CROSTHWAITE † St Kentigern
½m/1km N.W. of Keswick
OS NY257242 GPS 54.6083N, 3.1512W
The present church, built on an ancient site, achieved its present form c. 1553, though it includes 14th-century arches. Twelve consecration crosses outside and nine inside were found in 1915. A recumbent white marble carving of the 19th-century Poet Laureate Robert Southey, by J. G. Lough, bears an epitaph written by William Wordsworth. The church was restored as part of the memorial to Southey by Sir George Gilbert Scott, and the Baptistry is a memorial to Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, Vicar here for 34 years, founder of the National Trust, lifelong friend of John Ruskin and mentor to a young Beatrix Potter.
DALTON-IN-FURNESS † St Mary
4m/6km N.E. of Barrow-in-Furness
OS SD225738 GPS 54.1549N, 3.1870W
By Paley & Austin, 1882–5, this is a spectacular Decorated sandstone church with large W. tower and jolly limestone diapering. The assymetrical interior has octagonal piers and a broad moulded chancel arch.
DEARHAM † St Mungo
Suburb, 2m/3km E. of Maryport
OS NY072363 GPS 54.7140N, 3.4413W
This is a 12th- and 13th-century church with a Pele tower used as a refuge during cross-border skirmishes with the Scots. Inside is a carved Norman font and copious Anglo-Danish sculpture, including the Kenneth Cross and the Adam Stone, both found during a late 19th-century restoration.
KENDAL: HOLY TRINITY – a fine array of Perpendicular windows stretch across the east end
GOSFORTH † St Mary
2m/3km N.E. of Seascale
OS NY072035 GPS 54.4193N, 3.4313W
A red sandstone church, St Mary’s was mostly rebuilt in the Decorated style in 1896–9. Inside are two 10th-century Norse hogback tombs, carved with battle scenes, and in the churchyard stands the wondrous Gosforth Cross, a soaring Anglo-Norse creation of the later 10th century. The cross is 14 ft in height; the lower part of its shaft is round and represents the ash tree Yggdrasil, which in Norse lore is the tree that supports the universe.
GRASMERE † St Oswald
3m/4km N.W. of Ambleside
OS NY337073 GPS 54.4575N, 3.0236W
Wordsworth and members of his family are buried in the churchyard, and Woolner’s monument to the poet is in the church. The rough, massive old church has a notable two-tier arcade, the upper dating from the 17th century. The resulting jungle of black beams is an object lesson in elementary building, ingenious and almost indescribable except by Wordsworth, who had a shot at most things, and declared that the roof was upheld: ‘By naked rafters intricately crossed / Like leafless underboughs, mid some thick grove / All withered by the depth of shade above.’ A curiously partisan feature of being the parish church for Grasmere, Rydal and Langdale is that each has its own separate entrance into the churchyard.
GREYSTOKE † St Andrew
5m/8km W. of Penrith
OS NY443307 GPS 54.6691N, 2.8646W
Made collegiate in 1382, the church is vast and gracious. The chancel arch is Early English, otherwise all mostly 15th-century. The tower and chancel were rebuilt in 1848. There are 20 canons’ stalls with interesting misericords and 15th-century glass in the the E. window. Of the Victorian glass, that by Kempe is the most interesting; on the W wall is a 20th-century figure of the crucified Christ by the Brazilian-born sculptress Josefina de Vasconcellos, whose work also adorns St Paul’s Cathedral in London, as well as Liverpool and Gloucester cathedrals.
ISEL: ST MICHAEL– the fabric of the church is largely Norman
ISEL † St Michael
4m/6km N.E. of Cockermouth
OS NY162333 GPS 54.6879N, 3.3008W
St Michael’s is a largely Norman church, with a 15th-century window bearing three sundials to mark the monastic hours. The chancel arch stonework is reminiscent (at a very small scale) of St Bees Priory. The Anglo-Danish cross shaft bearing the rare three-armed symbol known as the triskele, one of the earliest symbols found on Christian monuments, was stolen in 1986. The old church stands on the banks of the Derwent, and nearby is an ancient bridge of three arches, rebuilt in 1812. The church thankfully survived the catastrophic flooding of 2009.
KENDAL † Holy Trinity
Between Kirkland and river
OS SD516921 GPS 54.3225N, 2.7443W
This prosperous Perpendicular town church stands, nearly as broad as York Minster, above the River Kent, and is Cumbria’s largest parish church. Nothing is older than the 13th century here and most dates from the 15th century. Five aisles and 32 pillars create the impression of a walk through a stone forest. The 20th century is well served by Josefina de Vasconcellos’ moving sculpture The Family of Man, situated near the E. window of the northernmost aisle.
KIRKANDREWS-ON-ESK † St Andrew
1m/2km N. of Longtown, 8m/12km N. of Carlisle
OS NY391719 GPS 55.0386N, 2.9543W
In an attractive setting, St Andrew’s is an estate church of local red sandstone. It was built in fine style in 1776 by the Rev. Robert Graham of Netherby Hall, which the church overlooks across the River Esk. The interior was sensitively restored by Temple Moore in 1893, when the Italianate chancel screen, reredos and new organ were provided.
KIRKBY LONSDALE † St Mary the Virgin
14m/22km N.E. of Lancaster
OS SD611788 GPS 54.2037N, 2.5975W
Hidden behind Market Street in this enjoyable small town, the church is approached through 19th-century iron gates below an iron arch. In a lovely setting in the Lune Valley, the view from the churchyard is perhaps the finest in the county, praised by Ruskin, painted by Turner and endlessly satisfying. The church has been much modified since its days of Norman greatness from which, however, it retains S. and W. doorways. The latter is a fine example of late Norman work, recessed in four orders and much enriched with zigzags and other ornaments. In the N. arcade are three powerful early Norman piers and arches bearing Durham-style diapering. There is a charming six-sided pulpit of 1619, and, in the S. aisle, glass of Faith, Hope and Charity by Henry Holiday, who took over from Edward Burne-Jones as stained glass designer at Powell’s Glass Works when Burne-Jones left to work for Morris & Co.
LANERCOST PRIORY – it became a parish church in the 18th century, when the main surviving parts of the former priory were restored
KIRKBY STEPHEN † St Stephen
9m/15km S.E. of Appleby-in-Westmorland
OS NY775088 GPS 54.4742N,