Caldbeck
CALDBECK, in the ward of Allerdale below Derwent, lies about 15 miles
from Penrith, and one and a half from the small market-town of HesketNewmarket, which is in the parish. Caldbeck contains three townships,
called Highgrave-quarter, Lowgrave-quarter, and Half-cliff, or Haltcliffe
quarter. The whole parish contained in 1811, 315 houses, and 1436
inhabitants.
The lords of Allerdale possessed the whole lordship of Caldbeck till Henry,
the sixth Earl of Northumberland, gave it to King Henry VIII. who granted
Caldbeck Upper-town to Thomas Dalston, Esq. and Caldbeck Underfell to
Thomas Lord Wharton. The latter soon afterwards became possessed of
the whole. Charles, Duke of Somcrset, having purchased it of the Duke of
Wharton's trustees, it became re-united to the barony of Allerdale, and is
now the property of the Earl of Egremont.
The manor of Hesket, in the township of Haltcliff, is a mesne manor
within that of the Earl of Egremont. The heiress of William Beauly, or
Bewley, Esq. whose ancestors possessed it for many generations (fn. 1) , brought it
in the reign of Charles I. to the Lawsons. It is now under the will of the
late Sir Wilfred Lawson, Bart. the property of Wilfred, a younger son of
Thomas Wybergh, Esq. who has assumed the name of Lawson. The manor
house, built by Sir Wilfred Lawson, the first baronet, is a singular structure,
with twelve angles, so contrived, that the shadows give the hour of the
day, with a circular roof, the chimneys running up in the centre: this
house is now occupied by the tenant of the farm. Within this manor is
the small town of Hesket-Newmarket, which has a weekly market for
butchers meat and other provisions, on Friday, and fairs or great markets
for cattle every other Friday, from May 1, to Whitsuntide. The first
Friday in May is a great fair for cattle, cloth, hats, &c.
The manors of Mossdale and Swinside, which belonged anciently to the
baronial family of Dacre, and passed by female heirs, with the title, to the
families of Fiennes and Lennard, were sold by the co-heiresses of Thomas,
Earl of Sussex, to Sir Christopher Musgrave, Bart. of Edenhall, and by him
to Edward Hasell of Dalemain, ancestor of Edward Hasell, Esq. the present
proprietor.
Woodhall, in this parish, has been for many generations the property
and residence of a younger branch of the Bewley family. Mr. George
Bewley is the present proprietor. At Brownrigg was seated a branch of
the family of Vaux, now extinct. Mr. Robert Vaux, who died in 1747,
is said to have been the fourteenth in succession of that name. There
are some tomb-stones in memory of this family in the church-yard.
Ralph Engayne, chief forester of Inglewood, is said to have built an
hospital at Caldbeck, for the protection and accommodation of travellers,
soon after the conquest, by permission of the prior of Carlisle. Gospatric,
son of Orme, gave the church of Caldbeck, with its appurtenances, and
the hospital, to the prior and convent. It is said, that after this they
dissolved the hospital, and endowed the church with the lands, about the
time of King John; and that these lands constituted the manor of Kirkland, which now belongs to the rectory. Bartholomew, prior of Carlisle
in the reign of Henry III. gave the advowson of the rectory of Caldbeck
to the Bishop of Carlisle, and it has been ever since in the patronage of
that see. Caldbeck is in the diocese of Carlisle and in the deanery of
Wigton. There are three quakers meeting houses in this parish.
Philip Lord Wharton, in 1692, appropriated by deed certain lands in
Yorkshire, as a perpetual fund for buying yearly 1060 bibles, sixteen of
which are appointed to be given to this parish. There was a fund of 103l.
raised by subscription in 1647, as a school-stock, but the greater part of it
having been lost, there remains now only 47l.
Camerton
CAMERTON, in the ward of Allerdale below Derwent, lies about two miles
and a half from Workington, and five from Maryport. It has two townships,
Camerton and Seaton, which in 1811 contained together 183 houses, and
811 inhabitants.
The manors of Camerton and Seaton were given by Waldieve, Lord of
Allerdale, to Orme, son of Ketel, in marriage with his sister Gunilda. The
posterity of Orme took the name of Camerton, and afterwards that of Culwen
or Curwen (fn. 2) , and were immediate ancestors of the family of Curwen, of
Workington Hall. The manor of Camerton is now the property of Ralph
Cook, Esq.: the manor of Seaton belongs to the Earl of Lonsdale, having
been purchased, by the late Earl, of Charles Pelham, Esq. who possessed it by
bequest from the Curwen family. The Curwens at an early period resided
at Seaton. Patrick de Culwen is said to have pulled down the mansion at
Seaton, and to have removed to Workington about the latter end of the
twelfth century. It is certain, nevertheless, that Thomas de Culwen, in 1279,
procured a charter for a market at Seaton on Thursday, and a fair for three
days at the festival of St. Peter, ad vincula
(fn. 3) . There are still traces of the old
mansion at Seaton; there was a mansion also at Camerton, of which the base
of a tower still remains, converted into stables.
Gospatric, son of Orme, gave the church of Camerton, which is in the
diocese of Carlisle and in the deanery of Wigton, to the priory of Carlisle.
The prior and convent took all the tithes and employed a curate. The
tithes are now vested in the dean and chapter, under whom the Earl of
Lonsdale is lessee. The curacy, which has been augmented by Queen
Anne's bounty, is in the gift of the chapter.
The chapelry of Flimby has been sometimes esteemed extra-parochial, and
sometimes a separate parish. It is called a parish in the Population Abstract
of 1811, when it contained 74 houses and 271 inhabitants.
The manor of Flimby, with the chapel, was given by Gospatric to the
abbot and convent of Holme-Cultram. After the dissolution this estate was
granted to Thomas Dalston, Esq. who, in 1547, conveyed it to John Blenerhasset, Esq. Flimby continued to be the property, and the hall the residence
of that family, till the estate was sold by William Blenerhasset, Esq. in 1772,
to Sir James Lowther, Bart. The royalties are now vested in the freeholders;
the demesne and hall are the property of the Earl of Lonsdale; the latter is
in the occupation of Mr. Robert Addison. The chapel, which is in Lord
Lonsdale's patronage, has been thrice augmented by Queen Anne's bounty.
The inhabitants, till of late years, buried their dead at the mother-church
of Camerton.
Cross-Canonby
CROSS-CANONBY, in the ward of Allerdale below Derwent, comprises
three townships, Birkby and Canonby, Crosby, and Netherhall; and in
1811 (fn. 4) the whole parish contained 774 families and 3,479 inhabitants.
The village in which the church is situated has been called Little-Crossby,
Crossby-Canon, Crossby-Canonby, Cross-Canonby, and sometimes Canonby only. It lies about half a mile from the sea; three miles from
Maryport, which is in the parish, and is the post-office town, and nine
from Workington.
The manor of Crosby, or Cross-Canonby, belonged to the Lords of Allerdale till Henry, the sixth Earl of Northumberland, gave it to King
Henry VIII. It was granted by the Crown to the Highmore family; and
having been alienated by them to the Porters, was, by a descendant of the
latter, enfranchised and sold to the tenants.
The manor of Birkby is still parcel of the lordship of Allerdale, belonging
to the Earl of Egremont. The dean and chapter of Carlisle have a manor
here, given to the priory with the church by Alan, second lord of Allerdale:
this is annexed to, or is now deemed to form part of, their manor of Lorton.
In the parish church of Cross-Canonby are several monuments of the Senhouse family (fn. 5) . Alan, second Lord of Allerdale, gave the church of CrossCanonby to the prior and convent of Carlisle. The rectory now belongs to
the dean and chapter, who appoint a perpetual curate. The church is in
the diocese of Carlisle and deanery of Wigton.
The manor of Ellenborough or Netherhall, formerly called Alneburgh (fn. 6) ,
was at a very early period possessed by Simon de Sheftling, in whose family
it continued till the reign of Edward I. when it was purchased by the Eglesfields. In the reign of Henry VIII. a coheiress of Eglesfield brought it
to John Senhouse, Esq. of Seascales, at which place the ancestors of this
ancient family had been settled for several generations. A younger son of
this John settled at Netherhall, now the property and residence of his immediate descendant, Humphrey Senhouse, Esq. John Senhouse, the founder
of the Netherhall branch, is spoken of by Camden as having made the collection of Roman antiquities at this place. That learned writer and his
friend Sir Robert Cotton, the collector of the Cottonian library, were hospitably entertained by Mr. Senhouse at Netherhall in 1599. Richard Senhouse, one of his younger sons, was made Bishop of Carlisle in 1624.
There is a small deer-paddock at Netherhall.
The town of Maryport, in the district of Netherhall, has of late years
become very populous. Till the year 1750 there was only one house at
Ellen-foot (fn. 7) , the present site of the town of Maryport. The town owed its
origin to the exertions of the late Mr. Senhouse's father, who called it
Maryport in compliment to his wife. Mr. Pennant, writing in 1774, says,
that there were then above 100 houses at Maryport. In Nicolson and Burn's
History, published in 1777, the number of families is stated at about 340; the
number of families in 1811 is stated at 709; the inhabitants, exclusively of
seamen (fn. 8) , at 3,134 (fn. 9) . It is said, that in 1777 there were between 70 and 80
sail of shipping at this port from 30 to 250 tons burden. There are now about
100, their average burden being about 135 tons. The chief trade consists in the
exportation of coals to Ireland from the neighbouring collieries. Timber,
flax, and iron, are imported from the Baltic. There are three ship-building
yards, and every kind of trade and manufacture connected with it. There
is a considerable herring-fishery, which was remarkably productive in 1813
and 1814 (fn. 10) . About 20 boats are employed in it at Maryport. Cod-fish are
caught in great abundance in the winter-season, and salmon-trout in the
river Ellen in the summer. There is a considerable market at this place for
butchers'-meat and all sorts of provisions on Friday, and a smaller market
on Tuesday.
A chapel was built at Maryport in 1760, and consecrated by Bishop
Lyttelton in 1763. In this chapel is the monument of Humphrey Senhouse, Esq. founder of the town of Maryport, who died in 1770. In the
chapel-yard are some curious inscriptions, which will be found under the
head of Longevity in the General History. The chapel of Maryport has
been augmented by Queen Anne's bounty. Humphrey Senhouse, Esq.
whose grandfather gave the sum of 200l. towards procuring it, is the patron.
There are meeting-houses at Maryport for the presbyterians, quakers, and
for the Wesleyan methodists.
Carlatton
CARLATTON, a depopulated parish in the ward of Eskdale, contained in
1811 only 7 houses and 35 inhabitants. The manor was held in the reign
of Henry II. by Gospatric, son of Macbenk or Macbenock. King John
made a temporary grant of it to Robert de Ross; King Henry III. resumed
this grant, and gave it to the King of Scotland. After the revolt of John
Baliol, it was held for a while by Anthony Bec, Bishop of Durham. King
Richard II. granted it to Ralph Nevill, Earl of Westmorland, from whom it
descended to Richard Earl of Warwick, who was slain at the battle of Barnet.
King Edward IV. gave it to his brother the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards
King Richard III. It has since been held on lease under the Crown, the
Earl of Carlisle being the present lessee.
The church of Carlatton was given by Robert de Vaux to the priory of
Lanercost, and appropriated to that monastery. The tithes are now held
on lease under the Crown, with the manor. The church is supposed to have
been dilapidated long before the Reformation. There is no institution of a
vicar on record after the year 1380. There are no ruins remaining of the
building, and it is only known by tradition where it stood.