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[pro]bably built by William de Meschiens, first lord of the
barony of Copeland, to which he was presented by his brother
Ranulph, who held Cumberland and Westmorland under William
the Conqueror. Little of it remains at present. The
principal part is the keep. The arch of the gate-way is the
horse-shoe arch, and its groining is by plain
cross-springers. The outward wall has, from its base
upwards, ten courses of herring-boned work. The other arches
which remain are three in number, pointed and covered with
ivy. But within these few years, this building has suffered
more from wanton spoliation than from the ravages of time.
There is nothing worth notice in the town; it is small,
neat, and clean; the houses adjoining the market-place have
many of them rude colonnades of wood in front, under which
the corn is exposed for sale during rainy weather. The
church, dedicated to Saint Mary, has been much modernized;
the east end is circular in its centre, with flat wings,
each containing two pointed windows, ornamented by a single
shaft. The name of Egremont signifies the 'Mount of sorrow:'
but it must not be confounded with Wotobank, which is two
miles from the castle.
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