In the Chapter House, at Carlisle, is preserved an interesting relic known as the "Horns of the Altar." Mr. Frank Buckland inspected it in 1879, and expressed his astonishment at finding it to be a walrus's skull, without the lower jaw, with tusks about eighteen inches long. The skull itself was marked out with faded colours, so as to somewhat resemble a human skull. Canon Prescott supplied Mr. Buckland with some information about this curious charter horn. He said: "In the year 1290, a claim was made by the King, Edward I., and by others, to the tithes on certain lands lately brought under cultivation in the forest of Inglewood. The Prior of Carlisle appeared on behalf of his convent, and urged their right to the property on the ground that the tithes had been granted to them by a former king, who had enfeoffed them by a certain ivory horn (_quoddam cornu eburneum_), which he gave to the Church of Carlisle, and which they possessed at that time. The Cathedral of Carlisle has had in its possession for a great number of years two fine walrus tusks, with a portion of the skull. They appear in ancient inventories of goods of the cathedral as 'one horn of the altar, in two parts,' or 'two horns of the altar' (1674), together with other articles of the altar furniture. But antiquaries come to the conclusion that these were identical with the 'ivory horn' referred to above. Communications were made to the Society of Antiquaries (see _Archaeologia_, Vol. III.) and they were called the 'Carlisle Charter Horns.' Such charter horns were not uncommon in ancient days. Bishop Lyttleton (1768), in a paper read before the society, said the 'horns' were so called improperly, being 'certainly the teeth of some very large sea fish.' It is probable that they were presented to the church as an offering, perhaps by some traveller, and used as an ornament to the altar. Such ornaments were frequent, both at the smaller altars and in the churches." Mr. Buckland, adverting to the foregoing, says: "I cannot quite understand how a walrus's skull and teeth came to be considered so valuable as to be promoted to the dignity of a charter horn of a great cathedral like Carlisle. I am afraid Bishop Lyttleton, 1768, was not a naturalist, or he would never have called the tusks of a walrus 'the teeth of some very large fish.'"