Carnforth - Castern

A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848.

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'Carnforth - Castern', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, (London, 1848) pp. 523-526. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp523-526 [accessed 23 April 2024]

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Carnforth

CARNFORTH, a township, in the parish of Warton, union of Lancaster, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 7 miles (N. by E.) from Lancaster, on the road to Kendal; containing 306 inhabitants. This place, which belonged at an early period to the family of Urswick, afterwards passed to the crown, and was held by Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby; the Coopers, Warrens, and others, subsequently possessed the property. Carnforth is the south-western township of the parish, and is chiefly remarkable as the scene of a great aquatic depredation; several hundred acres of the saltmarsh adjoining the south bank of the Keer, having been washed away within the last century. The area is 1446 acres. Here is a well-known quarry of sandstone used as an ingredient in making mortar. The Lancaster and Carlisle railway passes through the township, and has a station at the village: from Hest Bank, passing Bolton-le-Sands, to this place, the line proceeds over a peat-moss, twenty feet in depth, by an embankment which is twenty feet higher than the surface; beyond Carnforth it enters a cutting half a mile long, and averaging fifty feet in depth.

Carn-Menellis

CARN-MENELLIS, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish of Wendron, union of Helston, W. division of the hundred of Kerrier and of the county of Cornwall; containing about 3000 inhabitants. This district, the centre of which is about six miles north-east from Helston, comprises 5330 acres of land, standing high, for the most part poor and uncultivated, and chiefly of a mining character; the turnpike-road from Truro and Penryn to Helston forms the south-eastern boundary. Numerous small tin-mines are wrought, and there are some considerable tin stream-works. The district was constituted in December, 1845, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37: divine service is at present performed in a licensed schoolroom. There are several places of worship for dissenters. On the top of Carn-Menellis hill are some hollowed stones, usually termed Druidical altars; also a huge barrow or mound of stones, which forms the apex of the eminence; and in the north of the district are nine large upright stones in a circle, called the "Nine Maidens," popularly said to have been girls turned into stone for dancing upon a Sunday.

Carperby

CARPERBY, a township, in the parish of Aysgarth, wapentake of Hang-West, N. riding of York, 9 miles (W. by N.) from Middleham; containing, with Thoresby, 354 inhabitants. It comprises 4783 acres, of which 40 are common or waste; and its village, which is long, and well built, is pleasantly seated on the north side of Wensley-dale, under lofty moorland hills. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £120, payable to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here was a chapel of ease, of which some remains exist. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans.

Carrington

CARRINGTON, a township and chapelry, in the parish of Bowdon, union of Altrincham, hundred of Bucklow, N. division of the county of Chester, 10 miles (S. W.) from Manchester; the township containing 559 inhabitants. The manor was held for more than three centuries by a family of the same name. In the reign of Elizabeth, a female heir brought it in marriage to Sir George Booth, of Dunham-Massey, from whom it descended to the earls of Stamford and Warrington. The township lies on the south side of the Mersey, which separates the county from Lancashire; and comprises by admeasurement 1394 acres, of which 960 are arable, 424 meadow and pasture, and 10 woodland: the soil is sand, clay, and moss. The two villages of Carrington and Partington form the chapelry. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £375: patron, the Bishop of Chester. The tithes have been commuted for £130 payable to the bishop, and £20 to the vicar of the parish. The chapel, dedicated to St. George, is a plain brick building, erected in 1759, chiefly at the cost of Mary, Countess of Stamford.

Carrington

CARRINGTON, a parochial chapelry, in the union of Boston, E. division of the soke of Bolingbroke, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 1½ mile (S.) from New Bolingbroke; containing 229 inhabitants. It was formerly in the parish of Helpringham, but was constituted a parochial chapelry in 1812, by an act of parliament, on the occasion of a very extensive drainage of fen lands. The living is a perpetual curacy, with the township of West-Ville; net income, £86; patrons, certain Trustees. The tithes were commuted for land under the act of inclosure. The chapel was consecrated in 1818.

Carrington

CARRINGTON, a village, in the parish and union of Basford, hundred of Broxtow, county of Nottingham, 2¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Nottingham; containing 853 inhabitants. This village, which is of recent origin, consists partly of handsome villas, occupied by merchants and lace manufacturers, who have warehouses in Nottingham. A church dedicated to St. John was consecrated in 1841: the income of the incumbent is £150, and the Bishop of Lincoln is patron.

Carshalton (All Saints)

CARSHALTON (All Saints), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Epsom, Second division of the hundred of Wallington, E. division of Surrey, 3 miles (W.) from Croydon; containing 2228 inhabitants. In Domesday book this place is styled Aulton, signifying Old Town; and it retained that appellation until the reign of John, when it was called Kersalton, of which the present name is a variation. The parish comprises 2015a. 1r. 19p. The village is pleasantly situated near Banstead Downs, on a dry and chalky soil; the river Wandle runs through the parish, and being joined in its course by other streams, forms in the centre of the village a broad sheet of water: a bridge was erected in 1828, which cost £500. The environs are diversified, and contain numerous mansions, inhabited principally by London merchants. Carshalton House, a handsome mansion, occupies the site of an ancient edifice in which Dr. Radcliffe, the munificent benefactor to the University of Oxford, resided during the time of the plague, in 1665. Near the churchyard is a fine spring, called Queen Ann Boleyn's Well; it is arched over with stone, and kept in good repair. A calico-printing establishment formerly carried on has been discontinued; but there are bleachinggrounds, and, on the banks of the river, several mills for the manufacture of snuff, paper, flocks, and leather, besides three large flour-mills: there are also some lime-kilns. The market, granted in the reign of Henry III., has long been discontinued; a pleasure-fair only is held, on the 1st and 2nd of July. The living is a vicarage, endowed since 1726 with the rectorial tithes, and valued in the king's books at £11. 12. 6.; net income, £600; patron, John Cator, Esq. The church is an ancient structure of brick, containing portions in the early and decorated styles of English architecture; the chancel, which is built of flint, appears to be the oldest part. The interior is neat, and contains some interesting monuments to the families of Fellowes and Scawen; and two brasses, representing Sir Nicholas Gaynesford and his lady, with a group of children: it has been repaired, and the galleries enlarged, by subscription. A small place of worship for Wesleyans was erected in 1834. A bronze figure of Cupid, about three inches and a half in height, and a brass bust of a man, both found in the river, were in 1794 exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries. The Roman Stane-street passed through the parish.

Carsington (St. Margaret)

CARSINGTON (St. Margaret), a parish, in the hundred of Wirksworth, S. division of the county of Derby, 2¼ miles (W. by S.) from Wirksworth; containing 235 inhabitants. The village is situated in a valley, surrounded by hills in which are quarries of limestone and some lead-mines; and the Peak Forest railway passes through the parish. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £5. 1. 10., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Lichfield: the tithes have been commuted for £109, and the glebe comprises 46 acres. The church is a small ancient building, without a steeple, and scarcely distinguishable from the cliffs that overhang it. A school, founded by Mrs. Temperance Gill, in 1726, has an endowment of £60 per annum, arising from land. John Oldfield, an eminent nonconformist divine, was ejected from the benefice of the parish, in 1662: his son, Dr. Joshua Oldfield, of some literary celebrity, was born here in 1656. The Rev. Ellis Farneworth, an able translator from the Italian, was presented to the rectory in 1762.

Carswell

CARSWELL, a hamlet, in the parish of Buckland, union of Farringdon, hundred of Ganfield, county of Berks; containing 93 inhabitants.

Carswell, Abbots.—See Kerswell.

CARSWELL, ABBOTS.—See Kerswell.

Carthorpe

CARTHORPE, a township, in the parish of Burneston, union of Thirsk, wapentake of Hallikeld, N. riding of York, 4½ miles (S. E.) from Bedale; containing 314 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Kirklington to Burneston, and comprises 2055a. 3r. 19p. of land: Camp Hill, a handsome modern mansion, stands on an eminence about half a mile to the south of the village. The tithes have been commuted for £201 payable to the impropriators, and £168. 16. to the vicar of the parish. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. Vestiges of a Roman camp are still discernible.

Cartington

CARTINGTON, a township, in the parish and union of Rothbury, W. division of Coquetdale ward, N. division of Northumberland, 3¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Rothbury; containing, with Bankland, 66 inhabitants. The castle of this place, which is now in ruins, and the surrounding lands, belonged to a branch of the Widdrington family. The tithes have been commuted for £5. 2.

Cartmel (St. Mary)

CARTMEL (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, containing 4927 inhabitants: the town of Cartmel stands in the townships of Lower Allithwaite and Upper Holker, 14 miles (N. W. by N.) from Lancaster, and 254 (N. N. W.) from London. This place, which is supposed to have derived its name from the British words Kert, a camp, and mell, a fell, or small mountain, according to Camden was given to St. Cuthbert, in 677, by Egfrid, King of Northumbria, with all the Britons inhabiting it. In 782, Ethelred, upon his restoration to the throne of that kingdom, allured from their sanctuary at York the sons of Alfwold, who had been advanced to the crown upon his expulsion, and put them to death at Cartmel. In 1188, William Mareschall, Earl of Pembroke, founded a priory for Regular canons of the order of St. Augustine, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and endowed it with all his lands at "Kertmell," and with other possessions, besides many privileges, among which was the exclusive right of appointing guides to conduct travellers over the extensive sands that bound the parish on the south. The establishment, at the Dissolution, consisted of ten religious, and forty-eight servants, and the revenue was estimated at £212. 11. 10.: the conventual church, which was also parochial, was purchased by the parishioners.

The town is situated in a vale surrounded by lofty hills of varied aspect, behind which the vast fells of Coniston rise majestically to the north; the houses, with the exception of a row erected some years since on the north side of the town, of modern and handsome appearance, are in general built of stone, rough-cast and white-washed. The environs abound with sceuery strikingly diversified by richly-wooded eminences and barren hills. The parish comprises the townships of Upper and Lower Allithwaite, East Broughton, CartmelFell, Upper and Lower Holker, and Staveley. It is bounded on the south by the bay of Morecambe, into which it extends for a considerable distance, and where, at low water, is a passage over the sands to Bolton. The longer course across is nine miles; the shorter, along that part called the Leven sands, is four: guides are usually waiting to conduct over both. The district abounds with rocks of limestone and marble, but very little trade is carried on; there are cotton-mills at Upper Holker. The market is on Tuesday: fairs are held on Whit-Monday and the Monday after October 23rd; and cattle-fairs on the Wednesday before Easter, and November 5th.

The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Earl of Burlington, with a net income of £113: the tithes were commuted for land in 1796. The church is a spacious cruciform structure, in the early English style, with a curious tower. After having been suffered to remain in a state of neglect for nearly a century from the dissolution of the priory, during which time the conventual buildings had been removed, it was substantially repaired, in 1640, by George Preston, of Holker. The chancel contains some richly-carved stalls and fine tabernacle work: on the north side of the altar is the tomb of William de Walton, one of the priors, and on the opposite side a magnificent altar-tomb with recumbent figures of one of the Harringtons and his lady, supposed to be Sir John Harrington, who accompanied Edward I. into Scotland; besides many other monuments. The Earl of Burlington also presents to the incumbencies of Broughton, Cartmel-Fell, Flookborough, Lindale, and Staveley. The free grammar school, built in 1790, in Upper Holker township, is supported by an endowment of £125 per annum, arising from donations and legacies. Dr. Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle, whose father was curate of one of the chapels in the parish for forty-nine years, received the rudiments of his education in the school. In a wood in the vicinity, about forty years ago, 680 Roman coins were dug up, dated from 193 to 253; and at Broughton, a coin of the Emperor Adrian has been discovered. Three miles to the south of the town is a spring, called Holy Well, the water of which is efficacious in gout, and in nephritic and cutaneous diseases; and at Pit Farm, in the parish, is an intermitting spring.

Cartmel-Fell

CARTMEL-FELL, a chapelry, in the parish of Cartmel, union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 8 miles (W. S. W.) from Kendal; containing 356 inhabitants. It is situated on the borders of Westmorland, and on the Winster river. The road from Townhead in Staveley to Bowness, which traverses six miles, possesses many choice views of Windermere, and of the Coniston and Langdale mountains. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £67; patron, the Earl of Burlington, as lessee under the Bishop of Chester. The chapel is dedicated to St. Anthony. There is a small school, with an endowment of £8 per annum.

Cartworth

CARTWORTH, a township, in the parish of KirkBurton, union of Huddersfield, Upper division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, W. riding of York, 7¼ miles (S. by W.) from Huddersfield; containing 2247 inhabitants. This township, which comprises about 2820 acres, includes part of the villages of Hinchliffe-Mill and Holmfirth, and extends upwards of two miles northward from the latter place, along the romantic dale of the Holme stream: much of the land is high moor, inclosed under an act, in 1827. The manufacture of woollen-cloth is carried on to a considerable extent. The head of a brass Roman spear was dug up in the bog on the moor, in 1820.

Carwood.—See Sibdon-Carwood.

CARWOOD.—See Sibdon-Carwood.

Cary-Coats

CARY-COATS, a township, in the parish of Thockrington, union of Bellingham, N. E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 12 miles (N.) from Hexham; containing 51 inhabitants. It adjoins the Bavington estate, on the north-west; and was probably at some period the appanage of a younger branch of the ancient house of Shafto: at the close of the last century it was the estate and residence of one of that family.

Cashio, or Cashiobury

CASHIO, or Cashiobury, a hamlet, in the parish and union of Watford, hundred of Cashio, or liberty of St. Alban's, county of Hertford, 1½ mile (N. W.) from Watford; containing, with the hamlet of Leavesden, 1548 inhabitants. In the time of the early Britons this was a place of importance, being the seat of Cassibelaunus, King of the Cassii. The Saxon kings of Mercia also made it their residence; Offa included it in the possessions that he gave to the monastery of St. Alban's, and called the hamlet Albaneston, which was again changed by the Normans into Caisho, since converted into Cashio. Edward IV. constituted it a liberty, and it continued annexed to the crown from the period of the Dissolution until James I. granted the whole liberty of the monastery of St. Alban's to Robert Whitmore and John Eldred.

Cassington (St. Peter)

CASSINGTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Woodstock, hundred of Wootton, county of Oxford, 6¾ miles (N. W.) from Oxford; containing, with the hamlet of Worton, 381 inhabitants. The manor formerly belonged to the Montacutes, one of whom, in the reign of Henry II., obtained leave to convert the mansion into a castle, of which some remains existed till within the last 50 years, when the materials were used in building the parsonage-house. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Canons of Christ-Church, Oxford. The tithes have been commuted for £210, and the glebe consists of 55 acres. The church, which is in the Norman style, was originally built in the reign of Henry II., by Geoffrey Clinton, chamberlain to that monarch: the arch supporting the tower, and the groined roof of the chancel, of Norman character, are remains of the ancient building.

Cassop

CASSOP, a township, in the parish of Kelloe, S. division of Easington ward, union and N. division of the county of Durham, 4½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Durham; containing 1076 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Cazhope, and included within the limits of Queringdonshire, was formerly the residence of the family of Reed, and of that of Busby, and is at present held under the see of Durham. The village stands, with a northern aspect, on a high swell of limestone hills, separated from Quarrington on the south by a broad hollow vale, and commanding an extensive prospect of a variegated tract in the north-western direction. The produce of Cassop and Cassop-moor collieries is shipped at Hartlepool. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £104. 18. 8., payable to Christ's Hospital, Sherburn, and the vicarial for £17. 4.

Castern

CASTERN, a hamlet, in the parish of Ilam, N. division of the hundred of Totmonslow and of the county of Stafford, 5¼ miles (N. W.) from Ashbourn; containing 45 inhabitants. This place lies on the borders of Derbyshire, and on the east side of the Manifold river, about a mile and a half north-west of the village of Ilam. The Hall is now a farmhouse.