Ulverston has been described as the “Key to the Lake District,” and Swartmoor, which adjoined the town, took its name from a German—­Colonel Martin Swart—–­to whom the Duchess of Burgundy in 1486 gave the command of about 2,000 Flemish troops sent to support the pretended title of Lambert Simnel to the Crown of England.  He landed in Ireland, where a great number of the Irish joined him, and then, crossing over to England, landed in Furness and marshalled his troops on the moor which still bears his name, and where he was joined by many other conspirators.  They encountered the forces of King Henry VII near Newark-on-Trent in June 1487, and after a stubborn fight were defeated, 4,000 men, with all their commanders, being killed.

Ulverston is also associated with George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends.  He was born in 1624, at Drayton-on-the-Clay, in Leicestershire, and in 1650 was imprisoned at Derby for speaking “publickly” in a church after Divine Service, and bidding the congregation to “tremble at the Word of God.”  This expression was turned into one of ridicule, and caused the Society of Friends all over the kingdom to be known as “Quakers.”  Fox preached throughout the country, and even visited America.  When he came to Ulverston, he preached at Swartmoor Hall, where he converted Judge Fell and his wife, after which meetings at the Hall were held regularly.  The judge died in 1658, and in 1669, eleven years after her husband’s death, Mrs. Fell, who suffered much on account of her religion, married George Fox, who in 1688 built the Meeting-house at Ulverston.  He died two years afterwards, aged sixty-seven years, at White Hart Court, London, and was buried in Banhill Fields.

Leaving our bags at the hotel, we walked to Furness Abbey, which, according to an old record, was founded by King Stephen in 1127 in the “Vale of the Deadly Nightshade.”  It was one of the first to surrender to King Henry VIII at the dissolution of the monasteries, and the Deed of Surrender, dated April 9th, 1537, was still in existence, by which the abbey and all its belongings were assigned to the King by the Abbot, Roger Pile, who in exchange for his high position agreed to accept the living of Dalton, one of his own benefices, valued at that time at L40 per year.  The Common Seal of the abbey was attached to the document, and represented the Virgin Mary standing in the centre of the circle with the Infant in her left arm and a globe in her right hand.  She stood between two shields of arms, which were suspended by bundles of nightshade, and on each of which were represented the three Lions of England, each shield being supported from the bottom by a monk in his full dress and cowl.  In the foreground in front of each monk was a plant of the deadly nightshade, and over his head a sprig of the same, while in the lower part was the figure of a wivern—­i.e. a viper or dragon with a serpent-like tail—­this being the device of Thomas Plantagenet, the second Earl of Lancaster, who was highly esteemed by the monks.  We did not notice any nightshade plant either in or near the ruins of the abbey, but it was referred to in Stell’s description of Becan-Gill as follows: