Hutton-In-The-Forest Parish

  > Extends about four miles from north to south, and one and a half from east to west, contains the townships of Hutton and Thomas Close, 2300 acres of land, of the rateable value of £2342, and 264 inhabitants. "It possesses a good soil, incumbent on clay, and naturally fertile in grass. The south end is elevated and undulated, but the northern part of it is low and level. Thomas Close, the northern part of the parish, is freehold, and the rest is customary under Sir H. R. Vane, Bart., paying 20d. fine at the death of lord or tenant, and on alienation; except the small manor of Morton, which belongs to the duke of Devonshire." The commons were enclosed under the Act of 1803, for enclosing the forest of Inglewood.
 

Hutton township, comprises the hamlet of Hutton End, with the Hall; Church, and several scattered dwellings, five miles N.N.W. of Penrith. The manor of Hutton belonged as early as the reign of Edward I, to the family of De Hoton, who took their name from the place, and was held in capite by the service of maintaining the paling1 of the king's forest of Plumpton; and by holding the royal stirrup whilst the king mounted his horse at Carlisle Castle, and paying 33s. 4d. yearly, into the king's exchequer. The family who held by this tenure assumed the name of Hutton in Foresta. In 1605, Francis Hutton sold it to Sir Richard Fletcher, Knt., of Cockermouth, one of whose descendants, Sir Henry, was created a baronet by king Charles, in 1640, and was killed at the battle of Rawton-heath. in Cheshire, in 1645. The heiress of this family married Lionel Vane, of Long Newton, in the count of Durham, whose descendant, Sir Henry Ralph Vane, Bart., of Hutton Hall, is the present lord of the manor. He is only in his seventh year2, being born 17th January, 1830.
 

hutton_in_forest.jpg (24243 bytes)Hutton Hall, the seat of Sir Harry Ralph Vane, Bart., is a handsome mansion, standing on a fine eminence surrounded by richly cultivated lands and thriving plantations. The Church, which is near to the hall, was rebuilt in 1714, and is dedicated to St. James. The living is a rectory in the patronage of the dean and chapter of Carlisle, and incumbency of the Rev Wm. Sharpe, of Addingham, for whom the Rev. Wm. Whitelock officiates. It is valued in the king's books at £18 10s. 1d. but is now worth £123 per annum. The church, with one carucate of land at Hoton, was given to the priory of Saint Mary, Carlisle, by Robert de Vaux, and this grant was confirmed by Henry II and Edward II. The present edifice consists of a nave and chancel, with a bell turret, and in the interior are several mural monuments to the Vane and Fletcher families. There is in the churchyard, a grave stone for one of the ancient family of the Huttons, bearing a cross-florée, on one side of which is a bugle horn, and on the other, a shield charged with a crescent on a canton. There was formerly a chantry chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, at Bramura, in this parish, which was founded by Thomas de Capella, but having gone to decay, in 1361, a new chantry was founded in the church by Thomas de Hoton, who endowed it with 44 acres of land and six messuages, in addition to the lands formerly settled on the chantry at Bramura. After the dissolution of the chantries, it was granted by Edward VI to Thomas Brende and his heirs.
 

There were until lately at Upper Row, on Hutton Common, the vestiges of Collinson Castle, an ancient fortification about 100 yards square, with a ditch 30 feet wide, and a trench 4 feet deep. Several hand mill stones have been found here, but no record or tradition has yet pointed out the erection or demolition of the building. There is a tradition that Charles II drank of the well which is near this place, on his way through the parish, in 1651. Elfa hills are two singular ranges of gravel mounds in this parish, 25 yards high, and two furlongs in length. They are surrounded by a low and swampy ground, where many marks of trenches appear, and where quantities of human bones have been found. Two urns, filled with ashes were found in 1783, at Blencow bank. Hutton School was endowed, in 1715, by Thomas Fletcher, Esq., and others, with a messuage and lands in Marrwhins, which, with an allotment on the enclosure of Inglewood Forest, consist of 15 acres, now let for about £20 a year. Sir H. R. Vane, Bart. is trustee. John Dockray, who died in 1737, left 10s. a year to be distributed to the poor at Christmas.
 

Thomas Close, a hamlet and township, 8 miles N.N.W. of Penrith, is a manor, held under the duke of Devonshire. From the circumstance of human bones having been found here, it is conjectured that it was a burial Place for the soldiers.

 

 

Mannix & Whellan, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland, 1847

 

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Notes

1. "paling" - wooden fences.
2. "He is only in his seventh year, being born 17th January, 1830." - he was either seventeen, or was born in 1840, as the directory was published in 1847.

Photo © Steve Bulman.


19 June 2015

© Steve Bulman