From Cowan Bridge to Kirkby Lonsdale town it is a pleasant run of 2 miles, but the somewhat distantly-situated railway station is passed in about a mile. At the turn, for half-a-mile before the station is reached, our way is along what was the old Roman road, mentioned in our account of Burrow, which went straight as an arrow's flight from Casterton southwards, by the white house at High Gate, and long afterwards continued to be used as a pack-horse road; indeed, it was a thoroughfare to the Half-way House and Wennington up to quite recent years. It is now grassed over.

The guide-post at Kirkby Lonsdale station tells us that we are 30 miles from Appleby, 26 miles from Kirkby Stephen, 11 miles from Sedbergh, and 15 miles from Settle. We now descend the road over

DEVIL'S BRIDGE, KIRKBY LONSDALE.

the county border, and cross the Lune by the famous Devil's Bridge up into the town. This curious relic of antiquity has a fine and striking appearance when viewed from the river's banks below. Its symmetry and strength are at once apparent, and there is no doubt at the time it was built it must have been very greatly admired and considered a grand triumph of engineering skill. And, indeed, admiration at the present day only ceases when passing vehicles put the bridge to the test; being as it is of such restricted width as almost to merit the taunt cast upon the "Auld Brig of Ayr,"-" Where twa wheelbarrows trembled when they met." But it must be remembered that its narrowness for defensive

or strategical purposes was all-important in remote times of almost continuous internecine strife. It must assuredly have been regarded as a model for bridge-builders, and we have elsewhere in our district noticed other bridges of like pattern. It is said that when old Blackfriar's Bridge, in London, was about to be erected, the architect came to Kirkby Lonsdale to examine this bridge, and approving of it adopted the same style of building. The Kirkby Lonsdale bridge is formed of three very lofty semi-circular arches, the material used being a beautiful white, fine-grained freestone, looking as good and durable to-day as when it left the mason's hands. The span of the two outer arches is 55 feet each, and of the central one 28 feet; the apex of the latter rising 4 feet higher than the others, and from the foundations in the river-bed to the central

THE LUNE IN FLOOD AT DEVIL'S BRIDGE.

parapet it is 52 feet. But when the river is swollen this elevation to the level of the water is reduced sometimes as much as 15 to 20 feet. For instance, during the great and almost unparalleled flood in August, 1891, the river rose fully 16 feet above ordinary water-level, and filled the whole expanse of the river bed with a rolling deluge that rose above the sills of the bridge. It was a striking and remarkable sight, and one which we shall not soon forget. We were at that time, as elsewhere related, water-locked in Dentdale, and came round here on the following day, when the river, however, had somewhat subsided. But on the 17th, when the water was at its greatest height, Mr. R. L. Simpson, of Kirkby

Lonsdale, came down and photographed the scene, which, by his courtesy, I am fortunately enabled here to reproduce. One engraving depicts the beautiful and quiescent river in its normal state, and the other as it appeared on August 17th, 1891, when the water, as above stated, rose within 25 feet of the parapets, or to the X marked on the engraving. The scene here at any time is always picturesque.

The soffits, or under surfaces of each arch, are composed of four ribs or groins composed of single stones, very exactly wrought and admirably fitted, with single stones also, 22 inches to 24 inches wide, filling the intervening spaces. The flanks being supported by stone sills, each 13 feet 2 inches long, or extending through the diameter of the bridge, and with terminal projecting buttresses.

As to who built the bridge, or concerning the date of its erection, we have no record. The proximity of the Roman highway have led some topographers to conclude that it is Roman. But this is not probable, as the Romans built few, if any, arched stone bridges in Britain. The abutments of Roman bridges were often, as Wright tells us, of a size and strength to withstand the thrust of the waters without the aid of an arch, and consequently a horizontal roadway of timber was sometimes laid on the piers. But both piers and arches here have evidently been contemporaneous erections, and of such proportions and strength unneeded at this point in Roman times. Indeed, the first arched bridge of stone erected in England would seem to have been the peculiar construction near Croyland Abbey, in the Fen District. The form is triangular, and the arches rise from the three abutments and meet in the centre, so that there are three waterways below and three roadways above. The gradient of the latter is somewhat considerable, but passengers are enabled to avoid this by the use of a number of steps. It is generally thought to have been built about A.D. 850-860, and is referred to in a charter dated A.D. 943.*

Another notable stone structure is the almost equally old Bow Bridge adjoining the site of Fors Abbey, near Askrigg. While lately examining this bridge, which is of a similar pattern to the Devil's Bridge, I was informed that an ancient copper coin was accidentally discovered under the old foundations by a workman engaged in repairing the bridge. The coin is of the time of Henry I., and bears a representation of Clifford Castle, York (with the old draw-bridge there, built in A.D. 1066) on one side, and on the other, York Minster, and the date A.D. 1100. The bridge seems, therefore, older than the abbey, and may have been built at the same time as Kirkby Lonsdale bridge. Many stone bridges were built, as is well known, about this time in England by command of Matilda, Queen Consort of Henry I., after her narrow escape from drowning at the old ford near the Bow Bridge, at Stratford.

Probably the oldest stone bridge in our own neighbourhood was that over the Lune at Lancaster, mentioned by Simpson in his history of that town, which, from the discovery of brass money of the time of Canute, beneath one of the foundation stones, is supposed to date from the beginning of the 11th century.

But the whole manner of the structure, and the surrounding history of the bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale seem to me to point to its erection subsequent to the Norman Conquest, and to be most probably co-eval with the building or re-building of the church, about the time of Henry I. It appears to be first noticed in a grant of pontage for its repair in the year 1275. The road-way on the summit is about 60 yards long, and 140 inches, or barely 4 yards wide, with angular recesses corresponding with the projecting piers for the escape of foot-passengers overtaken by vehicles. In a niche at the east end is a stone pillar, shaped somewhat like a font, and inscribed: "Feare God and Honor the King,-1673."

The legend is, as everyone knows, that the bridge was built by his Satanic Majesty, according to a compact made between himself and a poor woman who wished to recover her cow which had strayed at low water to the opposite side of the river, but could not do so without the convenient means of a bridge. And so the King of Evil agreed to erect a bridge on condition that he should have the first living thing that crossed. He knew very well of her husband's coming home from market, and hoped to make good booty. But the cunning woman was equal to the occasion. Seeing the approach of her husband on the opposite hill, she concealed a scraggy, half-starved dog under her apron, and letting it sniff a bone, suddenly tossed the latter over the fine, new-made viaduct, and the dog at once bounding after it, she stepped back, and raising her fingers in a very vindictive, and certainly most unbecoming manner,— as the story runs, lustily exclaimed,

"Now, crafty Sir, the bargain was

That you should have what first did pass
Across the bridge,-so now, alas!

The dog's your right."

The Cheater, cheated, struck with shame,
Squinted and grinned, then in a flame

He vanished quite.

If his sable Highness built this wonderful bridge, he must have been a very skilful architect, and not undeserving of the constructive genius attributed to him by the poet Milton in the first book of Paradise Lost.

CHAPTER XXV.

IN THE VALE OF LUNE.

From Ingleton to Burton -Halsteads-Lund Holme Spa-well-Burton-in-Lonsdale --A Saxon fortress-Castle of the Mowbrays-The manor--Past and present aspects of Burton --Low Field-Cantsfield-Thurland Castle-Tunstall Church, and Charlotte Brontë-Pretty village of Burrow - A pre-historic station— Roman camp-Rauthmel's account-Roman military roads-Ancient bridge -Remarkable discoveries-Description of camp-Recovery of a Roman altar, &c.-Lunefield-Kirkby Lonsdale.

W

E have now discussed pretty nearly every object of interest within some ten miles of Ingleton, but there are still a few things unnoticed in this attractive neighbourhood, which may fitly engage our attention for yet another chapter. Proceeding by Broadwood, beneath the wonderful viaduct of the L. & N. W. Railway, which rises fully 100 feet above the river, we go by the Craven Lime Company's offices, when the road shortly divides. Taking the left turn, a picturesque, good old English homestead, with a trim garden in front, is passed on the right of the way. This is Halsteads, a former residence of the ancient family of Tatham, mentioned in our account of Ireby, and afterwards, by the marriage, in 1724, of Ellen Tatham with George F. Foxcroft, gentleman, of Thornton, a possession of the latter family. Both the Tathams and the Foxcrofts are old local families, and their names will be found in our Poll Tax lists (A.D. 1379) under Thornton-in-Lonsdale. At the back of the house there is an old dated stone (A.D. 1670) bearing a Latin inscription.

At the four-lane ends further on, we take the Lancaster road, (here 161⁄2 miles from that town), and in about 50 yards cross a stream, near to which, just over the hedge, is the Lund Holme Spa Well, a deep mineral spring, whose many virtues are scarcely yet sufficiently known. But the water, which contains some saline matter and sulphuretted hydrogen in loose combination, has been found very beneficial, both internally and externally, for various disorders of the skin. The frequent local Danish name Lund (a grove) I have explained elsewhere in connection with Hell Beck Lunds. In a charter of the time of Edward III., this (Spa) Lund is written Lyndholme, which is the same thing, specifically indicating the trees which formed the grove, i.e., lindens.