Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland

For a period of 645 years—from 1204 to 1849—Westmorland, unlike other counties in England (excluding, of course, the counties Palatine), had no Sheriff other than the one who held the office by hereditary right. The first Sheriff of the county is mentioned in 1160, and nine or ten other names occur at subsequent periods, until in 1202, the fourth year of the reign of King John, came Robert de Vetripont. Very soon afterwards the office was made hereditary in his family “to have and to hold of the King and his heirs.” The honour and privileges were possessed by no less than twenty-two of Robert’s descendants. Their occupation of the office covers some very exciting periods of county history, the tasks committed to the Sheriffs in former centuries being frequently of an arduous as well as dangerous character.

The Sheriff had very important duties of a military character to carry out. Thus in the sixth year of Henry the Third we have the command from the King to the Sheriff of Westmorland that without any delay he should summon the earls, barons, knights, and freeholders of his bailiwick, and that he should hasten to Cockermouth and besiege the castle there, afterwards destroying it to its very foundations. This order was a duplicate of one sent to the Sheriff of Yorkshire concerning Skipton Castle and other places. It is not known, however, whether the instructions respecting Cockermouth were carried out or not.