Walton Parish

  Lies on the north side of the river Irthing, between Kingwater and Cambeck1 rivulet, which flows southward from Askerton; contains only 4150 acres, rated at £2768 10s., and a population of 440 souls. The best land is near Walton House, the seat of William Ponsonby Johnson, Esq. This beautiful mansion stands on a fine sloping bank, surrounded with groves and plantations, and within its extensive gardens and pleasure grounds are numerous remains of the Petriana2 of the Romans. The landowners are - W. P. Johnson, Esq., the Rev. Thomas Calvert, Joseph Dacre, Esq., and James Mounsey, Esq. The former is lord of the manor, which was purchased about 60 years ago, by his father; but the manors of Walton Wood and Troddermain belong to the earl of Carlisle, being in Lanercost parish. The former was anciently an extensive oak forest, demised to Lanercost Carleton, "containing, by estimation, about 250 acres." Walton parish is divided into the two townships of High Walton and Low Walton; the former of which contained, in 1841, 152, and the latter 288 inhabitants, resident in 87 houses, including the straggling village of Walton, three miles N. of Brampton.

The Church, which stands in the village, is a small neat edifice, with a chancel and porch; the latter built in 1843, at a cost of about £20, raised by subscription. It was formerly vicarial, but was appropriated to Lanercost priory, under the gift of Robert de Vallibus; Silvester de Eversden, bishop of Carlisle, settled thereon the whole altarage. Robert de Chester, the last vicar, was presented by the prior and convent of Lanercost, A.D. 1380; after whose death, till the dissolution, the church was served with a regular canon from that monastery. It is now only a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Joseph Dacre, Esq., the descendant of Sir Thomas Dacre, who received it, together with Lanercost, from Edward VI. In 1750, the living was only certified at £13 10s. per annum, but in 1767, it received an augmentation from queen Anne's bounty, with which land was purchased, now yielding £90 a year. In 1843, the tithes were commuted for a yearly rent charge of £216; viz., great tithes £186, and small do. £30; so that the living is now worth £120 a year, and is enjoyed by the Rev. Joseph Smith, who resides near the church, in a neat parsonage, erected in 1839, at a cost of about £550 - of which £200 was obtained from queen Anne's bounty, £100 given by Joseph Dacre, Esq., £100 by the incumbent, and the remainder raised by subscription. In the village is a School, endowed with £2 16s. a year, as the interest of £60 left by J. Boustead, Esq., for which four poor children of the parish receive gratuitous instruction. Here is also a Sunday School, founded by Mrs. Johnson, and now superintended by her daughters.

 

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

 

 
 

Notes

1. Kingwater and Cambeck are now King Water and Cam Beck.
2. Petriana is normally applied to the large fort at Stanwix, in Carlisle (although Uxelodunum is a suggested alternative). The fort near Walton is now known as Castlesteads, and was in Roman times known as Amboglanna, or Camboglanna.


30 April 2008

© Steve Bulman