Morning journal and courier., 1891-07-11

Puzzled the other Day-Ancien
Carlisle.
| KELso, Scotland, June go.
| Tothe Editor of the JOURNAL AND CouRIKR:
American travellers Fastening between
the English and Scottish capitals mis-.
| what have often felt is the most interest
| ing portion of the two countries. That ID
| the Border country with its ancient border
| towns, in and around which have beer
| fought more ferocious contests than else
where in all England and Scotland. These
old border towns have been but little mod
ernized. The railway stations are about
all the structures in them that have large
windows or smell of paint. They remain
chiefly as they stood when the border
raids were ended. They are gray, battle
SCARED, ancient. They were built in
fighting times and have their records il
their hard old faces. To wander among
them is like being whisked back four ol
five centuries and set down face to fact
with the grimness and hardness of feuda
times. Scotland is richest in these weird
old relics. The Scotch crowded close tc
the Border, built huge places of sally, and
then being liveliest on their legs ''harried'
the English in such a brisk and occupying
way that they had little time on theil
hands, after chasing the raiders home, fol
building border towns.
On the English side, in the two great
border shires of Cumberland and North
| cumberland, there are but two border cit
les of note, of ancient origin, Newcastle
and Carlisle, unless the little early-day
castle-towns of Penrith and Keswick, the
latter in the English lake district, may be
included But in the three adjoining Scot
tish shires of Berwick, Roxburgh and
Dumfries there are Berwick and Cold
stream, Kelso, Jedburgh, Melrose, Hawick,
Langholm, Ecclefechan, Amman and Dunn
fries 1t would indeed be carrying Goals
to Newcastle to attempt discovering much
of interest in that border city beyond mat
ter connected with manufactures and coal.
At Keswick one is preoccupied with the
noble scenery of Derwent vale, dominated
by huge Skiddaw, and by the memories re-
called by the lines of Southey and Cole,
ridge, that its ancient character and tradi-
tions fade into insignifcance. Little and
quaint old Penrith il place no tourist
ever finds, yet it is certainly one of the
oldest hives of humans in England. Here
are the remains of a once huge border cas-.
tie built by the Sevilles. That is all the
canny Scots could see when they sailed
| over the border, but they knew that at its
| base, in little hollow, stood the grotesqut
\ town, its streets the narrowest, mos
winding and may in England, and thai
| its wise old burghers had mpeh of value
hid in their tiny staongholds Of houses
i 1t is at Penrith-sacked scores of times II
| the English and Scottish wars, and fol
several brief periods the residence of tha
1 merry murderer, King Richard III-tha
| you will find one of Englsnd's most curl
GUS rude stone monuments. 1t stands il
I the little churchyard, and is known as tn,
| "Giant's Grave" There are two hug,
stone pillars, one each at the head anc
foot. They taper from a circumference o
| twelve feet at the base to seven at the top
| Folklore of the region afirms that the,
| were erected ages gone by to perpetual
the memory of legendary giant calle,
Owen C@sarius. They are covered wit
Runic carvings. British antiquarian
Il
cret, and Sir Walter Scott nearly wen
mad puzzling his poor knobby head owe
them.
But saw the people of Penrith in
more vexed puzzle than this the other day
| A portable engine and threshing -machin
of American pattern were being haulet
| down hill through its single thoroughfare
which sharply winds TO the right and lef
| to accommodate the entire place. It wa
| too narrow in places to allow their pas
sage. Presently the two pieces of ma
| chinery were wedged fast between the op
l posite houses. An extraordinary commo
| ton followed, as all the town-folk on eth
| er side seemed at once furious to pass t,
| the other, and this sinuous street was tn
only means, without making a circuit o
half the place. Everything from dyna
| mite to Queens warrant and the gian
shade of Owen Cesarius was suggested t,
relieve the city. When l left it mobs wer
| struggling on either side of the barrier
massed into writhing cone against ant
upon the machinery; while stentorial
| burgher waved his arms and shouted +
the multitude: ''Ees cooms O. Hsmerioa,
inwentionsi They puts willin' hands i
th' workus, an howdashusly stosps 90
our streets. Down VII 'em, say Oi.'' An
"Down VII 'eml" sang they all as the
l BDGuRklcu " OOp WI clu, du dWd.
Perhaps. they are at it yet in Penrith town
Ancient Carlisle, a portion of who's
castle was built over twelve hundred year
ag, is fine example of the once almos
impregnable border town. It stands q
the edge of the foothills of the mort
English mountains, on one of their fartt
est out outings; and hill, town and cast
have typographical look of pugnaciou.
ness as the whole faces the misty Scottis
mountains. Between the city and th
border stretches a vast fertile plain, ono
fen over which Scottish raiders slowl
waded, and their delay always gave th
Carlisle warriors time to get into goo
fighting trim. Indeed the stronghold wa
the chief weapon of William Rufus
| "bridle and render insecure the possessio
of the Scottish kings in the two norther
counties" Poor Mary Queen of Scot
=. was shut up here sometime after her land
ing in England. The east window of tn
Carlisle cathedral is probably the larges
in Britain; while within the same area ca
nowhere be found SO great a number {
ancient castles of residence and defens,
Among these 1 visited Rose, Corby an
| Naworth castles, the latter the seat of th
Earl of Carlisle, and have not come upo
such tremendous battlemented walls elst
where in Europe. Even in Carlisle itse
L
with walls from four to six feet in thicl
ness; and splayed windows and bartizs
. towers of feudal times are SO quaint an
frequent as to form one of the most cur
GUS and interesting studies among the DO
der towns.
Over the Scottish border where IL
Tweed, as it leaves a region of gloriol
tradition and is lost in the tides of Il
German ocean, stands Berwick, loomir
, darkly in a high antiquity. No man ca
tell its origin, or trace its early histor,
1t comes first authentically into view
3 the early part of the twelfth century.
was then q town of mark-the capital
Lothian; and it figured for some time as
great seaport, as place of rich churche
r monasteries and hospitals, and as one
the first four royal burghs of Scotland
t The Scandinavians made descents upon
t but it was built for such visits, and the
. did little harm. The English acquired
t claim upon it in the time of William Il
? Lion, stormed it during the reign of Ale.
ander II, and inthralled 1t during the di
pute for the succession of the crown.
thenceforth became an object of continu
r jealousy between the English and Il
, | Scotch, being valuable for its great wealtl
: its mighty fortifcations, and its extensi,
I command of the border districts; and
i often suffered the horrors of siege ar
capture. Berwick's ancient mighty rar
parts, against which the first cannon firt