Embleton

This parish is situated in a fertile valley, stretching east and west between Bassenthwaite Lake and Cockermouth, and girt on the north and south by hills, which afford excellent pasturage for sheep. It covers an area of 3,948 acres, which are rated at £5,117; and contains 376 inhabitants. The parish does not possess a village of its own name, but has the following hamlets - Beckhouse, Highside, Shatton, Stanger, and Stanley Hall. The district is purely agricultural.

Embleton was a parcel of the demesne of Allerdale-above-Derwent, in the time of Richard I, when it was given by Robert Courtney and Alice Romley, his wife, to Orme de Ireby, of High Ireby, in which family it continued till the reign of Edward III. It is now deemed a part of the manor of Derwent Fells, and is held by Lord Leconfield. The other principal landowners are Thomas Leithesley Lamplugh, W.L. Alexander, George Rydiard, Mrs., Miss, and W.L. Fletcher, E.H. Banks, Sir H. Vane, etc. The parish lies within the ward and petty sessional division of Derwent; the deanery and county court district of Cockermouth and Workington; the electoral division of Derwent Fells; and the poor law union and rural district of Cockermouth.

The Church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, stands in a cemetery, near Beckhouse hamlet, three miles S.S.W. of Cockermouth. It is a plain, but neat and substantial edifice, with bell turret and two bells, erected in 1806, upon the site of an older church, and restored in 1886, when a fine east window was inserted, and many other improvements made at a cost of £800. It will accommodate about 150 persons. The benefice, worth £125 a year, is styled a vicarage, and constitutes a distinct parish for all ecclesiastical purposes. It is in the gift of the Bishop of Carlisle. The Earl of Lonsdale is the impropriator of the tithes, which were commuted in 1841 for £190; they are now valued at £168. There is a day school for the two parishes of Embleton and Wythop, supported by a voluntary rate. It has an average attendance of 53.

The Vicarage was built in 1868, and enlarged in 1878. It is a pleasant and picturesque residence, with a fine view of Skiddaw and the Bassenthwaite lake and valley. This parish pays 6s. 8d. per annum out of the poor rates to the Grammar School at Cockermouth, in consideration of which sum any person belonging to Embleton may send his child to that school to learn Latin.

In a field near the hamlet of Stanger is a spring of water strongly impregnated with mineral salts, and said to be very efficacious in the cure of skin diseases. It is well known as Stanger Spa, and the water sold at 6d. per gallon, but it is now very little frequented.

CHARITIES. - There are two small charitable endowments attached to the parish; one of £5 per annum, left by Mr. John Coulthard for educational purposes, the other of £1 6s. per annum, left by Mrs. Lowther for the poor.

Bulmer's History & Directory Of Cumberland, 1901

30 July 2006

© Steve Bulman