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Cartmel in Lancaster County England History and GeographyCARTMEL, a parish in the hundred of LONSDALE, north of the sands, county palatine of LANCASTER, comprising the chapelries of Broughton, Cartmel-Fell, and Staveley, and the townships of Lower Allithwaite, Upper Allithwaite, Lower Holker, and Upper Holker, and containing 4923 inhabitants: the town of Cartmel stands in the townships of Lower Allithwaite and Upper Holker, 14 miles (N.W. by N.) from Lancaster, and 254 (N.N.W.) from London. This place, supposed to have derived its name from the British words Kert, a camp, and mell, a fell, or small mountain, according to Camden, was given to St. Cuthbert in 677, by Egfrid, King of Northumberland, with all the Britons inhabiting it. In 782, Ethelred, upon his restoration to the throne of that kingdom, allured from their sanctuary at York the sons of Alfwold, who had been advanced to the crown upon his expulsion, and put them to death at this place. In 1188, William Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke, founded a priory for regular canons of the order of St. Augustine, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, endowing it with all his lands at ';Kertmell,' and with other possessions, besides many privileges, among which was the exclusive right of appointing guides to conduct travellers over the extensive sands that bound this parish on the south; the establishment, at the dissolution, consisted of ten religious and forty-eight servants, and the revenue was estimated at £212. 11. 10.: the conventual church, which was also parochial, was purchased by the parishioners. The town is situated in a vale surrounded by lofty hills of varied aspect, behind which the vast fells of Coniston rise majestically to the north; the houses, with the exception of a row lately erected on the north side of the town, of modern and handsome appearance, are in general built of stone, rough cast and white-washed: the environs abound with scenery strikingly diversified by richly wooded eminences and barren hills. The parish is bounded on the south by the bay of Morecambe, into which it extends for a considerable distance, where at low water there is a passage over the sands to Bolton: the longer course over these sands is nine miles; the shorter, over that part called the Leven sands, is four miles: guides are usually waiting to conduct over both. The scenery is romantically wild, and in some parts picturesquely beautiful. Between lake Winandermere and the river is Furness point, separated from Walney Island by a narrow channel, the entrance of which is defended by the Pile of Fouldrey, built by one of the abbots, on a rock in the sea. The parish abounds with rocks of limestone and marble, but very little trade is carried on; there are cotton-mills at Upper Holker. The market, formerly on Monday, is now on Tuesday: the fairs are on Whit-Monday, and the Monday after October the 23rd; and cattle fairs are held on the Wednesday before Easter, and November 5th. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Richmond, and diocese of Chester, endowed with £200 parliamentary grant. Lord George Cavendish was patron in 1804. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious cruciform structure in the early style of English architecture, with a curious tower; after having been suffered to remain in a state of neglect for nearly a century after the dissolution of the priory, during which time the conventual buildings had been removed, it was substantially repaired, in 1640, by George Preston, Esq., of Holker: the chancel contains some richly carved stalls, and fine tabernacle work; on the north side of the altar is the tomb of William de Walton, one of the priors, and on the opposite side is a magnificent altar-tomb, with recumbent figures of one of the Harringtons and his lady, supposed to be Sir John Harrington, who accompanied Edward I. into Scotland, besides many other sepulchral monuments. The free grammar school appears to have risen out of a parochial school supported by the church-wardens and sidesmen of the parish: various subsequent donations and legacies have produced an endowment of £117. 0. 3. per annum, of which the master receives £110: there are about fifty scholars, one half of whom are instructed in the classics, and the rest in English only; those that learn writing and arithmetic pay a small quarterage to the master. Dr. Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle, whose father was curate of one of the chapels in the parish for forty-nine years, received the rudiments of his education in this school. Three miles to the south of the town is a spring called Holy Well, the water of which is efficacious in relieving from the pains of gout, and in nephritie and cutaneous diseases; and at Pit farm, in this parish, is an intermitting spring. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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