MILLOM CASTLE. CUMBERLAND.
Print by
Nathaniel Buck 1739
For “William Huddleston. The last lord of Millom 1698-1745”
“This castle was built by Godard de Boyvill who first possessed the manor of Millom. His posterity Arthur, surnamed de Millom, Henry, William and Adam his brother, successively enjoyed it after him. But the last, leaving only one daughter, Joan, who was in the reign of Henry IIIrd. married to John Huddleston, it was then transferred to that family, in which it has remained till the present time.” (quoted under the print.)
Notes: 1.Godard de Boyvill born c. 1075. His father possessed lands pre-Conquest in the Millom area. Fought in the 1096 Crusade accompanying William de Meschines (Lord of Copeland , the barony of the west coast of Cumberland) and was probably given the seigniory of Millom on his return c.1100/1125. He died c.1138 supposedly at Clitheroe (Lancs.) in battle with the Scots.
2. The seigniory or lordship of Millom had “jure regalia” that is, complete jurisdictional independence; the sheriff of the county could not enter. A gallows stood on a hill near the castle.
3.Adam de Boyvill, grandson of Godard,had an only daughter, Joan, who married c.1239 Sir John Huddleston, younger son of Sir Richard de Huddleston of Huddleston (Yorkshire). John and Joan were the progenitors of the Huddleston lines in Cumberland, (Hutton John) Cambridgeshire, (Sawston) Oxfordshire (Haseley Court) Gloucestershire (Southam) and Somerset (Kelston). The last Lord of Millom was William, who died in 1745 leaving only daughters. The heiress, Elizabeth, married Sir Hedworth Williamson of Durham in 1748, and sold the Lordship of Millom to the Lowther family in1774.
4. The castle was crenellated and fortified with the king’s licence in 1335, and partly demolished in 1648 during the English Civil Wars.
It is now occupied as a working farm, but is still an imposing ruin..