Steve, Goosey Tyson's Cave is a natural cave, cut in a limestone inlier, on the edge of the Lake District fells, and is the only known cave in West Cumbria. The local legend has him living in it as a recluse/hermit, hence the pots and pans story. It is, for most of its extent, very low and cramped, and was explored by local cavers, who accurately surveyed it. Although the downstream side is just a stream appearing from a small hill containing the quarry, the place where the water enters the cave, is still open, and has two small entrances side by side. I was there about a month ago, introducing my twin five five year old grandsons to the legend, and the local features that I had visited during my younger days, on one of our many "missions". Got anything on Matty Benn's Bridge? Dave (Florence Mine Heritage Centre, Egremont) ----- Original Message ----- From: "S S" <sks.2513@virgin.net> To: <CUMBERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 10:24 PM Subject: [CUL] OT: Goosey Tyson Came across this story in a old Cumbria ( 1969 ) Steve > MENTION the name of Goosey Tyson in the village of Hale, or the neighbouring hamlet of Wilton, and the older folk will tell you all about him. They will show you his cave near the old Mousegill Quarry, and there are some who are prepared to say that they knew someone else who saw the cave when it was fully equipped with cupboards and shelves, which Goosey used. The cave, the entrance to which has now fallen in, is still there; whether it was used I do not know. On the morning of October 7, 1840, the farm servant of Mr. John Mossop, yeoman, of Carleton Lodge near Egremont, went out to a stubble field called Low Croft, to feed his master's geese. There should have been forty geese in the croft, but twenty-nine were missing. The man hurried back to the farm and told Mr. Mossop. After a search twelve of the missing geese were discovered about half-a-mile away from the house, but the remainder had vanished. Mr. Mossop was a member of the "Association for the Prosecution of Felons in the Parish of St. John, Beckermet," his estate being 'in that Parish. This organisation very quickly came to his aid, and published a notice of a reward of £5 for information that ·w6uld lead to the conviction of the offenders. Shortly after this notice was made public, a letter was pushed under Mr. Mossop's door and as a consequence he set off for Whitehaven where he obtained a search warrant, which he placed into the hands of John Douglas, a police officer at Whitehaven. That evening Douglas, with a constable named Henry Bragg from Egremont, went to Wilton about two miles from Carleton Lodge. They concealed themselves near Brackenthwaite farm and sat down to listen. Not long after they heard the noise of geese, and visited an out-building where they found some geese. >From a description supplied by John Mossop, the police officer came to the conclusion that these geese belonged to Mr. Mossop, who was now sent for and who identified them. At about four o'clock in the morning Douglas hammered on the door of Brackenthwaite and Henry Tyson, son of the owner, answered the door. He was asked to bring his father who appeared, and wanted to know what all the bother was about. He was asked how many geese he owned. He said he did not know. A search was made of the premises and nine geese were found in a stable, and eight in an outhouse which Mr. Mossop claimed were his property. Henry Tyson, senior, was arrested and taken to Whitehaven to be lodged in the "lock-up." On the way he became rather garrulous and exclaimed to Douglas: "John Mossop might come to my house and take away a pig and say it was his." His son had previously told him that the geese were being taken to Mr. Mossop's house, and Tyson had replied, "If John Mossop takes away any of my geese, I'll trim him." Mr. Tyson was brought before the White-haven magistrates and Mr. Mossop told the Bench that he identified the geese from some peculiar marks; they also had larger and longer necks than the usual type because they were bred from a Chinese goose. Six of the geese were paraded in the court-yard of the public office at the rear of the court room, and after the magistrates had examined them they decided there was a case against the prisoner, who was then released on bail to appear at the next Quarter Sessions in Cockermouth. THE subsequent trial on October 20, 1840, aroused a tremendous amount of interest, and a great number of people flocked in to Cockermouth hoping to gain admission to the court. Every corner and avenue of the court room was crammed with spectators, and so closely were they crowded together that witnesses, when called, had the greatest difficulty in pushing their way to the front of the court. A hush descended on the crowd when the name of the prisoner was called and he stood at the bar. He was a yeoman farmer, and it was most unusual to find such a man charged with so serious an offence. He had three sons and four daughters. As the spectators looked at him they saw a man aged between 60 or 70 years of age, slender made, with a pale and serious cast of countenance; in fact he was not a bad specimen as far as appearances went of an intelligent statesman of the county, the class in society to which he belonged. Both parties were represented by members of the legal profession. The hearing, which was one of the longest ever known, started at 11 a.m. The arguments were some times rather long and tedious, but there were incidents that rocked the court with laughter. Giving evidence, Mr. Mossop said that when the stolen geese were replaced in the field with the remainder they were all very friendly and showed great forillaess for one another; had they been strangers they would have been quarrelsome. Willy Barnes, his farm servant, gave his evidence and said he had brought six of the geese to the court. The chairman then asked for them to be produced and after much shoving and pushing through the throng of spectators the geese were brought forward in a potter's crate. The geese were unaccustomed to such surroundings and attempted to escape, and cackling loudly sent forth a shower of feathers much to the annoyance of several august gentlemen - the spectators loved it. The crate was placed on a table in view of the magistrates, but had to be removed quickly because the geese, obviously determined to escape, now soiled some books, a number of gentlemen's hats, and the coat of one gentleman suffered a similar fate. A scene like this had never been witnessed in a court room before. BETSY Speight, house-keeper to John Mossop, said she had often fed the geese and could recognise them. Under cross-examination by the prisoner's counsel she was made to feel rather uncomfortable when asked whether she sat and took a glass, with her master. She said she did not, but admitted to having a cup of tea sometimes with him. She also admitted that her husband, a sailor some fourteen years before, had gone out of the house, and she had never seen or heard of him since. Tyson had a number of his neighbours from Wilton to speak for him. They said they had known him many years, and had never known him to commit a misdeed. Elizabeth Jackson of Wilton said she had ordered a goose from Mr. Tyson for Christmas, and she had seen geese on his farm before Mossop had his geese stolen. At 4 p.m. the jury retired under the care of a bailiff, and were locked in a room at the Globe Inn at Cockermouth. For three hours the jury were away, while a large crowd gathered in front of the Globe Inn, determined to hear the verdict before they went home. At 7 p.m. the jury came out of their room, and went to the assembly room in the Globe where the magistrates were wining and dining. The foreman of the jury pronounced the prisoner guilty. Henry Tyson, yeoman, was sentenced to six months' hard labour, one month to be spent in solitary confinement. He appeared shaken by the sentence, but no doubt found some consolation in the thought that many men for much less had been transported for seven years or more. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). 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