[B] ASKERTON. At this village there is a castle which was built by the Barons Dacre. This well known name is derived from the exploits of one of their ancestors at the siege of Acre, or Ptolemais, under Richard Coeur de Lion. There were two powerful branches of that name. The first family, called Lord Dacres of the South, held the castle of the same name, and are ancestors to the present Lord Dacre. The other family, descended from the same stock, were called Lord Dacres of the North, and were Barons of Gillesland and Graystock. A chieftain of the latter branch was warden of the West Marshes, during the reign of Edward VI. He was a man of a hot and obstinate character, as appears from some particulars of Lord Surrey's letter to Henry VIII., giving an account of his behaviour at the siege and storm of Jedburgh. The castle was formerly garrisoned by the Serjeant of Gillesland, who sometimes commanded and led the inhabitants against the Scots. [Sidenote: Seat of Lord Dacre.] [C] ASKHAM. This place consists of two manors. The hall, built in 1574, on the river Lowther, has an embattled roof, and a sombre aspect well suited to the gloom of the surrounding scenery. Several remarkable heaps of stones, among which, one is called the Druid's Cross, are in this neighbourhood; and also a large cairn, called the White-raise. _Mail_ arrives at Lowther 1-1/2 miles distant 2.30 morning; departs 8 evening. [Sidenote: Druid's Cross.] [D] ASKRIGG. This ancient market town is situated near the river Ure and Swaledale Forest: it resembles a large village, and the occupations of the inhabitants are principally the knitting of stockings and making butter or cheese. It is remarkable, chiefly, for some considerable cataracts in its neighbourhood: as Millgill Force, a fall of from twenty to thirty yards; Whitfields Force, a grand specimen of the picturesque; and Hardrow Force, where the water falls in one grand sheet from a perpendicular height of one hundred feet. This town is one of the polling places appointed under the Reform Bill of 1832, for the North Riding. _Market_, Thursday.--_Fairs_, May 10, horned cattle; May 12, and first Thursday in June, woollen cloth, pewter, brass, and milliners' goods; October 28, horned cattle; October 29, woollens, &c. [Sidenote: Cataract 100 feet in height.]