The Barony of Westmorland was one of two baronies into which the English county of Westmorland

Westmorland

Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...

 was divided, the other being the Barony of Kendal

Barony of Kendal

The Barony of Kendal is a subdivision of the English county of Westmorland. It is one of two baronies in the county, the other being the Barony of Westmorland, and contains within it the wards of Kendal and Lonsdale...

. The barony covered the northern part of the county, and was divided into two wards — East ward and West ward. The barony included Appleby-in-Westmorland

Appleby-in-Westmorland

Appleby-in-Westmorland is a town and civil parish in Cumbria, in North West England. It is situated within a loop of the River Eden and has a population of approximately 2,500. It is in the historic county of Westmorland, of which it was the county town. The town's name was simply Appleby, until...

, Westmorland's county town

County town

A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...

. Today's barony is the geographic remnant of the feudal barony whose caput

Caput

The Latin word caput, meaning literally "head" and by metonymy "top", has been borrowed in a variety of English words, including capital, captain, and decapitate...

 was at Appleby, granted in 1203/4 to Robert I de Vipont for the service of 4 knight's fees

Knight's fee

In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a measure of a unit of land deemed sufficient from which a knight could derive not only sustenance for himself and his esquires, but also the means to furnish himself and his equipage with horses and armour to fight for his overlord in...

. In the 12th.c. the lands from which the barony of Appleby were formed were controlled by the feudal baron of Burgh-by-Sands, Cumberland, of which the first recorded holder was Robert de Trevers, tempus Henry I(1100-1135).

External links

• Records of North Westmorland: extensive extracts from the records of the barony, arranged by parish. First edited by John Curwen, here part of British History Online.