Appleby St Laurence, Westmorland Family History Guide

Appleby St Laurence is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Westmorland.

Alternative names: St Lawrence Appleby, Appleby St Lawrence, Appleby Proper

Other places in the parish include: Burralls, Borough Walls, Barwise, Scattergate, Row, Hoffe and Row, Hoffe, Hoff and Row, Drybeck, Colby, Burrels, Burrells, and Burrals.

The parish of St Lawrence is about three and a half miles in length and breadth; contains the townships of Appleby, Burrels, Colby, Drybeck, Hoff, and Scattergate; is bounded on the east by the parish of St Michael, on the south and southeast by the parishes of Asby and Ormside, on the west by Crosby Ravensworth and Morland parishes, and on the north by the latter and St Michael’s¹.

Parish church: St Lawrence

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1694
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1665

Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist and Wesleyan Methodist Association.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

Appleby

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

APPLEBY, a small town, two townships, two parishes, and a subdistrict in the district of East Ward, Westmoreland.

The town stands on the river Eden, and on the Eden Valley railway, 9½ miles ENE of Shap, and 13 SE of Penrith.

It consists of Appleby-proper, in the parish of Appleby-St. Lawrence, on the left bank of the river, and Old Appleby or Bongate, in the parish of Appleby-St. Michael, on the right bank.

It dates from the time of the Romans; and was long a place of similar importance to York. It gave name to a sheriffdom under Edward the Confessor; stood prominent at the Conquest; underwent surprise and demolition by William the Lion, king of Scotland; re-acquired speedily its former strength, and became the seat of a Court of Exchequer; suffered demolition again by the Scots in 1388; recovered but partially from the blow, and was desolated in 1598 by the plague; made a heroic resistance, under the direction of Anne, Countess of Pembroke, to the Parliamentarian army in 1648, but was constrained to yield.

It is supposed to have had a length or breadth of at least 2 miles; and the name Burrals, belonging to a township now 1¼ mile distant from it, is believed to be a corruption of Borough-walls.

The town was made a borough by Henry II.; and it sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward I. till disfranchized by the act of 1832. It is governed by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and sixteen burgesses; is a seat of petty-sessions, quarter sessions, and assizes; and is the place of nomination for the county members, one of the polling-places, and the head-quarters of the county militia. But its ancient glory is represented mainly by antiquities and historical associations, and has not been followed by modern prosperity.

Appleby-proper stands on a hill-slope, with the castle at its head, and the church of St. Lawrence at its foot; comprises one main street and three intersecting small ones; and is irregularly built, but contains some good houses.

The castle occupies the site of the Roman station Galacum; was built by the Saxons, and rebuilt, in the time of Henry VI., by Lord Clifford; and contains a portrait of the Countess Anne of Pembroke, many other family portraits, some valuable manuscripts, and some interesting old armour.

The church of St. Lawrence is an edifice in late English, chiefly rebuilt by the Countess Anne of Pembroke; and contains tombs of that lady, of her mother, the Countess of Cumberland, and of other Cliffords.

The county-hall, in the Main-street, is a large, ancient structure. The market house, built in 1811, after a design by Smirke, is a handsome Gothic edifice. Queen Elizabeth’s grammar school contained some curious ancient inscriptions, recording the misfortunes of the town, found here and put up by one of the masters, the friend of Camden, but which have been removed; and it possesses an endowed income of £216, with five exhibitions at Queen’s college, Oxford.

Countess Anne’s hospital, founded and endowed by the Countess Anne of Pembroke, is a quadrangular building for thirteen aged widows, and has an endowed income of £812. Other charities have £182. An ancient two-arched bridge spans the Eden, and connects the two sections of the town.

The county jail, in Bongate, is an irregular structure of 1771, with capacity for 35 male and 8 female prisoners.

The church of St. Michael, about ¾ of a mile SE of the town, is a neat edifice; and has tombs of the Hiltons of Murton. A monastery for white friars, founded in 1281 by Lord Vessey, stood in Bongate, and was given to an ancestor of the Earl of Lonsdale.

The town has a railway station, a post-office under Penrith, and a banking office. A weekly market is held on Saturday, and fairs on 17 Feb., Whitsunday Eve, Whit-Monday, the second Wednesday in June, the last Wednesday in July, and 21 Aug.

Thomas de Viteripont of the 13th century, Thomas de Appleby, bishop of Carlisle, Roger de Appleby, bishop of Ossory, Dr. Bambridge, archbishop of York, and Dr. Christopher Potter, dean of Durham, were natives; and Bedell, bishop of Kilmore, Barlow, bishop of Lincoln, Addison, dean of Lichfield, and Dr. Langhorne, the translator of Plutarch, were educated at the grammar school.

The township of Appleby is identical with Appleby proper. Acres, 48. Pop., 960. Houses, 178.

The township of Old-Appleby, or Bongate, includes the part of the town on the right side of the Eden, but also extends into the country. Acres, 3,261. Real property, £4,488. Pop., 654. Houses, 128.

The parish of Appleby-St. Lawrence comprises the townships of Appleby, Scattergate, Colby, Burrals, Hoffe and Row, and Drybeck. Acres, 5,350. Real property, £6,291. Pop., 1,569. Houses, 300. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £306. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle.

The parish of Appleby-St. Michael comprises the townships of Bongate, Cracken thorpe, Murton, and Hilton. Acres, 14,550. Real property, inclusive of Bampton, £10,226. Pop.,. 1,255. Houses, 242. This living also is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £175. Patron, the Bishop of Carlisle.

The p. curacy of St. John’s, Murton, is a separate incumbency.

There are, in the two parishes, several dissenting chapels.

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

Appleby St Lawrence Out Townships And Villages

BURRELS township has a village one mile and a half S by W of Appleby, on the Orton road, and the soil which is very fertile, contains an abundance of limestone. The Earl of Thanet is lord of the manor and owner of most of the land. The rateable value of this township is 561 10s1.

COLBY village stands on an eminence, about one mile and a quarter W by N of Appleby, and is a place of great antiquity. This township was held by a family of its own name, from the time of Henry II to the reign of Richard II.; and from 1402 till the Restoration, belonged to a family of the Warcops, who sold most of the tenements to freehold, and the rest have been since enfranchised, except a few tenements of the Bishop of Carlisle, who pay an annual rent of 3 6s 8d.

The Priory of Wetheral and the Abbey of St Mary, York had each a carucate of land here, the former given in 1086, by Ranulph de Meschiens, and the latter in the reign of Henry II., by one Emsand. The principal land owners are Mr R Bird, Miss Knipe, and Mrs Pattinson. Rateable value 887 12s1.

DRYBECK township has a small secluded village, three and a half miles SSW of Appleby, and forms a joint manor with Hoff, of which the Earl of Thanet is lord. The common lands in this manor were enclosed in 1823, when upwards of seventy acres were given to the lord, and the rest to the land owners. The largest owners of the soil are Rev WH Milner, and Mr George Steadman1.

HOFF is a small village two and a half miles SSW of Appleby. Its township includes Hoff Row, Nether Hoff, and Barwise Hall, the latter of which, though now occupied by a farmer, was anciently the seat of the distinguished family of Berewyse who settled here soon after the Norman conquest. In the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. it belonged to a family named Roos, the last of whom forfeited it by stealing a silver chalice out of the church. The hall and desmesne subsequently passed through various families, and is now the property of the Countess of Clarendon.

In 1256, Pope Alexander IV issued a mandate to the Bishop of Carlisle, to grant a license to Alan de Berewyse to erect a chapel upon his demesne, in consequence of its distance from the parish church, and the inundations which took place here in winter. The chapel was afterwards endowed with thirty seven acres of land.

At a place called Douglas-Ing, near Hoff Bridge, it is said a great battle was fought between the English and Scotch, in the reign of Richard II., and considerable quantities of human bones have been dug up near the old bridge stead at various periods. Nether Hoff is a large farm belonging to the Earl of Thanet, and distant one and half mile W by N of Appleby. Hoff Row is a small hamlet half a mile W by S of Hoff.

The family of Hall has been resident here upwards of 400 years, and is remarkable for longevity. John Hall died in 1716, aged 109 years; his son John died in 1794 aged 89; and his grandson in 1821 aged 101 years. Rateable value 650 16s1.

SCATTERGATE is mostly all in the borough, and contains the Castle of Appleby, already described. Robert Addison Esq is one of the principal land owners of this township, the rateable value of which is 1228 6s1.