William Paull and Joseph Michell Paull, Moor Masters of Alston Moor, Cumbria, 1845-1875

摘要

According to Rev. W. Nall in 1888: "The extensive district to which the name Alston Moor is applied is--situated in the South-East of the County of Cumberland, between the main ridge of the Pennines, of which Crossfell is the summit, and the secondary ridge which culminates in Burnhope and Killhope. The Southern and South-Western boundary of the district is formed by the ancient Crokit Burn (Crook Burn), the river Tees, and the southern slope of Cross Fell.. The western boundary is formed by a line drawn from the edge of Cross Fell.. to Cash Burne .. and from thence along the watershed to the head of Gilderdale. The Gilderdale and Ayle Burns form the boundary on the North; the Killhope ridge forms the boundary on the East. The extreme length of the district enclosed by these boundaries is ten miles, the extreme breadth seven miles and the area 40,000 acres." Alston Moor and Langley Barony in the Tyne Valley were part of the North-ern Estates of the Earls of Derwentwater. However, after the Earl of Derwentwater was beheaded in 1716 for his implication in the Jacobite cause to put the Stuarts back on the British throne, his estates were confiscated by the Crown and eventually in 1735 they were bestowed on the Royal Hospital of Seamen at Greenwich, more commonly known as the Greenwich Hospital. Much of the area is "more than 300m above sea level, thus the agricultural potential was mainly limited to sheep farming with a little arable land in the bottom of the valleys".1 Alston Moor is crossed by many mineral veins and the history of mining in the region can be traced back to soon after the Norman Conquest.