The Memoranda Rolls belonging to the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, show the mode of presenting or nominating the Sheriff for Westmorland in the time of the Cliffords, his admittance to the office by the Barons of the Exchequer, and his warrant for executing it. From the Rolls of the 15th, 19th, and 23rd years of Edward the First, when the Sheriffwick passed into the family of the Cliffords, it seems that the right of appointment was the subject of litigation between the two daughters and heiresses of the last of the Vetriponts. This ended in an agreement that the elder sister should "present" to, and the younger should "approve" the appointment. In this way Robert de Moreville was admitted to the office of Sheriff in the fifteenth year of Edward's reign, Gilbert de Burneshead three years later, and Ralph de Manneby in 1295, each swearing faithfully to execute his office and answer to both daughters. On the death of the sisters the Sheriffwick became vested in Robert de Clifford, son and heir of the eldest, and continued in the possession of his descendants until the attainder in 1461. The list of Sheriffs is, of course, a very long one, and even allowing for the large number of individuals who have left nothing more than their names, there is much material for interesting study in the histories of the others. The actual work was rarely done by the holders of the office. "The functionaries who performed the duties were simply deputies for the Sheriff, and although we find them attesting many ancient charters and grants relating to the county, recording themselves as Vice-Comites (or Sheriffs), they simply executed the office as Pro-Vice-Comites (or Under-Sheriffs). The attainder of the Cliffords during the Wars of the Roses, until its reversal in the first year of Henry the Sixth, causes a void as regards their family, their places being filled from among the supporters of the House of York."[1] For a considerable period Westmorland was treated as part of Yorkshire, the Sheriff of the latter county rendering an account of the two places jointly. From the time of John, however, the accounts rendered for Westmorland by Yorkshire Sheriffs would have been as Sub-Vice-Comites for the Vetriponts. The High Sheriffs and their connections lived in considerable state when the country was sufficiently peaceable to permit of it. This is proved by the arrangement and size of their castles, while Sir Lancelot Threlkeld, half-brother of Henry Clifford, used to boast that he had three noble houses. One, at Crosby Ravensworth, where there was a park full of deer, was for pleasure; one for profit and warmth wherein to reside in winter, was the house at Yanwath; and the estate at Threlkeld was "well stocked with tenants ready to go with him to the wars." The various "progresses" of the Countess Anne also afford evidence of the state kept up, for she frequently speaks of her journeys from one castle to another "escorted by my gentlemen and yeomen."