Caput of Ennerdale

“head of Eynerdale” (or Ennerdale Head) meant, why Gillerthwaite was given that designation, and how it fits into the legal and physical structure of the Bailiwick of Ennerdale.

🏞️ 1. Primary Source Reference

The phrase appears in the authoritative historical survey:

“The abstract of the Inquisition post mortem of Thomas Multon of Egremont, taken 8 Feb. 1321–2, tells us that he held
‘Eghnerdale within the free chase of Coupland Fell … rents from 26 tenants; … 47 tenants in a place called IKynisheved, a water mill and fulling mill; …’”

The later inquisition of his son John Multon (1334) again lists Eynerdale, including rents “in Braythemyre, the head of Eynerdale, I(ynesheved), Eskedale and Miterdale.”

The editor (Col. R. P. Littledale) explains:
“Braythemyre is now Broadmoor Plantation, and the head of Eynerdale is doubtless the modern Gillerthwaite.”

Ennerdale Bailiwick History PDF

🧭 2. Meaning of “Head of Eynerdale”

In medieval and early modern land descriptions, “the head” (caput) of a dale or valley meant its uppermost inhabited settlement or grazing area, usually where:

• the river originates,

• the forest or chase begins, and

• the royal or manorial jurisdiction changes (e.g., transition from cultivated land to forest demesne).

So “the head of Eynerdale” = the upper extremity of the Ennerdale Valley, where the River Ehen rises below Great Gable and Pillar Mountain — today known as Gillerthwaite (or Gillerthwaite Youth Hostel area).

🏡 3. What and Where Gillerthwaite Is

Historical Description

• Gillerthwaite (Old Norse Gilrthveit — “clearing by the ravine”) lies deep within the Ennerdale valley, near the western foot of the High Stile and Haystacks range, east of Ennerdale Water.

• It is surrounded by mountain slopes and was historically part of the forest lands of Ennerdale, used as pasturage (vaccaries) and tenant-right holdings.

Role in the Manor

• In the 16th-century surveys (Elizabethan era), Gillerthwaite was listed among the customary tenements paying rents and “dalemale” for grazing rights.

• The 1568 Customs of the Manor of Ennerdale confirm that tenants “had within the forest certain agistments or common of pasture called Dale Male.”

• By the 17th century, Gillerthwaite’s four tenements contributed 53s. 4d. annually to the collective Dalemale Rent (a fee paid for common pasture in the liberty)

  Ennerdale Bailiwick History PDF

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🌲 4. Legal and Jurisdictional Significance

Because Ennerdale was both a Forest and Liberty, the “head of the valley” had special meaning:

• It marked the boundary between the inhabited manor lands and the forest proper, where deer were kept under the bailiff and foresters.

• It was part of the Fence or Park, described in 1650 as “a parcel of fell ground … fenced with an old wall and the Broadwater” (Ennerdale Water)

  Ennerdale Bailiwick History PDF

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• The bailiff and foresters likely operated from or near Gillerthwaite, maintaining the deer park and forest boundaries.

Hence, the “head of Eynerdale” was not only a topographical reference but also a jurisdictional marker — the uppermost limit of manorial settlement and the lower limit of the royal forest franchise.

📚 5. Relationship to Other Named Areas

In the same medieval inquisitions, we see a hierarchy:

• Braythemyre (Broadmoor Plantation) — lower pasture.

• The Head of Eynerdale (Gillerthwaite) — upper pasture.

• IKynisheved (Kinshields?) — likely another grazing or farm settlement nearby.

• Eskedale and Miterdale — adjoining valleys under the same seignory.

Thus, Gillerthwaite was one of several named “vaccaries” (cattle farms) supplying rents to the lord of Egremont and later to the Crown.

🪶 6. Later Continuity

By the 17th–18th centuries, Gillerthwaite remained inhabited by tenant-right farmers, whose leases and rents were recorded in the Land Revenue surveys.
It is mentioned again in the 1676 survey as a group of tenements paying rent and dalemale (common pasture fees).

Today, the area retains its ancient name and sits within the modern Ennerdale Forest and National Park — but historically, it represented the caput montis (“head of the mountain”) of the manorial jurisdiction.

🏰 7. Summary

📜 In short:

Gillerthwaite was the ancient head or caput of the Ennerdale Valley — the uppermost tenement cluster marking the boundary between the manorial lands and the royal forest.
When medieval and Tudor records refer to “the head of Eynerdale,” they mean this exact location — Gillerthwaite, the summit of habitation and the symbolic crown of the Liberty of Ennerdale.