17 CLIBURN (E.b.)
(O.S. 6 in. (a)IV, S.E., (b)VIII, N.E.)
Cliburn is a parish and small village 7 m. N.W. of
Appleby. The church and Cliburn Hall are the
principal monuments.
Ecclesiastical
b(1). Parish Church of St. Cuthbert stands at
the S. end of the village. The walls are of sandstone
rubble with dressings of the same material and some
tufa; the roofs are covered with slates and lead.
The church, consisting of Chancel and Nave, was built
about the middle of the 12th century, and at a later
period a S. porch was added. The building was
drastically restored in 1886–7 when the South Aisle
and Chapel were added and the South Porch re-built.
Architectural Description—The Chancel (12¼ ft. by
13½ ft.) has a 13th-century lancet-window in the E.
wall; below and S. of it are traces of an earlier window
or opening. In the N. wall is a 12th-century window
of one round-headed light. In the S. wall is a modern
arch. The late 12th or early 13th-century chancel-arch has jambs and round arch of one chamfered
order.
The Church, Plan
The Nave (29½ ft. by 17 ft.) has three modern
windows in the N. wall, a modern S. arcade and a
modern window in the W. wall. The bell-cote on the
W. gable is also modern.
The South Aisle is modern, but in the S. wall is a
re-set 12th-century doorway with plain jambs, corbelled lintel with a small figure carved at each end
and a round head with cheveron-ornament enclosing
a plain tympanum. The re-built S. porch incorporates
old material.
Fittings—Chest: In nave—of hutch-type, with the
initials and date T.H. 1696 incised on front. Churchyard Cross: S. of chancel—square tapering base,
mediæval, shaft modern. Coffin-lids: In porch—
(1) fragment with base of cross-shaft; (2) fragment
with branched shaft of cross and stepped base; probably 13th-century. Consecration Cross: On W. jamb
of S. doorway—small incised cross. Font: octagonal
bowl (Plate 43) with moulded underside, shaft with
zig-zag cutting, moulded necking and chamfered base,
late 12th-century, bowl later or re-cut. Plate: includes
Elizabethan cup (Plate 54) with band of ornament
round bowl, a 17th-century pewter flagon and paten
and an olive-wood cross inlaid with ebony and mother
of pearl, said to have come from Vallombrosa. Sundial:
On E. jamb of S. doorway, scratch-dial. Miscellanea:
Incorporated in porch—two inscribed Roman stones
(Plates 3, 4) (p. xlii) found during the restoration.
Condition—Good.
Secular
b(2). Cliburn Hall, house and outbuildings, 150
yards E.N.E. of the church. The House is of three
storeys; the walls are of local rubble and ashlar and
the roofs are slate-covered. The house was built
or re-built by Richard Cliburn in 1567, but the thickness
of some of the walls may indicate that portions of an
earlier building were incorporated. At the N.W. end
is a rather later extension with a two-storeyed wing
extending towards the S.W. The house was re-roofed
in the 19th century when the former parapet was
removed; other alterations have been made in recent
years. The S.W. front has a projecting two-storeyed
wing, probably a porch-wing; the upper storey projects slightly on continuous corbelling; the former
mullioned and transomed windows have been replaced
by modern work in recent years. The former doorway
in the N.W. return-wall is blocked. The main block
has a doorway at the first-floor level, approached by
steps; it has a square head and above it is a re-set
panel inscribed "Rychard Cleburn thus they me cawl
Wch in my tyme hath bealded ys hall, the yeare of
owre lorde God who lyst for to neam (?) 1567—
R.D. Mayson"; above the panel are the initials R.C.
and a cartouche of the arms of Cliburn quartering
Kirkbride. Farther S.E. are two windows each of
four transomed and elliptical-headed lights with a
moulded label; two other windows have been
destroyed by a rebuilding round and above the doorway. The ground floor, approached by steps, has
an original window with an iron grate. Both the S.E.
end and the back (Plate 18) have a series of original
transomed windows similar to those on the S.W. front,
and the ground floor has a window with a grate. In
the addition, at the first-floor level, is a doorway with
a modern head, opening on to a solid stone platform
approached by steps and giving access to a well
enclosed in a square block of masonry. Inside the
building, the ground floor both of the main block and
the extension has elliptical barrel-vaults of rubble,
groined back over the windows; two doorways have
triangular arches in square heads and the large S.E.
fireplace has an arched head. On the first floor, the
middle beam of the main room or hall rests on shaped
corbels; the blocked fireplace has moulded jambs
and flat three-centred head; the original doorway,
N.E. of the fireplace, has the scratched name John
Lowther; another doorway has the names James
Lowther, William Lowther and the figures 68. In
the N.W. wall of the former hall are two more 16th-century doorways, one with a triangular and one
with a three-centred head. The second floor has an
original fireplace with a triangular arch in a square
head.
The Outbuildings, extending S.W. from the S.E. end
of the house, are probably of late 16th-century date
and retain a series of original doorways and remains
of an original window at the first-floor level.
Condition—Good.
d(3). Winderwath, house and outbuilding in a
detached part of the parish, about 3 m. N.N.E. of the
church. The House is of two storeys; the walls are
of rubble and the roofs are slate-covered. There are
remains of a mediæval building incorporated in the
present structure, which was, however, largely re-built
and remodelled late in the 17th century. The house
was again altered c. 1860, when a S.E. wing was added;
this has been extended in recent years. The exterior
has no ancient features except a 17th-century doorway
on the W. front; it has a moulded architrave and
panelled and enriched pilasters, supporting consolebrackets, enriched frieze and cornice; above the
doorway is a re-set shield-of-arms of Clifford impaling
Vipont. Re-set in a gable of the N. wing is a grotesque
head-corbel, a stone carved with a cinquefoil and a
shield bearing a cross with a cinquefoil in the quarter.
Inside the building, the dining-room has a 17th-century fireplace with rusticated jambs and head,
enriched Ionic side-pilasters, frieze with blank shields
and a wreath and a moulded cornice. In the main
E. wall is a 15th-century window of one trefoiled light
with a moulded label. In the N. wall of the kitchen
is a mediæval doorway with a two-centred head and E.
of it is a late 17th-century fireplace; it has a corbelled
lintel enriched with mouldings and carved blocks.
The Stable and barn, W. of the house, is a two-storeyed building of the 17th century, retaining an
original doorway and window.
Condition—Good, much altered.