Denton (Nether) Parish

  denton.jpg (40186 bytes)Lies on the south side of the Irthing, between Naworth and Upper Denton, containing 4530 acres, rated at £2555 8s., and 280 inhabitants, resident in 59 houses. It includes the small hamlet of Low Row, where there is a station for the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, four miles E. of Brampton. On the low side of the parish the soil is light and sandy, and on the south or high side, it is stronger, but of a cold and sterile nature. Mr. Housman says vast quantities of petrified marine shells are found, in a band of limestone, under freestone. The principal landowners of this parish are the earl of Carlisle, the Rev. Thomas Colbeck, Thomas Ramshay, Esq., and John Waugh, Esq.; and the former is lord of the manor, which is part of the barony of Gilsland. The customary tenants pay two years value and a heriot, on change of tenant, and a fine on the death of the lord. Denton is said to have derived its name from the Irish Dœn, signifying deep; and the Danes called it their Dæin town, villa in profundo. The Church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, is a small humble edifice. The benefice is a rectory, in the patronage of the bishop of Carlisle, and imcumbency of the Rev. Thomas Colbeck. It is valued in the king's books at £8 5s. 5d., but was augmented in 1761 with £200 from queen Anne's bounty, and £200 given by the dowager countess Gower; and was certified to the ecclesiastical commissioners as of the average value of £196 per annum. At the enclosure there were about 500 acres allotted, partly in lieu of tithes and partly by right of common. Robert, son of Bueth, granted the church to Wetheral priory, and after his death, it was given to that of Lanercost. Denton hall, now a modern farm house, was anciently the seat of the Dentons, who exchanged it for Warnel. Part of the old tower is still preserved, and is now used as a dairy: its walls are eight feet thick.

 

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

 

 
 

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Photo © Steve Bulman.


30 April 2008

© Steve Bulman