The Drustone

Chapter Thirteen. Uncle Steve's History Lesson

"What did the new church do to help?" asked Henry. 

"They introduced a new prayer in to their church services. From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us." 

"And a lot of good that must have done." P.C. guffawed. "Surely the people themselves could do better than that."  

"They could. They reactivated an old system of signalling fires, known as beacons that covered the whole peninsula. When warned, the people moved in to well-concealed hiding places in the forests." 

"I bet the Druids knew the best places to hide," said Henry. 

"How can you tell that they settled here?" asked Rev, ignoring Henry's umpteenth reference to Druids. 

"From the place names. There's an old rhyme, which goes, on ford and ham and ley and ton most of Saxon place names run. 

"This means that towns such as Dalton and Ulverston were probably original Saxon settlements. The Vikings who settled in this area were Norwegian in origin and their name for a village is "by" and their name for a farm is "thwaite". So, if you see a place name ending in, by, or thwaite, Vikings probably founded it. Why don't you see how many names like this you can think of whilst I go to the loo?" 

The boys were amazed at the number of names they were able to recall during Uncle Steve's short absence. On his return from the throne, he once again picked on Rev.  

"Can you tell me what these words mean? Beck?"

"A small stream." 

"Tarn?" 

"A small lake." 

"Fell?" 

"A mountain." 

"Force?" 

"A waterfall." 

"See, Rev, you're almost a Viking. All those words are Scandinavian. Another thing, did you know that during the War, some local men were posted in Greenland and Iceland and were amazed to find that they could carry on a reasonable conversation with the natives if they spoke in Cumbrian dialect?"  

"I find it hard to believe that the old religion survived all these invasions? That's what you're suggesting isn't it, Mr. Dover?" 

"I suppose I am, Rev. Everything seems to suggest that there was a lot of conflict between the supporters of the old ways and the Christians. It lasted for more than 500 years and became really bad when the Black Monks arrived." 

"The Black Monks. Did they come from Africa?" said Henry, his voice betraying excitement. 

Uncle Steve couldn't hold back a chuckle. 

"They were an order of monks who wore black robes. They moved in to the area after the Norman Conquest, reopened the iron mines, and started sheep farming on a huge scale." 

"But how could they do this? Did they just take the land?" 

"Good point, Rev. You must remember that most of the land was common. Everyone was free to use it. The monks just took over." 

"Surely the local people must have put up a bit of a fight." 

"I don't think there was much they could do. The monks, supported by nobles who had many well-armed troops under their command, carried out a campaign to gain control of the land and wipe out anything relating to the old religion." 

"How do you know this?" 

"It's well documented. Many of the locals were tried as heretics on the witch's stool at Urswick; others were tortured in to submission at Lancaster Castle. It's no wonder they went underground."