Alston, Cumberland Family History Guide
Alston is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Cumberland.
Alternative names: Aldstone, Aldeneston, Alston with Garrigill, or Alston-Moor.
Other places in the parish include: Garrgill and Garrigill.
Parish church: Alston – St Augustine of Canterbury; Garrgill – St John the Evangelist
Parish registers begin: 1700; Separate registers exist for Garrigill: 1699
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Protestant Dissenters, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Middleton in Teesdale, Durham
- Nenthead
- Addingham
- Kirkland
- Ousby
- Renwick
- Allendale, Northumberland
- Whitfield, Northumberland
- Dufton, Westmorland
- Kirkoswald
- Melmerby
- Milburn, Westmorland
- Knaresdale, Northumberland
- Kirkhaugh, Northumberland
- Croglin
- Heatherycleugh, Durham
Parish History
Alston
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ALSTON, a town, a parish, a subdistrict, and a district, in Cumberland. The parish is also designated Alston Moor. The town stands on the South Tyne river, a little W of Middlefell, not far from the boundaries with Northumberland, Durham, and Westmoreland, at the terminus of a branch railway of 13 miles from the Haltwhistle station of the Carlisle and Newcastle railway, 26 miles by road and 35 by railway, ESE of Carlisle.
Its site is a declivity, near the influx of the Nent to the South Tyne, amid a region of high, moorish uplands; and its appearance is relieved and beautified by the vales of the streams and by the neighbourhood of woods. Its houses are irregular, but consist chiefly of stone.
The chief public buildings are a new town hall, the parish church, several dissenting chapels, a grammar school, a workhouse, and a stone bridge. The chief employments are connected with a woollen factory and an extensive mineral traffic. A weekly market is held on Saturday; and fairs on the third Saturday of March, the last Thursday of May, 27 Sept., and the first Thursday of Nov. The town has a post-office under Carlisle, a telegraph station, a banking office, and two hotels; and it is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place.
The parish includes also the chapelries of Garrigill and Nenthead. Acres, 35,060. Real property, £12,573, of which £4,243 are in mines. Pop., 6,404. Houses, 1,282. Much of the property belonged to the Earls of Derwentwater; and, after the attainder and execution of the last earl, was given to Greenwich hospital. The land is chiefly moor and mountain, either utterly sterile or grazed by sheep; but the rocks abound with rich ores; and the hills in some parts are pierced with spar caves.
Lead mines began to be worked in the time of Henry III.; they became greatly extended about 1688; they increased to 119 in 1768, with an annual produce of about 167,544 cwt.; and they then began to decrease, but still amounted to 102 in 1814, with an annual produce of about 91,968 cwt. an aqueduct level, 5 miles in length, called Nent Force, was cut from the Nenthead mines to the town for carrying off the water.
The lead ore generally contains so much silver as to yield from 8 to 10 ounces per ton; and that of Yadmoss mine, opened in 1828, has yielded 96 ounces per ton. Copper ore has been found in the same mines as the lead. Some of the caves in the hills make both a beautiful and an opulent display of minerals; and one, called Tutman’s Hole, has been explored to the extent of a mile from the entrance. Traces of the Roman Maiden-way are seen about a mile W of the town; and remains of Whitley castle, consisting of earthworks, substructions, and a moat, occur on Hall-Hill.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham; and includes the curacy of Garrigill. Value, £210. Patron, Greenwich hospital. The chapelry of Nenthead is a separate benefice. The grammar school in the town has £40 a year from endowment; and other charities have £65.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851
Aldstone, or Alston-Moor, a parish in Leath ward, Cumberland. It is situated near the borders of Northumberland, and consists of a narrow valley surrounded by high lands, and inclosed on the west by the Cross, Hartside, and Thackmoor fells. Distance from London, 272 miles; from Brampton, 20, south-south-east.
Living, a discharged vicarage in connection with the chapelry of Garragill, in the archd. of Northumberland and dio. of Durham; rated at £7 13s., and in the parliamentary returns at £119; gross income £139. Patrons, in 1835, the commissioners of Greenwich hospital. The church was rebuilt in 1770. The chapel-of-ease is situated at Garragill. The whole tithes of this parish, belonging to the commissioners and governors of Greenwich hospital, were commuted in 1803. The relief of the poor in Aldstone and Garragill, comprehending a district of 55 square miles, is managed by a board of guardians.
This parish is about 1,000 feet above sea-level, and remarkably sterile; but the mineral productions are rich and abundant, being of greater importance than any others in Cumberland. The mines are believed to have been first worked by the crown in the reign of Henry III. Their importance, however, does not appear to have been fully ascertained till about 1688, when they were in the possession of the earl of Derwentwater. In 1768, there were no less than 119 lead-mines in the parish, the average produce of which was 167,544 cwt. yearly, valued at £70,000. In 1814 there were still about 102 mines, producing yearly, 91,968 cwt.
The ore contains much silver, generally yielding from eight to ten ounces per ton; and from that brought from Yadmoss mine, opened in 1828, not less than 96 ounces per ton are extracted. The present average value of the lead is 20s. per cwt. In the same mines copper has been found. For removing the water from the principal mine, a grand aqueduct level has been cut, called Nent Force. By means of this — which is 5 miles in length from the town to the shaft of the mine — a horizontal approach to the mine is obtained.
There is one woollen mill in this parish, which, in 1838, employed 23 hands.
In the hills there are extensive caverns, one of which, called Tutman’s hole, has been explored to the distance of a mile from the entrance; others, such as that of Dunfell — which is within the limits of Westmoreland — are dangerous, from the number and intricacy of the chambers and passages. These are adorned with spar and pyrites in various forms, and afford many beautiful specimens of minerals.
Of the Roman road, called the Maiden way, traces are distinctly visible crossing this parish, about 1 mile west of the township of Aldstone; and about 3 from the town, on Hall-hill, a little below the bridge over the Tyne, are the remains of Whitley-castle, consisting of earth-works and foundation, surrounded by a moat.
Pop., in 1821, 5,699, of which 1,288 were in the chapelry of Garragill, and the remainder in the township of Aldstone; in 1831, 6,858. Houses 1,285. Acres 35,060. A. P. £25,590. Poor rates, in 1837, £1,684.
The township of Aldstone, in the above parish, stands on a declivity near the confluence of the rivers Nent and South Tyne; 29 miles east-south-east of Carlisle. The houses are irregularly built, chiefly of stone, and roofed with slate; a supply of water is brought in pipes from a spring at the distance of half-a-mile.
Besides the parish-church, there are places of worship belonging to the Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Society of Friends. The first Independent church was formed in 1754; the second in 1804; the Wesleyan Methodist church in 1800.
There is a grammar-school endowed with £26 per annum, erected in 1828 by subscription; a Lancasterian school for 200 children has recently been instituted. The yearly revenue of other charities connected with this parish is £70 12s. There is a subscription-library, which was founded in 1821. The Newcastle Union Bank have a branch here. The market-day is Saturday; and fairs are held on the last Thursday in May, the Friday before September 27th, and the first Thursday in November for cattle, horses, linen and woollen cloth. There are also races on Easter Monday and Tuesday.
The town is within the jurisdiction of the county-magistrates, who hold petty-sessions every month at the Swan inn. Courts leet and baron are also held in the months after Easter and Michaelmas. The inhabitants are chiefly miners; but the town contains also manufactories of shot, sewing thread and flannel, besides a large brewery. Pop., in 1801, 3.626; in 1831, 5,244. Houses 1,006. The neighbourhood is the most picturesque and romantic part of Cumberland.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.
Magna Britannia 1816
ALDSTONE or ALSTON, commonly called Alston-moor, is a small market town in Leath ward, on the confines of Northumberland, 20 miles from Penrith, and 304 from London. The market, which is held on Saturdays, chiefly for butchers meat, oatmeal, and potatoes, is by prescription.
There are three fairs; on the last Thursday in May, the Friday preceding the 27th of September, and the first Thursday in November. The first mentioned is for black cattle, horses, and pigs; the second for black cattle, horses, and sheep; the third for black cattle and horses only.
The manor of Aldstone, then called Aldeneston, was restored in 1281 to Nicholas de Veteriponte or Vipont: it seems to have been originally granted to this family in the reign of King John. The only daughter and heir of another Nicholas, brought the lordship of Aldstone to Walter Stapleton, who died in 1457, leaving two daughters, the elder of whom married Sir William Hilton, and afterwards Richard Musgrave. The posterity of her first husband inherited this manor, which they possessed till the reign of James I. when it was conveyed to the Radcliffes. Upon the attainder of Francis Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, in 1715, it fell to the crown, and was soon afterwards settled by act of parliament on Greenwich Hospital.
The valuable lead-mines in this parish have been elsewhere spoken of. The number of workmen employed in the mines, occasions the parish to be very populous. The returns under the population act in 1811, state the number of houses at 461, occupied by 1013 families, and containing 5079 inhabitants.
The church of Aldstone was appropriated to the monastery of Hexham, to whom it had been given by the Vipont family. It had been claimed in the reign of Edward I. by that monastery, as given to them by Ivo de Veteriponte, and confirmed by King Henry III. but the claim was disallowed, and the church said to be in the crown. It is probable that they soon afterwards obtained a grant or confirmation of it. After the reformation, the rectory and advowson, as having been parcel of the possessions of that monastery, were granted to Sir John Peryent and Thomas Reve, Gentleman. There appears to have been a subsequent grant to Arthur Lee and Thomas Archer; who having conveyed a third portion to Sir Thomas Hilton, the estate was for a long time thus divided. The trustees of Greenwich Hospital are now possessed of the whole of the impropriation and patronage, having purchased a third of the advowson of the present vicar, on condition and consideration that they would build him a good new vicarage-house, which condition they have performed.
The parish of Aldstone is in the diocese of Durham and deanery of Corbridge. There is a chapel of ease at Garragill, called in old records Gerardegill, at which service is performed every third Sunday.
The original endowment of the charity school at Aldstone, was the sum of 106l. 5s. which having been laid out in the purchase of land, now produces about 27l. per annum: nothing further is known relative to the foundation. The sum above mentioned was probably raised by a contribution of the inhabitants. The commons in this parish, and the hamlet of Garragill, (except those in Priorsdale and Gildersdale,) have been inclosed under an act of parliament, passed in 1803, by which allotments of land were given in lieu of tithes to the impropriators.
Source: Magna Britannia Volume 4, Cumberland. Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons published by T Cadell and W Davies, London, 1816
Crosby’s Complete Pocket Gazetteer of England and Wales 1815
Aldstone Moor, (Cumb.) a market-town, and the most eastern in the county, situate on the declivity of a steep hill near the river Tyne, over which there is an ancient narrow stone bridge of one arch.
The town consists of a number of small houses built of stone, and covered with slate: with few exceptions their general appearance is mean. The church is a neat modern building, beside which there are 5 meeting-houses for Methodists, Quakers, and Independents. This town has a free-school, endowed with 20l. per ann. beside two Sunday schools, and a recently built school house for 200 children, to be educated on the Lancastrian plan. There is a cross post from Penrith 3 times a week, and another from Newcastle and Hexham every Saturday.
The parish is very extensive, and the inhabitants are computed at between 5 and 6000. The surrounding country is bleak and desolate, and the vegetable productions are very inadequate to the consumption; but these disadvantages are compensated by the numerous mines of lead, which give employment to about 1100 miners, and are supposed to yield an annual profit of from 16,000l. to 20,000l. The parish itself is very small, but on account of the lead mines very populous: the number of its inhabitants is 5,079.
The lands are part of the earl of Derwent water’s forfeited estates, and are held on a lease, granted for 1000 yrs. under the governors of Greenwich Hospital.
Market Days and Fairs. The market is held on Sat, Fairs, last Thurs. in May, and first Thurs. in Sept. Principal Inns. Golden Lion, Three Crowns, and Crown. Aldston Moor is distant from London 302½ miles. On the right is a turnpike road to Walsingham.
Source: Crosby’s Complete Pocket Gazetteer of England and Wales 1815; Baldwin, Cradock & Joy.
Garrigill
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
GARRIGILL, a chapelry in Alston parish, Cumberland; under Middlefell and Hartsidefell, near the sources of the South Tyne, and near the boundaries with Northumberland, Durham, and Westmoreland, 3 miles SE of Alston town and r. station. It has a post office under Carlisle. Rated property, £2, 655. Pop., 1, 447. Houses, 284. The property is much subdivided.
The surface, to a large extent, is upland and moorish. Extensive lead mines are here; and copper mines were formerly worked. Fairs are held on the third Friday of May and the last Friday of September.
The living is a p. curacy, annexed to the vicarage of Alston, in the diocese of Durham. The church is pretty good; and there are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Registers
The following are available from FreeReg.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Cumberland Historical Directories
Directory Transcriptions
Kelly’s Directory of the Leather Trades 1880
ALSTON
Market day Saturday
Boot & Shoe Makers & Dealers
Carr James
Kirtan John
Knott Thomas
Laidlow Thomas
Walton William
Clog & Patten Makers
Knott Dalton
Knott Thomas
Walton William
Saddlers & Harness Makers
Craig Joseph
Hall Harrison
GARRIGILL
Boot & Shoe Maker
Pearson Joseph
Clog & Patten Maker
Holmes Isaac
Pigot and Co.’s National Commercial Directory 1828-9
ALSTONE & NEIGHBOURHOOD
ALSTONE MOOR is a parish, containing an inconsiderable market town, in the ward of Leath, 14 miles from Kirkoswald and 29 from Penrith. This is the most eastern town in the county, and is situated on the declivity of a steep hill, near the river Tyne, over which is an ancient and narrow stone bridge.
The houses forming the town are chiefly built of stone and roofed with slate. In the vicinity are some productive lead mines, which, prior to the rebellion in 1715, belonged to James, Earl of Derwentwater; on the attainder of that nobleman, became the property of the crown, and were by his late majesty granted in aid of the revenues of Greenwich hospital.
These mines afford employment to many hundred miners, by whom, and by persons connected with the business, the country is chiefly inhabited, and to which the town is principally indebted, for the trade it enjoys.
The country round here, and especially for many miles on the road to Kirkoswald, is bleak and desolate, and the produce of the soil insufficient for the supply of the population.
Here is a church and a national school. The weekly market, which is on Saturday, is chiefly supplied with provisions from the borders of Northumberland.
Fairs are the last Thursday in May and first Thursday in September, for horses, cattle, and linen and woollen cloths.
GARRIGILL, a chapelry in this parish, contains about 1,300 inhabitants & Alstone parish about 4,400.
POST OFFICE, Alstone, John Drydon, Post Master – Letters for all parts are sent from here to PENRITH, every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, at four in the morning, and arrive the same days at three in the afternoon.
GENTRY AND CLERGY
Atkinson Thos gent. Hermitage
Dickinson John esq. Low Byer
Dickinson Thos gent. Spencer croft
Elliot Robert gentleman
Harper Rev Jonathan, Alstone
Hodgson Mrs Mary, Alstone
Jackson Rev Benjamin Vicarage
Little Mrs Sarah, Raise
Teasdale James gent, Town head
Walton Jonathan gentleman
Walton Mrs Tamer, Raise
PROFESSIONAL PERSONS
Bainbridge Robt & Wm attorneys
Bainbridge Robert attorney for Greenwich hospital & clerk to the Alstone roads
Routledge Edward surgeon
AUCTIONEERS
Cairns Ralph
Horseley Watson
Woodmass Jonathan
BLACKSMITHS
Archer John
Bulman William
Leighton Thomas
Little John
Pattinson Alexander
Saffield Walton
BOOKSELLERS STATIONERS AND PRINTERS
Pattinson John and binder
Tait Jas and circulating library
BOOT & SHOE MAKERS
Burn Robert
Burn Thomas
Jones John
Jones Thomas L
Kirkley Jonathan and clogger
Laidler Henry
Martin Launcelot
Ramsay John
Slack Thomas
Watson Joseph
BUTCHERS
Bailes Caleb
Dickinson John
English Abraham
Horn Thomas
Lee John
Moor John
Pickering Hugh Gairigill
Stephenson John
Walton John
Watson Jacob Garrigill
White Samuel
CARTWRIGHTS
Moffet John and joiner
Walton Robert
CLOG AND PATTEN MAKERS
Dawson John
Dawson Whitfield & shopkeeper
Jackson Joseph
Lee Thomas and shopkeeper
Wallis George
DRESS MAKERS
Cooper Elizth & straw hat maker
Ferguson Ann
Walton Elizth & straw hat maker
DRUGGISTS &C
Guy Wm & grocer & distributor of stamps
Thompson John & grocer tea dealer and dealer in cut glass
Walton Thomas and grocer
INNS
Crown (commercial and posting house) Joseph Bland
Low Byer (and posting house) Matthew Hetherington
IRONMONGER
Drydon Jno & patent shot manufr
JOINERS & CABINET MAKRS
Halden William
Pattinson Thomas
Tinling Thomas
Walton William
LINEN & WOOLLEN DRAPERS
Marked thus * are Grocers & Provision Dealers also
Armstrong Hugh (and hatter)
Armstrong William *
Armstrong William
Bell Hannah
Cooper John
Dickinson Matthew and dealer in worsted yarn
Hedley Thomas *
Hilton James (yarn, worsted & hats)
Kirk George and tea dealer
Milburn Thomas
Pattinson Ann
Ramsay Jane and yarn & worsted dealer
Ramsay Joseph
Richardson Hannah
Roddam John
Simpson William
Stephenson Teasdale & tea dealer
Wallis George & ironmonger
Walton Joseph
Whitfield Thomas
Wilson Jacob
MILLERS
Hetherington and Peart
Vipond Utrick
MINERALS – DEALBRS IN
Burrows –
Cowper John
Pattinson John
Robinson Jonathan & shopkeeper
PAINTERS & GLAZIERS
Madgin Thomas
Potts Richard and shopkeeper
SADDLERS
Benith Joseph and Jacob
Vipond Thomas
Walton Anthony
SHOPKEEPERS & DEALERS IN SUNDRIES
Davidson Thomas
Dickinson James
Dodd John
Eddy Margaret
Haldon Thomas
Hetherington Margaret
Hilton Hannah
Lee John
Lee Thomas
Nattrass Thomas
Peart Cuthbert
Robson Isabella
Scott James
Smith Isabella
Smith Joseph
Walton Jonathan
TAILORS
Bland Joseph and draper
Gill John and shopkeeper
Harl Robert
Horsley Robert
TAVERNS & PUBLIC HOUSES
Angel Inn Sarah Pattinson
Black Bali Joseph Walton
Bull & Gate Thos Emmerson
Church Gates John Spark
Cross Keys John Pattinson
Dun Cow James Armstrong
Globe Ann Readshaw
Golden Lion William Dodd
Greyhound Joseph Brown
King’s Arms Edward Coats
Miners Arms John Fulton
Old Dun Cow Thomas Burn
Old King’s Arms Anthony Walton
Royal Oak John Beaty
Sun Launcelot Hall
Swan John Lee
Town Head Tavern John Haldon
Turk’s Head William Errington
White Hart Thomas Ramsay
TEA DEALERS &C
Robinson Hugh
Spotswood John
Watson John
WATCH & CLOCK MAKERS
Bayne William
Cairns Ralph
Greenwell George
WINE & SPIRIT MERCHANTS
Dickinson Joseph
Walton Anthony
Walton John
Miscellaneous
Atkin William woollen spinner & manufacturer
Bentley Thos linen manufacturer
Blackett Christopher & Co brewers
Boucock Wm rope maker
Dickinson Joseph & Thomas & Co tallow chandlers
Guy Wm master of grammar school
Hebson Wm brazier & tinman
Laidler Jas master of national school
Seatry Thomas china glass and earthenware dealer
Walton Robert furniture broker
CARRIERS
TO BRAMPTON Robt Greaves every Thursday and Satarday from the Dun Cow
To CARLISLE John Bell thro Kirkoswald every Tuesday and Saturday evening from the White Hart and Thos Graham every Monday and Thursday from the Cross Keys
TO NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Edward Coats through Hexham and Corbridge every Monday from the King’s Arms and William Errington every Monday and Thursday from the Turk’s Head
TO PENRITH Joseph Brown every Monday and Thursday afternoons from the Greyhound
Source: Pigot and co.’s national commercial directory for 1828-9, comprising a directory of the merchants, bankers, professional gentleman [&c.] in the counties of Cheshire, Cumberland [&c.]. By Pigot James and co · 1828
Administration
- County: Cumberland
- Civil Registration District: Alston
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Durham (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Durham
- Rural Deanery: Hexham
- Poor Law Union: Alston with Garrigill
- Hundred: Leath Ward
- Province: York