Ravenstonedale Westmorland Family History Guide

Ravenstonedale is an Ancient Parish in the county of Westmorland.

Other places in the parish include: Fellend, Bowderdale, Angles, and Newbiggen.

Alternative names: Ravenstone-Dale

Parish church: St. Oswald

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1571
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1667

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational, Presbyterian, Primitive Methodist, Protestant Dissenters, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Ravenstonedale Parish Registers

The Ravenstonedale Parish Registers. Volume 1, 1571 to 1710. Transcribed and Edited by The Rev. R. W. Metcalfe, M.A., Vicar of Ravenstonedale. Published Kendal: T. Wilson, Printer, 28 Highgate. 1893. – This book is a free download from Parishmouse

Parish History

Ravenstonedale

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

RAVENSTONEDALE, a village and a parish in East Ward district, Westmoreland. The village stands on ahead stream of the river Eden, 1¾ mile S E of Newbiggen r. station, and 4¾ S W of Kirkby-Stephen; and has a post-office under Penrith, a weekly market on Thursday, and fairs on the Thursday after Whitsunday, the Wednesday before the second Thursday of March, the Wednesday before the second Sunday of April, and 29 Aug.

The parish is divided into the quarters of Town, Newbiggen, Fellend, and Bowderdale. Acres, 18, 450. Real property, £7, 371. Pop. in 1851, 939; in 1861, 1, 264. Houses, 247. The increase of pop. Arose from the temporary presence of labourers on railway works. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to Watton nunnery, and passed to the Whartons and the Lowthers. The surface includes much mountain, called R. fells; and contains sources of the rivers Eden and Lune. Tumuli are at Rasate; a Druidical circle, near Rotherbridge; and “a holy well,” and formerly a chapel at Newbiggen.

The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £110. Patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. The church was rebuilt in 1744. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, an endowed grammar school with £42 a year, and charities £22.

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

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

RAVENSTONEDALE (St. Oswald), a parish, in East ward and union, county of Westmorland, 4¾ miles (S. W.) from Kirkby-Stephen; containing 973 inhabitants.

The manor belonged to the priory of Watton, Yorkshire, and, in common with the other possessions of that monastery, afforded the privilege of sanctuary. The steward and jury of the manor anciently held their court for the trial of felons and other offenders, in the church, near which was an arched vault for the confinement of malefactors; and Gallow Hill, a short distance hence, appears to have been the spot where capital punishment was inflicted.

The parish is composed of numerous valleys and fells, among which rise several streams, forming the source of the river Lune; the substratum contains a peculiar kind of red-sandstone, which becomes very hard on exposure to the air. A small market is held on Thursday. A fair takes place on the second Thursday after Whit-Sunday; and there are fairs for horned-cattle and sheep, lately established, on the Wednesdays before the second Thursdays in March and April, on the 29th of August, and the 26th of October.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Earl of Lonsdale, as lord of the manor; net income, £110; impropriators, the inhabitants. The church was rebuilt in 1744. There is a place of worship for Independents. The free grammar school was founded about 1688, by Thomas Fothergill, B.D., master of St. John’s College, Cambridge, aided by members of his family, natives of the parish; a good school-house was built by contributions in 1758, and the endowment now amounts to £39 per annum.

At a place called Rasate are two tumuli, in which, on being opened, human bones were found; and near Rother bridge is a circle of stones, supposed to have been connected with Druidical worship.

The family of Fothergill has produced several distinguished men, among whom have been George, principal of St. Edmund Hall, and Thomas, provost of Queen’s College, Oxford.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Newbiggin on Lune

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

NEWBIGGIN, a village in Ravenstonedale parish, Westmoreland; contiguous to the South Durham and Lancashire Union railway, 1¼ mile N W of Ravenstonedale. It has a station on the railway. Great Ewe fell, 1,198 feet high, rises immediately to the N; and Ashfell rises a little to the E.

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