Bygone Cumberland And Westmorland - The Original Classic Edition. Daniel Scott

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СКАЧАТЬ ground at the rear. The parishioners would thus have but a small chance of hearing the bells when sounded for service if they occu-

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       pied the ordinary place. Consequently for a very long time--certainly before the present church was built--the two bells have been placed in a detached tower on the top of the hill at the rear of the church, and over a hundred yards away from the building.

       Many ecclesiastical buildings, from the cathedral down to the humblest village chapel-of-ease, would seem to have had curious inscriptions or pictures upon their walls. Nearly all these have disappeared, and later comers are indebted for their knowledge of what has been to such industrious chroniclers as Machell, Burn, and others. The former put on paper in 1692 the following lines, which were on the walls of the south chapel of Kirkby Lonsdale Church:--

       C. W. (Arms)

       16 68.

       [Pg 48] "This porch by ye Banes first builded was,

       Of Heighholme Hall they weare;

       And after sould to Christopher Wood,

       By William Bains thereof last heyre;

       And is repayred as you see, And set in order good

       By the true owner nowe thereof

       The fore saide Christopher Wood."

       As in our own day the restoration or alteration of a church frequently caused much ill-feeling in a parish, and there are records of several such "scenes" in Cumberland and Westmorland in bygone days. One such was at Sebergham, where the church was rebuilt in

       1825-6, and a tower built at the west end. On the first Sunday that the edifice was opened the following protest in rhyme was found nailed to the church door:--

       "The priest and the miller built the church steeple

       Without the consent or good will of the people.

       A tax to collect they tried to impose

       In defiance of right and subversion of laws.

       The matter remains in a state of suspension, And likely to be a sad bone of contention.

       If concession be made to agree with us all

       Let the tax be applied to build the church wall.

       Churchyard wall now in a ruinous state. Sebergham High Bound, July 12, 1826."

       While dealing with the architectural curiosities of North-Country churches, allusion should be[Pg 49] made to a story connected

       with that at Ambleside. A piece of painted glass on the north side of the old church has a representation of what is locally known as

       the carrier's arms--a rope, a wantey-hook, and five packing pricks, or skewers, these being the implements used by the carriers and

       wool staplers for fastening their packing sheets together. The tradition is that when the church needed rebuilding, together with the

       chapels of St. Mary Holm, Ambleside, Troutbeck, and Applethwaite, which were all destroyed or rendered unfit for divine worship,

       the parish was extremely poor; the parishioners at a general meeting agreed that one church would serve the whole. The next ques-

       tion was, where it should stand. The inhabitants of Undermillbeck were for having it at Bowness. The rest thought that as Troutbeck

       Bridge was about the centre of the parish, it should be built there. Several meetings in consequence were held, and many disputes

       and quarrels arose. At last a carrier proposed that who ever would make the largest donation towards the building should choose the

       situation of the church. An offer so reasonable could hardly be refused, and many gifts were immediately named. The carrier, who

       had acquired a[Pg 50] fortune by his business, heard them all, and at last declared that he would cover the church with lead. This

       offer, which all the rest were either unable or unwilling to outdo, at once decided the affair. The carrier chose the situation, and his

       arms (or more properly his implements) were painted on the north window of the church. Tradition adds that this man obtained the

       name of Bellman, from the bells worn by the fore-horse, which he first introduced there.

       Several instances of fonts having found their way from churches to private grounds have been made known during recent years, one being at Penrith, and others at Musgrave and Brough-under-Stainmore. On the western side of the county, in the grounds of Mr. T.

       Dixon, Rheda, is the ancient font, dated 1578, belonging to Arlecdon Church. In the third decade of this century, says the Rev. H.

       Sugden in his notes on the history of the parish, it was acting at a farm-house as a trough to catch rain-water from the roof. Subse-

       quently the font was found by Mr. Dixon in a stone wall at Rowrah Hall, and was removed to its present place of safety. It seems that

       the contractor who rebuilt the church in 1829, was allowed to use or dispose of any of[Pg 51] the material or contents. The font and

       an ancient tombstone of the Dixons, were sold by him, and while the font was made into a water-catcher, the tombstone found its

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       way to a farm at Kirkland, where it was utilised as a sconce in the dairy. Occasionally churchwardens were guilty of what would seem to have been vandalism. At Kirkby Lonsdale (1686), they recorded the last of a Norman font:--"Received for the old font stone,

       6d."

       Among the regulations made by the Head Jurie of Watermillock in 1627 was this:--"Item, It is ordered by the jurie that every ten-

       nent of this parish shall sitt in church in their own seats that hath formerly been set forth to their ancestors. And if any have a desire

       to sitt in the Lady Porch, besides such as have their ancient Rooms therein, they shall sitt there paying yearly for the same to the use

       of the Church ijd. pr Annum." The churchwardens were evidently kept close to their duties by the same authority, as may be seen

       by this entry in the book:--"It is ordered that the Churchwardens of this Parish shall not be discharged of their office in any year

       before the Church Stock be fully answered at the sight and judgment of the Head Jury for the time being."

       [Pg 52]This action probably had its origin in the losses of public funds which had to be deplored in many parishes in consequence of the money being lent out at interest. "Culyet" is not a word to be found in the standard dictionaries of our time, although it appears in the parochial records of Millom. Canon Knowles took the word to mean the free-will offerings made from house to house, being used at Christ Church, Oxford, as the equivalent of "collecta," a collection. In some of the parishes which lent out church funds, rather heavy rates of security were exacted--at Millom the arrangement was seven and a half per cent. Hence there can be no room for surprise that so many parishes have had reason to deplore СКАЧАТЬ