THE WEST WARD.

THE PARISH OF ST. PETER, ASKHAM.

Including the Manor of Helton Flecket.

ANTIQUITIES.

Within this parish we have Stone Circles on Moor Divock, viz.:— (1) Copstone in double ring mound, 76 feet in diameter; (2) Six stones of a circle, 15 feet in diameter; (3) a circle and cairn, 11 feet in diameter; (4) a circle of eleven stones 19 feet in diameter with a stone avenue stretching away west of north as far as No. 9 circle; (5) a Tumulus revetted with a stone circle; (6) a single circle of seven stones, 25 feet in daimeter; (7) a double circle with an outer ring of five stones, 14 feet in diameter, and an inner ring of six stones, 7 feet diameter; (8) a single circle, 9 feet in diameter; (9) a single circle, 14 feet in diameter, revetting a mound; (10) "White Raise" tumulus some 57 to 60 feet in diameter and from 7 to 8 feet high; (11) a Long Barrow; 25 by 15 feet apparently revetted with stones; (12) a Round Barrow, 15 feet diameter.

The following are near the Roman road; (13) "The Cock Pit" double circle of stones 90 to 103 feet in diameter with four cairns inclosed; (14) a double circle, 27 feet in diameter; (15) a double circle, 15 feet diameter; (16) a group of mounds; (17) the "Standing Stones," half a mile south of Swarth fell, comprising 65 stones within a diameter of 57 feet; (18) a Tumulus on Riddingley's Top, and circles and cairns half a mile east of it. Collingwood, Inventory of Ancient Monuments.

Setterah Park is mentioned in 1290 as being a possession of Robert and Idonea L'Engleys. The ramparts enclose a considerable space and that there were buildings on the site is shown by an Indenture of 1459 mentioning" the mansion and places builded" at the park of "Setterhowe."Surrounding the whole was a moat ten to fifteen feet wide. See Transactions N.s. xxi, pp. 180–222.

THE CHURCH.

William de Romara, earl of Lincoln, granted to the canons of Wartre Priory inter alia the church and lands of Gamel the priest of Askham. The gift was confirmed to the canons by Pope Innocent 11 on 15 September, 1140, and by Pope Innocent IV in the year 1245.

In the "Antique Taxatio Ecclesiastica" of Pope Nicholas IV, made in 1291, the church was valued at £17. 3. 10, but by the "Novo Taxatio" of Pope Clement v, made in 1318, the value was reduced down to £2. See page 22. The next "Valor Ecclesiasticus" of 26 Henry VIII, 1535, is as follows:—

Whereas James Waterson, farmer of the sequestrated vicarage of Askham is in arrears to the sum of £24, it was ordered by the Commonwealth Commissioners in 1653, that he pay in the same to Mr. George Archer, the Treasurer for the County, within ten days or otherwise upon his default be proceeded against according to the Rules of the Ordinance in such case provided.

Whereas Mr. Richard Gibson late minister of Askham having been formerly ejected hath intruded himself into the said place without any lawful authority, pretending no other title to the place saving that several of the parishioners desire him to officiate. It was ordered on 22 November, 1655, that time be given till 25 March next for the said Mr. Sibson to remove with his family and goods out of the said parish and that in the meantime an order be issued to the Agent for Westmorland to take care to secure the tithe corn and hay remaining upon the glebe for the use of the next incumbent.

The Commonwealth Commissioners on 4 December, 1656, ordered, upon the petition of Mr. Wargent, that for the time that he hath officiated in the Cure at Askham and so long as he shall supply the same, he shall be satisfied after the rate of £20 a year out of the profits arising from the vicarage.

The Commonwealth Survey of 1657 is as follows:—

That the right of presentation to the Church is in Thomas Sand-forth, esquire. That there is no incumbent there. That the tithe wool and lamb and other small dues within the parish due to the incumbent when present was worth £9 by the year . . . lease worth £14 by the year. That the profits of this vicarage have been under sequestration about seven years last past and have since the time of the sequestration, from time to time have been paid to John Archer, the Treasurer for the County, or his assigns.

William Sandford sold the manor and tithes in 1680 to Sir John Lowther.

Bishop Nicolson at his visitation of 1703 records that "The Church yard, wherein there are no monuments, is but ill fenced; and the entrance into the Southern door of the church (seldom used but when they bring in a corpse, or by some prescribers of Helton) is almost grown up. The walls are very low and crazy. In the Quire the Communion-Table is well railed in and very decent. . . The womens seats in the body of the church are without backs; but those for the men well enough . . . Bp. Oley's books given to this parish are all safe in Mr. Seed's hands, never having had a Repository in the church.

In the year 1735 the roof of the north side of the church was taken down and renewed and the tax was laid according to the Book of Rates, the lordship of Hilton paying equally and raising the like sum with the lordship of Askham.

The church was rebuilt in 1832. "The Parish Church of Askham falling into decay was with the consent of William Earl of Lonsdale, the Patron, Percy lord Bishop of Carlisle and churchwardens taken down and rebuilt on the same site, greatly improving the accommodation." At this time the custom of males and females sitting together was introduced "which custom had not been practised in the memory of man till the rebuilding." The foundation stone was laid on 28 June, 1832, and the church was re-opened on Sunday, 18 August, 1833.

A list of the Incumbents whose names have been met with during the present research.

SCHOOL.

Askham School.

The date of the commencement of this school is not known, but it must have been long before 1779 when the school-house is said to have been erected. In 1809 a subscription was raised among the principal inhabitants and landowners, to which the earl of Lonsdale contributed £100, to augment an endowment of £20 given by Mrs. Jane Bowman. According to articles of agreement drawn up on 20 October, 1813, the earl and seven of the chief inhabitants were elected Trustees.

Indenture made 7 February, 1818, between William Tinkler of Askham, yeo. and Elizabeth his wife of the 1st part; Mary Tinkler of Askham, widow, of the 2nd part; others of the 3rd, 4th and 5th parts; and the earl of Lonsdale, Rev. John Langton Leech, vicar of Askham, and other parishioners as Trustees of the 6th part; the said William Tinkler for £212 has sold to the said Trustees his close at Askham for the use of a charity school there. Close Roll, 9797, pt. 58, n. 10.

The school house was enlarged in 1894 and 1909.

HALL

Askham Hall.

The manor was acquired by Sir Thomas de Hellbeck and passed by marriage to the Swynburn family about the year 1314. The capital messuage of Robert de Swynburn by inquisition in 1326 was found to have been partially burned by the Scots. In 1375 Edmund de Sandford came into possession and may have had a pele-tower, of which some stone dressings may be inserted in the present building. But the fact that there is no separate tower now, just one main central block containing the solar and the hall of co-eval date, is proof sufficient that the present building was not erected before the 15th century. In 1574 it was transformed into an Elizabethan mansion by the addition of rooms above the hall and by the erection of wings enclosing a courtyard. With lettering curiously conjoined and contracted the inscription reads:—
Thomas . Sandford . Esqvyr .
For . thys . payd . meat . & . hyr .
The . year . of . ovr . Savyore .
XV . hundreth . seventy . four.

Between 1655 and 1659 the spirit of the Renaissance demanded the remodelling of the façade, a new doorway broken through on the frontage to be made a classical feature and the windows entirely changed.

In 1828 the Hall became the Rectory for the parish of Lowther. References:—Trans., N.S. iv, 97; xxi, 228; xxii, 438.

BRIDGES.

Askham Bridge, over the river Lowther.

Quarter Sessions received, on 25 April, 1685, a petition addressed to the Rt. Worshipful his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Westmorland humbly showing that several of His Majesty's good subjects have been lately drowned in crossing the river of Lowther at the ford between Askham and Lowther, which is the nearest and best way for the most part of the inhabitants in the West Ward to the market or shire town of Appleby, and to several other persons on the east side of the river and that your petitioners are very well satisfied that a sufficient bridge may be there erected for the convenience and security of your petitioners and other persons who have occasion to pass that way and that the same may be done of a moderate charge not exceeding £50. May it therefore please your worships to grant your order to the surveyors of bridges or other persons whom you shall think fit to view the same in order that they may agree with some judicious workmen for the erecting of a public bridge there. It is signed by 229 inhabitants of Barton, Martindale, Hilton, Askham, Lowther and Whale.

The Grand Jury considering the ancient highway leading through the river Lowther near Askham, how dangerous it is and how many persons have lately perished there by the water, do hereby present it as a thing very expedient and necessary that a convenient stone bridge be built there . . . and we likewise present it as our humble desire that the honorable bench would be pleased to order the building of a bridge to be forthwith contracted for, the county being not chargeable therefore above forty pounds. Whereupon the Justices agreed to the petition and the recommendation of the Grand Jury.

Whereas at the Easter Sessions it was ordered that a stone bridge be constructed over the river at a cost to the County not exceeding forty pounds, and the same being now very substantially built according to articles made with Michael Ogden and John Nevinson, and for further satisfaction of their pains and charges therein it is thought very fit by the Court this 5 October, 1685, and at the request of the Grand Jury that £12 be now added thereto, therefore it is ordered that the High Constables of the East and West Wards do issue out their warrants for a speedy assessing and levying the same.

On 3 March, 1753 the Sessions ordered the High Constables to contract for the repair of this bridge, it being a public one. More than one hundred years later complaint was made by the inhabitants that the structure was dangerous on account of the road over it being only 7½ feet wide. In 1877 Quarter Sessions recommended that it should be widened so as to obtain a roadway of 16 feet, however, nothing appears to have been done. On 13 September, 1889, the bridge was reported to have a single span of 52½ feet with a rise from the springing line of 12 feet, the roadway 7 feet 7 inches in width and the parapets very low. The Bridge Master suggested to the County Council either to widen the bridge by an addition of 10 feet at a cost of £650 or to build a new bridge altogether, 15 feet wide, at a cost of £900. Again nothing appears to have been done. On 24 August, 1894 the Master submitted two schemes. The first to erect a new bridge some 73 yards below the existing structure at a cost of £4349. 12.0 with a long approach on the west rising from the gateway to Askham Hall and descending on the east to the gateway into Lowther Park. The second to erect a new bridge just clear of the old one on the low side, but raised 6 feet higher at a cost of £2787. 2. 6, or if not raised higher £1686. 6. 6. Ultimately William Grisenthwaite's tender of £2015. 19. 6. was accepted on 4 April, 1896. The bridge bears the date 1897.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

1295

The prior and convent of Wartre presented to the church William de Malton, one of their canon, on condition that he have living with him always a fellow canon. Halton Register.

1378 Easter.

Thomas de Sandford appeared against Robert de Wasshyngton in a plea that he render unto him £43 which he owes. De Banco Roll, 470, m. 54.

1379–80 Hilary.

Thomas de Louthre of Ascome, by Adam Crosseby his attorney, against William Birkehed "the woulman" in a plea that he render unto him £9; and against John de Tymson that he render five marks; and against John Hoggeson of Blencow that he render 40s. which he owes. De Banco Roll, 477, m. 400d.

1415

Askham paid a fifteenth as a subsidy to the king amounting to 26s. 8d.; and Helton Flecket, 10s. A total of £1. 16s. 8d. Excheq. Q.R. Miscell. Books, vol. 7.

1607

Inquest taken at Appleby, 16 July, 1607, the jury found that Alan Prickett was seised of the park and divers lands and tenements called "Satteraye Parke" within Helton Fleckan; and also a moiety of the manor of Helton Fleckan and of divers messuages, lands and tenements parcel of the said moiety of the said manor in Helton Fleckan and Helton daile; and also of one tithe barn and of all tithes of wheat and grain yearly growing within Helton Fleckan and Helton daile. By his will, dated 31 December, 1606, he gave to Arthur Brigge the said park and lands and tenements called "Satteraie Parke" and the said moiety of the manor and the said lands, tenements, tithes and other premises in Helton Fleckan and Helton daile to hold in trust according to his will. The said park, lands and tenements called "Satteraie Parke" and the said moiety of the manor of Helton and the said lands and tenements parcel thereof are held of Margaret, countess of Cumberland, by knight service and are worth yearly clear £10; the tithe barn and said tithes in Helton and Helton daile are held of the king in chief and are worth yearly clear 16s. 8d. He died 31 December, 1606, and Alan Prickett the younger, son of William, brother of the aforesaid Alan, deceased, is his kinsman and heir and at the time of his uncle's death was a minor, aged 19 years and 3 months. Court of Wards Inq. p. mortem, vol. 33, n. 26.

1669–1672 Hearth Tax Roll

1669–1672 Hearth Tax Roll, Lay Subsidy 195, n. 73.

ASKHAM.

Sixteen householders were exempted from paying the tax by Certificate.

HELTON.

1670 29 November.

Thomas Langhorn was presented to Quarter Sessions for refusing to have his child baptised at his parish church, and John Tinckler for refusing to receive the Blessed Sacrament and for seldom attending the church.

1796 26 November.

For the provision of soldiers to serve in the army, the parish of Askham, having 103 inhabited houses had to provide two men or pay a penalty of £20 for each man missing from the quota.