River Petterill (Part 2)

Well, I was going to continue the journey today on our way back from Carlisle, but it has rained virtually the whole day, so not a good idea. This then is journeying from afar!

Sometimes people ask me how I find out things when I do research. Obviously I use the Internet and I have a big collection of books, which I refer to. But I always start with a map. I love OS maps, the 2½ inch ones. I am hopeless at using them for what they are designed to be used for – walking. I am one of those people who need the map to be the ‘right’ way round before I can locate myself, and contour lines have no meaning for me. But, as a resource for local history, they are invaluable. Little details can set one off asking questions or provide answers to puzzles.
 
For example, here is the map I am using at the moment. I was at the point marked with red star when I took the picture of the Petterill meandering away from Penruddock towards Greystoke. Later, Gordon commented on the field plan at that point – it looked like narrow strips leading from the houses to the river. Whether they are still marked like that I need to go and have a look, but it is likely that this is a field plan from medieval times, when villagers had long garden plots from their homesteads, so they had space to grow vegetables, keep animals.
 
I may be wrong about this, but Motherby is a very old village. The ‘by’ in the name is evidence of Old Norse and I have found maps dating from the 16th century, where it is shown as a hamlet. There are 17th century date stones on some houses in the village. From a guide book to the Lake District dated 1787: ‘On the right is the poor village of Motherby, which consists of nine small tenements, worth about ten pounds per annum each, and held under six lords . . . ‘

I’m sure there are Blippers who know this area better than me. I do hope they will chip in, or correct me if I get things wrong.