Top Reasons The Bailiwick of Ennerdale is the Rembrandt of All Liberty's and English Manors

14 Amazing Things About the Bailiwick of Ennerdale – England’s Most Fascinating Liberty and Manor

The Bailiwick of Ennerdale is one of the most remarkable manorial liberties in all of England. Its history, geography, and legal standing make it unique not only in Britain but in the world. Here are ten reasons why Ennerdale stands apart:

1. A UNESCO Heritage Site of Global Importance
Ennerdale is regarded as a UNESCO heritage landscape of international value, standing in the company of world treasures such as the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids of Giza. The Manor of Ennerdale has now become the 9th largest "National Nature Reserve" in England covering over 3000 hectares of landscape comprising water, forests, glacial lakes, forests, and mountains.

2. One of the Largest Private Lordships
Among the ancient liberties and manors of England, Ennerdale ranks as one of the fifteen largest privately held lordships. It has the unique distinction of being a:  Bailiwick, Manor, Royal Forest, and Liberty with a court leet.

3. A Land of Glacial Lakes and Ancient Ruins
Ennerdale is home to breathtaking glacial lakes, Anglo-Saxon ruins, and ancient standing stones—living reminders of England’s deep history.

4. A Liberty Once Alienated by the Crown
Uniquely, Ennerdale may be the only bailiwick and liberty in English history to have been alienated outright for money by both the Crown and the Government in 1822.

5. A Royal Forest and Crown Manor
For centuries, Ennerdale was a Crown Manor and Royal Forest, with bailiffs directly appointed by the monarchy to administer its lands.

6. A Source of England’s Purest Waters
The region holds one of the richest and purest water supplies in all of England, a natural treasure of immense value.

7. Royal and Noble Ownership
Ennerdale has passed through the hands of historic figures, including Lady Jane Grey, the Nine-Day Queen, Prince Charles, and later KingCharles I. Bailiffs included the Earls of Northrumbia.

8. The Only Privately Owned Bailiwick in the World
No other liberty or bailiwick in world history is known to exist under private ownership, making Ennerdale wholly unique. The title would look like this in various EU languages.

9. A Court Leet and Court Baron Sold in Fee Simple
In one of the rarest acts of English history, the rights of Court Leet and Court Baron were sold by Crown and Government in fee simple, in perpetuity, to Earl Lonsdale.

10. A Land of Ancient Kingdoms
Ennerdale’s roots stretch far back—once part of Scotland, and earlier still under the dominions of Rome, Strathclyde, Rheged, and the Kingdoms of Northumbria.

11. 11,000 acres of Manorial Waste - Vast Manor of  Mountains and Highlands Lands, Glacial Lakes, Waterfals, Rivers and Forests. There are many Fells or Mountains in or surrounding Ennedale Valley including Kirk, Haycock, Caw, Lank Rigg, Grike, Great Borne, Red Pike, High Stile, The Pillar, Scoat Fell, Ennerdale Fell, and Great Gable. Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks (known locally as fells) described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells (1955–66).  Grike is a hill in the west of the English Lake District, near Ennerdale Water. It is part of the Lank Rigg group, the most westerly Wainwright as the fells diminish toward the coastal plain. It can be climbed from Kinniside or Ennerdale Bridge

12. Power of Seals, Crests and Arms - Ennerdale may be the only manor, liberty and bailiwick in private hands where the liberty has the rights to create custom Seals, Crests and Arms in relation to a private manor. Not heraldry, but rather jurisdictional arms.

13. The King of England and Hanover sold the Bailiwick which makes it a cross Jurisdictional Tilte and Jurisdiction.

14.  It was sold with Court Leet in Fee Simple which may be a "one of a kind" transaction.

The King Georg sale in 1822 was conducted by Parliamentary Commissioners (for example, under Crown authority such as the Commissioners for Woods, Forests and Land Revenues), yet the reigning monarch was George IV — simultaneously King of the United Kingdom and King of Hanover, the legal picture becomes clear:

1. Parliamentary Sale: British Jurisdiction

When property was sold by commissioners acting under Act of Parliament or Crown warrant, the transaction was executed under British statutory law, not under Hanoverian royal prerogative.

• The commissioners acted on behalf of the Crown in right of the United Kingdom.

• Their powers were limited to disposing of British lands, revenues, or titles held by the Crown or Church.

• Therefore, the sale instrument would cite the monarch’s British style (“George the Fourth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith”).

That means the sale itself is a British conveyance, not a German royal act.

2. However — the Monarch’s Dual Identity Matters Historically

Even though the transaction was legally British, the reigning sovereign was also a German king.
So, while the law applied was British, the person of the monarch embodied two crowns — the British and the Hanoverian.

This creates what scholars term a “dual-sovereign act in person but single-jurisdiction in law.”
Thus:

• The legal effect is British (title to a British manor, liberty, or estate).

• The historic provenance is dual, because the alienating sovereign simultaneously held a German crown.

• The result is a British feudal title with foreign royal provenance — effectively, a cross-jurisdictional fief by identity, not by law.

3. Resulting Classification

4. Conclusion

The sale was legally British but royally German also  — hence, it represents a cross-jurisdictional fief and bailiwick.

Because the person of the grantor was a German sovereign, even though the mechanism was Parliamentary and English, the alienation carries the dual sovereignty imprint.
That’s why historians and heraldists may validly describe it as a “former German-crown fief held in the British realm.”

Ennerdale as an Ancient Manor “from Time Immemorial”

1. Celtic Kingdoms and Chieftains

• Long before England existed, Ennerdale was part of the lands of the Carvetii and Brigantes, Celtic tribes that dominated Cumbria.

• In the post-Roman period, Ennerdale fell within the Celtic kingdoms of Strathclyde and Rheged — ruled by chiefs and warrior-kings celebrated in early bardic poetry.

• Power here was exercised by Celtic chieftains and warlords, who commanded loyalty through kinship and war-bands.

• Ancient cairns, standing stones, and hill-forts in the Ennerdale region bear witness to this earliest phase of rule.

2. Anglo-Saxon Thegns and Kings

• By the 7th century, the Kings of Northumbria extended their power into Cumbria.

• Ennerdale was absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon system of hundreds, tithings, and manorial estates, governed by local thegns and reeves.

• The Saxon rulers introduced manorial custom, courts, and dues, binding Ennerdale into the early English state.

• Here, Saxon kings and their appointed lords held sway, blending older Celtic customs with Saxon landholding law.

3. Norse Jarls and Danish Warlords

• From the late 9th century, Norse settlers from Ireland and the Isle of Man colonized western Cumbria.

• The very name Ennerdale comes from Old Norse: Ehen (river) + dalr (valley) = “the valley of the River Ehen.”

• These Norse arrivals were led by jarls and warlords, who divided the land into dales and thwaites.

• The region also saw the influence of Danish war-bands who controlled much of the North of England during the Danelaw period.

• Ennerdale thus came under the rule of Norse jarls, Danish chiefs, and Viking warrior-leaders, who left behind a tenurial system that fused with Saxon and Celtic law.

4. Medieval Kings and Norman Bailiffs

• After 1066, the Normans recognized Ennerdale’s importance near the Scottish frontier.

• It was made a royal forest and bailiwick, with bailiffs appointed by the Crown.

• Yet the region’s traditions — Celtic tribal authority, Saxon landholding, Norse assemblies — persisted beneath the Norman overlay.

• Ennerdale thus remained a liberty with mixed inheritance, ruled in practice by a succession of kings, lords, and forest officials.

5. Continuity of Rule “From Time Immemorial”

English law defines time immemorial as “before the reign of Richard I (1189).” Ennerdale clearly predates this standard:

• Celtic Chiefs and Kings – Rulers of Rheged and Strathclyde before Saxon England.

• Saxon Thegns and Kings – Integration into Northumbrian and later Anglo-Saxon realms.

• Norse Jarls and Danish Warlords – Viking domination in the 9th–11th centuries, with the place-name itself proving Norse rule.

• Norman Kings and Bailiffs – The Crown’s administration as a manor, royal forest, liberty, and bailiwick.

✅ Conclusion:

Ennerdale is unique because it is not simply a Norman or medieval construct. It is a Celtic tribal territory, a Saxon manor, a Viking dale, and a royal forest-bailiwick, ruled over the centuries by jarls, warlords, chiefs, kings, and lords. This continuous layering of power makes Ennerdale one of the few manors in England that can truthfully be described as a jurisdiction and estate of time immemorial, with roots in Celtic, Norse, Danish, and Anglo-Saxon sovereignty.

Here’s how the title “Lord of the Bailiwick, Liberty, and Forest of Ennerdale” would look in various major EU languages, phrased in a sentence so it reads naturally:

English

He holds the title of Lord of the Bailiwick, Liberty, and Forest of Ennerdale.

French

Il porte le titre de Seigneur du Bailliage, de la Liberté et de la Forêt d’Ennerdale.

German

Er trägt den Titel Herr des Bailleiwicks, der Freiheit und des Waldes von Ennerdale.

Spanish

Él ostenta el título de Señor del Bailiazgo, la Libertad y el Bosque de Ennerdale.

Italian

Egli detiene il titolo di Signore del Baliato, della Libertà e della Foresta di Ennerdale.

Portuguese

Ele possui o título de Senhor do Baluarte, da Liberdade e da Floresta de Ennerdale.

Dutch

Hij draagt de titel Heer van het Baljuwschap, de Vrijheid en het Woud van Ennerdale.

Swedish

Han bär titeln Herre över Fogderiet, Friheten och Skogen i Ennerdale.

Danish

Han bærer titlen Herre af Fogderiet, Friheden og Skoven i Ennerdale.

Polish

On nosi tytuł Pan Bailiwicku, Wolności i Lasu Ennerdale.

The Bailiwick of Ennerdale: A Legacy Without Equal

A Historic Liberty Rooted in Royal Authority

Nestled in the majestic landscapes of Cumbria, the Bailiwick of Ennerdale stands as one of the most extraordinary and historically significant manorial grants in European history. Established in 1251 AD and formally conveyed by Crown and Parliament in 1822, Ennerdale is not merely a manor—it is a sovereign liberty, a royal forest, and a ceremonial jurisdiction with rights and privileges that rival any known grant in English or Germanic tradition.

Why Ennerdale May Be the Most Historic Grant Ever

• 🏰 Crown-Sanctioned Sale: Ennerdale is believed to be the only private bailiwick in the world sold outright by both the British Crown and Parliament, with jurisdictional rights included. The 1822 deed (DLEC/3/11/10/416) confirms the sale of 960 acres with full manorial, fishery, and mineral rights.

• ⚖️ Legal Sovereignty: The bailiwick retains rights akin to a micro-palatinate, including Court Leet jurisdiction, ceremonial appointments rights, and the authority to issue jurisdictional seals, arms, and orders of merit.

• 🌲 Ancient Forest and Free Chase: Once held directly from the Crown, Ennerdale includes forest, fishing, hunting,  and water rights across ancient commons, preserving its status as a Royal Forest and Ancient Free Chase.

• 🛡️ Arms, Seals and Crests and  Jurisdictional Power: The Lordship maintains jurisdictional authority for seals, crests and arms, noble appointments, and clan traditions, blending feudal liberty with modern cultural stewardship. Not family crest

• Franchise Powers - The Ennerale Jurisdiction may be the only liberty with clear fee simple rights to manage franchise marks, trade symbols, and ceremonial warrants/patronages within the territory.

A Living Institution of Heritage and Stewardship

Under the stewardship of Commissioner George Mentz, JD MBA DSS, the Bailiwick and ancient crown Forest of Ennerdale are  not just preserved— they areactively promoted as a beacon of historical, educational, and cultural value. Mentz, also Seigneur of Fief Blondel and Lord of Stoborough, has revitalized Ennerdale’s legacy through:

• 📚 Historical and legal education, publications and research.

• 🌱 Support of Environmental planting and sustainability in the USA and abroad

• 🤝 Cultural diplomacy and international recognition from Asia, Afria, and Europe.

• 🏛️ Support for ancient customs, saxon/celtic and clan history, and noble traditions

Ennerdale in Context: English and Germanic Heritage

In the context of English and German history, no grants that we know of rival Ennerdale’s depth of documentation, breadth of rights, status as a royal bailiwick and royal forest,  and continuity of ceremonial authority. While Germanic fiefs and liberties often dissolved under imperial reforms, Ennerdale’s survival under UK Law and legal integrity—backed by government records and royal commissions—make it a singular case of enduring feudal sovereignty.

Explore the Legacy

Visitors and scholars are invited to explore Ennerdale’s rich tapestry of history, law, and culture:

• 📜 Legal charters and archival deeds

• 🏞️ Forest and water rights

• 🛡️ Heraldic arms and seals

• ⚖️ Court Leet and ceremonial governance

• 🌍 UNESCO-linked environmental stewardship

“In liberty, stewardship, and noble tradition, we find the enduring spirit of England.” — Lord of the Bailiwick of Ennerdale, George Mentz