round "Black Tom of the North," who certainly had never anything to do with Burrow Walls, which, being in the manor of Seaton, always belonged to the elder branch. The monument* to his memory in the church, carefully drawn by the experienced hand of Canon Knowles, is notable for the solidity and homeliness of the armour, which has led to the suggestion that some local armourer, some Henry of the Wynd, lived near. When I availed myself of the Rev. T. Hodges' kind permission to look over the Camerton Register, I found, amongst the earliest entries in the seventeenth century, the name of Armourer as that of a family residing at Flimby, an excellent centre for such an artificer, for Curwens, Eglesfields, Lamplughs, and Ribtons would often, thanks to the Scottish inroads, need their iron clothing renewed or furbished up. Canon Knowles finds the date of the monument circa 1510. Thomas married Margaret, daughter of John Swinburn, and by her had a son, William, who married another member of the parent line; Tonge says Joan, but another pedigree calls her Margaret, daughter of the second Christopher Curwen and Joan Pennington; and by her had Christopher, whose wife was a daughter of Thwaites of Thwaites, in Millom, and also of Unerigg Hall, where, indeed, the family principally, if not altogether, resided at this time. Four children are named as the issue of this marriage: Oswald, Brandon, Anne, and Dorothy. The occurrence of the name of Brandon as a Christian name is remarkable. It must be remembered that the owner of Harrington manor about this time was Henry Grey, first Duke of Suffolk, whose wife was Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France. There was a slight connection between Charles Brandon and the Curwens. Margaret Curwen, daughter of Sir Thomas, had, as we have seen, married John Preston, and his sister Ellen married Thomas, second Lord Monteagle, whose first wife was Mary, daughter of Charles Brandon. A Charles Brandon, an unfixed scion of the same family, was member for Westmorland in the Parliament of 1 Edw. VI. (1547).† See Appendix of Monuments, No. 9. I Strange as it may seem, there is a chasm between Tonge's "Visitation" in 1530 and the commencement of the pedigree taken by Dugdale in 1665, but commencing circa 1570. The names seem to be entirely changed in less than half a century. He commences with an Anthony, who married, firstly, Helene, daughter of Thomas Bradley of Bradley, and secondly, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Lamplugh. Anthony held at the time of the Percy Survey, in 1578, Camerton, lands in Eglesfield, Graysothen, Blind Bothell, a fourth of Waverton, two tenements at Highmoor, ten acres in Colemire, and certain lands in Whinfell. An Inquisition was held after his death, 23 Eliz. (1580-1), when it was found that Camerton was a manor, and that it was held of Henry Curwen as of his manor of Seaton by knight's service, and that it was worth xxxlb. xiijs. viijd.* Catherine, his second wife, and I think the mother of his children, was buried at Camerton, July 28th, 1611. He was succeeded by Christopher, who married Ann, daughter of John Senhouse, of Seascale. Cuthbert Curwen was a younger brother of this Christopher. He must have been one of the earliest to avail himself of the advantages of Bishop Grindall's school at St. Bees, for he was an exhibitioner of that foundation at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, in 1586, and therefore entitled to receive 5 marks yearly. He became rector of Arthuret. He is frequently mentioned in the household books of Lord William Howard as "the Doctor" (he was a D.D.) and “ 'the Parson," and generally is entered as sending thirty geese to Naworth, probably a rent or acknowledgment due in kind.† His will is given in the Appendix,‡ and marks him to have been a man of very peculiar temper. He leaves his books to Peter Curwen, his nephew, and I am disposed to conclude that this was the identical Peter Curwen who raised a monument in Eton College to the learned and "ever memorable" John Hales.§ George, a brother of Cuthbert, died at Ripon in 1606, and his I learn this from an entry in the Manorial Book of Camerton, signed by Ralph Cooke, and dated December, 1771. +"Selections from the Household Book of Lord William Howard," Surtees Society, Vol. LXVIII., pp. xlvii., 51, 88, 130, 130a, 176. Appendix of Wills and Inventories, No. 3. "Athenæ Oxonienses," ed. 1692, Vol. II., p. 126. will is also given in the Appendix.* Christopher was buried at Camerton, March 25th, 1618, and was succeeded by his son, Henry, who married Bridget, daughter of Thomas Brockholes, of Brockholes, Lancashire, by whom he had several children, duly recorded in the tabular pedigree. He died, it is stated, in 1638 Christopher, his eldest son, succeeded. He was baptized at Camerton, May 8th, 1617, and married Ann, daughter of Joseph Porter, of Weary Hall, by whom he had a very numerous family. He was buried at Camerton, April 16th, 1661. His wife long survived him. Her will is dated September 13th, and was proved at Carlisle, December 7th, 1686.† She was buried at Camerton, September 17th, 1686. Henry, the eldest son of the marriage, succeeded. He was born at Camerton, November 14th, 1637. He was living March 23rd, 1676, but probably did not long survive. Some of the lands in Greysouthen, noted in the Percy Survey, appear to have been held by sub-tenants as customary estate of tenant right, subject to the usual payments and services, transfers of which were authorized and recognized. not apparently by copy of court roll, but by the "landlord's " signature on deeds of the times of both Christopher and his son, the last-named Henry, in my possession. None of the Camerton Curwens ever were lords of the manor of Greysouthen, and this peculiarity in tenure, though not unprecedented, is unusual. During Henry's tenure of the property a singular duel occurred, in which a member of the Curwen family was one of the principals. The story is partially told in "Depositions from York Castle": August 8, 1668, before Thomas Denton and John Aglionby, Esqrs; Patritius Curwen Gentleman saith that he being in company with Mr. William Howard and Mr. Henry Howard and Mr. Grimston last night there happened to be a difference between Mr. Wm. Howard and Mr. Curwen aboute the drinking of a glass of wine whereupon Mr. Henry Howard upon some language passing between Mr Wm. Howard and Mr. Curwen tooke Mr. Curwen by the eares and threatened to kick him out of the roome and * See Appendix of Wills and Inventories, No. 4. + See Appendix of Wills and Inventories, No. 5, and the will of her daughter Isabella, No. 6. + Surtees Society, Vol. XL., pp. 162-3. |