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There is also at Settle, a good National School, which was principally endowed by the Rev. John Clapham, M.A., who was instituted Vicar of Giggleswick in 1782, and died in 1839. It is now controlled by a governing body of twelve members, and conducted by a head master, two assistant masters, and two mistresses.

As the Giggleswick Museum contains one of the most valuable collections of ancient remains preserved in the country, as well as numerous other objects of interest, an epitome of its contents will not be out of place here:

Collection presented by the Victoria Cave Committee, 1869-78. Stones introduced by Man, and many of them used by him as whetstones and hammer stones, and for grinding and polishing. Pottery, Bronze and silver Coins of the Roman occupation. Worked bones and ivory, forming pins, needles, spoonbrooches, sword, and dagger handles, &c., some with incised patterns. Beads and fragments of ancient glass.

Animal remains from the Victoria Cave, which include remarkably fine skulls of male and female Grisly Bears, Ulna of Cave Bear, Radius of Stag, bones of Deer, Reindeer, Bison, Woolly Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, and Hyena; milk-teeth of young Elephas Antiquus; a hamperful of complete skeleton water-rats; a cast of the "Bone of Contention," or Human Fibula, supposed pre-glacial.

Ancient Stone Celt found in a rabbit-hole at Neals Ing. Several glaciated stones. Burial Urn found near Hellifield. Old Quern and Armour presented by W. Morrison, Esq.. M.P. A collection of beautifully-mounted local and other birds presented by T. R. Clapham, Esq., of Austwick Hall.

Case of Carboniferous fossils from Settle, Malham Moor, Clitheroe, &c., including Buccinium imbricat, Eunomplatus Dionysi, Pleurotomaria oridea, Orthoceras undulata, Goniatites mutabilis, Productus, (several good species) Ctenodonta, Cladodus, Helodus, Amplexus. Syringopora, etc.

The key of the Museum is kept by Mr. Brown, whose house adjoins the school.

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CHAPTER II.

SETTLE.

Old Settle-The post-town of the parish-Unique sun-dial-Castleberg and its watch-tower-Charter of market-Visits of old topographers-Coiners and filers-Craven Bank-Mediæval aspects of Settle-Saxon medal found within the market-cross-The church-Old inns-Trade-tokens-Settle during the Civil Wars-Letter from General Lambert-The "Folly "-Proctor, the sculptor-Some men of note-Longevity at Settle-Quality of the landRainfall-Snow Castle-Modern institutions-Farms and gardens-Statistics of trade.

NVIRONED by scenery of very varied and romantic interest the old town of Settle is uncommonly well placed. Rural highways and by-ways, field paths and mountain paths, converge upon the town from all directions, making it undoubtedly one of the best and pleasantest centres of exploration in the district. Although in spiritual affairs it has always been an appendage of Giggleswick, yet in temporal concerns, as the market and post-town of the parish, it has long held precedence. Its market dates from about A.D. 1250, while that of Giggleswick was probably anterior, but of its origin nothing is known. The precipitous scar which rises behind the town to a height of three hundred feet gives to the place a distinguishing and picturesque appearance, and in any view of it from the south and west the hanging wood and rocky top of Castleberg form a prominent and characteristic background. The slopes of this miniature mountain, says Whitaker, once formed the gnomon of a rude but magnificent sun-dial, the shadow of which, passing over some gray self-stones upon its side, marked the progress of time to the inhabitants of the town beneath; an instrument more ancient than the dial of Ahaz. When this remarkable flag-stone dial ceased to exist there is apparently no record. The stones were certainly not there when the crag was planted, nor when the winding path was made to the top a century ago.

It is more than probable that there have been habitations on this site from the earliest period of recorded history; and, indeed, long before then, as I have already pointed out, the old Celtic invaders had fixed

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themselves by the side of Giggleswick Scars, while the stone circle near Anley, and the discovery there of two burial urns, are almost conclusive. proof of a permanent settlement in this vicinity, whose very name even, is lost in the darkness of antiquity. Here the situation being sheltered and commanding, so favourable a spot would not, for defensive reasons, be overlooked by any tribes who were driven to these wilds by stress of conquest. As houses fell to decay others were built on their sites, but as civilisation advanced habitations descended, and gradually spread themselves over the reclaimed lands below. Moreover, it is no mere picture of the fancy to call up the time when the echoes of old Castleberg were roused by the Roman horns, as the conquering legions ascended the old road over High Side and Malham Moor, which runs towards Grassington. Quarries for the making and repair of these roads have been worked in the district from the earliest times. By the Romans too, it is pretty certain, for in the year 1783, in one of these old quarries was found, lodged in a crevice between two masses of rock, which the delvers were about to remove, a large quantity of Roman coins, chiefly of the two Constantines. There is but little doubt, too, that in the latter days of the empire, Settle was a Roman station, or at least, it had mansiones, or inns, where travellers could be accommodated and horses changed, before mounting the steep hills behind the town. On the top of Castleberg, there would be a fort and watch-tower, and there is a local belief current that at some early time such was the case. Traces of Roman camps and fortifications still abound on the high ground above Castleberg, and relics of the same period have been found in the neighbouring caves. When the Saxons came here they called the place, appropriately enough, Setl, (A.S. a seat or settlement), and at the Norman Conquest it was constituted, with Anley, a separate manor of Giggleswick, which latter place the Saxons had fixed upon as the head quarters of the parish. Doubtless the parish church was located there then as it is now.

As a market-town Settle has had several charters granted to it, the earliest extant being of the time of Henry III. But the following grant, dated 24th May, 1708, may be quoted, as its terms are those on which, for now nearly two centuries, the town has continued uninterruptedly to hold its markets.

"A CONFIRMATION to Richard, Earl of Burlington, and his heirs, of an antient Weekly Market on Tuesday, and a Fair yearly held for three days on the Vigil, upon the day and on the morrow of St. Lawrence within the manor of Setel in the County of York. And also a grant to him and his heires of severall other new ffaires to be held yearly within the town of Setel in the said county on the days following, vizt.-One ffair on the Tuesday next before Palm Sunday for the buying and selling all sorts of cattle, goods, wares, and merchandizes. Another on the 15th of April for sheep, another on Tuesday next after Whitsunday, for all sorts of cattle, goods, wares, and merchandizes, another on the 23rd June for lambs,

another on the 12th October for sheep, another on the Tuesday next after the 16th day of October for all sorts of cattle, goods, wares, and merchandizes, and another on Fryday in every other weeke during three months successively, yearly, to begin on ffryday before Easter, for buying and selling all sorts of cattle.

According to Her Majestie's pleasure signified by Warrant, under Her Royal Signe Manual, countersigned by Mr. Secretary Boyle, subscribed by Mr. Solicitor Generall. JOHN TENCH, Deputy to Thomas Gosling Esq.*

In the autumn of 1769 the poet Gray visited Settle, where, attracted by the "neatness and civility" of his landlady, he remained over two nights. His remarks, however, do not flatter the aspects of the town at that period. "It is a small market-town," he says, "standing directly under a rocky fell; there are not in it above a dozen good-looking houses; the rest are old and low, with little wooden porticos in front." Ten years later the Rev. J. Hutton made a tour through the district, and he says, "Settle is irregularly built, has a large and spacious marketplace, but not many good houses in it. Though by no means an inconsiderable town either for trade, riches, or number of inhabitants, it has no church or chapel. The church is at Giggleswick, about a mile off, which appeared to be the court end of the parish." Again, in 1773, the famous antiquarian and topographer, Thomas Pennant, came into the town, and his record is this,-"At the foot of a monstrous lime-stone rock, called Castleberg, that threatens destruction, lies Settle, a small town in a little vale, exactly resembling a shabby French town with a 'place' in the middle. Numbers of coiners and filers lived about the place, at this time entirely out of work, by reason of the salutary law respecting the weight of gold."

It is amusing how alarmingly the old writers speak of the rugged and abrupt approaches to the town from the east, which gives one the impression that a foot descent into it were indeed a perilous undertaking, and had been best made by the aid of ropes, or even by balloon. The roads at this end are certainly steep, and are hardly to be recommended to the cyclist, but to the pedestrian who is not stinted to time, a walk up these breezy heights will be more than recompensed by inhaling the invigorating air, and enjoying the glorious view that opens out when once the summit is gained. From the top of Castleberg, where seats have been placed, the prospect northwards and westwards is exceedingly fine, embracing a vast expanse of rich agricultural country southwards to Burn Moor and Pendle Hill, with the long flat ridge of Whelpstone Crag standing out conspicuously to the west, and beyond is Croasdale Fell, like a miniature Ingleborough; while looking up the romantic

• The reader may remark that the signatories to this charter, Tench and Gosling, in conjunction with Mr. Secretary Boyle, seem not inappropriate appendices to the belongings of a market!

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