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Alston in Cumberland County England History and GeographyALSTON, or ALSTON-MOOR, a market town and parish in LEATH ward, county of CUMBERLAND, containing 5699 inhabitants, of which number, 1288 are in the chapelry of Garrigil, 27 miles (E.S.E.) from Carlisle, and 287 (N.N.W.) from London. The town is situated on the declivity of a steep hill in a narrow valley, near the confluence of the rivers Nent and South Tyne, over which latter is a neat stone bridge. The houses, which are irregularly built, are chiefly of stone, roofed with slate, and the inhabitants are supplied with water conveyed by pipes, from an excellent spring about half a mile distant, into four punts, or cisterns, conveniently placed in diffcrent parts of the town. A subscription library was established in 1821, in commemoration of the coronation of his present Majesty, and races are held on Easter Monday and Tuesday. This district, which is enclosed on the west by the Cross, Hartside and Thackmoor Fells, and on all sides by high lands, is equally remarkable for its sterility of agricultural produce, and its abundance of mineral wealth. The lead mines, in which the inhabitants are chiefly employed, are very extensive and productive; there are not less than thirty-eight in the pa rish, of which those on the Moor alone have produced more than 12,000 tons, and at present supply about 9000 tons, annually. The ore contains a considerable proportion of silver, averaging from eight to ten ounces per ton; and one of the mines opened at Yadmoss, in 1828, has produced ore containing 96 ounces of silver in each ton. Copper ore has also been found in the same vein with the lead, and in many instances the same mine has been worked for copper ore of excellent quality, and lead ore which is rich in silver. The grand aqueduct level called 'Nent Force,' forming a horizontal adit to the principal mine, was cut by the trustees of Greenwich Hospital, under whom the estate is held. This subterraneous canal is five miles in length, from its mouth near the town to the shaft of the mine; boats and guides are kept in constant readiness to conduct those who may wish to explore the mineral treasures and variegated beauties with which the mine abounds. There are several extensive caverns splendidly decorated with fluor-spar shot into chrystals of every form and hue, and where the yellow copper ore and pyrites are intermingled nothing can exceed the brilliancy with which the prismatic colours are reflccted. Of these, Tutman's hole has been explored to the distance of a mile from the entrance, and in that at Dun fell, on the side of Alston Moor, the chambers and windings are so intricate, that visitors have been glad to avail themselves of some clue to their return. Among other minerals founds here are pyrites of iron containing small portions of gold, tesselated ore, zink phosphate and sulphate of lead, cobalt, &c. The crow coal, found on the moor at a small depth below the surface, contains pyrites in large proportion; it burns with little flame, but gives out an intense heat, and, mixed with clay, is made into fireballs. There are two large smelting furnaces, and several machines worked by water for crushing and washing the ore. The principal manufactures are shot, sewing thread, and shoes, which are extensively carried on; there is also a public brewery on a large scale. The market day is Saturday; the fairs are held on the last Thursday in May, Friday before the 27th of September, and the first Thursday in November. The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates. who hold a petty session at the Swan Inn on the first Friday in every month, and courts leet and baron are held in the months after Easter and Michaelmas. The living is a discharged vicarage with the chapelry of Garrigil, in the archdeaconry of Northumberland, and diocese of Durham, endowed with £600 private benefaction, £800 royal bounty, and £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of Greenwich Hospital. The church, dedicated to St. Austin, was rebuilt in 1790. The chapel of ease is situated at Garrigil, a populous village four miles south east of the town. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. The Grammar school was erected by subscription in 1828, and endowed with £26 per annum; there are no scholars gratuitously instructed, out the master, in conaideration of the endowment, is limited to a certain scale of charges for boys attending it; there is a similar school at Garrigil, endowed with £7. 4. 1. per annum, and a Lancasterian school for two hundred children has been established in the town. On Gildersdale fell, is a stagnant water covered with mud several inches thick, which is used by the neighbouring people as paint; it produces colours resembling yellow ochre and Spanish brown, but has not been analysed. The Roman road, called Maiden way, of which the traces are distinctly visible, crosses the western part of the parish, and on Hall hill, a little below the bridge over the Tyne, are the foundations of an ancient fortress surrounded by a moat. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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