John Maughan

“ Or if we suppose gal to be a corruption of the old word keld, a well; this also agrees with the situation of the place, as there is a river on the South side, and a celebrated well on the South-east side of the Station. It may also allude to the river itself, which is formed by the waters flowing from several copious wells in the immediate neighbourhood. Tradition also seems to support my view, that Bewcastle is the Galava of the ancients. There is a large district in the North side of the parish of Lanercost (immediately South of Bewcastle) , which was formerly called Wuleva or Wulyevva. ”

“ The lower part of an I, it should be observed, may be discerned after the letters I. O. M. ↑ "Camden's Britannia," ed. by Gibson, vol. ii., p. 1028. ↑ It must be admitted that this supposition is somewhat countenanced by the fact that the Church of Bewcastle is dedicated to the Virgin. The representation, however, of these weather-worn sculptures, given by Lysons in his "History of Cumberland," p. cxcix, suggests the notion, that what has been supposed to be the Infant Saviour, may be the Agnus Dei, and it is so described by him. ”

“ The figure at the base, as some have thought, most probably pourtrayed some person of note by whom this remarkable Christian monument was erected. The bird which he has taken off its perch, appears to be a hawk, introduced, possibly, to mark his noble rank. In examining Lysons' plate, the best representation of the sculptures, hitherto published, attention is arrested by the introduction of a vertical dial on the south side, resembling those at Kirkdale and Bishopstone, described in this volume of the Journal, p. ”