Scarrow Hill, Brampton

Today, Scarrow Hill has become a rather isolated victim of history. It lies on the very edge of the parish of Brampton in north east Cumbria, near the Northumberland border. Scarrow Hill is separated from neighbours by the A69 trunk road and by the Newcastle to Carlisle Railway, both of which postdate Scarrow Hill.

The Place-Names of Cumberland, part one by A.M.Armstrong, A Mawer, F.M.Stenton and Bruce Dickens gives various spellings for Scarrow Hill in Brampton. These are Scareckhilles, 1603; Scarrowhill, 1626; Skarehill, 1675; Skarhill, 1699; Scarrow Hill, 1784. The meaning is likely to be “Projection of land marked by a shieling”. A shieling was generally a place or simple hut where graziers would be temporarily housed when herding animals on high ground in the summer – part of the system of transhumance.

The earliest reference (so far) to Scarrow Hill in the parish of Brampton is of Thomas Hall, who made his will in 1595, expecting (as he did) to die by 1596.

In the name of god amen : the xij ^th daie of maie, in the year

of our Lorde god 1595 I Thomas Hall of the Skarrow Hill in

the pishe of Brampton syke in bodie, but of sound mynde

& of good & perfecte remembrance thanks & prayse be given

almightie god doo ordaine & make this my last will and testa

ment in manner & forme as following : That is to saye first I

surrender my soule unto the handes of my god my maker & savior

& my bodie be buried in my pishe church yarde of Brampton

my duties, funery expenses, & my mortuarie these hereto

paid accordinge unto the dewes and statutes of this countrie

of Inglande Item: I give and bequeathe: Unto Janet my daugh

ter the wyfe of John Bell two oxen that one in his owne hande

the other one blacke he had in hylter & two kyme also halted

one kalfe, three ewes & two lames, these goodes I give her if

her husbande John Bell doo not shame the byldinge of one

hope of expectations but if he do shame the byldinge of one

house of my expectations then I will & commande that he

have none of these goodes but have husbande John Bell to take

that he maie get by law of my expectations, for I do saide

repay any thinge before god. I did promyse him such

thinges but repay good will to helpe him to that by byldinge

of one house of two paire a seales and soo upon good will I maid

him the greate timber of two paire of seales readie and he so

woulde not fetch it, and soo I soulde it to one Robart Pair

man for xxiiij s Item: I give and bequethe to unto Pieter Bell my

daughter’s sonne one gimmer-hoge Item: I give and bequethe unto

Thomas Hall. John Hall. Lancelote Hall. George Hall. Da

vid Hall. Elyzabeth Hall. Agnes Hall. Annabell Hall my son

Gregories children everie one a sheepe hoge Item: I give and

bequethe unto Elyzabeth Rychardson one gimmer lamme. Item for the

residue of all my goodes moveble and immoveble and legacyes moveble

that my dettes paid, my funerell expenses discharged before god I

give and bequethe: unto Gregory Hall my sonne whom I doo ordaine

and make be my sole executor of this my last will and testament

my presence hereof : David Hall and Robert Nixon. Witnesses hereof

William Thompson pish of Denton and Robert Nixon ??? of Denton

and with others also.

Anno Domini 1596

In 1603 The Gilsland Survey states that Gregory Hall had a “tenement and close called Skarechilles: more toward the southeaste: by Denton becke in parte on the east and the com pasture on all other partes”. This comprised of 16 acres, one rood and zero perches, with a value of 2s. 6d. John Robinsons copy of the 1603 Gilsland Survey map below shows a building on the site of the current building at Scarrow Hill with the land more toward the sotheaste.

The Naworth Estate and Household Accounts 1648 to 1660 by C Roy Huddleston, Surtees Society refer to Toms Hall at Scarrhill. Tom Hall is referred to as a smith and is paid for shoeing carthorses and work to carts. In 1665 Thomas Hall dies but the inventory of his goods and chattells gives us an insight into his life.

A true and perfect Inventory of the goods and Chattells

of Thomas Hall  of Scarrowhill in this parish of Brampton

& County of Cumberland , ^{late departed} as they now prised by Humphrey

Bell of Silverside and Christopher Bell of the Mill this 29^th

Day of June Anno Domini 1665.

                                                          li       s        d

Imprimis his Apparell                      2        00      00

Item two Black Stotts                       3        00      00 (type of cow)

Item two kine                                   3        00      00

Item two stirks                                 1        00      00 (yearling heifer or bullock)

Item one gilt sow and her pigs         0        10      00

Item one old horse                            0        06      08

Item Cart and Wheels                       0        05      00

Item One Sled or Auxilo                   1        00      00

Item One Ladder                               0        00      08

Item in Puter                                    0        12      00

Item in Brass                                    0        18      00

Item in Wooden Vessell                    0        15       00

Item one Crooke Girdle and Tongs    0        02      06 (griddle)

Item in Bedding                                0        10      00

                                                          li       s        d

          Summa totalis                         13       19      10

          Debts owing by the deceased qty

                                                          li       s        d

Funeral Expenses                             2        00      00

Indebted to John Langhorn              6        04      00

Owing to Mr John Robinson            1        00      00

Item to Mr Robert L Hodgson          0        10      00              

Item to Daniel Sowerby                    0        10      00

Item to John Richardson                  0        16      05

Item to Ambrose Atkinson & Son     0        06      04

Item to his brother William Hall      1        10      00

Item to Edmund Bell                         0        02      00

                                                          li       s        d

                                                          12      18      9

       Debts owing to the ?? qty 10      9

Thomas Holme Curate ∞ Humphrey Bell   H  )    aforesaid

                                      Christopher Bell        )    W

Interestingly he had an old horse! A little earlier in history and Thomas Hall would have been a border reiver!

The Howard of Naworth papers show Scarrow Hill changing hands a number of times over the next 75 years.

On 10^th December 1675 William Hall blacksmith, grant of messuage at Skarehill or Skarohill to Henry Farlam younger, of stonehouse, Lanercost, yeoman.

On 18^th August 1699 grant of messuage at Skarehill of ancient rent 2s. 6d. John Beckwith of “Exham”, Northumberland, tailor to George Thomas of Carlisle, glazier and Catherine his wife.

On 7^th January 1746 (really 1747 due to calendar changes), George Thomas of Brampton, yeoman, and John Thomas of same to Henry Earl of Carlisle £120. This transaction would have been just after the Jacobite Rebellion and just before the building of General Wade’s military road from Carlisle to Newcastle.

In July 1754 the Military Road Minute Book shows that an agreement was signed to make the road from Cumcatch gate on Brampton Common to Scarrow Hill at nineteen shillings a rood.

The annual report, for 1754, stated that the road had been finished from Carlisle to Brampton Town Foot; the four hundred yards contracted for between Cumcatch Gate and Scarrow Hill had been trenched, stoned and “broak” only awaiting the final covering of gravel and the completion of the three bridges; the remaining part of the road within the county (i.e. east from Scarrow Hill) had also been trenched, stoned and “broak” except for some one hundred and five roods; three stone bridges had been completed, but there was still a section of about three hundred roods from Brampton Town Foot to Cumcatch Gate not yet contracted for, but which, when finished, would complete the whole road within the county.

The Commissioners meeting of 14^th July 1755 ordered settlement of the accounts of three contractors upon completion of their work. Nowell and partners for the section from Cumcatch to Scarrow Hill with three bridges, Workman for that over Brampton Fair Hill, and Byers and Partners for that from Scarrowhill Bridge to Temon.

The Hodgkinson and Donaldson 1770 to 1774 map overleaf shows Scarrow Hill, south of the Military Road. The area is marked as “hashed” i.e. not enclosed at this time.

Scarrow Hill was actually enclosed in 1778. The enclosure map below shows the house in its current position along with three outbuildings, although only one of these outbuildings is extant.

The Land Tax records list John Atkinson as the Farmer at Scarrow Hill at the time of enclosure. The sum assessed for land tax in 1780 was 3s 1½d. The proprietor is listed as The earl of Carlisle. John Atkinson married Barbary or Barbara Brown on November 5^th 1769 at Lanercost. He was 27 and she was 19. Witnesses were William Appleby and John Brown. Barbara was christened in 1750 also at Lanercost. She was the daughter of Patrick Brown of Island Head. We know of only two children from John and Barbara’s marriage. Mary was born in 1772 and Peter in 1778. Sadly the Lanercost parish burials show that “Barbara wife of John Atkinson of Scarrow Hill, Farmer died in January 1784. Her grave plot at Lanercost Priory is X15 where her headstone reads “Barbara wife of John Atkinson of Scarrow Hill died 21^st January 1784 aged 33”

“A tender mother and friend sincere

A mother virtuous and a wife most dear”

John Atkinson remarried Mary Barnfather later in the same year.

Scarrow Hill seems to have had an air of affluence at this time. In 1787 the Military Road Minute Book tells us that John Little of Low Row Toll House has entered into Bond to Thomas Waugh of Low Houses in the parish of Nether Denton and John Atkinson of Scarrow Hill in the parish of Brampton for the sum of Four Hundred pounds and one shilling.

No record has been found of John Atkinson’s death at Scarrow Hill. We move on into a new century and in 1809 the Howard of Naworth papers tell us that a blacksmith Richard Gibson of Scarrow Hill has bought “for £1 a piece of land upon which a dwelling house has been lately built on the north side of the Military Road near Denton Hill”. This will be the building of the properties known as Bank Houses demolished in 1968 and shown in the photo below which was taken from Scarrow Hill in 1968.

Richard and John Gibson were ironfounders and blacksmiths as per the 1829 Parson and White directory. They seem to have set up Brampton Foundry on Castle Beck near to Scarrow Hill.

The Land Tax records tell us that John Bell was the next tenant of Scarrow Hill, although the proprietor remained The Earl of Carlisle right through to 1981. John Bell of Scarrow Hill died in 1815 followed by his wife Mary Bell in 1816. They are both buried at Lanercost.

The Carlisle to Newcastle railway was built in the late 1830’s. It crossed under the Military Road at Scarrow Hill. The new railway bridge became known as Scarrow Hill (sheepfold) Bridge, presumably to distinguish it from Scarrowhill bridge where the Military Road crossed over Castle Beck. The fortunes of Scarrow Hill seem to have declined at this time. From the 1841 census we know that the house has been divided into two. By 1850 the Tithe Map (overleaf) again shows Scarrow Hill as two cottages, and with no land.

Interestingly the Tithe Map shows that the house has been extended and the outshut built on the back of the west cottage. The outshut as it now stands along the whole of the back of the house was not built by 1867, as it does not appear on the First Edition Ordnance Survey Map shown below. By 1901 (Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map), the outshut stood in its current form. Inspection of the building confirms that the oushut was built in two stages as the join is evident on the stonework. The external walls of the outshut are 56cm (west side) and 48cm (east side) constructed of stone with rubble infill.

The census records from 1851 through to 1901 show that there were to be no more farmers at Scarrow Hill. Various names stand out.

1851 Sybil Potts Char Woman

1851 Samuel Stephenson Agricultural Labourer

Samuel is living with his daughter and son-in-law Jane and George Blaylock. George is listed as a retired draper age 38, but he later took the tenancy of the Earl Gray pub (formerly the Duke of Wellington) on the Sands in Brampton. By 1879 he was the landlord of the Sportsman Inn, Brampton town centre, where he was prosecuted for watering down the whisky!

1871 John Mingins Railway Carter

1881 Isaac Routledge Shepherd

1881 John Moses Labourer

1881 Alice Moses Labourers wife

1901 Mathew Moses Railway Platelayer

1901 John Mingins Retired Platelayer

Electoral lists tell us that Scarrow Hill continued to be occupied as two cottages by various families. Notably two generations of the Caris family who occupied the East Cottage from 1937 through to 1967. Stanley Dove Caris suffered from tubercolosis contracted whist serving in the merchant navy in 1943. He slept in a shed located in the field. This white shed is clearly shown on the left in the 1968 aerial photograph below.

The West Cottage was empty by 1967 and there seem to have been no tenants of either cottage after 1968. Scarrow Hill remained empty and derelict until 1981.

In 1981 Suzanne Heslop purchased Scarrow Hill from the Earl of Carlisle for £14,500. The house was in the rather sad and derelict state shown below. She was only able to purchase 0.6 hectares of land with the property. She returned the property to one dwelling, reusing the old dividing wall bricks behind the fireplaces.

Today Scarrow Hill and it’s land are a registered smallholding owned by Catherine and Neil Bancroft. The former farm land and outbuildings surrounding it are owned Naworth Castle Estate.

References

Books

ARMSTRONG, A.M., MAWER, A, STENTON, F.M. and DICKENS, Bruce. “Place-Names of Cumberland, The, part one”.

GRAHAM, T.H.B. “The Barony of Gilsland, Lord William Howard’s survey, taken in 1603”.

HUDDLESTON, C.Roy. “The Naworth Estate and Household Accounts 1648 to 1660”.

LAWSON, William. “Construction of the Military Road in Cumberland 1751-58.”

PARSON and WHITE. “Directory 1829”.

MOORAT, David. “Life in brampton with 63 public houses”.

Documents

HOWARD FAMILY : Cumberland Deeds and Manorial Documents, Part 1 1970

C13/1

C13/2

C13/3

C235/1

C235/2

Military Road minuite book to 1791

Land Tax Records “Naworth”.

Lanercost Parish Records

Census Brampton Parish, Naworth Township. 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901.

Electoral Lists 1929 through to 2007

Maps

ROBINSON, John. “Gilsland Survey Map, Brampton Parish (copy)”.

HODGKINSON and DONALDSON “map 1770 – 1774”.

ENCLOSURE MAP “Brampton Parish 1778”.

TITHE MAP “ Brampton Parish 1850”.

ORDNANCE SURVEY MAP “First Edition 1867”.

Thanks to

All at Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle

CARIS, Lloyd

HESLOP, Suzanne

STRAUGHTON, Eleanor

LOWE, Andy

RYDER, Peter

BURN, Bryan

Catherine Bancroft B.A.(Hons), MCIH

Scarrow Hill,

Brampton

Cumbria

CA8 2QZ

Return to The History of
Scarrow Hill