The Cloven Stone

On Mungrisedale Common, the north side of Blencathra. In the distance Back o’ Skiddaw with Skiddaw House just below the cloud.

This distinctive rock marked the boundary of the Lordship of Threlkeld, land that was claimed in the medieval times by the de Threlkeld family. Tenants had rights to graze their animals, cut wood and turf, gather heather and bracken, extract minerals and so on. The tenants in return had a duty to carry out work for the Lord of the Manor. In 1635 the Lowther family owned the manor and they formalised the arrangement by creating The Threlkeld Great Deed in which these customary rights were made permanent in exchange for a payment of £1,150, all under the jurisdiction of the Court Leet.