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Over Wyersdale, Lancashire

Historical Description

Wyersdale, Over, an extensive township and an ecclesiastical parish, in Lancaster parish, Lancashire, embracing the head of the river Wyre, 4½ miles E by N of Bayhorse railway station, and 7 SE of Lancaster. Post town, Lancaster; money order and telegraph office, Galgate. Acreage, 17.319; population, 523. There is a parish council consisting of five members. Fairs are held at Marshaw on the first Thursday in June and on 18 Sept. for sheep and cattle. The township is divided into twelve vaccaries. The vaccary of Abbeystead is supposed to derive its name from a settlement of Cistercian monks who migrated here from Furness Abbey, and who left for Ireland about 1188. The site of the abbey is supposed to be covered by the water of the reservoir. The manor belongs to the Earl of Sefton, whose seat, Abbeystead, is a mansion in the Elizabethan style erected in 1887, near a large reservoir connected with the Lancaster Waterworks. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester; net value, £215 with residence. Patron, the Vicai of Lancaster. The church, which was in existence in 1570, is a plain stone building consisting of nave, chancel, and tower. It has been renovated at various times, the most recent being in 1893-94, when a new chancel, porch, vestry, lych gate, and several stained glass windows were added. The pulpit has been in use since 1684. There are a Friends' meeting-house, a Wesleyan chapel, and an endowed school.

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 
Civil parishLancaster 
HundredLonsdale south of the Sands 
Poor Law unionLancaster 

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 Over Wyersdale 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: