Hello Nancy, Yes, the place does still exist. It is a very old farmhouse - possibly two. I say two because one of my ancestors, Henry Relph lived there in the early 18th century at the same time as a Daniel Relph. There is also mentioned in the same time period, someone else of a different surname. The property is shown on a modern OS map (although I haven't one to hand to give you the grid reference) just south of the Wigton - Penrith road near a Public House called The Royal Oak in an area called Sour Nook (Sour Nook is also the name the locals call the pub) Because there were at least three families living at Limekiln Nook in the 18th century, it is a possiblity that it was name for the area before Sour Nook. I say this because Edward Relph, Henry's son, is described as of Sour Nook in the 1770's. Sorry about not giving you a definative answer but I have done only a limited amount of work on my Relph ancestry. If I can establish anything more about the place, I will let you know. Cheers, Trevor Littleton

Trevor Littleton wrote: <snip> >It is a very old farmhouse - possibly two. I say two because one >of my ancestors, Henry Relph lived there in the early 18th >century at the same time as a Daniel Relph. There is also >mentioned in the same time period, someone else of >a different surname. <snip> My experience, for what it's worth, is that just about all small place names in Cumberland before the mid-eighteenth century have two or more families in residence. Sometimes this is because, as you imply, they are hamlets containing two or three separate farms. Another reason can be that the second family is actually that of a farm worker. Another reason can be that the farm inheritance has been subdivided, with siblings having moieties. I've suggested before that this might have been done to ensure that both brothers retained 'yeoman' status and thereby rights over common land and within the manorial court system. Another reason can be that farms, then as now, weren't economically viable just through 'farming' (especially where 'feudal' rights, like those over wood, still remained in the hands of the Lord of the Manor). Farms were actually little industrial estates that exploited every resource available - the older brother might farm but his brother-in-law would cobble shoes and his sister spin hemp into sheets and ropes. Chris chris@dickinson.uk.net