Armathwaite Cumberland Family History Guide
Armathwaite is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Cumberland, created in 1745 from Hesket in the Forest Ancient Parish.
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1758
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1775
Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ARMATHWAITE, a village, a castle, and a chapelry in Hesket-in-the-Forest parish, Cumberland. The village stands on the river Eden, 4 miles E of Southwaite r. station, and 10 N of Penrith. It has a post office under Carlisle; and it was the site of a small Benedictine nunnery, built and endowed by King William Rufus. The castle stands adjacent; is a plain, modernized, ancient tower; was the seat of the satirical poet Skelton, noted for his attack on Wolsey, “Why come ye not to Court;” and is now the property of the Earl of Lonsdale.
The surrounding scenery on the Eden is picturesque; and includes a long wooded walk, a grand projecting crag, a cataract in the stream, and a lake-like expanse above, with the massive background of the Cooms and the Baron Wood. The chapelry is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £90. Patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. The church is plain but picturesque.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
ARMATHWAITE, a chapelry, in the parish of Hesket-in-the-Forest, union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 5 miles (N. W.) from KirkOswald. The village is beautifully situated on the western bank of the Eden, over which is a good stone bridge of four arches. Armathwaite Castle, a handsome modern edifice, built on the site of an ancient fortress, occupies a rocky elevation, at the foot of which flows the Eden; in the reign of Henry VIII. it was, with the estate, the property of John Skelton, the poet-laureat. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £50; patrons, the Trustees of Mr. Milbourne, in whom also the impropriation is vested. The chapel was rebuilt by Richard Skelton in 1668, having for some time previously been used as a shed for cattle.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Cumberland
- Civil Registration District: Penrith
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Carlisle (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Carlisle
- Rural Deanery: Carlisle
- Poor Law Union: Penrith
- Hundred: Leath Ward
- Province: York