This volume presents a completely new, critical edition of the manuscript history of Cumberland, compiled in the first decade of the seventeenth century by John Denton of Cardew. It offers a definitive edition of Denton's history, replacing that published in 1887 by Richard S. Ferguson under the title An Accompt of the most condiderable Estates and Families in the County of Cumberland (Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society Tract Series I), hitherto the only published version. The new edition attempts both to reconstruct as much as possible of the original text from the surviving copies and to identify the sources from which it was drawn, enabling the factual accuracy of Denton's work to be assessed. John Denton's history formed the basis of almost all antiquarian writing on Cumberland until the nineteenth century and continues to be cited. It is the earliest known attept to write a history of Cumberland and one of the first generation of antiquarian accounts of an English shire. By providing a modern assessment of Denton's work, this volume plugs a longstanding gap in Cumbrian historiography.

The Editior: Angus Winchester is a Senior Lecturer in History at Lancaster University and a Past President of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.

Orders (Members only in this case) to Ian Caruana, 10 Peter Street, Carlisle, CA3 9QP. (Tel 01228 544120).

Special price £30 (Save £20 on cover price for members only)

Non members must order direct from The Surtees Society