Ulceby - Unthank

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

This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.

'Ulceby - Unthank', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, (London, 1848) pp. 414-418. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp414-418 [accessed 18 April 2024]

In this section

Ulceby (All Saints)

ULCEBY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Spilsby, Wold division of the hundred of Calceworth, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 3 miles (S. W.) from Alford; containing, with the hamlet of Fordington, 204 inhabitants. It is situated on the road from Alford to Boston, and comprises by measurement 1872 acres, of which 1530 acres are arable, 227 pasture, and 115 woodland. The surface is marked with hill and dale, and from the higher grounds is an expansive sea view: the subsoil is calcareous. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £19. 16. 8.; net income, £519; patron, the Rev. W. A. Peacock: the tithes have been commuted for 457 acres of land. The church was rebuilt in 1826, and is a neat brick building, containing 150 sittings. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The Bulls Head, a lofty hill in the parish, is a noted landmark.

Ulceby (St. Nicholas)

ULCEBY (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Glandford-Brigg, N. division of the wapentake of Yarborough, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 7¼ miles (S. E.) from Barton-upon-Humber; containing 787 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 18. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £146; impropriators, W. D. Field, Esq., and others. The tithes of the parish were commuted for land and a money payment in the year 1824.

Ulcombe (All Saints)

ULCOMBE (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Hollingbourne, hundred of Eyhorne, lathe of Aylesford, W. division of Kent, 8 miles (S. E. by E.) from Maidstone; containing 6S5 inhabitants. This parish lies partly in the Weald. It is intersected by several small streams that empty themselves into the Medway, and comprises by measurement 3529 acres, whereof 395 are in wood, and 274 common. Ulcombe Place and manor belonged to the family of St. Leger, of whom Sir Robert, of an ancient house in Normandy, is said to have supported the Conqueror with his hand when landing on the Sussex coast. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16. 5. 10., and in the gift of the Hon. C. B. C. Wandesford: the tithes have been commuted for £770, with a charge of 17s. 6d. per acre upon hops, of which there are about 150 acres; the glebe consists of 80 acres, including 25 in wood. The church was wrested in the Danish wars from the priory of Christ-Church, Canterbury, but was restored in 941: it was made collegiate by Archbishop Langton, in 1220, for an archpresbyter, two canons, a deacon, and one clerk; and afterwards became a rectory. The present edifice, which is in the later English style, contains some very old monuments to the St. Legers, many to the family of Stringer, and, of more recent date, one to the Marquess and Marchioness of Ormonde, and another to Lady Sarah Wandesford.

Uldale

ULDALE, a parish, in the union of Wigton, Allerdale ward below Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 8 miles (S. by W.) from Wigton; containing 330 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2217a. 3r. 10p., exclusively of waste and common. The river Ellen has its source here, in two small lakes well stocked with various kinds of fish; about a mile and a half south-east from which, a brook, tumbling from a lofty mountain over several rocky precipices, forms a beautiful cascade termed White-Water Dash. Coal, freestone, limestone, and peat abound. A large fair for sheep is held on August 29th. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £17. 18. 1½.; net income, £151; patron, the Rev. Joseph Cape. The church was rebuilt by the parishioners in 1730. The free school, founded in 1726, has an endowment of about £47 per annum.

Uley (St. Giles)

ULEY (St. Giles), a parish, in the union of Dursley, Upper division of the hundred of Berkeley, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 2½ miles (E. by N.) from Dursley; containing 1713 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Berkeley to Stroud and Cheltenham, and comprises by measurement 1400 acres, of which 1100 are arable and pasture, and 300 woodland. It abounds with picturesque scenery. The manufacture of woollen-cloth was formerly carried on extensively, but has of late declined: an iron-foundry employs about fifty persons. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 3. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown: the tithes have been commuted for £240, and the glebe consists of 15 acres. The church is ancient. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans; and schools are supported by subscription. On an eminence north-west of the village, is an encampment called Uley-Bury, where various Roman coins have been found.

Ulgham

ULGHAM, a parochial chapelry, in the union, and E. division of the ward, of Morpeth, N. division of Northumberland, 5 miles (N. E. by N.) from Morpeth; containing 368 inhabitants. This place, in the charter of Henry I. granting right of free chase on it to the Merlay family, is called Elchamp: it was formerly, in part, the property of Newminster Abbey; and the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem also held some lands here. The chapelry is situated on the road from Morpeth to Warkworth, by Widdrington; and comprises about 3409 acres, the property of Earl Grey and the Earl of Carlisle. The soil in some parts, especially about the village, is gravelly and good, but a considerable portion is stiff and clayey, which, however, under proper management, is suitable to the growth of wheat and oats, alternated with clover and fallow. Some coal-mines were possessed here by Queen Elizabeth in 1600; coal is still found in the chapelry, on the bank of the river Line, and was wrought not very long since in the immediate vicinity. There is also a quarry of freestone. According to vulgar tradition, a market was once held at Ulgham, and the stump of an ancient cross, said to have been connected with a market, still remains in the centre of the village. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to the rectory of Morpeth: the tithes have been commuted for £307. The church is a plain modern edifice of stone, dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

Ullenhall

ULLENHALL, a chapelry, in the parish of Wootton-Wawen, union of Stratford, Henley division of the hundred of Barlichway, S. division of the county of Warwick, 2½ miles (N. W. by W.) from Henley-inArden; containing 461 inhabitants. The chapel is dedicated to St. Mary.

Ulleskelf

ULLESKELF, a township, in the parish of KirkbyWharfe, Upper division of the wapentake of Barkstone-Ash,W. riding of York, 4½ miles (S.E.) from Tadcaster; containing 491 inhabitants. It comprises 1260 acres, chiefly the property of John Shilleto, Esq., lord of the manor. The soil is generally fertile; the common was inclosed in 1838, and has been brought into cultivation. The village is pleasantly situated on the south side of the Wharfe, over which the York and NorthMidland railway is carried, by a viaduct of nine arches. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Ullesthorpe

ULLESTHORPE, a hamlet, in the parish of Claybrooke, union of Lutterworth, hundred of Guthlaxton, S. division of the county of Leicester, 3¼ miles (N. W.) from Lutterworth; containing 594 inhabitants. A station on the Midland railway is fixed here, in a very inconvenient position, on the top of a steep cutting. There are places of worship for Baptists and Independents. The sum of £11 per annum, arising from an allotmenc of four acres made in 1725, is distributed among the poor.

Ulley

ULLEY, a township, partly in the parish of Aston, but chiefly in that of Treeton, union of Rotherham, S. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 4½ miles (S. E. by S.) from Rotherham; containing 188 inhabitants. This place, called in Domesday book Olleie, was formerly possessed by the monks of Worksop, who are recorded to have owned the manor in the reign of Edward II.; after the Dissolution, the farm and grange appear to have passed to the Darcys, while the manor was in the Tempest family. The township borders on the district designated Hallamshire, and comprises about 900 acres of profitable land in good cultivation: the old Hall is now a farmhouse. Land and corn-rents were assigned to the rector of Treeton in lieu of tithes, in 1798.

Ullingswick

ULLINGSWICK, a parish, in the union of Bromyard, hundred of Broxash, county of Hereford, 5 miles (S. W.) from Bromyard; containing 320 inhabitants. The parish is situated at the source of a branch of the river Lugg, and comprises 1184 acres. The living is a rectory, with that of Little Cowarne annexed, valued in the king's books at £9, and in the gift of the Bishop of Hereford: the tithes of Ullingswick have been commuted for £195, and the glebe comprises 26 acres.

Ullock

ULLOCK, with Pardsey and Dean-Scales, a township, in the parish of Dean, union of Cockermouth, Allerdale ward above Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 5½ miles (S. W. by S.) from Cockermouth; containing 350 inhabitants.

Ulnes-Walton

ULNES-WALTON, a township, in the parish of Croston, union of Chorley, hundred of Leyland, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 5¼ miles (W. by N.) from Chorley; containing 477 inhabitants. The Molyneux family had a lease of this manor from Edward IV., by whom a moiety of it was afterwards granted to Thomas Walton. In the reign of Edward VI. the manor was transferred by the crown to Sir Anthony Brown, a justice of the common pleas, and a considerable trafficker in the confiscated property of religious houses. Various families afterwards held lands here. The township comprises 1986 acres, mostly in grass; the soil is of different qualities. The river Lostock passes through, as does the Liverpool, Ormskirk, and Preston railway. Lostock Brow, with 46 acres around it, is the property of Richard Norris, Esq. A national school was built in 1846; and two bequests of land and tenements, producing together about £40 per annum, are appropriated to the poor. At a farm called Gradwells, where, according to tradition, was a monkish cell, is an old cross, well preserved.

Ulpha

ULPHA, a chapelry, in the parish of Millom, union of Bootle, Allerdale ward above Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 9 miles (E. by S.) from Ravenglass; containing 375 inhabitants. The chapelry extends along the western bank of the river Duddon to the mountains Hard-Knot and Wrynose, in which direction is a stone marking the boundaries of Cumberland, Lancashire, and Westmorland. A Roman road crosses both these mountains; and about half way up the former are the remains of Hard-Knot Castle, a fortress anciently of great importance, the period of whose erection is involved in much obscurity. There are quarries of excellent blue slate, of which about 1400 tons are annually raised; copper-mines were formerly worked, and zinc is known to exist. The coppices with which the district abounds produce a large supply of wood for making hoops and bobbins, the former disposed of at Liverpool, and the latter to the manufacturers of cotton, woollen, linen, and silk in other towns. A fair for sheep is held on the first Monday in Septemter, and there are others on the Monday before Easter and on July 9th, formerly for cloth and yarn, but now only resorted to for pleasure. Ulpha Hall, which bears marks of high antiquity, has been converted into a farmhouse. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £49 per annum; patron, the Vicar of Millom. The chapel is dedicated to St. John. Here is a place of worship for Baptists.

Ulpha, with Methop.—See Methop.

ULPHA, with Methop.—See Methop.

Ulrome

ULROME, a chapelry, in the union of Bridlington, partly in the parish of Barmston, but chiefly in that of Skipsea, N. division of the wapentake of Holderness, E. riding of York, 8 miles (S.) from Bridlington, and 6 (N. N. W.) from Hornsea; containing 157 inhabitants. The village gave name to a family of note who were lords of Ulrome for several centuries, and who occur as parties or witnesses in charters of a very early date; among other landowners here were the priors of Bridlington and Nunkeeling. The chapelry is bounded on the east by the sea, and comprises 3000 acres, chiefly arable: the commons, about 1200 acres, were inclosed in 1765. The village is situated on rising ground, and consists of scattered houses, being nearly a mile in length. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued in the king's books at £3. 19. 2.; net income, £68; patrons, the Executors of J. Lockwood, Esq.; impropriator, the Rev. John W. Bower. The incumbent has a glebe of 22 acres; 57 acres are held by the impropriator, in lieu of corn-tithes, with an annual payment of £25; and the rector of Barmston has 74 acres, with a payment of £19. The chapel, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a very ancient edifice, with modern alterations; the interior is of rude and primitive appearance.

Ulting (All Saints)

ULTING (All Saints), a parish, in the union and hundred of Witham, N. division of Essex, 4½ miles (S. S. W.) from Witham; containing 150 inhabitants. This parish, which is bounded on the south by the river Chelmer, is about six miles in circumference; the soil is generally fertile, and well cultivated. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 4. 2., and in the gift of Miss M. H. Bailey: the great tithes have been commuted for £187.17., and the vicarial for £164. 12. The church is a small stone edifice, with a turret of wood surmounted by a shingled spire, and is beautifully situated near the river.

Ulverscroft

ULVERSCROFT, an extra-parochial liberty, in the union of Barrow-upon-Soar, hundred of West Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 6 miles (W. by S.) from Mountsorrel; containing 146 inhabitants. This place lies on the borders of Charnwood Forest, its houses being mostly scattered in a picturesque dale bounded on the east by the rocky hills of the forest, and on the west by those of Bardon. It comprises about 1000 acres of land. Here are the ruins of a church that belonged to an Augustine priory dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, founded by Robert Blanchmains, Earl of Leicester, in the reign of Henry II., and having at the Dissolution a revenue of £101. 3. 10.

Ulverston (St. Mary)

ULVERSTON (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster; containing, with the townships of Mansriggs, Osmotherley, and Subberthwaite, and the chapelries of Blawith, Church-Conistone, Egtonwith Newland, Lowick, and Torver, 8778 inhabitants, of whom 5352 are in the town, 22 miles (N. W.) from Lancaster, and 271 (N. W. by N.) from London. This place derives its name, written in old records Olvestonam, from Ulpha, a Saxon lord; and was conferred in 1127, on the abbey of Furness, by Stephen, afterwards King of England. It was subsequently granted to Gilbert, who had succeeded to the barony of Kendal, and who released the inhabitants from their state of feudalism, bestowing upon them a charter, which was augmented and confirmed by his successors. The manor afterwards reverted to the crown; and being, in 1609, divided into moieties, was eventually purchased in 1736, by the Duke of Montagu, for £490, and is at present vested in the Duke of Buccleuch. A charter was obtained from Edward I., for a market and an annual fair; but it. continued to be merely nominal until the dissolution of Furness Abbey, near Dalton, the capital of that district, from which event the prosperity of Ulverston may be dated.

The town is pleasantly situated near the beautiful bay of Morecambe, and is nearly environed by hills: the streets form principal lines, and within the last few years have been lighted with gas. Good water is in abundance, a stream flowing through the town; the celebrated spring called the Lightburn, remarkable for its purity, contributes to the supply, and water is always found at a depth of about 20 feet, under a bed of gravel. The air is salubrious, the inhabitants very healthy, and remarkable for longevity, a fact evidenced in the RegistrarGeneral's reports. There are a theatre, an assemblyroom, and a subscription library containing 5000 volumes, many of them standard works; also a parochial, a clerical, and a circulating library; and, besides other institutions, a banking-house and a savings' bank. The market-place occupies a central position at the junction of streets from the north, south, east, and west. The peninsular situation of the town led to the appointment of mounted guides to direct travellers across the Sands, who were paid by government to be in attendance from sunrise to sunset, while the channel was fordable; but this arrangement has been partially superseded by the construction of a road to Carnforth, under an act of parliament.

The prevailing branches of manufacture are those of cotton, linen, check, canvass for sails, sacking, candlewicks, hats, axes, adzes, spades, hoes, and sickles. The chief articles of export, in addition to some of the above, are iron and copper ores, pig and bar iron of the finest quality, the best blue and green slates, and limestone, wool, grain, butter, gunpowder, leather, hoops, basketrods, baskets called swills, crate and wheel-spoke wood, and oak and larch poles: these are principally sent coastwise, the intercourse with foreign countries being limited. There is a yard for ship-building, and the aggregate registry of ships belonging to the place is nearly 3000 tons; four or five vessels are employed in the American timber trade. Ulverston is a port within the port of Lancaster, and is little more than a mile distant from the Furness channel in Morecambe bay. In 1793 an act was obtained for making a canal one mile and a quarter in length, which opens a communication with the bay, and by means of which ships of 400 tons' burthen are safely moored in a capacious basin with extensive wharfs, and can discharge their cargoes close to the town. In 1846 an act was passed for extending the Furness railway to Ulverston. The market, granted to Roger de Lancaster in the 8th of Edward I., is on Thursday; and fairs are held on the Tuesday before Easter Sunday, on Whit-Thursday, October 7th, the first Thursday after Oct. 23rd, and, for horses, on the Tuesday preceding the first full week in January. Manorial courts leet and baron take place on the Monday next after Oct. 24th. The petty-sessions, and the meetings of the guardians of the poor, for Lonsdale north of the Sands, are held here on Thursdays weekly. The powers of the county debt-court of Ulverston, established in 1847, extend over part of the registrationdistrict of Ulverston. The parish, which was anciently included in the parish of Dalton, comprises by computation 32,640 acres, whereof about one-third is arable, and the remainder pasture, wood, and peat or moss land; the extent of ground between the north and south extremities is eighteen or nineteen miles, and the greatest breadth about three miles.

The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £149, derived from land; patron and impropriator, T. R. G. Braddyll, Esq. The whole parish is free from the great tithes of corn and hay. The church is situated on the northern side of the town, on rising ground commanding a beautiful prospect: a Norman doorway and the tower are the only portions of the original church, the present edifice having been built in 1804. It contains a fine altar-piece, the Entombment of Christ, copied from Vandyke's picture in the Borghese Palace at Rome by Ghirardi, and presented by Mr. Braddyll: there is also a good organ by England. Trinity church was completed in 1832 from the designs of A. Salvin, Esq., of London, at a cost of £5301, and is in the early English style: the painting which adorns the altar of this edifice was also the gift of Mr. Braddyll, and is a copy, by the same artist, of the Crucifixion, by Guido, in the church of St. Lorenzo di Lucina at Rome. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Mr. Braddyll, with a net income of £143, derived from pew-rents. In the rural parts of the parish are five separate incumbencies. The Independents, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics have places of worship; and Sunday schools in connexion both with the churches and meetinghouses afford religious instruction to a large number of children. There are, besides, auxiliaries of the Christian Knowledge, the British and Foreign Bible, the Gospel Propagation, the Church Missionary, and London and Wesleyan Missionary, Societies.

Among the places of interest in the immediate vicinity is Conishead Priory, the seat of the Braddyll family. This splendid mansion occupies the site of a monastery founded by Gamel de Pennington for Black canons, and the revenue of which at the Dissolution was £124. 2. 1.: the conventual building was then dismantled, and the materials were sold for £333. 6. 3½. Some remains of the cemetery, pillars of the transepts, the foundation walls of the church, with several skeletons, were discovered in 1823, when preparing the site for the present building. The mansion is in the early English style, in an extensive park, with gardens exquisitely laid out, and terraces 858 feet in length: the entrance hall is 61 feet long, with painted windows of great beauty, and adorned with suits of armour; the other apartments are fitted up in a style of luxurious elegance, and contain some fine pictures. Also, may be mentioned, Bardsea Hall, a good specimen of a Swiss villa; Chapel Island, on the Sands; the bold promontory or headland, The Hoad, whence a good general view is obtained of the town and the surrounding country; and Swarthmoor Hall, in which George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, resided, now in a dilapidated condition. His study and bedroom here are objects of great curiosity; in the latter is a substantial antique bedstead with carved posts, on which he used to repose, and which any of his followers, it is said, are permitted to occupy for a night. The Friends' meeting-house near Swarthmoor Hall is a plain structure: over the doorway is the inscription "Ex dono G. F. 1688." This was one of the first meetinghouses erected for the Society, and was a gift from George Fox himself, as the inscription imports. Richard de Ulverston, a monk of considerable eminence, and author of a work entitled Articles of Faith, was born at Ulverston in 1434.

Underbarrow

UNDERBARROW, a chapelry, in the parish, union, and ward of Kendal, county of Westmorland, 2¾ miles (W.) from Kendal; containing, with Bradley-Field, 515 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £92; patron, the Vicar of Kendal.

Undermilbeck

UNDERMILBECK, a township, in the parish of Windermere, union and ward of Kendal, county of Westmorland, 8 miles (W. by N.) from Kendal; containing, with the chapelry of Winster, 1033 inhabitants. The tithes have been commuted for £12 per annum, and there is some glebe land. A school is supported by endowment.

Under-Skiddaw

UNDER-SKIDDAW, a township, m the parish of Crosthwaite, union of Cockermouth, Allerdale ward below Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 6 miles (N. N. W.) from Keswick; containing 549 inhabitants. A school is supported by donations amounting to nearly £100 a year; and a handsome school-house has been erected at High Hill, in the township, at the expense of James Stanger, Esq., in which girls are taught on the national system.

Underwood

UNDERWOOD, with Offcoat, a liberty, in the parish of Ashbourn, hundred of Wirksworth, S. division of Derbyshire; with 344 inhabitants.

Underwood

UNDERWOOD, a hamlet, in the parish of Selston, union of Basford, N. division of the wapentake of Broxtow and of the county of Nottingham; containing 412 inhabitants.

Undy

UNDY, a parish, in the union of Chepstow, division of Christchurch, hundred of Caldicot, county of Monmouth, 8½ miles (W. S. W.) from Chepstow; containing 317 inhabitants. It is bounded on the south by the Bristol Channel, and comprises 1726a. lr. 4p., of which 329 acres are common or waste. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 10. 7½.; the patronage and appropriation belong to the Dean and Chapter of Llandaff. The great tithes have been commuted for £150, and those of the vicar for £140; the appropriate glebe consists of 52 acres, and the vicarial of 4 acres, with a parsonage-house. The church is in the early English style, and consists of a nave and chancel, with a square tower rising from between them.

Unstone

UNSTONE, a township, in the parish of Dronfield, union of Chesterfield, hundred of Scarsdale, N. division of the county of Derby, 4 miles (N. by W.) from Chesterfield; containing 688 inhabitants. A school has an endowment of £16 per annum.

Unsworth

UNSWORTH, a hamlet, in the township of Pilkington, parish of Prestwich cum Oldham, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 3 miles (S. S. E.) from Bury, on the road to Manchester; containing 826 inhabitants. It forms the eastern part of Pilkington township, and comprises 972 acres, of which three-fourths are arable land: the soil was mostly boggy, but extensive drainage has been for some time in operation. The population is employed in cotton-mills, print-works, and bleach-grounds; and in agriculture. Unsworth is the head of a chapelry, of much larger extent than the hamlet, and which includes part of the parish of Middleton. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector of Prestwich; net income, £150, with a parsonage-house, built in 1846. The chapel, dedicated to St. George, was consecrated in Nov. 1730, the site being given by the then Earl of Derby: it was rebuilt in 1843, at a cost of £1500, raised mainly by subscription; the interior is very neat and commodious. There are places of worship for dissenters; and excellent schools. James Lancaster, in 1737, left property now producing £12. 12. a year, for teaching children.

Unthank

UNTHANK, a township, in the parish of Skelton, poor-law union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 5½ miles (N. W.) from Penrith; containing 228 inhabitants.

Unthank

UNTHANK, a township, in the parish of Alnham, union of Rothbury, N. division of Coquetdale ward and of Northumberland, 8¼ miles (N. N. E.) from Rothbury; containing 22 inhabitants. It is on the river Aln, which passes on the north, and separates it from Prendick. In the reign of Elizabeth, it belonged to a family named Unthank. The Hall, now designated Collingwood House, is pleasantly seated near the river.