Excerpt from The History and Traditions of Ravenstonedale, Westmorland

I had intended to publish my researches into the various features of the traditions and history of Ravenstonedale, rearranged, and composed in a written rather than a spoken style but, after mature consideration, I have determined, for several reasons, to present my lectures to the public in the style in which they were delivered, except that they have undergone careful revision, and several additions have been made to them which could not be introduced when they were delivered for want of time; I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of expressing my obligations to the Rev. R. Robinson, of Mallerstang; Mr. John Robinson, of Ash Fell, who is in possession of some of the most important mss.; but most of all to Mr. A. Metcalfe, of Park 'house, who was my chairman each evening, and through whose invariable kindness; and courtesy I have been able to obtain much of the information contained in the following lectures. To my critics I may say that I am responsible for the blunders, and that my rushing into print has not arisen from the camel/2&9 scri�ma'z' of which one has so often heard, and the disease from which one would wish to be free, but from the desire to comply with the unanimous request of a crowded audience to which the last lecture was delivered, and to preserve, if possible, in a permanent form, facts and traditions which might otherwise be lost to the finest drag-net of any chronicler who might come at all remotely after me. The following record is a contribution to English history, although an atom, still an atom, and so a part of the mass, and thus furnishing the reader with an insight into the self-contained and independent rule in some of the more highly favoured dales, such as Ravenstonedale was. In the Appendix the reader will find some notes containing valuable information. My aim has been to notice the facts coimected with the.

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