History

• The township of Kaber is partly in Brough parish*.* The six townships marked thus ( have supported their poor conjointly since the year 1816, when, agreeable to an act of parliament, they incorporated themselves, and purchased, at the cost of £1500, the large cotton mill at Kirkby-Stephen, and converted it into a WORKHOUSE, of which Mr. John Ewbank is the present governor. The other four townships support their paupers separately. Since 1827 part of the workhouse has been let to Mr. John Henry Wilson, of Manchester, who employs in it many of the paupers and others in the fabrication of silk and cotton goods.*.* GEOLOGICAL REMARKS – Kirkby- Stephen is built upon the Breccia, or Brockram Rock, (as it is here called) which is composed of angular fragments of limestone, in a cement of red sandstone, and is commonly used for building purposes in this district, where it may be frequently seen in the bed of the Eden alternating with the red sandstone, so prevalent throughout the extensive vale of that river. The mountains around the town are amongst the loftiest in England, and of the class geologically terms metaliferous limestone, being composed of strata of limestone, sandstone, and shale; all lying above the secondary limestone, and below the millstone grit, and consequently below the profitable coal beds which occur a few miles to the east of Stainmore. The MINERALS they contain are the common galena, or sulphuret of lead; the green phosphate of lead; and brown and yellow copper pyrites, with green and blue carbonate of copper. None of these minerals are abundant; though at present they are all worked in the parish, as also are several poor seams of sulphurous coal, used at the lime kilns, etc. The upper strata of limestone are mostly composed of encrinites, or trachites, and are frequently worked as ornamental marbles, Fossil shells resembling the winged cockles, or partaking of the united characters of the scollop shells and cockles, are frequently found in the middle strata; and in the lower strata a species of nautilus, together with innumerable madreporites, chiefly of the species termed funci lapidci. The mountains afford a great variety of alpine plants; while the vallies and plains are well stocked with those peculiar to champaign countries. Grouse and Game abound in the district; and in the Eden is a plenitude of excellent trout. The lead and copper mine, in Hartley township was open in 1827 by Messrs. Thomas Dickinson & Co. A variety of beautiful spotted stone is found here, some of which has been wrought into watch seals, etc.KIRKBY-STEPHEN is an irregularly and indifferently built market town, consisting principally of one long street, extended on the western side of the Eden, in a well cultivated vale, nearly surrounded with lofty mountains, and distant 4 miles S. by W. of Brough, 10 miles SE. of Appleby, 24 miles NNE. of Kirkby-Lonsdale, and about 265 miles NNW. Of London. It now contains about 250 houses, and 1400 inhabitants; and has recently been improved by the erection of several new building, and the reparation of some of the old ones. The MARKET is held on Monday, and is numerously attended by the inhabitants of the surrounding dales, where there are a few coarse woollen, cotton, knit hose, etc. manufacturers. Six annual FAIRS are held here, viz: on the 1^st Monday in Lent; Monday before March 20^th; April 24^th; and October 2d, for cattle, cloth, etc. etc. Here is also a great show of horses on the 29^th of September, (being the day before Brough Hill fair); and on the 29^th of October is a large cattle and sheep far. Hirings for Servants are held on the last Monday in June and first Monday in July. Races are held on Hartley Ings. about the middle of April. In the town are three common breweries, a woollen mill, and a silk and cotton manufactory, the latter of which has been lately established, in the large building now partly used as the workhouse, but originally built about 30 years ago as a cotton mill, by Messrs. Graves, Lane and Co., who became bankrupts about the year 1810, when Mr. John Dand took the premises, and after carrying on the cotton trade, and also a bank for about three years, he also failed, and the building was subsequently purchased by the six united townships, as had been mentioned earlier. Many of the inhabitants in this part of Westmorland, and in the adjacent dales of Yorkshire, are employed at their own scattered dwellings in knitting coarse hosiery, principally for the use of sailors. The market place is tolerably spacious, and has a middle row of shops, and on its north side a convenient Market House and Piazza, called the Cloister, on account of its being raised over the entrance to the church-yard. The upper part of the building rests on eight stone pillars, and the whole was erected in 1810, pursuant to the Will of Mr. John Waller, a purser in the navy, who bequeathed a sum of money for the purpose of providing the town with this long wanted and necessary edifice. In the 25^th of Edward III. Roger Lord Clifford obtained a grant for a market on Friday, and two fairs yearly, on St. Mark’s and St. Luke’s days and morrows, at his manor of Kirkby-Stephen. King James I., by his charter in 1606, granted to George Earl of Cumberland, instead of the aforesaid market and fairs, "one market on Monday, and two fairs yearly, one on the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday after Witsuntide, and the other on two days next before the feast of St. Luke, and on that feast day; with a court of piepowder, tolls, tallages, and other jurisdictions thereunto belonging,: but the fairs are now held at the periods stated above. The Earl of Thanet is lord of the manor.The CHURCH, from which the town has its name, is dedicated to St. Stephen, and is a large Gothic fabric, with a lofty tower, and four bells. It has two rows of plain round pillars, with chapels belonging to Smardale Hall, Wharton Hall, and Hartley Castle, and several beautiful monuments, etc. In the Wharton chapel is a large alabaster tomb, on which are three recumbent effigies, representing Thomas the first Lord Wharton, with Eleanor his first wife, and Anne his second wife. Under the great arch is the figure of a man in armour, said by some to be a cenotaph in memory of Sir Andrew Hercla, Earl of Carlisle, who was attainted and beheaded by Edward II.; but others supposed it to be an effigy of one of the Musgraves. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £48 19s. 2d. It was granted by Ivo de Talebois, Baron of Kendal, to St. Mary’s Abbey, York, after the dissolution of which, it was given to the Whartons, who held it till the last Duke of Wharton granted it to his steward, Matthew Smales, from whom it passed to the Claytons, and from them to the Rev. Thomas Pym Williamson, A.M., the present patron and vicar, who has for his curate the Rev. Thomas Jackson. The Vicarage House, which was built about 1760, by the Rev. Henry Chaytor, is a neat mansion, pleasantly situated above the Eden, and now occupied by James Broughham, jun. Esq., who is now erecting an elegant mansion at Stobars, on an elevated site, half a mile W. of the town. The Methodists have long had a chapel here; and in the New Inn Yard is a chapel which has been successively occupied by the Sandemanians, Baptists, and Independents, the latter of whom purchased it in 1810, and have now for their minister the Rev. John Capper.The FREE-GRAMMAR-SCHOOL of Kirkby-Stephen, was founded in 1556, by Thomas Lord Wharton, under letters patent granted for that purpose by Queen Elizabeth. The noble founder endowed it with the ancient rectory-house, garden and buildings adjacent, besides the yearly rent-charges of £12 for the master, 26s. 8d. for the usher, and £6 13s. 4d. to two exhibitioners, to be sent to Oxford or Cambridge, "to have each £3 6s. 8d. a year for seven years.: These sums, amounting to £20 per annum, were to be paid out of the corn tithes of Kirkby-Stephen and Winton; but in 1736, by a decree in chancery, they were all ordered to be paid out of the tithes of Winton, then belonging to Robert Lowther, Esq. and now to the Earl of Lonsdale. During the confusion of the licentious Duke of Wharton’s affairs, the school was closed eleven years, after which an arrear of £220 was recovered and expended in the reparation of the school and master’s house, and in the purchase of a field near the south end of the town, now worth £10 a year. A yearly rent charge of £6 was subsequently bequeathed to the school by Sir Thomas Wharton, to be paid out of an estate at Nateby. In 1623, the Rev. John Knewstuble bequeathed to St. John’s College, Cambridge, an annuity of £5, to be paid there to a poor scholar from this school, till he "be of standing to take the degree of master of arts;" after which another is to be nominated by the vicar and schoolmaster. Mr. Thomas Heslop is the present master, and receives 5s. quarterly from each of the scholars, of whom there are now about thirty; the school being open to all the boys of the town and its vicinity. Belonging to the Schools and Poor of the extensive parish of Kirkby-Stephen are no fewer than nineteen different CHARITIES, which produce yearly upwards of 246l. and are applied where their respective donors are enumerated. One of these benefactions (a rent-charge of 12l.) left, in 1821, by Mrs. Ann Thompson, has not yet been paid by the donor’s heir. In the town is a SUNDAY-SCHOOL, attended by about 120 children, who pay 1d. each weekly for the augmentation of a subscription fund, which is expended in the purchase of clothing for the scholars. In the parish are many antiquities and picturesque views, as will be seen in the following description of its villages and townships:CASTLETHWAITE, a hamlet in Mallerstang chapelry, 4 miles S. of Kirkby-Stephen. Here are the ruins of PENDRAGON CASTLE, said to have been built in the time of Bortigern, by Uter Pendragon, who attempted to change the course of the river Eden, and afterwards died by treachery and poison in the year 515. It was anciently one of the seats of the Lords Clifford, and was a very strong fortress, the walls being in some places four yards thick, and having battlements upon them. In 1661, after having lain in ruins from the year 1541, it was thoroughly repairs by the Countess of Pembroke, who about the same time restored all her other castles. It was dismantled by the Earl of Thanet in 1681, since which it has suffered so much from age and neglect, that nothing now remains but the mouldering ruins of a square tower, standing on the east side of the deep secluded vale of Eden. Near it is a small Intrenchment, fortified with a ditch and vallum. The Countess of Pembroke also built the bridge across the river, near the castle, and erected the stone pillar, upon the large round hill called Hugh Morvill’s seat, at the south eastern extremity of Mallerstang, about 3 miles from the castle.HANGING LUND, a hamlet in Mallerstang, 6 ½ miles S. of Kirkby-Stephen.HARTLEY is a well built village on the east side of the Eden, half a mile E. of Kirkby-Stephen. Its township is mostly a wild and mountainous district, and contains veins of lead and copper, which since 1827 have been wrought by Thomas Dickinson & Co.; but large quantities of lead were raised here many years ago; and, upon Hartley fell a seam of coal has been worked. Half a mile SE. of the village is Ewbank Crag, a lofty ridge of rock over which a stream of water falls 20 perpendicular yards. Near it is a petrifying spring, and conical eminence on which stood Hartley Castle, of which only a few fragments now remain – the greatest part of the ruins being removed by the late Sir Christopher Musgrave, who used the materials for the reparation of Edenhall. It was a noble structure, overlooking the surrounding villages, and having a park behind it well stocked with deer. This manor was long possessed by the ancient family of Hardclay or Harcla, one of whom, Andrew de Harcla was created Earl of Carlisle, in 1322, but was afterwards executed for high treason, and his estates forfeited to the king, who granted Hartley manor to Lord Nevill, of Raby, who sold it to Sir Thomas Musgrave, whose descendants often resided at the castle. The Rev. Sir C.J. Musgrave, Bart. is the present lord of the manor.HELGILL a district in Mallerstang, 7 miles S. of Kirkby-Stephen.HIGHER-SCALES, a village in Kaber, 3 miles NE. of Kirkby-Stephen.KABER, a large village 2 ½ miles NNE. of Kirkby-Stephen. Its township is in the south division of Stainmore forest, and is partly in the parish of Brough, being mostly on the south side of the Belo river which divides that parish from this. The manor was anciently held by the Kaberghs, from whom it passed to the Fulthorps, Wandesworths, and Wadesons, but in 1618 Sir John Wadeson sold it to the inhabitants and land owners for £1200. Here is a small SCHOOL endowed with about £10 per annum arising from the interest of £133, left in 1689, by Thos. Waller, and a field called Sandwath, which lets for three guineas a year, and was purchased with three benefactions, viz 5l. given by Miles Munkhouse in 1727; 20l. given by George Petty, in 1744; and 50l. bequeathed by Anthony Morland. In 1663, after the restoration of Charles II., an insurrection of the republican party was intended, and a great number of the disaffected held their meetings at Kaber Rigg, where several of them were taken prisoners by the militia and executed at Appleby, for joining in this conspiracy called the Kaber Rigg Plot.MALLERSTANG is a large township and chapelry, extending from the source of the Eden northward to within 2 ½ miles of Kirkby-Stephen, being nearly 5 miles in length, and containing the hamlets of Castlethwaite, Hanging-Lund, Helgill, Outhgill, Shortgill, and Southwaite, with several dispersed dwellings scattered through the deep vale of the Eden and the secluded glens and thwaites on each side of it. At its southern extremity rises the large mountain called Wild-Boar Fell, and the Lady’s Pillar with Pendragon Castle, formerly the manorial seat of the FOREST OF MALLERSTANG, which belonged to Sir Hugh de Morville, before it was granted, with the rest of the Barony of Westmorland, to the Veteriponts. The Earl of Thanet is the present lord, and Mr. James Atkinson is bailiff of the forest. The CHAPEL OF EASE stands nearly in the centre of the township, 5 miles S. of Kirkby-Stephen, and, about 30 years ago, had a burial ground attached to it. After remaining 60 years in a state of dilapidation, it was repaired in 1663, by the charitable Countess of Pembroke, who endowed it with lands at Cawtley, near Sedburgh, in Yorkshire, then work 11l. a year, for the curate, on condition that he teaches "the children of the dale to read and write England in the chapel there." In 1714, it was augmented with an estate at Garsdale, purchased with £400, given by the Earl of Thanet and the Governors of Queen Anne’s Bounty; the latter of whom, in 1772, gave £200 more, which, with another £200, given by the Countess Dowager Gower, was expended in the purchase of another estate in Garsdale. The Rev. Thomas Bird is the incumbent curate, but the Rev. John Fawcett officiates, and is master of the chapel school.NATEBY is a village and township, half a mile S. by E. of Kirkby-Stephen, on the east side of the Eden, in a romantic situation, near STENKRITH BRIDGE, where the river forms a noisy foaming cataract, falling to a considerable depth amongst numerous broken and impending rocks, with round holes in them from one to seven feet in diameter, and from six inches to two or three yards in depth. Whether these singular cavities have been formed by nature or art is not known; but as many of them are higher than the river ever rises they cannot have been all formed by the falling water, which is dashed with such fury and noise from rock to rock, that the neighbours call it ‘the Devil grinding mustard.’  Some have supposed that the Druids selected this yawning gulf of shade, solitude, and agitation, as a place of worship, and perforated many of the holes in the rocks to increase its horrors. About 2 ½ miles E. of the village is that lofty mountain or fell, called the Nine Standards owning to some stones set up there to mark the boundary of Yorkshire and Westmorland. Nateby School is endowed with land let for £8 12s. a year, and purchased with various benefactions, of which the trustees have still £40 in their possession. The manor was long held by the Whartons, but now belongs to the Earl of Lonsdale.OUTHGILL, a hamlet in Mallerstang, where the chapel and a small inn, are situated on the road from Kirkby Stephen to Hawes, 5 miles from the former, and 11 from the latter town.ROOKBY, a hamlet, in Kaber, 2 miles NE. of Kirkby-Stephen.SHORTGILL, a hamlet in Mallerstang, 5 m. S. of Kirkby-Stephen.SMARDALE, a hamlet and small township, 2 ½ miles SW. of Kirkby-Stephen, containing only seven houses, situated in a deep vale, between Crosby Fell and Ash Fell. The manor once belonged to a family of its own name, from whom it passed to the Warcops and Dalstons, but is now possessed by John Wakefield, Esq., of Kendal. The hall was repaired by the late Sir George Dalston, but is now occupied by a farmer. Near it is Chapel Well, where there was formerly a small chapel. SOULBY is a large well built village, near the confluence of the Eden and Smardale Beck, 2 ½ miles NW. of Kirkby-Stephen. A good bridge, of three arches, was erected here in 1819. The township has a tolerably level and fertile soil. The commons were all enclosed in 1810. Two large cattle and sheep FAIRS are held here annually, viz. On the Tuesday before Easter, and on the 30^th of August; the latter was established about 1797, and the other in 1825. The CHAPEL OF EASE was built in 1665 by Sir Philip Musgrave, lord of the manor, whose descendant, the Rev. Sir C.J. Musgrave, Bart., is the present lord of the manor, and patron of the curacy, which, by various augmentations, now possesses about 100 acres of land, worth upwards of £70 a year. The Rev. Jph. Brisco, of Crosby Ravensworth, is the incumbent, and the Rev. S. Hutchinson the officiating curate. John Wakefield, jun. Esq., is impropriator of the corn and hay tithes, which have been long let to the inhabitants on a 999 years’ lease, at an annual rent of £50. The school has been endowed since 1768, with various gifts, producing £3 4s. 2d. yearly.SOUTHWAITE, a hamlet in Mallerstang, 3 ½ miles S. of Kirkby-Stephen.WAITBY, a hamlet and township, with only nine houses, 1 ½ mile W. by S. of Kirkby-Stephen, said to have been anciently a market town, with a castle, chapel, and cemetery, no traces of which are now to be seen. The manor has been held by various families, and was purchased a few years ago of the executors of the late R. Monkhouse, Esq., by the Rev. John Adamthwaite, D.D. The tenants pay a small rent to the impropriator in lieu of tithes of corn and hay. Here is situated the FREE SCHOOL for Waitby and Smardale townships, erected in 1680, by Mr. James Highmore, who endowed it with £400, with which land was purchased at Cautleythwaite, near Sedburgh, now let for 45 guineas per annum, of which 5l. 4s. is given to the poor, and the rest to the schoolmaster.WHARTON, a township, with thirteen scattered houses, in the vale of Eden, 2 miles S. of Kirkby-Stephen. The Wharton family were seated here as early as the reign of Edward I. Sir Thomas Wharton was created a Baron by Henry VIII., after he had defeated the Scots on Solway Moss. Thomas, the fifth Lord Wharton, was active in bringing about the Revolution, and afterwards in opposing the Tory ministry in the reign of Queen Anne; for which services he was created Viscount Winchendon and Earl of Wharton, and last of all Marquis of Wharton. Philip, the second Marquis of Wharton, was only 17 years of age at his father’s death. "He was a person of unbounded genius, eloquence, and ambition: had all the address and activity of his father, but without his steadiness: violent in parties, and expensive in cultivating the arts of popularity: which, indeed, ought to be in some measure charged to his education under such a father, who it is said, expended £80,000 in elections – an immense sum in those days; by which the estate became incumbered, and the son was not a person of economy enough to disengage it." The young Marquis set out in the world a violent Whig, and for his extraordinary services both in and out of Parliament, was created Duke of Wharton. After that, he set up in opposition to the ministry, then became a Tory, then a Jacobite, then a rebel to his King and country, and accepted a commission in the King of Spain’s army against Gibraltar. He ended his life of dissipation and vice in a Bernardine convent, in Spain, where the charitable fathers hospitably sheltered this outcast of society, who, as Pope says, "wanted nothing but an honest heart." He died in the thirty-second year of his age, leaving no issue. In 1728, the manor of Wharton was sold to an ancestor of its present owner, the Earl of Lonsdale. The Hall, which was the splendid residence of the only Duke of the Wharton family, has long been in ruins, but a small part of it is now occupied by a farmer. It was a large quadrangular building, with four corner towers and a court in the centre. Its park, which was very large, was extended over the ancient village, which was destroyed, and the inhabitants driven to Wharton dikes, on the opposite side of the Eden.WINTON is a large and well-built village and township, 1 mile N. by E. of Kirkby-Stephen, distinguished as the birth place of Drs. Burn and Langhorne. The Earl of Thanet is lord of the manor, as a part of the seigniory of Brough; but several portions of it are held by inferior lords, amongst whom are the Earl of Lonsdale, J. Wakefield, Esq. and Edmund Saxton Gornal Munkhouse, Esq. Here is a Free School, which was erected by subscription in 1659, owing principally to the exertions and liberality of the Rev. William Morland, who was ejected by Cromwell’s commissioners from Greystock rectory. The school endowment amounts to £15 8s. yearly, of which £11 arises from land at Kaber, left in 1681 by Robert Waller; and the rest is the interest of £100, bequeathed in 1722, by Richard Munkhouse. The master takes no free scholars, but is limited to an average charge of 3s. 6d. per quarter for the education of boys and girls.