouring plots and landscape features (thus often providing information about ownership of other plots). In addition, lists of tenants in the
 Manor Court Book, CRO D/LONS/W8/13/1
  are arranged in a geographical order, thus helping to identify owners of plots for which deed information is not available.
  This website includes a map showing which deeds refer to which plots.
19: Whillimoor CommonMediaeval documents, analysed by J.E.A. Jolliffe in an essay called "Northumbrian Institutions" in the English Historical Review, vol 161 (1926), from which is derived a plan in " Landscape & Society in Medieval Cumbria" by Angus J.L. Winchester (1987) show that Whillimoor Common originally included large areas to the west of the River Keekle, in Moresby and Distington.
20: lack of facilitiesCRO DRC6/105/1, churchwardens' annual presentments to Bishop
20: road improvementsD/LONS/W8/13/1, Moresby manor court book, various entries 1707 onward
20: Gale & LatteraBeckett, J.V. "Carlisle Spedding (1695-1755)" (CWAAS 2-83) +
 Beckett "Coal and Tobacco" +
 Wood "West Cumberland Coal"
 (both books include tables of figures from the colliery accounts, with some discrepancies but the same basic message of absurdly low apparent sale prices for Lattera coal).
20: tokensDocument by John Spedding, "A State of all the tokens, Sept. 20th, 1725", quoted in Chancellor Ferguson's "The Colliery, Harbour, Lime, and Iron Tokens of West Cumberland" (CWAAS 1-15)
21: Whitehaven harbourHay "Whitehaven..." +
 Act of 1709 (available at WRO & elsewhere)
21: purveyCRO Q/11/1/91, Quarter Sessions Easter petitions 1709 (online catalogue entry)
21: freeholders listCRO D/LONS/W.8/13/1, Moresby manor court book. The list referred to is actually mis-bound in the book, but can be identified as relating to the court record of 19 Oct 1709
21: Distington collieriesWood "West Cumberland Coal" +
 "Victoria History" of Cumberland, volume 2, chapter on mining.
21: proposed new ActLowther correspondence (CRO D/LONS/W.2 + WRO microfilms): J. Spedding- J. Lowther, 28 Aug 1715
21: September meetingLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther, 7 Sep 1715
21: Pier deterioration "Victoria History" of Cumberland
21: Lowther's manualCRO D/Lons/W.1/66
22: glasshouseLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther, 21 Dec 1718
22: stormLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther, 14 Nov 1718 + 16 Nov + 19 Nov + 23 Nov + 26 Nov + 28 Nov
23: tide-waiterLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther, 23 Nov 1718 + 19 Dec
 + J. Lowther to W. Gilpin, 16 Dec 1718
23: Lowther staitheLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther, 28 Dec 1718
23: Lowther measuresLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther, 2 Jan 1718/9
23: small shipsLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 21 Dec 1718
23: tokens + Whitehaven moveLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 11 Jan 1718/9 + 14 Jan (+ 23 Jan + 28 Jan)
23: Ellen Foot proposalLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 14 Jan 1718/9 +
 1719 broadsheet "Reasons for Building a Pier and making a Harbour at Elnefoot in Cumberland", quoted in
 Wood "West Cumberland Coal"
23: GlasshouseBeckett "Coal and Tobacco" for basic sumary of all glasshouse material +
 Lowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 21 Dec 1718
24: Glasshouse firing & saltLowther correspondence: J. Lowther- J. Lowther- W. Gilpin 21 Feb 1718/9 + 10 Mar
24: Glasshouse potsLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 8 Mar 1720/1
24: Glasshouse coalLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 21 May 1721
24: Glasshouse 1721 closureLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 3 Dec 1721
24: HappyentranceLowther correspondence as specified
24: 1728 closureMoresby parish register (WRO YPR 15/1, also on microfilm)
 & Bishop's Transcripts (CRO DRC/6/105/1) at this time include the occupation of fathers / husbands. There are entries for "glassmaker" or "glassman" every few months until April 1728.
24: harbour repairsLowther correspondence: J. Spedding- J. Lowther 12 May 1719
24: legal threatsLowther correspondence: J. Lowther- W. Gilpin 10 Mar 1718/9 + 12 May 1719 + 23 Jun
24: Moresby sale rumourLowther correspondence: J. Lowther- W. Gilpin 25 Jul 1719
25: Thomas FletcherI hope to tell the full peculiar story of Thomas Fletcher some day, but briefly, Thomas was nominated as heir by Henry Fletcher of Hutton in the Forest, who then retreated to tne Roman Catholic community at Douai in Belgium, only to be vigorously challenged by Henry's sisters (several relevant documents transcribed in
 Brooker "Fletcher Family").
  He seems quite swiftly to have abandoned Catholicism (he sponsored the rebuilding of the Anglican church at Hutton in the Forest about 1714, and denounced Catholics in later years) and was branded an apostate
  (Transactions of the Catholic Record Society, vol 4, 1904),
  but it was probably this decision that got him the job of Sheriff in December 1718. NB: due perhaps to the New Year problem, there is some confusion over dates in lists of Sheriffs such as
  Hudleston, C.R. "A History of the Shrievalty of Cumberland" (1969).

There is more detail in
"A Short History of Catholicism in West Cumberland" by Dom Gilbert Dolan (1932- posthumous), who quotes various original documents (mostly from the "Forfeited estates papers" at the Public Record Office:
  By an Act "for further preventing the growth of Popery (11&12 William III [1700], cap. 4), no "papist" could inherit or purchase lands unless they had taken the Oath of Supremacy; thus, in order to inherit Henry Fletcher's estate, Thomas F. had to do this- but he did more.
3 Sep 1716: Letter from Sir Henry Hogton, MP for Preston (writing from Penrith) to the "Commissioners of Enquiry": "... Mr Fletcher, who was formerly a Papist, but now a Protestant, and zealous in the interest of ye Government... also knows of some estates given to superstitious uses..."
11 Oct 1716: Thomas Fletcher deposes at Preston "that he knows George Carter of Castlesteeds, Thomas Wytham of Workington, and Thomas Warwick of Warwick... all to be Popish priests of the Benedictine Order, and believes these priests know of lands settled to superstitious uses... and that there now lives at Corby, in Cumberland, one Sherburn, a reputed priest..."
19 Jan 1719 (quotation source unclear): memo. from Thomas Fletcher to the Commissioners about the Church plate left by Henry to the "English Recollets", this had been confiscated and sold, and "your memorialist has received his share, for which he returns hearty thanks, and hopes he is also entitled to his share of the money bequeathed by Sir Henry Fletcher's codicil".
25: Sale of manorWood "West Cumberland Coal"
  Future research on Thomas Fletcher and Moresby should pin down the reasons for the sale. Those who suggest that Fletcher had died around 1720 have to explain why he appeared to get married in 1734.