Largest Hunting Fishing Manor of All England

⚖️ Top 5 In All England Hunting and Fishing

✅ By acreage and continuous private status, Ennerdale ranks among the top 5 largest private hunting and fishing domains in England.
✅ By legal title and feudal structure (as a bailiwick and liberty), it may indeed be the largest private “lordship” with both hunting and fishing rights still recognized as part of a manorial seignory.
✅ It surpasses most private manors in both area and autonomy, though Chatsworth and Bolton Abbey are larger by acreage as modern estates — yet they are not manorial liberties with independent jurisdictional history.

📜 #1 in All England Verdict:

Ennerdale is very likely the largest private hunting and fishing lordship (bailiwick) in England, by virtue of its combination of size (17,000–22,000 acres) and historic legal autonomy as a liberty and chase, rather than a mere landed estate.

Distinctive Legal Nature

What makes Ennerdale unique isn’t just size — it’s the jurisdictional character:

• It has been a Bailiwick under direct feudal tenure for 700+ years, not merely a landed estate.

• The Lord of Ennerdale historically exercised forest law, court leet, and rights of venery and piscary (hunting and fishing) within a legally recognized liberty.

• Unlike modern estates that are leased or fragmented, Ennerdale retained these rights through sale from the Crown, making it arguably the last surviving private chase in Cumbria.

 

Comparison with Other English Private Hunting Estates

To evaluate if Ennerdale is the largest, we must compare it to England’s most famous sporting estates:

✅ By acreage and continuous private status, Ennerdale ranks among the top 5 largest private hunting and fishing domains in England.
✅ By legal title and feudal structure (as a bailiwick and liberty), it may indeed be the largest private “lordship” with both hunting and fishing rights still recognized as part of a manorial seignory.
✅ It surpasses most private manors in both area and autonomy, though Chatsworth and Bolton Abbey are larger by acreage as modern estates — yet they are not manorial liberties with independent jurisdictional history.

Ennerdale – Historic Lordship and Bailiwick in Cumberland

Overview

Ennerdale lies within the ancient parish of St Bees, in the Allerdale above Derwent Ward of historic Cumberland. The area encompassed the townships of Ennerdale and Kinniside, together with the extra-parochial waste of Copeland Forest or Stockdale Moor.

Covering an impressive 22,407 acres (9,068 hectares), the lordship was historically divided as follows:

• Kinniside Township: 6,722 acres (2,720 ha)

• Ennerdale Township: 13,178 acres (5,333 ha)

• Copeland Forest / Stockdale Moor: 2,507 acres (1,015 ha)

The Ennerdale Fell (7,637 acres / 3,090 ha) was enclosed in 1872, while Kinniside Common (5,189 acres / 2,100 ha) and Stockdale Moor (2,495 acres / 1,010 ha) remain open and unenclosed to this day.

Population

Records estimate Ennerdale’s population at 395 in 1688. During the early 19th century, Ennerdale held around 190 inhabitants, with Kinniside ranging between 200–250.
The combined population reached a high of 666 in 1871, before gradually declining to 240 residents by 2001.

Landownership and Heritage

Once part of Copeland Forest, Ennerdale was assigned to the Harrington share during the 1338 partition of the Barony of Egremont. The estate later passed to the Grey family, before escheating to the Crown in 1554.
It was subsequently leased to Sir James Lowther in 1765 and purchased outright by the Earl of Lonsdale in 1822.
Kinniside formed part of the Fitzwalter share of the barony’s “Middleward” and descended with the Barony of Egremont from the 16th century onward.

These transitions tie Ennerdale to some of England’s most powerful medieval and noble families, underscoring its enduring significance as a lordship, liberty, and bailiwick.

Economy and Industry

Ennerdale’s economy has long centered on hill farming and forestry.

• A sheep fair was held at Ennerdale Bridge during the 19th century.

• A medieval bloomery once operated at Smithy Beck, with iron mining recorded from 1688 and lead mining in Kinniside from the late 18th century—peaking in the 1820s before closing around 1855.

• Lead smelting was active in the 1820s.

• Ennerdale Water became a key source of clean water for Whitehaven in 1885, with expanded works completed in 1995.

• Meadley Reservoir, built in the 1880s to supply Cleator Moor, was drained in 2010.

• In the 20th century, a youth hostel and field centre were established at Gillerthwaite, near the head of the valley.

Religion and Community

The chapel of ease at Ennerdale Bridge was first recorded in 1534 and rebuilt in 1856 as St Mary’s Church.
Wesleyan Methodists worshipped locally from before 1800, possibly at How Hall.
A Catholic chapel is also thought to have existed in the area, noted in 1847.

Education

A parochial school operated at Ennerdale Bridge by the mid-19th century and was rebuilt in 1878. It continues today as Ennerdale and Kinniside Church of England Primary School, serving the community within the scenic valley.

Legacy

Once forming part of the Free Chase of Copeland, the Lordship and Bailiwick of Ennerdale remains one of the most historically significant and expansive private domains in northern England — a landscape defined by ancient rights, royal forests, and centuries of stewardship.