Westmorland. NUMBER OF TOKENS ISSUED NUMBER OF TOWNS, ETC., ISSUING TOKENS 19 5 TOWN PIECES ISSUED BY THE MERCERS' Sub-Editor and Collaborateur: E. FOSTER BELL, ESQ. (Mem. Num. Soc. Lond.), Botcherby, Carlisle. Westmorland. THE number of tokens pertaining to this county is very small, and they consist of halfpennies and farthings, and range from 1656 (No. 12) to 1669 (Nos. 3, 4 and 16). The literature touching upon them is somewhat large, when we compare the very limited issue of pieces. The principal are: "The Tradesmen's Tokens (of the seventeenth century) of Cumberland and Westmorland," by William Henry Brockett, Gatesheadupon-Tyne, 1853. Reprinted from an article in the Gateshead Observer of March 5, 1853. "The Ancient Commerce of Westmerland." Reprinted from the Gentleman's Magazine for May, 1853. "The Tradesmen's Tokens issued during the Seventeenth Century in Appleby, in the County of Westmorland," by T. Fisher, Kendal, 1855. "The Tradesmen's Tokens issued during the Seventeenth Century in Kirkby Stephen, in the County of Westmorland," by T. Fisher, Kendal, 1855 There are also articles in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1792, in Nicholson's "Annals of Kendal," and in the Kendal Mercury for December 14, 1861, and March 28, 1863. E. FOSTER BELL. The loan of the woodcuts was most kindly promised by the late Mr. Cornelius Nicholson, F.S.A., at the time that this work was commenced, and we are now indebted to Miss Cornelia Nicholson, the daughter of the deceased antiquary and author, for the fulfilment of the promise. We are very grateful to Miss Nicholson for kindly assistance, so valuable, and to Mr. Bell for his interesting and important notes. APPLEBY. THE EDITOR. I. O. CHRISTOPHER. BIRKBECKE = The King's head crowned to 2. O. EDWARD. GVY. 1666 : = IN. APPLEBYE. Edward Guy lived in Brig Street, Appleby, and held two burgages there. He was a supporter of Richard Tufton in the Parliamentary election of February, 1678-9.--Machell MSS., i., p. 223. The name of the Rev. Edward Guy (instituted Vicar of St. Lawrence's, Appleby, 1636) appears in the list of Mayors of the borough for the years 1627, 1631, 1634, 1635 and 1650.-Sayer's "History of Westmorland," ii., appendix, p. lviii. He was probably the father of the issuer. 3. O. WILLIAM. SMITH = A pigeon pecking. R. IN. APPLEBYE. 1669 W. S. = WS This token has hitherto been attributed to Appleby, a village in Leicestershire, but there is little doubt that it belongs to the county town of Westmorland. A specimen struck in brass was found in 1863, on taking down some old buildings on the south side of Allhallows' Lane, Kendal.-See Kendal Mercury, March 28, 1863. The issuer was a mercer and held property in the Borough Gate (Machell MSS., i., p. 213), where he probably had his residence. He, like Guy, was a supporter of Richard Tufton (ut supra, p. 223), and his name appears in the list of Mayors of the borough in the years 1667 and 1673.-Sayer's "History of Westmorland," vol. ii., appendix, p. lix. There is an engraving of this token in the Gentleman's Magazine for March, 1792 (p. 209). GRAYRIGG. 4. O. RIC: ROWLANDSON. OF . GRAYRIG= A pair of scales and a spade. R. IN. KENDALL. PARISH. 1669 = HIS HALF PENY, Richard Rowlandson was a fellmonger and woolstapler; he lived on his own estate at Lambert Ash, Grayrigg, where he carried on his business, as well as at Kendal, Kirkby-Stephen, and Kirkby-Lonsdale. To the above he seems to have combined that of stationer, as appears from the following entry in the accounts of the churchwardens of Kendal : "1665. Paid Mr. Richard Rowlandson for a booke of Homilies oo 06 00.""Transactions of Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Society," ix., p. 270. It is stated that he walked to London and back, on business, three times, and that he was there in the time of the Great Plague in 1665. There is an entry in the parish register of burials, July 18, 1735, of Richard Rowlandson, at Grayrigg, supposed to have been the issuer of this token: if so, he lived to a great age, which he is said to have done. One Richard Rowlandson was Town Clerk of Kendal in 1683.-Nicolson and Burn's "History of Cumberland and Westmorland," i., p. 71. KENDAL. 5. O. MERCERS. COMPANY. IN. KENDAL = The Mercers' Arms. R. K. K. 1657 = Arms of the Corporation of Kendal. The arms are those adopted by the Corporation of Kendal when the charter of Charles I. was obtained, as they are not registered; they are quarterly, first and fourth, three spindles, second and third, three woolhooks-the bearings being indicative of the staple trade of the town. The same arms are engraved on a silver tankard and a sword, belonging to the Corporation, with the motto "Pannus mihi panis" (Cloth is my bread). The letters K. K. probably stand for the initials of Kirkby-Kendal, and are engraved on the silver seal which has been in use in the Corporation since the first charter of Elizabeth in 1576, the date of which it bears. Snelling it is engraved without the K. K. above the shield-probably a variety. In The original dies, much worn, were found in 1803 among the ruins of the New Biggin, where the Cordwainers had their hall, and are now preserved in the museum at Kendal.-Gateshead Observer, March 5, 1853. 6. O. COMPANY. OF. SHEARMEN = A pair of cropper's shears. R. IN. KENDALL. 1666 = A teasel-brush. 7. A variety struck in lead, having a star of five points on the reverse on either side of the teasel-brush. These implements of the cloth manufacture are now almost entirely disused, the great improvement in machinery, which does the work better and cheaper, having superseded them. The large shears were used by the croppers to cut all the long hairs off the cloth; and unless great care and precision were used, there was danger of cutting the cloth, so that none but experienced workmen were employed, and they earned great wages. During the Luddite riots, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1812, many of these artisans were implicated, some of them having been thrown out of employment by the improvements in manufacture, and many by their intemperate habits. The long hairs are now removed by a spiral steel blade fixed on a revolving cylinder, which gives a fine, even nap to the cloth. The hand teasel-brush was used for brushing the cloth, one being held in each hand; this is now done by machinery, the teasels being placed in a long, narrow iron frame, worked by steam power. There were formerly twelve free companies in Kendal, which gradually became extinct, the last of them, the Cordwainers, being broken up in 1800, in consequence of Robert Moser, one of the craft, refusing to recognise any legal power in the 78 VOL. II. |