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On the 23rd November 1665, the Manor of Castle Carrock was sold by Sir John
Ballantyne and his wife, Dame Anne, to Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle. So
began a connection between Tottergill and the descendants of the Earl, which was
to last until 1937. The farm was freehold, but within the boundaries of the
manor and subject to manorial law.
It
figures from time to time in the Howard
family
records, for instance each time a lord of the manor died the incumbent of
Tottergill had to pay a ‘fine’ or ‘heriot’ to the estate.
As the 17th century drew to a close, the farm was owned by the Hodgson
family who were there for another 200 years.
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Henry Hodgson of Tottergill was a very fortunate man. At the time of his death
in 1677 he owned a bed with two sheets, a bolster and cover cloths. He
bequeathed them to his daughter Jennet. At a
time when
many slept on piles of straw’, ownership of a bed and linen was of some
significance. Henry also owned a ‘brass and iron port’, unbleached cloth,
ropes and baskets, wood faggots and wood, corn and hay, two oxen, four kine
(cows) and three calves, a horse with apparel, 6 lambs, geese and poultry. His
son Thomas got a cupboard, ark and table and the rest went to his wife Dorothy,
along with sundry debts:
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From the
inventory to Henry’s will you get a brief glimpse of life at Tottergill three
hundred years ago. He is listed in records as a thatcher and coalminer -
activities which would supplement what he could make from the land. At home he
worked on the farm with his horse to grow crops and keep animals for meat, eggs,
feathers and wool. He gathered wood for fuel and Dorothy cooked in the
‘pott’, over an open fire. ‘Valuing the few’ items of furniture that he
owned, he passed them on to serve the next generation of the family. Henry
Hodgson, of ‘good and perfect memory’ was not an educated man and was only
able to make his mark, at the end of his will, as were his neighbours called in
to do an inventory of his goods. as was the local custom. Life on the farm would
have been hard, especially in winter, when no fresh food was available and their
diet would have depended on foods
which
could be safely’ stored, smoked or preserved.
When he looked out from Tottergill over the valley below he would have seen a
pattern of long, narrow’ fields along the valley bottom, with ‘common’
grazing areas on the rougher land, a legacy
from
medieval times. Castle Carrock was smaller - the surge of new building in 19th
century prosperity was still in the future. “Water came from local streams -
Carlisle was too small to need the reservoir yet. The railway hadn’t arrived
and all travel was on foot or by horse, on unmade and muddy roads Using power
generated by a hillside spring, the farm had its own mill, complete with sluice,
millrace and wheel.
This
meant that grain could be ground at home and a difficult journey down to the
mill on the river Gelt was avoided.
There
were other Hodgson’s also living on the farm. Anthony Hodgson died around the
same time as Henry. Parish records list him as ‘yeoman’ so he was likely the
elder brother. Down in the village below there were many others of the same
name.
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