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Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.252
for the materials that might disclose the desired
information are not readily available, a chantry was founded
in this church, and endowed with lands and tenements for the
support of the priest appointed for the objects specifically
named in the instrument of foundation. It was dedicated to
Saint Mary Magdalene de Keswyke; and, from the circumstance
of the eastern end of the south aisle, which had been taken
for the pupose of this subsidiary institution, being also
used as the place of interment of the old Derwentwaters, and
adorned with their monuments, it is sufficiently probable
that it was founded by that ancient race. An attentive
observer of the fabric of the church may without difficulty
detect where such chantry was established, by the piscina at
the eastern extremity of the aisle, and by the head of the
Magdalen in stained-glass, in the east window, in a
head-dress of the fashion of the fifteenth century, still,
with benignant aspect, looking down upon the effigies of
those who, in the days of "the old faith," sought in their
prayers her intercession with the God of all comfort.
For the last century the external form of the church has
undergone little, if indeed until recently any, change. A
drawing in pencil of its appearance in 1745, with the
yew-trees that waved their sombre foliage over the low green
mounds beneath, was taken in that year, and is to be seen in
that interesting repository of the antiquities and natural
and artificial curiosities of the country, known as
Crosthwaite's Museum at Keswick. This drawing, made when he
was a mere youth, was the work of Mr. Peter Crosthwaite, the
founder of that institution, who died in 1808, after a
useful life, chiefly devoted to the careful, philosophical,
and antiquarian examination of a district whose native
productions and picturesque beauties he was one of the first
scientifically to investigate and point out for the guidance
of successive generations of admiring tourists. It is
interesting, as preserving the appearance of the edifice at
a period so far back, with those umbrageous ornaments of its
churchyard,
The warlike yew, with which, more than the lance,
The strong-arm'd English spirits conquer'd France.
"Those trees," says Mr. Southey, in a foot-note to the
"Colloquies," "were some of the oldest and finest yew-trees
in the country. The vicar of that day cut them down,
thinking the wood might serve to make a pew for the singers,
for which purpose it was found unserviceable when too late;
where-upon they were used as props for the gallery. One of
them grew beside the school-house, and was so large that an
old man more than fifty years ago told my excellent friend,
whose name I now write with regret as the late Sir George
Beaumont, he had seen all the boys, some forty in number,
perched at one time upon its boughs."
From 1745 to 1812 no change seems to have taken place in the
appearance of the church. In the last-mentioned year,
however, the old leaden roof, which had become full of holes
and crevices, through which the wind whistled at liberty,
and the rain found unchecked admittance, was stripped off
and sold, and a covering of slate substituted. About the
same date also much of the ancient stained glass that
formerly adorned the windows was found to have been removed
by the galzier, who, during a long course of years, acted
under orders to keep the windows in repair. Not being looked
after, he was in the practice of taking out bits of the
painted glass; so that in process of time he contrived to
carry away all except the figure of St. Anthony, the head of
Magdalen, and the Ratciffe arms; and with the pieces thus
abstracted he formed or covered a clock-case, which is in
the possession of some of his descendants, in a distant part
of the county.
Previous to 1829 the church had fallen into a state of great
dilapidation. The pews, roof, and other important portions,
hade become very defective, and in consequence it was found
necessary in that year to undertake what was deemed a
sufficient repair, in the execution of which the wooden bar,
painted red, which extended from the second pier on the
north side of the chancel to the second pier on the south
side, and formed a transverse division between the nave and
the chancel, was removed.
In 1841 damp and other atmospheric
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