Lanercost with Kirkcambeck, Cumberland Family History Guide

Updated onOctober 17, 2024

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Lanercost with Kirkcambeck is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cumberland.

Other places in the parish include: Constablewick of Banks, Rosehill, Kirkcambeck, Kingwater, Gilsland, Waterhead, Burtholme, Birdoswald, Banks, Askerton, and Amboglannal.

Alternative names: Abbey Lanercost, Lanercost, Lanercost-Abbey

Parish church: St. Mary Magdalene

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1684
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1666

Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

LANERCOST, a parish in Brampton district, Cumberland; on the rivers Irthing and Kingwater, the Roman wall, and the Lancaster and Carlisle railway, near Milton, Low Row, and Rosehill r. stations, 2½ miles NE of Brampton.

It comprises the townships of Askerton, Burtholme, Kingwater, and Waterhead; and it has a post-office under Carlisle; but the post-town for great part of it is Brampton, under Carlisle. Acres, 36,510. Real property, £12,174. Pop. in 1851,1,644; in 1861,1,519. Houses, 273. The property is much subdivided. The manor and much of the land belong to the Earl of Carlisle. About two-thirds of the surface are pasture. Much of the scenery is very beautiful.

An Augustinian priory was founded here, in 1169, by Robert de Vallibus, Lord of Gilsland; was visited by Edward I. in 1289; suffered devastation by the Scots in 1296; was visited by Edward I. again in 1299 and 1306; gave lodging to Robert Bruce in 1311; was pillaged by David in 1346; and was given, at the dissolution, to Thomas, Lord Dacre.

The church of the priory was built mainly with stones from the Roman wall; continues to exist as a very fine architectural antiquity; and stands over crypts, containing some Roman relics. The nave is the only portion in a state of repair; was recently renovated; is used as the parish church; comprises eight bays; has, in the W front, a Norman door of three orders; and has a clerestory of eight round-headed lancets. The transept is 96 feet long; has two bays in each wing; and contains monuments of the Dacres and the Howards. The choir is 78 feet long; and has two tiers of lancets at the E end, and two windows on each side. The tower is low and battlemented; and has, at the NW angle, a bell-cot.

There are also a Roman entrance-gate, and several remains of the monastic buildings; and all these, like the church, were built mainly with stones from the Roman wall. That wall itself, in its course through the parish, from Rosehill westward to the church, has left some interesting features, including remains of a station at Birdoswald, and reaches of its own masonry 7½ feet thick and in comparatively good preservation.

The station at Birdoswald was Amboglanna; was occupied by the first cohort of the Dacians; comprised an area of 5½ acres; has yielded a very large number of inscriptions; retains walls 5 feet thick, eight courses in height, and still tolerably sound; has interesting remains of gateways, particularly of a very noble double one; and is marked, throughout the interior, with the lines of streets and the ruins of buildings. Another station probably was near the church.

The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £178. Patron, the Earl of Carlisle. The p. curacy of Gilsland is a separate benefice.

There are a dissenting chapel and four parochial school.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

LANERCOST-ABBEY (St. Mary Magdalene), a parish, in the union of Brampton, Eskdale ward, E. division of Cumberland, 2½ miles (N. E.) from Brampton; containing, with the townships of Askerton, Burtholme, Kingwater, and Waterhead, 1582 inhabitants.

This place is identified as the site of the Roman station Amboglana, where was posted the Cohors Prima Ælia Dacorum, and of which considerable vestiges remain. The area occupies an extensive plain, with a precipitous descent to the river Irthing, and is 120 yards from north to south, and 80 from east to west. Several votive altars have been found, dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and other Roman deities; a fragment of the great Roman wall is yet standing at Harehill, about five yards in length, and ten feet high; and there are numerous other indications of Roman occupation.

The abbey of Lanercost was founded in 1169, by Robert de Vallibus, Lord of Gillesland, for a prior and monks of the order of St. Augustine, and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. It was frequently visited by Edward I.; and was partly destroyed by fire in 1296, but was restored, and continued to flourish till the Dissolution, when its revenue was estimated at £79. 19., and the site was granted to Thomas, Lord Dacre, a descendant of the founder.

In 1716 the priory estate reverted to the crown, under which it is now held on lease by the Earl of Carlisle. The remains, which are beautifully situated on the north bank of the river, consist of the conventual church, which has been appropriated as the church of the parish, part of the cloisters, and refectory, and other buildings. In 1311, Robert Bruce lay with his army encamped here for three days.

The parish is bounded on the east and south by the Irthing, and intersected by the Kingwater and several smaller streams; it comprises by computation 30,000 acres, of which about two-thirds are pasture, and the remainder arable and woodland. Its surface is pleasingly varied, and in many parts highly picturesque. The soil in the lower lands is a rich loam, alternated with; sand, and the steep banks that inclose the vales of Kingwater and Irthing produce fine crops of grain; the substratum abounds with limestone.

The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £107; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Carlisle. The tithes were commuted for land in 1802. The church is principally in the early English style, with Norman portions, of which the western doorway is a highly-enriched specimen. In the transepts, which are covered with a profusion of ivy and other plants, are several tombs of the Howards and Dacres, much disfigured by exposure to the air; and in part of the ancient cemetery, which has been converted into gardens, are numerous monuments, and stone coffins scattered among the trees. The roof of the church fell in, September 1847.

Within the parish, and about seven miles from Lanercost, is Gilsland Spa, of which a description is given under Gilsland.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848