Crosby Garret1 Parish

 

Is situated between the river Eden and Crosby Fell2, and consists of the two detached townships of Crosby Garret and Little Musgrave, lying on each side of the chapelry of Soulby, which is in Kirkby-Stephen parish. Crosby Fell is a lofty green eminence, at the south west end of the parish, below which the soil is a fertile loam resting on clay.

CROSBY GARRET village lies in a deep secluded vale, at the foot of Crosby Fell, three and a half miles W. by N. of Kirkby-Stephen. It was formerly written Crosby Gerard, which signifies the cross town, or village of Gerard, the name doubtless of one of its ancient owners. The manor, however, was held by the family of Soulby, so early as the year 1296, and was in the possession of the Musgraves in 1314, from whom after several generations, it passed by marriage to the Davisons, by whom it was sold to John Gate, of Whitehaven, who devised it to the Rev. Wm. Bird, whose grandson of the same name, sold both the manor and advowson, (which seem to have been inseparable from the earliest period), for a term of three lives, and they are at present held by William Crawford, Esq. "Within the manor are about forty tenements, of which a few are freehold, and the rest customary, some by indenture, at an 18d. fine, and others arbitrary." The rateable value of the parish is £1,247.

The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, stands on a steep eminence on the north side of the village, and is an ancient Gothic fabric, consisting of a nave, side aisles, and chancel, the latter of which is kept in repair by the successive lords of the manor. The benefice is a rectory, valued in the king's book, at £19. 4s. 4½d., and certified at £47. 2s. 6d., to the governors of Queen Anne's bounty, who subsequently gave for its augmentation, £200, which sum, together with £200 given by the Rev. James Bird, was laid out in the purchase of a piece of land near the church. A modus of twelve guineas a year was formerly paid in lieu of the hay and corn tithes of Crosby
Garret, and £5 for those of Little Musgrave; but the whole of the tithes of this parish have lately been commuted for an annual rent charge of £88 14s., besides which the rector has about seventy-four acres of glebe, and a good house and gardens &c.

The Rev. Mark Newby, M.A., the present rector, was collated by the bishop in 1831.

Here is an Independent Chapel created in 1815, by Mr. Geo. Greenwood, and now under the the ministry of the Rev. Waller Matchison, who also officiates at Ravenstonedale.

The School, is endowed with about £10 a year, arising from various benefactions. The poor have the interest of £50 left in 1822, by the Rev. William Bird.

LITTLE MUSGRAVE is a small village and township, partly surrounded by the Eden, which separates it from Great Musgrave parish, and is distant three miles and a half N.E. of Crosby Garret, and two miles and a half S.W. by W. of Brough. It forms a manor which has all along belonged to the Musgrave family. (See Great Musgrave.) Rateable value £529.

 

Mannix & Co.,History, Topography and Directory of Westmorland, 1851


 
 

Notes

1. Now Crosby Garrett.
2. Now Crosby Garrett Fell.


29 April 2008

© Steve Bulman