Caldbeck, Cumberland
Historical Description
Caldbeck, a village, three townships, and a parish in Cumberland. The village stands on the river Caldbeck at the foot of the fells, 8 miles from Plumpton station on the L. & N.W.R., and 9 SSE of Wigton, under which it has a post and money order office. It was founded together with an hospital, soon after the Norman conquest, by D'Engaine, forester of Inglewood, for the protection of travellers. It has a scattered character, yet looks pleasing and even picturesque. A number of its inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of bobbins, blankets, flannels, and stocking yarn. The three townships are Low Caldbeck, High Caldbeck, and Caldbeck-Haltcliff. Acreage, 13,742; population, 1068. The parish includes also the township of Mosedale, in the district of Penrith. Caldbeck House was the seat of the Backhouse family, and Woodhall was the seat of George Fox, the founder of Quakerism. About 13,000 acres are on the fells, and available only for sheep pasture. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Carlisle; net value, £440 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Carlisle. The church dates from 1112, but has been modernized, and was renovated and embellished in 1880-81. There are a Quaker meetinghouse, and a Wesleyan chapel. The fells are a northeastern offshoot of the Skiddaw range. They culminate on High Pike, at an altitude of 2101 feet above the level of the sea; have a bleak, wild, moorish character, and afford limestone, copper, lead, bismuth, molybdena, and tungsten. The river rises on the fells, and runs 7 miles north-eastward to the Caldew, ¾ of a mile north of Hesket-Newmarket. Both this stream and the Caldew, at places near the village, make great descents, and are overhung by romantic scenery.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Cumberland | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Caldbeck St. Kentigern | |
Poor Law union | Wigton | |
Ward | Allerdale below Derwent |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The registers date from the year 1640.
Churches
Church of England
St. Kentigern (parish church)
The church of St. Kentigern, originally Norman, but altered in the Late Perpendicular period, is a building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 3 bells: there are 500 sittings. John Peel, the famous foxhunter, born 1777, died 1854, is buried in the churchyard, and his name has been perpetuated in one of the best known of all hunting songs.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Caldbeck from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Caldbeck (St. Kentigern))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cumberland is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Caldbeck are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Villages, Hamlets, &c
Hesket NewmarketVisitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Cumberland, 1615 is available on the Heraldry page.