Greystoke, Cumberland Family History Guide
Greystoke is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cumberland.
The parish contains also the townships of Little Blencow, Johnby, Motherby and Gill, Hutton Soil, Hutton John, Mungrisdale, Bowscale, Hutton Roof, and Berrier and Murrah, and the chapelries of Watermillock, Matterdale, and Threlkeld.
Alternative names: Greystock
Parish church: St. Andrew
Parish registers begin: 1559
Nonconformists include: Roman Catholic, United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and Wesleyan Methodist.
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Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
Greystoke
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870
GREYSTOKE, a village, a township, a parish, and a sub-district, in Penrith district, Cumberland. The village stands near the Blencow station of the Penrith and Cockermouth railway, 5 miles W by N of Penrith; was once a market town; and has a post office under Penrith.
The township includes the village, and comprises 4,538 acres. Real property, £2,957. Pop., 327. Houses, 77.
The parish contains also the townships of Little Blencow, Johnby, Motherby and Gill, Hutton Soil, Hutton John, Mungrisdale, Bowscale, Hutton Roof, and Berrier and Murrah, and the chapelries of Watermillock, Matterdale, and Threlkeld. Acres, 48,960; of which 1,020 are water. Real property, £20,581. Pop. in 1851, 3,056; in 1861, 2,885. Houses, 562. The surface extends southward to Ulleswater, and westward to the Skiddaw minntains; has much diversity of contour; and includes many picturesque spots of the Lake country. The property, in most parts, is much subdivided.
The manor belonged to the late Duke of Norfolk, and passed to Henry Howard, Esq. An ancient castle, within Greystoke park, adjacent to the NW side of the village, was built in 1353, by the Greystoke family; passed first to the Dacres, next to the Dukes of Norfolk; was garrisoned for Charles I. in 1648, and captured and dismantled by a parliamentarian force; and is now represented by only some ruined towers.
A mansion in lieu of it, and called Greystoke Castle, was built about the middle of the 17th century; stands on an eminence breaking abruptly down, on one side, to a headstream of the river Petterill; was originally more spacious than elegant, but has undergone great, recent, ornamental improvement; commands, from its windows, fine views of the Lake mountains; and contains many interesting pictures and objects of curiosity. The grounds connected with it comprise about 5,000 acres; are tastefully disposed; and include a well stocked deer park.
Coal, slate, and lime abound; and there is a lead mine, with silver. A Roman camp is at Redstone; and a Druidical circle is at Motherby.
The living is a rectory in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, not reported. Patron, H. W. Askew, Esq. The church is ancient and cruciform; has a tower and a fine E window; and was formerly collegiate.
The chapelries of Matterdale, Mungrisdale, Threlkeld, and Watermillock are separate benefices. Charities, £90.
The sub-district includes also three other parishes, and parts of two others. Acres, 67,536. Pop., 4,975. Houses, 993.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
GREYSTOCK (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 11 miles (W. by N.) from Penrith; comprising the townships of Berrier with Murrah, Little Blencow, Bowscale, Greystock, Hutton-John, Hutton-Roof, Hutton-Soil, Johnby, Matterdale, Motherby with Gill, Mungrisdale, Threlkeld, and Water-Millock; and containing 2786 inhabitants, of whom 364 are in the township of Greystock.
This place belonged soon after the Conquest to Lyolf, whose descendants assumed the name of the estate. Thomas de Greystock obtained from Henry III. the grant of a weekly market and an annual fair, both of which have been long since discontinued. During the war in the reign of Charles I., the ancient baronial castle was garrisoned for the king, but being besieged by a detachment of the army under General Lambert, surrendered, in 1648, and was soon afterwards demolished by order of the parliament: some of the ruined towers only are at present remaining, near the site of the modern castle, erected about the year 1670.
The parish comprises a tract of rich and fertile land, extending ten miles in length and eight in average breadth, and abounding in richly diversified scenery. The soil is generally a red loam, alternated with gravel, and the substratum abounds with coal and limestone; there are also some quarries of good slate.
The present castle, erected by the Hon. Charles Howard, and greatly improved by the late Duke of Norfolk, is a magnificent structure, containing several stately apartments, and a large collection of paintings; the grounds are beautifully laid out, and embellished with artificial waterfalls.
The village is situated near the source of the river Petterill, and the neighbourhood abounds with various kinds of game.
The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £40. 7. 8½.; patron, Adam Askew, Esq. The church was in 1382 made collegiate by Neville, Archbishop of York, for a prior and six canons, whose stalls are yet remaining, though their chantries have been demolished; it is a handsome structure in the decorated English style, and near the altar is a table-monument of alabaster, with effigies of two of the barons of Greystock, in armour, under highly-enriched canopies of alabaster.
There are chapels at Matterdale, Mungrisdale, Water-Millock, and Threlkeld.
In the parish are vestiges of a Roman intrenchment, called Redstone Camp, near which have been found urns, stone coffins, and human bones; leading from it in a direction towards Ambleside, are traces of an ancient road, and in the same tract lie three large cairns. In the vicinity of Motherby is a circle of stones, seventeen yards in diameter, within the area of which heaps of bones have been discovered.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Murrah
Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales Circa 1870
MURRAH, a hamlet in Greystoke parish, Cumberland; 1 mile NE of Mungrisdale.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Cumberland
- Civil Registration District: Penrith
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Carlisle (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Carlisle
- Rural Deanery: Allerdale
- Poor Law Union: Penrith
- Hundred: Leath Ward
- Province: York