Ainstable, Cumberland Family History Guide
Ainstable is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cumberland.
Other places in the parish include: Ainstaple, Armathwaite, High Ainstable, Low Ainstable, and Ruckroft.
Parish church: St. Michael
Parish registers begin: 1679
Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist
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Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
AINSTABLE, a parish in Penrith district, Cumberland; between the Croglin and the Eden rivers, 7 miles E of Southwaite r. station, and 11 N by E of Penrith.
It is divided into the High and Low quarters, and includes the village of Ruckcroft. Post town, Kirkoswald under Penrith. Acres, 4,178. Real property, £3,957. Pop., 543. Houses, 113. The property is subdivided.
A Benedictine nunnery was founded here by William Rufus; and its site, on high ground, is now marked by a stone pillar. Nunnery, a mansion taking name from it, stands on lower adjacent ground, amid scenery which is highly picturesque, and has been sung by Wordsworth.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £225. Patrons, the representatives of Mrs. Aglionby. The church was built from the Plumpton Walls; contains a tomb of John de Deutorem; and is in tolerable condition. Charities, £15.
Dr. John Leake, the founder of the Westminster lying-in-hospital, was a native.
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
Ainstable, a parish in Leath ward, union of Penrith, Cumberland; 11 miles north-east of Penrith, and about 4 east of the post-road from Carlisle to Penrith.
Living, a discharged vicarage in the archd. and dio. of Carlisle; rated at £8 8s. 2½d., and in the parliamentary return at £127 1s.; gross income £225. Vicarial tithes commuted in 1818. Patron, in 1835, R. L. Ross, Esq.
There is a small endowed school at Ainstable. The endowment consists of a piece of land, let, in 1820, at £7 10s., and the interest of £15. Dr John Leake, founder of the Westminster lying-in-hospital, was a native of this parish. There is also a subscription-school here.
The pop., including that of the hamlet of Rushcroft, in 1801, was 444; in 1831,569. Houses 117. Acres 4,119. A. P. £3,668. Poor rates, in 1837, £160. There was formerly in this parish a convent of Benedictine nuns, at a place called Armathwaite, now Nunnery. It was founded by William Rufus. The grounds around it are celebrated for their picturesque scenery.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
AINSTABLE, with Ruckroft (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 4½ miles (N. N. W.) from Kirkoswald, and 10 miles (N. by E.) from Penrith; comprising 4177a. 18p., and containing 501 inhabitants.
This parish, which is bounded on the west by the river Eden, and on the east and south by the Croglin, abounds with beautiful scenery, particularly in the vale of Croglin, and in the vicinity of Nunnery, the seat of Major Aglionby, who has erected a spacious and elegant mansion on the site of a Benedictine convent founded here by William II., the revenue of which at the Dissolution was £18. 18. 8.
The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £8. 8. 2.; net income, £225; patron and impropriator, Major Aglionby. The vicarial tithes and all moduses were commuted for land under an inclosure act in 1818. The nave of the church was rebuilt in 1816, and the chancel soon afterwards. Near the parsonage-house is a chalybeate spring.
John Leake, M.D., founder of the Westminster Lying-in Hospital, and author of some esteemed medical works, was born here, in 1729.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Magna Britannia 1816
AINSTABLE, in Leath ward, lies twelve miles from Penrith. The manor of Ainstaple was given by Hubert de Vallibus, or Vaux, lord of the barony of Gilsland, to his kinsman, Eustace de Vaux: the heiress of this branch brought it to the Burdons, and the heiress of Burdon to the Dentons, who sold it to William Lord Dacre. Having since descended with the barony of Gilsland, it is now the property of Frederick Earl of Carlisle.
In this parish, at a place formerly called Armathwaite, now Nunnery, was a convent of Benedictine nuns, founded by King William Rufus, in the second year of his reign. King Edward III. remitted to the prioress and nuns their yearly rent of 10l. in consideration of the losses they had suffered by the war with Scotland. In the reign of Edward IV. the monastery was almost destroyed by Scottish invaders, who took away their jewels, reliques, books, evidences, &c.; the King, in consequence, granted them a confirmation of all their possessions.
At the time of the dissolution, there were only three nuns in this house, besides the prioress. King Edward VI. granted the priory of Armathwaite, with the manor and various lands thereto belonging, to William Greyme, alias Carleil, Gentleman. This was William Greyme, or Graham, of Rosetrees and Netherby, in the parish of Arthuret, who settled the priory estate on his younger son, Fergus. The site of the priory having acquired the name of Nunnery, continued to be the seat of this branch of the Grahams till about the year 1690, when George Graham, Esq. sold it to Sir John Lowther, Bart.; Sir John exchanged it with John Aglionby, Esq. for Drumburgh castle: it is now the property and residence of Mrs. Eliz. Bamber, widow, elder sister of the late Christopher Aglionby, Esq. the last heir male of that ancient family, who died in 1785. The pleasure grounds, which are laid out on the banks of the little river Croglin, exhibit a great variety of picturesque scenery. Nunnery is much resorted to by strangers, but the grounds are allowed to be shewn only on Fridays.
Crossfield house, built by Henry Aglionby, Esq. who died in 1759, is at present untenanted.
The church, which lies in the diocese of Carlisle, and deanery of Allerdale, was appropriated to the nunnery. The rectory and advowson of the vicarage, were granted by King Edward VI. to Sir John Peryent and Thomas Reve, Gentleman. In 1688 the advowson of the vicarage was in the coheirs of Mr. Leonard Barrow. Mr. George Lowthian of Staffold, who had married one of the coheiresses, became by purchase possessed of the whole of the tithes, which now, together with the advowson, belong to his representative, Richard Lowthian Ross, Esq.
There is a small school at Ainstable, endowed with land now let at 7l. 10s. and the interest of 15l.
This parish was the birth-place of Dr. John Leake, a physician of considerable reputation, author of several practical treatises on midwifery, &c. and founder of the Westminster Lying-in-hospital. Dr. Leake was born the 8th of June 1729, being son of the Rev. William Leake, who was then curate of Ainstable; he died in 1792.
Source: Magna Britannia Volume 4, Cumberland. Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons published by T Cadell and W Davies, London, 1816
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