King William, surnamed the bastard Duke of Normandy by his Norman countrymen, conqueror of England, never had a real interest in the land that eventually became the county of Cumberland & the Barony of Westmorland.

In fact he left this area more or less as it was - even after defeating King Malcomn of Scotland in 1069. But that may be a too simplistic description of the real events as this area changed its allegiance more than once in the following years.

But though William had laid Northumberland waste he seems never to have crossed the hills into Cumberland - even in his second expedition to the north. With an army almost in mutiny, part of which— the men of Brittany and Anjou—were allowed to return home, even he found his power crippled, and the land beyond the Stainmore Cross and the fells by Shap and the mountains north of Furness remained untouched.

King William Rufus first defeated the Scots and it may have been this King that installed Ranulf de Meschin, as the ruler of Carlisle & district towards the end of his reign. He was to be the Lord of all Cumbria, the position which he held until 1122 when he became the Earl of Chester & his border lands returned to the crown. He had never been appointed Earl of Carlisle. It is also claimed that it was Henry I who enfeoffed Ranulf as a thank you for services rendered to him back in France. Ranulf held more than Cumbria as he held all the land from the Solway in the north to the Ribble in today’s Lancashire, less the manor of Alston; along with the Baronies of Kendal & Appelby and estates in Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

The first baronies of Cumberland were created circa.1100 by Ralulf, these being: Gilsland, Liddell & Burgh by Sands and whose Barons were intended to provide the first line of defence against the Scottish incursions.Not very succesful.

It was probably not until the reign of Henry II [1154-1189] that the Normans took a serious interest in taking control of this region because of the troublesome activities of the King of Scotland. At this time Henry II created in the county the five new great Baronies, namely, Allerdale above Derwent [Copeland], Allerdale below Derwent, Wigton and Greystoke & Levington. This act would have strengthened the military control of the area, and it would be at this time [1110-1115] that William Meschin, the brother? of Ranulf, was granted the Barony of Copeland. Copeland was in fact given as a compensation, as his original grant in this area, the Barony of Gilsland was still under the control of Gilbert son of Buet which he continued to hold until his death.

Allerdale above Derwent (or Allerdale to the south of the River Derwent) was confirmed to William Meschin and he set up his headquarters at Egremont building his Castle on the banks of the River Ehen. It was apparently this man who took to using the previous/existing name Copeland to differentiate it from Allerdale below Derwent which was held by Waldeve son of Gospatrick. It should be noted that William was primarily the Lord of Skipton in Yorkshire where he held numerous estates as well as several more in Lincolnshire.

Then occurred an event, which made a lasting impression upon the history of Cumberland, for the Chronicon Cumbrie relates how the said William Meschin sub-granted a thin strip of Copeland, abutting northward on the river Derwent, to his neighbour Waldeve son of Gospatric, to be held of himself, the grantor, as superior lord. Waldeve was, of course, the over Lord of the district known as Allerdale below Derwent.

That thin strip of land crystallized as the Honour of Cockermouth. From the ecclesiastical point of view the same thin strip, containing the five vills of 1. Brigham, 2. Eaglesfield, 3. Dean cum Branthwaite, 4. Greysouthen and 5. the two Cliftons cum Stainburn, and lay, like its parent barony of Copeland, within the diocese of York [1].

William Meschin tenant ‘in capite’, for which he paid the King 200 marks [2], fixed his headquaters at Egremont and consequently preferred to describe his own fee of Copeland as the “Barony of Egremont” and built his castle at Egremont on the banks of the river Ehen.

When William de Meschiens divided his baronry, he granted areas of land to members of the families that had helped the Conqueror during his invasion of England in 1066. Some historians claim that the de Meschiens were in fact Norman late-comers to England and took no part in the invasion. These allocations of land became the foundation of the Manor system. It is likely that the land divisions were based in part on pre-existing land arrangements.

The early history of the county of Cumberland is problematical because there is very little documentary evidence to provide reliable information concerning events within the County.

Very little information concerning areas within County is to be found in the Domesday Survey of England ordered by William I in the year 1086. The reason given is that the area was so poor that it was not worth the effort required to carry out the survey work.

Since 593 and until the time of William the Conqueror (1066), Cumberland was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. During this time it was administered by its own King or Chieftain.

About 890, during the break-up of the Kingdom of Northumbria under Gregory the Great, who is credited with driving the Danes out of the area, Cumberland became attached to Scotland. In 1032 it was controlled by Malcomn II at the time of his “nearly battle” with King Canute. When this conflict was resolved the Principality of Cumberland, which then included Westmorland, continued in the possession of the Scottish crown.

Nev.Ramsden, November 2008