New exhibition to reveal 800 year history of Muncaster |
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A new exhibition will be unveiled at Muncaster Castle on Tuesday 24th June, to help mark the Pennington family’s 800th anniversary at Muncaster. The Penningtons have teamed up with the Cumbria Archive Service in Whitehaven to create the exhibition, which will retrace eight centuries of life in and around Muncaster with the help of personal letters, estate documents, illustrations and maps. Confirmation that Muncaster belonged to the Pennington family was granted to Alan de Penitone in 1208 by Richard de Lucy, Lord of Egremont during the reign of King John. The exhibition starts by exploring the family’s role in the Charter Fair in nearby Ravenglass, which also started that same year. The fair was described as ‘a grand fair of three days long, for all sorts of cattle especially, and other commodities from Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland’. Also revealed is the 14th century feud between the Pennington family and Furness Abbey, when William de Pennington accused the Abbot of stealing his livestock. The dispute was only settled when William recognised the Abbot as his feudal overlord in lands the family owned in the Manor of Pennington, which covered a large part of the Furness Peninsula. The exhibition includes details about the life of Muncaster’s 15th century hero, Sir John Pennington, who fought in the battle of Agincourt. There are also documents relating to the role of a later Sir John Pennington, who was the Colonel of the Cumberland Militia during the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745. Sir John led the defence of Carlisle before surrendering the city to the Jacobites in November that year. In a letter he and the other militia officers recounted how ‘for the last seven days neither the officers nor men had scarce an hour’s rest, being perpetually alarmed by the rebels’. Muncaster’s Peter Frost-Pennington, says: “Muncaster has had a fascinating and at times rather colourful past. We look forward to sharing these 800 years of history with our visitors. “The exhibition will not only reveal accounts of life at Muncaster over the centuries, but evidence of how our ancestors contributed to some of the significant events in Britain’s history.” At the beginning of the sixteenth century another Sir John Pennington kept particularly detailed records of the running of the Muncaster estate. They even contain references to locals fighting, calling each other slanderous names and other misdemeanours! Robert Baxter, Archivist, for the Cumbria Archive Service, said: “A great deal of time was spent researching the content for the Muncaster 800th anniversary exhibition, which tells the fascinating story of the Castle and its inhabitants over the years. “People will also get advice on how to trace their own family tree using the resources available from Cumbria Archive Service.” Historic documents from Muncaster Castle are stored and made available for the public to study easily and free of charge at the Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library in Whitehaven. For more information visit www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives |
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