After the departure of the Romans, Maryport must have been
left to decay for over a thousand years, and it seemed even now to be a
place that very few tourists visited. Netherhall, where most of the
antiquities were carefully stored, was originally a Peel Tower, and up
to the year 1528 was the home of the Eaglesfields and the reputed
birthplace of Robert Eaglesfield, the founder of Queen's College,
Oxford; it was now in possession of the Senhouse family. There was also
the Mote Hill, overlooking the river and surrounded by a deep ditch,
under the protection of which the Roman galleys anchored.
A romantic legend of the period of the Roman occupation still clings to
the neighbourhood, called the Legend of the Golden Coffin:
The daughter of one of the Roman officers was loved by a young
warrior from the other side of the Solway. Their trysting-place was
discovered by the girl's father, who had a number of soldiers with
him, and in spite of the entreaties of the girl, her lover was
killed. With his death the maiden had no desire to live; night after
night she made her way to the fatal spot, where she was eventually
found, having died of a broken heart.
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