This project has grown out of another project:
Millom Castle and Holy Trinity Archaeology
Project.
We know that the area has been occupied since the Neolithic period up to modern times.
We were aware that the Castle and Church were attacked during the English Civil Wars and
that there were artefacts found by local metal detectorists: in particular lots of lead
musket balls and Duane Farren found a cannon ball near the Castle.
Alongside the various archaeological surveys we have carried out, volunteers were asked if they would like to conduct
desk-based searches for different periods; Jonathan Brind and Susan Dawson volunteered to
work on the English Civil War periods.
The chair, Jan Bridget, conducted a general search in an attempt to identify any relevant books,
research documents or articles, particularly in Transactions of Cumberland and Westmorland
Antiquarian and Archaeology Society. She also conducted a search on Cumbria Archives using
the term "Millom Castle" and several documents turned up.
Susan visited Whitehaven Archives and took notes on what she found. Jonathan visited both
Barrow and Carlisle Archives and photographed the most relevant documents. It became clear
that we had enough evidence to put on an event; this took place on 11th November, 2023.
As we prepared for the event and examined all the documents it also became clear that there
was no specific publication about the role Millom Castle and the Huddlestons played in the
Civil Wars, only snippets here and there. Indeed, several authors bemoaned the lack of primary
evidence.
So you can imagine how excited we became when our searches revealed a hitherto unknown (or unused) document about
Colonel Sir Wilfred Lawson who was Commander in Chief of the Parliamentary forces in
Cumberland. It is written in Secretary Script, which is difficult to transcribe. Several
members of the Society had a go at transcribing (the most successful being Susan Cawthorne).
We realised that this was a very important document which included the siege of Millom Castle
in 1644, so the Society agreed to pay a genealogist
to transcribe the entire document.
The aim of this project is to write a book about the role of Millom Castle and the Huddleston family during
the English Civil Wars but also to include the key secondary and primary sources as appendices.
We got permission from CWAAS to reproduce two articles from Transactions; another article
from Barrow Archive, THE ROYALIST KNIGHT: A Tale of Millom Castle, by Thomas
Postlethwaite, was published in 1870 and is therefore outside of copyright, so we can reproduce
this as well. We have also made several attempts to communicate with the solicitors of the Lawson
family but with no success. However as this document is so important and is well outside copyright
period (having been written in about 1659) the Society decided to reproduce both the original
document and the transcription as an appendix alongside the other articles.
Jan Bridget is conducting further research and has begun writing the book; she will be
utilising the research Susan Dawson conducted about the Huddleston family; the skirmish at Lindale
Close and a second cousin of William Huddleston, father John Huddleston, who helped
King Charles II escape and also converted him to Catholicism on his death bed and gave him
the last rites.
The Society have been awarded two small grants (CGP and Silecroft School Education Charity) to help get the book printed.
We are hoping to be able to publish the book in the first quarter of 2025. The proceeds will go towards further research
by the Society.
