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Kirkby Ireleth, Lancashire

Historical Description

Kirkby Ireleth, a township and an extensive parish in Lancashire. The township lies on the Duddon estuary, and on the Furoess railway, 4¼ miles NW of Ulverston, has a station of the name of Kirkby on the railway, is divided for local purposes into the sections of Middle Quarter, Low Quarter, Heathwaite, and Woodland, and contains the hamlets of Beckside, Chapels, Wallend, Marshside, Bean-thwaite, Sandside, Soutergate, and Grisebeck. At Sandside is a post, money order, and telegraph office under the name of Kirkby-in-Fumess. Area of township, 9702 acres; population, 1560. The manor, with most of the land, belongs to the Cavendish family. Kirkby Hall was long the seat of the Kirkby family, contains some curious ancient decorations, and is now a farmhouse. Quarries of excellent dark-blue roofing slate are on Kirkby Moor, in Middle Quarter, extend in a series along a hill, give constant employment to a considerable number of men, and send their produce to all parts of the kingdom. A large proportion of the township is moor and mountain. Many families are engaged in cockle-fishing in the Duddon. The parish contains also the townships of Broughton-in-Furness and Dunnerdale-with-Sea-thwaite. Acreage, 27, 258; population of the civil parish, 2993; of the ecclesiastical, 1806. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle; net value, £293 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of York. The church stands at Beckside, is ancient but good, consists of nave, N aisle, and chancel, with a tower, and contains ancient monuments of the Kirkby family; it was thoroughly restored and reseated in 1883. Woodland, Broughton-in-Furness, and Seathwaite constitute separate ecclesiastical parishes. There are several charities.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyLancashire 
Ecclesiastical parishKirkby-Ireleth St. Cuthbert 
HundredLonsdale north of the Sands 
Poor Law unionUlverston 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Lancashire Archives, have images of the Parish Registers for Lancashire online.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Kirkby Ireleth from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Lancashire is available to browse.


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lancashire newspapers online: