Carlatton Parish

This is a civil parish and extra parochial district in the Eskdale ward and petty sessional division; Brampton union, county court, and rural districts; and Hayton electoral division. It is bounded by the parishes of Castle Carrock, Cumrew, Cumwhitton, and Hayton, and comprises 1,363 acres of land belonging to the Earl of Carlisle. The soil is light, uneven, and full of stones, but produces tolerable crops of wheat, barley, oats, etc. The district is purely agricultural, containing seven farmsteads and two cottages in which reside 75 inhabitants. The gross rental is £1,162; ratable value of land £857; add of buildings £184. It formerly possessed, through its extra parochial privilege, an exemption from poor rates, or more correctly speaking, it was liable only for the maintenance of its own poor, but it is now included in the Brampton union, and under the general assessment.

The Manor, in the reign of Henry II, was held by one Gospatrick, son of Mac-benock, whose Erse name betokens his Hibernian origin. The father, Mac-benock, was settled in Cumberland during the reign of Stephen, and took part with that king in his struggle with Matilda. After the death of Stephen and the accession of Henry II, Matilda's son, Gospatrick compounded with that king for his father's lands by a payment of fifty marks. We have no further record until the reign of King John, who granted the lands to one Robert de Ross. The manor appears to have reverted to the Crown in the following reign, and was given by Henry III to the kings of Scotland, with whom it remained until the revolt of Baliol, when it was seized by Edward I. It was afterwards granted by Richard II to Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland from whom it passed to the famous Earl of Warwick, "the King maker," who was slain at the battle of Barnet. Edward IV gave it to his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. It has since been held by lease under the Crown, the Earl of Carlisle being the present lessee.

Carlatton was anciently a parish in itself, and possessed of full parochial privileges, but where the church stood or why it was disused, there is nothing left to tell the story. It was given to the priory of Lanercost by Robert de Vallibus, or Vaux, and appropriated to that house by Bishop Halton. The last institution of a vicar recorded in the bishop's register occurred, in 1380 when one Richard Hogg was inducted.

The building, which had probably fallen into complete ruin long before the so called Reformation, is supposed to have been situated on the site now occupied by Hall's tenement. Several curiously carved stones have been there unearthed, notably one, bearing the name of a former incumbent, Henry de Newton, 1320.

Bulmer's History & Directory Of Cumberland, 1901

30 July 2006

© Steve Bulman