carved work of an older structure again made use of at the time when the existing Norman part of the building was being constructed. This view is considerably strengthened by the occurrence, in the carved stonework of the Norman doorway itself, of two old sundials, which are built in such positions as to be now utterly useless for their original purpose; while, as if to prove that they are of older date than the building where they now occur one of them is built in upside down. In regard to the dials themselves I hope that Mr. Ferguson, to whom I am indebted for nearly all the information I possess about these and the other antiquities in and around Milburn Church, will examine them himself and describe them at length on some future occasion.

I wish particularly to direct attention to the evidence that these dials and the old diaper work seem to afford in regard to the antiquity of the village of Milburn itself; because, it seems safe to assume that if there was a preNorman church there must also have been a pre-Norman village. This village may well have been a place of much more importance than it is now, because, it is said that Mr. Tyson, one of the late incumbents, made a series of trials and excavations outside the limits of the present building, with the result of discovering distinct traces of a much larger edifice than the church is at present. The size and importance of the church in the adjoining village of Long Marton, which Mr. Cory has shewn to have a history similar to what I have supposed to belong to Milburn, seems to lend support to the view that some of these fell-side villages are of great antiquity, and that, in times past, they were places of much more importance than they are at the present day.

On the south side of the porch that forms the present entrance at the west end of Milburn Church there is built in a rudely carved combination of wheel crosses. Canon Knowles considers that this may be dated about the twelfth

century.

century. With regard to the age of a much-worn recumbent figure, which seems at one time to have had the hands clasped over the breast, Canon Knowles refers the date to the fifteenth century. In the village there is a kind of tradition that it is an effigy of a Knight Templar. It may be worth while to mention that the stone in which it is carved is not the St. Bees sandstone of the neighbourhood, which has furnished the material for all the stonework of the church, but carboniferous sandstone, as if the stone had been carved at a distance and afterwards transported to its present resting place. It is said to have been disinterred some years ago by Mr. Tyson.

On the inside of the church there are two recesses in the south wall; one only a few yards to the east of the point where the church used to he entered through the Norman doorway, and the other close to where a small chapel was annexed in later times in connexion with Howgill Castle. It would almost seem as if the more easterly recess indicates the position of an older chancel that existed at the east end of what is now the south aisle before the present chancel and the Howgill Chapel were added. In connection with this it may be worth while to note that there is a break in the level of the stone paving in the church, ranging along a line joining the junction of the newer masonry with the older on the north and the south sides of the church as if the present chancel and Howgill chapel had been built while the flooring of the older part of the church was concealed from view. At the farm called Kirkhouse, close to the church, is the Tithe Barn, called "tean leath" to this day.

At the entrance to the field called Kirkrains, which forms the approach to the church from Low Street, is the shaft and pedestal of what is said to be an old cross, now too much battered and weather-worn to afford any satisfactory indication of its original form. The base of a similar cross, approached by steps, stands in the middle of the village

green,

green, and now serves to support the maypole that was erected there some years ago.

The green itself is oblong in form with its greatest length lying in a north-easterly direction. Houses shut it in nearly all round, except where a narrow road affords an entrance. It is said that, in times past, the villagers used to close all the entrances to the village, and turn out all their cattle there during the winter. One of these approaches, the one leading into Milburn from Blencarn and Newbiggin, is called the Butts, probably because the bank facing towards the village, at the point where the present road bends abruptly to the south, was made use of for archery practice in byegone years.

It is remarkable, considering the physical character of the neighbourhood, and the strong antecedent probability that traces of the old non-Teutonic population of the neighbourhood might be found here, that so few remains of anything like either long or round barrows have yet been detected. A mound of stones like a tumulus occurs on the south side of the bridle road leading from Blencarn to Cross Fell, close to where there is an old lime-kiln by the side of Littledale Beck; but, with almost that sole exception, the wild fell sides of this part present a remarkable contrast, in respect of the number of pre-historic remains, to the great belt of rising ground ranging through from Kirkby Stephen by Orton and Shap to near Blenco.

It is said that vestiges of old enclosures, of unknown date, may be traced amongst the accumulations of loose rock matter on Middle Tongue, about a mile or so to the south of Cross Fell summit; but these seem to be too illdefined to be worth more than the mere mention. One such enclosure, however, perhaps better worth further investigation, lies along the Melmerby-Ousby township boundary, about midway between the remarkable hill called Cuns Fell (probably a word of Celtic form) and the limestone scar, known as Melmerby High Scar. Non-Teutonic

place

place names are common thereabouts, as if the older races lingered there later than elsewhere in the neighbourhood; and it might be worth while to institute a closer search than I have been able to make, with a view to discovering some more satisfactory traces of their former existence here.

Yet, although

In conclusion, there is one other fact bearing upon the early history of Milburn that seems worth taking into consideration here. The Roman Road, wherever I have seen it, seems to be well made, and in many respects well adapted for use as a highway between the places it was intended to connect, even at the present day. it is true that the modern highways do here and there run over the same lines for a few miles, the two do not, by any means, invariably coincide, even when the object of establishing communication between the same places has been in view. In a great many cases the new road seems to have been laid out without any reference to the older road already existing; and the newer road as often as not runs side by side with the older, as if the road makers were unaware of its very existence. Does this not look as if there came a time after the Roman left the country when nearly all the older population were cleared off, and the entire country lay desolate long enough for the roads to become overgrown and lost sight of? There seems to be a great blank in the history of Edenside at this time; and a blank of such a nature as could hardly have existed if the district had been continuously peopled from Celtic times down to the advent of the Teutonic races.

EXCURSIONS AND PROCEEDINGS.

THE

AUGUST IST TO AUGUST 19TH, 1882.

THE first meeting of this Society for the year 1882, was one of unusual importance and duration, being held at Carlisle from August 1st to August 9th, in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Royal Archæological Institute at that place. A full report of the proceedings has appeared in the Archæological Journal, occupying 46 pages, and has also been reproduced in a separate and accessible form. It does not, therefore, seem desirable in this Journal to do more than to record the utterances of some of our more distinguished guests with regard to our local objects of interest.

The first day of the meeting was devoted to a formal reception by the Mayor and Corporation of Carlisle, during which the following address from this Society was presented:

"To the Right Honourable Lord Talbot de Malahide, the President; and to the Members of the Royal Archeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. "We, the members of the Antiquarian and Archæological Society of Cumberland and Westmoreland, offer a most hearty welcome to the President and members of the Royal Archæological Institute on this their second visit to Carlisle and its neighbourhood. Upwards of twenty years have elapsed since the Institute last met in this ancient city. The influence of that visit was not without its results as regards the particular studies, pursuits, and researches to which the members of the Institute devote so much of their time and their talents. The papers read and the discussions upon them, the places visited, and the objects of antiquarian interest brought under notice, promoted and greatly encouraged in this district antiquarian researches and archæological studies; and there is good reason to believe that the former visit of the Institute to this neighbourhood was one of the chief causes of the formation of our own local Society.

"And as we are ready to acknowledge that we are thus greatly indebted to you for our first existence, so we have to thank you heartily for your kind help in lending to us various woodblocks which have been published in your Journal, when such illustrations related to places and objects existing or found within the area embraced by our local Society. It is therefore fitting and proper that we should rejoice to receive and welcome you into our own especial field of labour; and,

* Vol. xxxix., pp. 427-471; published separately, price is. 6d.