The Routledges of Bewcastle
Bewcastle is always referred as the home of the Routledges and I hope below to explain how this reputation came about.
The first records of Routledges may very well be in the Hawick area but that is not conclusive proof that they were the first Routledges. It is simply the first historical record of them. While Simon was the first burgess of Hawick and his sons and grandsons were ransacking the Scotts of Buccleuch's home there was another group of Routledges slightly more responsible blossoming in Bewcastle. Well only slightly.
The
future King of England, Richard the Duke of Gloucester, was appointed Captain
off Bewcastle in 1470, and by 1473 it records Cuthbert and John Routledge,
Robert Elliot and Gerard Nixon as his constables of the parish. And then in 1478
they were let the lands but were to pay no rent as long as they provided
services to the King. Sadly though this was not to last. We did however retain
our status even when Richard became King but it came to an end when he was
killed in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth. And upon his death the Musgrave family
took up Captaincy of the Castle and its Parish all the way through to 1608 when
peace came to the Borders. The Routledges may have been there first but they got out
just
in time. For the 16th century was to be a torrid time for Bewcastle and it's
people. At the height of the Border Reivers it was going to be the Musgrave's
responsibility to protect and police the people in their parish. They faced a
hundred and twenty years of trying to
control the Fosters, Nixon's, Grahams, Elliots, Armstrong's and of course the
Routledges. Rather them than us!
But why would we want a Castle and to be in control of lands, we had a place in history to create and a reputation to make. We had to become Every mans prey.
Leaving our mark
Various locations in Bewcastle are associated with the Routledges but the main
one has to be the area known as the Bailey, which is where the Black and White Lynes
meet. Near here can be found the place frequently accredited to be where our name
came from, Routledge Burn. The name Routledge itself supposedly translates into
"red lache" which mean red stream or pool. And indeed the burn is red on
appearance. Although I, along with more modern thinking, agree that the Burn
gained its name from the people and not the other way around. In fact if
you go back early enough it is called the Bailey Water and is not till later it
is called Routledge Burn. Perhaps named after William Retleche who is named
living there when it was called Bailey water in the early 16th century. This is the same for the so
called home of generations of
Routledges, Routledge Burn Farm. Thanks to a local
historian he informed me that the farm has only been there since early 1800's,
and is not till the early 1920's it is called Routledge Burn Farm on the OS
maps.
But this does not take away the fact that during the Reiver years the Bailey water, or
Routledge Burn was the home of the Routledges. In fact just down the road from
the burn is a building called Cuddys Hall which is believed to be the probable
home of the before mentioned Cuthbert Routledge. At the start of the burn is a hill called
Routledge Rigg. So its safe to say in my opinion, and of other historians, that the
Routledge gave the name to these places and not the other way around.
The Routledges, as I've already covered, were active reivers in the Bewcastle Flatts and were quite often on the receiving end of them too. There seems to have been a few main areas that the Routledges dwelled in and remained till the end of the reivers, and the start of records. These where the Bailey, the Flatt, Kirksbeck town and later the Bellbank quarter. These all remained popular homes up to the late 1800s when the Routledges seem to disappear from the area.
Making a Home
After the death of Richard III it becomes a struggle to find any records of the Routledges other than in reports of the raids in the 1520s, 40s, 60s, and heavily in the 1580s. There may well be other records indeed but I have yet to find them. But nevertheless by the time records start to become more informative in the early 1600's it is apparent that the Routledges are very much a large presence in the area. All of the current locals today will tell you how they used to own nearly all of the lands in Bewcastle at one point and yet there are hardly any in the area today.
The 1604 survey of the Borders gives a good insight as to just how many Routledges there was, although the spelling does vary tremendously. The most common spelling being Rowtledge. Nowadays the Parish of Bewcastle is divided into four quarters but back then it was divided into only three areas; The Crewe, The Bailey and The Quarter.
The Crewe returns show a grand total of 50 tenants, 30 paying rent and 20 not. And out of those there is only two Routledges
The Bayley returns show 42 tenants, all paying no rent. Out of these 35 are Routledges and out of the remaining 7 there is no two names the same.
The Quarter returns show 53 tenants, 38 paying rent and 15 not. And among these there is 19 Routledges all paying rent, but among the other tenants the majority seem to be Nixon's. It is to no surprise then that this area is today known as Nixon's quarter.
If a person paid no rent then they owned the land, and if they paid then they were merely tenants. This means that out of a total of 145 tenants recorded, 54 of them are Routledges which is over a third of the parish, the greatest of all the names mentioned. It must be remembered at this point that this survey is from 1604, the year after James I came to the Throne of England and brought an end to the Reivers. That means that these 54 Routledges, unless all one year old tenants, were officially Border Reivers because of where and when they lived. And most of them had their fathers names too. So from this and the farms that they were paying rent on it meant that 'poor Thomas Routledge' of Todhills was succeeded by a Martin and by 1604 a James. Three generations of reivers.
However by 1630 our numbers had already began to dwindle and it seemed to becoming a battle of land ownership between the Routledges and the Nixon's. On an indenture dated 27th May 1630 between Lord of the Manor and the tenants it describes the rent and dues they must pay, such as giving their best beast, or 20 shillings if they did not have one, and also how many days service they must give to the Lord. This ranged from a day's mowing to three days shearing. This was witnessed by 11 senior tenants, among which were a Allan and Robert Routledge off Cumcrook and a Thos Routledge of the Kiln.
It lists a grand total of 92 tenants in the indenture. 34 of them are Nixon's and 27 of them are Routledges. So between the two families they made up over two thirds of the parishes inhabitants. We may have not been the main family any more but we were still a third of the community.
By the 1642 Protestation Returns however there are only 23 Routledges, out of the 151 parishioners that signed. The Protestation Return was a country wide survey, and was a list of every male over the age of 18 who pledged there allegiance to King Charles I. It is the closest to a census of all the over 18 year old males we can get at this time. Every parish in England had one and it acts as a good way of judging the male population of the era.
After this though we can move forward to 1665 which is when the parish records begin. And with the Parish records begins genealogy, and a good insight into the Routledges undoing.
Down Fall
For anyone who has ever visited the area and mentioned they were Routledges tracing their ancestors they will have all been told the same tale. You will find every farmer or local will not hesitate to say to you
"You know what happened to the Routledge lot don't you? They all went mad and insane after marrying their cousins, uncles and aunties"
But don't go rushing down the
Deed poll office yet to change your name and hide this family secret. For only if
you have six fingers on each hand, webbed toes and a strange fondness for the
duelling banjos, are you likely to be related to these Routledges. It seems that
those that left the area survived, and those that stayed went.....well.... mad!
Why they did this I do not know but perhaps it was down to retaining land and
fortune.
Not all Routledges inter married, but the worst ones for it seemed to be those of the Flatt. There is on instance where a William Routledge, known as Laird Willie, has a sister Anne who marries his Uncle Thomas. Anne and Thomas have a daughter called Jane who then marries William. This would mean that Anne was Williams sister, auntie and mother-in-law. Thomas was Williams uncle, Father-in-law and Brother-in-law. and Jane was Williams niece, Wife and cousin. This is with out doubt the worst example I can find. But the majority off Routledges tended to behave normally and marry people that did not share the same name.
There is a total of 25 examples of Routledges marrying related Routledges from 1665 to 1805 in Bewcastle Church records, and even further examples in neighbouring parishes such as Lanercost and Stapleton. So what ever caused our cousins to do this, I doubt we will never know for certain. But perhaps retaining and acquiring land is the best I can think of. Those Routledges that spent generations intermarrying accumulated more and more land till they owned most of the parish. For example in 1700 when William of the Flatt died that was all that he owned, the Flatt. But by the 1820's his inbred and incestuous descendants, his great-grandchildren, ish, owned no fewer than 10 estates, such as the Flatt, Upper Oakshaw, Parkhead and both High and Mid Todholes. All through marrying other Routledges. So what in 1604 was owned by 10-15 families was in 1805 owned by one.
Then it would have been no doubt a matter of time before the males and females could no longer have children and their mental stability effected. So the answer as to what happened to the Routledges of Bewcastle was they left. Those that stayed intermarried, but not all of them, and the others fled the area to rid them selves of the reputation. Can you imagine going to school where everyone knows your relatives went mad and interbred!
Not all Routledges should be tarred with the same brush though. Bewcastle produced some prosperous Routledges. The famous George Routledge who started the Routledge publishers was descended from Bewcastle. His Grandfather ran a farm before his son, George's father, Robert moved to Brampton. The Routledges of Cumcrook produced merchants who made their fortunes in India and other countries. And of course they produced me too!
Routledges and the Church
For any Routledge St Cuthbert's at Bewcastle is a must visit. Looking at the Graves in the cemetery is like looking into a who's who of border reivers. There has been a church on this site as far back as 1291 but it was rebuilt in 1792 and what you see today was extensively reworked in 1902, with only the east end surviving from before 1792. There is no doubt it would not make the top ten of attractive churches. But it certainly holds the echo's of young Routledges screaming over a font on their christening, families rejoicing at weddings, and bereaved relatives at funerals. If the walls could talk they would certainly tell you tales. Even the number of graves belonging to Routledges speaks volumes. Out of 571 graves stones an amazing 62 belong to Routledges, and from what I can tell most of them aren't related. By that I mean Father, son, wife etc, not the interbreeding I referred to before. The oldest grave in the cemetery belongs to an Adam Routledge who died in 1697 aged 82. With out doubt the closest you'll get to the grave of a Routledge Reiver. Born in 1615, his father would have galloped through the valleys raiding and reiving with steel held high. And who knows, perhaps Adam received his Father's sword passed down in his will. This was not uncommon as in a will dated 1613 a William Routledge of Todhills passed down his sword to his unborn son should it be a boy, and if not to his nephew.
As for the walls being able to tell tales, they may not be able to speak but the Bishops Register which are kept are Carlisle record office do. I've just used two entries here that relate to Routledges, but if you go and look at them, providing your old English is ok, then you will see lots of strange and funny entries relating to not just us but other families from the parish too. One entry states that in 1726 an Adam Routledge Junr, of Kilnstown was presented for his disorderly behaviour in the church, "for pulling John Routledge of Roantrees by violence out of his seat in time of divine service", and then in 1733 Archibald Routledge and John Pott, "erected a pew in the Parish Church of Bewcastle without lawful licence from the Ordinary"
It conjures up a wonderful mental image of Routledges fighting in church and dragging each other out for a fight while knocking over pews in a pub brawl fashion. Perhaps that reiver blood runs deeper than you think. And who knows what they were fighting over?