From Star Chamber Proceedings 10 September 1622
Anthonie Ducket of Grayrigge in the
Countie of westmerland esquire about the
age of 36 yeares sworne & examined.
... he deposeth & saith That Richard helme one of the defendantes & Thomas ducket and Henrie
Ward who as he thinketh were named in the Informacion were Actores in a Stage Play which was Acted at kendall
Castle about the time in the Interrogatory mencioned. Amd that he this deponent was prsent at a parte of the
said plaie wherein hell was reprsented, And in which Thomas Ducket & Henry Ward did Act the partes of towe
fooles or Clownes & demaunded of a Boy who did looke into the said represented hell who he did see there
which boy declared vnto the mmm Clownes & they to the people that they did see Land lordes & puritanes
& Sheriff Bailiffes & other Sortes of people whom they would have made odious and gaue this reason
(as he now remembreth) why the Landlordes were there in regard they did seeke to make their tennantes, tennantes
at will, & in this or the like manner to this Examinates now remembrance was that parte of the said plaie
acted ... [REED page 193]
... And he further saith That Iames Ducket sonne to this deponent beinge then about the age of Seauen yeares
was then an actor in the said plaieby the priuitie and Consent both of this deponent and the said Sir ffrancis
Duckett this deponentes father, he the said Iames Duckett beinge a younge Scholler, & therefore they willinge
that he should be an actor in a play, But denieth that he this deponent knewe what the said play was or would be
in particuler or anie parte thereof, which if he had knowne he would neuer haue suffered his Sonne to haue beene
an Actor therein, And he further saith that the said Henrie ward beinge then Bailiffe and tennant to this deponents
father and the said Richard Helme being Tennant to the said deponentes father were actores in the said plaie. /
[REED page 194]
Star Chamber Records PRO: STAC/8/34/4, fols 35, 35v
From Star Chamber Proceedings 19 November 1622
Jasper Garnett of Penrothe
in the County of Cumberland gentleman of
the age of 36. yeares or thereaboutes sworne
& examined /
... this deponent ... confesseth that this deponent was auther & Composor of the said playe & noe other ... [REED page 195]
... this deponent sa there was not any of the defendantes nor any other players that acted any of the stage playes wherein they reprsented or personated any of the lordes of the Mannors within the County of Westmrlande neithr were any of them personated to be in Hell but what was then acted was a reprsentacion of ravens feeing of poore sheepe in Hell which ravens were compared to greedy landlordes & the sheepe to poore tennantes whoe oppressed them & fedd vpon their Carkesses but the same was not intended more against any of the County of westmrlande then against other counties & all in generall ... [REED pages 196–7]
Star Chamber Records PRO: STAC/8/34/4, fols 18*–18v*
Records of Early English Drama: Cumberland, Westmorland, Gloucestershire edited Audrey Douglas and Peter Greenfield (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1986).
From George Whitehead's The Christian Progress of George Whitehead
After some Religious Discourses with some young Men soberly inclined, and when we had newly heard of a few People called Quakers, in Sedbergh, in Yorkshire, and in Kendal Barony in Westmoreland, I was (after my other seeking and wandering) desirous to go to a Meeting of theirs, which was at one Captain Ward’s, at a Place called Sunny-Bank, near Grayrig-Chapel ... [ page 2]
Some Time after I was fully convinced, and my Mind turned to the Light, and I was perswaded and resolved to perseverer ampng Friends, beofre I heard our dear friend G. Fox: The first Time I heard him minister, was at an Evening Meeting at Sunny-Bank aforesaid, at Captain Henry Ward’s House; I was then very low, serious, and intent in my Mind, willing to see and taste for my self, for my own inward Satisfaction; and I saw and felt his Testimony was weighty and deep, and that it proceeded from Life and Experience, and did bespeak Divine Revelation, and tended to bring to an inward Feeling and Sense of the Life and Power of Christ, and sanctifying Opperation thereof in the Heart. His Speech was not with affecting Eloquence or Oratory, or Human Wisdom, but in the Simplicity of the Gospel, To turn the Mind to the Light and Life of Christ, and the Lord abundantly blessed his Ministry to many.
Our Meetings in Sedbergh then were often at Thomas Blaykling’s House, whose Family was honest, and of good reputation, and at Gervase Benson’s House, who had been a Justice of Peace; at Richard Robinson’s at Brigflats, who was an innocent faithful Man, and at other Places near, in those Parts: In Westmoreland, the Meetings I sometimes went to, were often at the said Henry Ward’s at Sunny-Bank, and some other Places near the same, and near Kendal. [ pages 4–5]
George Whitehead The Christian progress of that ancient servant and minister of Jesus Christ, George Whitehead ... (London, 1725); Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Gale Group: http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO.