BY NEWBY BRIDGE AND ULVERSTONE TO FURNESS ABBEY, RETURNING BY CONISTON, HAWKSHEAD, AND THE FERRY

Of the three extended tours which we should advise the stranger to take from his Windermere quarters, that to Furness should be the first, because it traverses the least mountainous parts of the district.

He will go down to Newby Bridge either by steamer, or by the road, which passes the grounds of Storrs, and cuts over hill and dale, and winds among the copses, till it crosses the bridge, opposite the inn. It is eight miles hence to the cheerful little town of Ulverstone, which is now reached by the railway from Whitehaven; and from Ulverstone, the railway stretches south, past Furness Abbey, to the margin of the sea. From Ulverstone to Furness, it is only seven miles. There is a good inn,—(though not cheap, as cheapness is not to be expected in the precincts of secluded ruins:) and here the tourist should bespeak his bed, if he means to study the Abbey.

The Abbey was founded in A.D. 1127. Its domains extended over the whole promontory in which it lies, and to the north, as far as the Shire Stones on Wrynose. They occupied the space between Windermere on the east and the Duddon on the west. The Abbot was a sort of king; and his abbey was enriched, not only by King Stephen, but by the gifts of neighbouring proprietors, who were glad to avail themselves, not only of its religious privileges, but of its military powers for the defence of their estates against border foes, and the outlaws of the mountains,—the descendants of the conquered Saxons, who inherited their fathers' vengeance.