and.
This alliance with the Derwentwater family, although it brought to the
Radcliffe the possession of a territory, which, for its beauty and
value, monarchs might envy, did not for many years, entice them to a
removal to the mansion of Castlerigg. That old dwelling-place, a gloomy
fortress, among "storm-shaken mountains and howling wildernesses," was
far less commodious than the castle at Dilstone, then in great fame from
the flourishing monastery which reared its head in the Vale of Hexham.
Castlerigg, being, eventually, abandoned by the Radcliffes, went utterly
to decay; the materials of the old manor-house are supposed to have been
employed in forming a new residence on Lord's Island, in Keswick Lake;
and the estate was divided into tenancies, which, in process of time,
were infranchised. The ancient demesne of the De Derwentwaters has now
passed into the hands of the Trustees of Greenwich Hospital, and the
oaks of the park which skirts the lake have of late years supplied much
valuable timber.

The family of Radcliffe continued, during several centuries after the
intermarriage with the De Derwentwaters, to increase in wealth and
importance. It was not, however, ennobled until the reign of James the
Second, in 1688, when, in consequence of the eldest son of Sir Francis
Radcliffe having married during his father's life time the Lady Mary
Tudor, a natural daughter of Charles the Second, by Mistress Mary Davis,
Sir Francis was created Earl of Derwentwater, Baron Dilstone, and
Viscount Langley.[177] "This alliance to the royal blood," says the
biographer of Charles Radcliffe, "gave them a title to match with the
noblest families in the kingdom, and was likewise the occasion of that
strict attachment which the several branches of the Derwentwater family
have inviolably preserved for the line of Stuarts ever since."[178]
There was also another reason for this act of royal favour on the one
hand, and for this devotion on the other: Sir George Radcliffe, we find
by the Macpherson papers, was Governor of James the Second when he was
Duke of York, and during the troubles of the Great Rebellion; and, under
his care, the young prince remained some time in the city of
Oxford.[179]

Whatsoever may be thought of the effect of this connection with royalty,
in ennobling an ancient and loyal race, the marriage produced a lasting
influence on the fortunes of the family. That they were proud of the
alliance appears from the circumst