Blindbothel
Is a small parish of 1,226 acres, within
Derwent ward and petty sessional division; the county court district of Cockermouth and
Workington; the electoral division of Brigham; and the union and rural district of
Cockermouth. The ratable value of the land is £902, of the buildings £297, and gross
rental £1,332. For ecclesiastical purposes Blindbothel is included in Brigham Parish. The
inhabitants, who in 1891 numbered 75, live in houses scattered over the parish, and are
chiefly engaged in agriculture. The manorial rights have descended, with the other
possessions of the lords of Egremont, to Lord Leconfield, who is also lord paramount of
the ancient land, which is freehold, and subject only to a peppercorn rent. In an
inquisition, taken in 1578, the following are named as landowners in the township: William
Fawick, William Fearon, John Fletcher, Robert Yoward, the heirs of Cuthbert Nicholson,
John Nicholson, Miles Pearson, the heirs of Matthew Addison, Thomas Head, Christopher
Wilkinson, and John Fearon. The largest owners of the soil at present are Lord Leconfield;
Colonel F.R. Sewell, Brandling Gill; Robinson Mitchell, High Dyke; H.P. Senhouse, Esq.,
Netherhall; Messrs. Nicholson, Liverpool; John Norman, Cockermouth; Mrs. Nicholson,
Flimby; and William Parkin, Southwaite Hall. The village school is endowed with 20 acres
of land, which were allotted to it when the Blindbothel and Eaglesfield commons were
enclosed in 1818, for the education of the poor children of both townships. It is locally
known as Paddle School, and a melancholy interest attaches to it through the sad death of
Draper Saul, who, after teaching here for fifty years, terminated his life by suicide in
the river Cocker in 1864. At the time of the enclosure the Earl of Lonsdale also received
264 acres in lieu of the tithes of these townships. At a place called Green Trees, in this
parish, was born in 1657, James Dickinson, who was one of the earliest propagators of the
doctrines of the Society of Friends in this neighbourhood. A new bridge was built across
the Cocker at Southwaite Mill in 1890, by the Cockermouth Highway Board.
Bulmer's History & Directory Of Cumberland, 1901
30 July 2006
© Steve Bulman