Inglewood Forest

Pasture at Skelton

Inglewood Forest is a large tract of mainly arable and dairy farm land with a few small woodland areas between Carlisle and Penrith in Cumberland.

History

Soon after the Norman conquest of England this area became a Royal Forest (which in this sense means a hunting reserve, not a woodland, though several areas of Inglewood were heavily wooded). The animals that were hunted in this area were mainly deer and wild boars.

Inglewood appears to means the "Wood of the English", suggesting an ancestral English settlement amongst the native Britons, or if later than an English area where otherwise the Norse had settled heavily.

The forest boundaries changed many times and included at one time most of the Wards of Leath and Cumberland but the core or heart of the forest was the parishes of Hesket-in-the-Forest, Skelton and Hutton-in-the-Forest.

Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Chronicle (written c.1420) places the forest as the original setting of the Robin Hood legend, the following is taken from the chronicle:

Lytil Jhon and Robyne Hude
Wayth-men ware commendyd gude
In Yngil-wode and Barnysdale
Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale.

The forest belonged to the Crown and was governed by the strict Forest Law exercised by wardens, until in the reign of Henry VIII the forest laws were repealed and Inglewood ceased to be a Royal Forest, although it is still to this day marked on maps as such".

Lane near Middlesceugh

The borough and city of Carlisle (the area within the city walls) was outside the forest though Penrith was within it and was the main administrative centre and market town for the southern part of the region.

Honour of Penrith

The manors of Penrith, Great Salkeld, Langwathby, Carlatton, Castle Sowerby and Scotby were collectively known as the 'Honour of Penrith' and were at first given to the Scottish crown in exchange for Scotland's giving up its claim to all of Cumberland. In 1272 King Alexander III complained that a William de Leyburne, the local seneschal, has unlawfully appropriated the manors' rents. After the rebellion of King John Balliol of Scotland, the Honour of Penrith was seized by King Edward I. Later they passed to the Neville family, Earls of Westmorland, but came back to the Crown during the Wars of the Roses, and remained so until the joint reign of William and Mary II. The honour was also known as "The Queen's Hames" since the manors were often given to a Queen consort on her marriage or at the death of the previous consort. The last Queen consort to be Lady of the Manor or Honour was Queen Catharine of Braganza, consort of King Charles II.

Outside links

• Location map: 54°46’60"N, 2°55’0"W

References

• Parker, F.H.M.: 'Inglewood Forest' in Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society:
  • Part 1 (1905; 2nd series, Volume 5), pages 35–61
  • Part 2 (1906, 2nd series, Volume 6), pages 159–170
  • Part 3 (1907, 2nd series, Volume 7), pages 1–30
  • Part 4 (1909, 2nd series, Volume 9), pages 24–37
  • Part 5-6 (1910, 2nd series, Volume 10), pages 1–28
  • Part 7 (1911, 2nd series, Volume 11), pages 1–37