In Jollie gave a long description of Greystoke Castle. He had less to say about the village itself. ‘Greystock or Greystoke, the village which is the head of this parish, is pleasantly situated near the source of the river Petterill … near the south-east corner of the large and beautiful park in which stands Greystoke castle, a modern edifice, erected about 160 years ago by the Hon. Charles Howard, and greatly improved by his grandson, the late Duke of Norfolk, who bequeathed it and the barony to his nephew the Hon. Henry Howard, who now resides there. [There then follows a description of the castle and grounds] … Greystoke church is a spacious edifice, dedicated to St Andrew.’

It was largely an agricultural parish. The other main sources of employment were limestone quarrying and lime-burning particulalry in the nineteenth century. The medieval church was restored 1818.

Sources

William Parson and William White, History, Directory and Gazetteer of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds: Edward Baines and Son, 1829)

cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/greystoke

Threlkeld is an irregularly built village, situated on the Penrith road, 4½ miles E. by N. of Keswick, on the south side of the mountain of Saddleback, commanding a fine view up the vale of Wanthwaite …The chapel, though it is said to be the oldest in the diocese, is in good repair and dedicated to St Mary … A fair for sheep and cattle is held here on the first Thursday in September. The Towngate estate was purchased with several bequests by the overseers and churchwardens, and is now let for £16 10s a year, of which £4 is given to the school, £7 to the poor, and the remainder is expended for the benefit of the chapelry.

Sources

William Parson and William White, History, Directory and Gazetteer of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds: Edward Baines and Son, 1829)

Hutton John:  A small township with only three houses, 5½ miles W. by S. of Penrith … The hall is occupied by William Bateman, Esq. but belongs with the estate to Andrew Huddleston, Esq. now resident in the East Indies.

Hutton Soil township contains the village of Penruddock, and a number of scattered dwellings, 6 miles, W. by S. of Penrith. The Hon. Henry Howard is lord of the manor.

Sources

William Parson and William White, History, Directory and Gazetteer of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds: Edward Baines and Son, 1829)

Skelton Parish is about 5 miles long and 2 broad, and is bounded by Hutton, Newton Reigny, Greystock (sic), and Castle Sowerby parishes. The soil is cold and wet, rising from clay. The common, containing nearly 4000 acres, was enclosed in the year 1767 … Some of the farms are of customary tenure, and the rest are freeholds, held under Sir F. F. Vane, the Duke of Devonshire, and the Hon. Henry Howard, to whom the manorial rights belong … The parish contains three townships, of which the following forma an enumeration, with the number of inhabitants in 1801, 1811 and 1821.

Skelton is a neat compact village, pleasantly situated on an eminence, 6 miles, NW of Penrith. The church, dedicated to St Mary and St Michael, is an ancient structure, with a square tower. It was covered with blue slates and thoroughly repaired in 1794 … The Rev. Tovey Jolliffe (see separate entry) has enjoyed the rectory since 1791. The parish school was built in 1750 by Mr Isaac Miller, and in 1817 was endowed by the Rev. Nelson, late vicar of Riccall, in Yorkshire, with £1000 … Three benefaction, amounting to upwards of £6 a year, have been left to the poor. The whole parish is united for the maintenance of paupers.

Sources

William Parson and William White, History, Directory and Gazetteer of Cumberland and Westmorland (Leeds: Edward Baines and Son, 1829)

Jollie described Brampton as follows:

A market town, containing about 1300 inhabitants. No manufactory of much extent has hitherto been carried on here; but cotton and several other articles are manufactured here on a small scale. This town chiefly consists of one main street, which is tolerably built; and lately, some good houses, and a commodious inn, have been erected. Its principal support is the weekly market, which is well supplied with corn and other provisions. A public brewery, established several years ago, adds a little to its consequence and its population. The Earl of Carlisle has made a railed waggon-way from his collieries on Tisdale-fell to this town, which not only supplies the inhabitants with the necessary article of coal at a lower rate, but has tended to increase trade by inducing manufacturers to settle here … Brampton is distant from Carlisle 9½ miles.

The principal inns included the Howard Arms, where the post office was kept by a Mr Bell; the White Lion by Mrs Maxwell; and the Bush by Mrs Bell. Business, trades and occupations included a blacksmith, bookseller, braziers, breeches-maker, butcher, cabinet maker, china merchant, clock and watchmaker, clogger, cooper, currier, drapers, druggist, dyers, farmers, flax dresser, grocers, hair dresser, hatters, innkeepers, ironmongers, joiners, milliners, midwife, nail-makers, painter, parish clerk, saddlers, schoolmaster, boot and shoemakers, skinner, solicitor, spirit merchant, stay maker, surgeon, tallow chandlers, tanner, and whitesmith.

Pigot’s 1828-29 directory offers some additional information:

The town is long and straggling, of considerable antiquity … The working class here are chiefly employed in weaving checks, ginghams, &c for the manufacturing houses in Carlisle, and spinning and weaving for domestic uses. The church is a neat stone building, and has lately been repaired at considerable expense, when a square tower was added to it … Here are also three dissenting chapels and a hospital for six poor men … The market day is on Wednesday, which is well supplied with corn and provisions of all sorts, woollens, drapery, &c … In 1821 the population of the whole parish of Brampton was 2921 of which 2450 were in the township.

Francis Jollie, Cumberland Guide and Directory containing a descriptive tour through the county (Carlisle: F. Jollie and Sons, 1811)

Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory [Part 1: Cheshire – Northumberland] for 1828–29 (London and Manchester: J. Pigot and Co., 1828)

Dalston was described by Francis Jollie in 1811 as follows:

An extensive and well-built village on the banks of the Caldew; at the east end of the town is a cross raised on several steps, the pillar sculpted with the coat of arms of Bishop Kyte and others. This thriving village dates its rise from the late enterprising George Hodson, a gentleman who came from Manchester about 26 years ago, well skilled in every branch of the cotton business. He erected extensive cotton works here upon the Caldew for manufacturing calicoes, fustians, corduroys, velverets, &c dyeing and finishing the same; and also for spinning. The works are now carried on under the firm of Messrs. Hebson, Lamb, Foster and Waldie. Mr Watson, on the west side of the Caldew, has also a cotton-twist mill, and an iron-plating forge, where excellent articles are made; and a few years ago, Mr Hebson erected a cotton twist mill, on an extensive scale. This place is the residence of Mr Dugdale, a very ingenious mechanic.

Pigot’s 1829-29 directory states:

‘A village and parish is rather more than 4 miles from Carlisle and 17 from Penrith, pleasantly situated on the river Caldew, the stream of which is applied to working the machinery of three cotton mills, a flax mill and a flour mill: at a forge in this parish are made a great number of spades and other instruments of husbandry. There is a small market on Friday, for the sale of butcher’s meat, vegetables, &c. The population of the whole parish in 1821 was 2716, and of Dalston township about 1000 of that number.’

The population of Dalston was 2,120 in 1801. By 1831 it had increased  to 3,023. First cotton mill in the town was opened in 1782.

The parish workhouse was built in 1827.

Sources

Francis Jollie, Cumberland Guide and Directory containing a descriptive tour through the county (Carlisle: F. Jollie and Sons, 1811)

Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory [Part 1: Cheshire – Northumberland] for 1828–29 (London and Manchester: J. Pigot and Co., 1828)

cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/dalston

Writing in 1776, Thomas Pennant thought Whitehaven

is as populous as it is elegant, containing twelve thousand inhabitants, and has a hundred and ninety great ships belonging to it, mostly in the coal trade.

The tobacco trade is much declined: formerly about twenty thousand hogsheads were imported from Virginia, now scarce a fourth of that number; Glasgow having stolen that branch: but to make amends, another is carried on the West Indies, hats, printed lines, hams &c are sent. Last week was a melancholy and pernicious exportation of a hundred and fifty natives of Great Britain, forced from their natal soil, the low lands of Scotland, by the raise of rents, to seek an asylum on the other side of the Atlantic.

The workhouse is thinly inhabited; for few of the poor choose to enter. Those whom     necessity compels, are most usefully employed: with pleasure I observed old age, idiocy, and even infants of three years of age, contributing to their own support, by the pulling of oakum.

Sources

Thomas Pennant, A tour in Scotland, and voyage to the Hebrides; Part I (London: 1776)

Pigot’s 1828-29 directory records:

The village of Papcastle is about two miles from Cockermouth, in Bridekirk parish, very pleasantly situated on the banks of the Derwent, and has been much noticed by antiquarians on account of the great number of Roman vessels, coins &c which have been dug up in its vicinity. In 1821 about 400 persons composed its population.

Jollie noted that a large and commodious workhouse was built in 1743.

Sources

Francis Jollie, Cumberland Guide and Directory containing a descriptive tour through the county (Carlisle: F. Jollie and Sons, 1811)

Pigot and Co., National Commercial Directory [Part 1: Cheshire – Northumberland] for 1828–29 (London and Manchester: J. Pigot and Co., 1828)

The road [from Carlisle to Wigton] pretty good and the surface level; but nothing very much interesting occurs. The country, though not disagreeable, soon becomes wild and barren, but not without some fertile spots and pieces of woodland. This road affords us a tolerable extensive view. On the right is Moorhouse, the seat of Major Hodson, where Joseph Liddel, Esq. and several other gentlemen, had planted several extensive tracts of Scotch fir, which thrive well and enliven the face of the country … The intervening country, though not remarkable for its fertility, is well-cultivated, and shows some spaces of rich ground.

Wigton is seated on a most beautiful and healthy part of Cumberland, on a gravelly soils and southern aspect … and surrounded with rich cultivated lands, and valuable commons capable of great improvements. There are several handsome buildings in the town, and the streets are tolerably wide, and kept pretty neat around the market place. In 1788 a new and elegant church was built. Here is an hospital, founded in 1725, for six indigent widows of episcopal clergymen, well endowed. In 1788 was also built a meeting place for dissenters, of which there are several respectable families. The town also possesses an endowed school … and a parochial library belonging to the church. The former manufactures here were tow-cloth, osnaburghs, and coarse linens, striped checks and calicoes, and of late years fustians, muslins, ginghams &c have been introduced. But what has most contributed of late years to the population of the place is a manufactory of printed calicoes at Spittal, about a quarter of a mile from the town, established in 1790, by Messrs Brumell and Irving and now the property of Messrs Ferguson and Irving. There are also breweries belonging to Messrs Hodgson and Mr Skelton. This place is supplied with coal and lime from Bolton, about four miles distant.

Sources

Francis Jollie, Cumberland Guide and Directory containing a descriptive tour through the county (Carlisle: F. Jollie and Sons, 1811)