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Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.380
[under]taking, was affixed into the third pier in the south
aisle, on which is engraved the following record:-
"On the 22nd day of June, 1844, a faculty was granted in the
consistry court at Carlisle to the Rev. James Lynn, vicar of
Crosthwaite, and James Stanger, of Lairthwaite, esquire, for
the restoration of the chancel, the roof, and other portions
of this church, according to certain plans thereof
exhibited, and for the erection of a tomb and sculptured
monumental figure of the late Robert Southey, poet laureate,
in accordance with which faculty these restorations were
completed under the direction of George Gilbert Scott,
architect, and the church was re-opened for divine service
on the 3rd day of August, 1845, and the monument erected
A.D. 1846."
To a grave and recondite antiquary, this description of
Crosthwaite church, and the objects of interest connected
with it, will appear deficient in that fulness of
information which a sedulous research through our national
and diocesan archives alone can unfold. It is briefly
mentioned in some of those valuable records whose pages
illustrate the annals of our older churches. As such
documentary evidences however, besides lying beyond the
opportunities for research of the writer of these pages, are
chiefly of a statistical and financial nature, which, though
useful in themselves, would swell this sketch beyond
reasonable limits, they are omitted without more than this
concise allusion to their existence.
The vicarage house, seated upon an eminence between the
church and the town, commands that beautiful view of the
Lake of Derwentwater, and the surrounding mountain scenery,
with which the poet Gray, who visited this country in 1769,
was so much enraptured. "From hence," says he in those
delightful letters which were the medium of giving to his
fellow-countrymen the first familiar account of the romantic
loveliness of a region then so little frequented, "I got to
the parsonage a little before sunset. and saw a picture,
which if I could transmit it to you, and fix it in all the
softness of its colours, would fairly sell for one thousand
pounds." The point of view from which Gray beheld this
fascinating prospect was from the horsing stone which then
and for a long time after stood without the right hand side
of the garden gate, in front of the house. It was removed
several years ago, much to the regret of Mr. Southey, who
often used playfully to reflect on the little sympathetic
feeling shown in the destruction of a memorial so intimately
associated with the author of "The Elegy."
As this memoir of the venerable parish church of Crosthwaite
was in commencement graced with a quotation from one of the
most instructive works of that eminent writer whose spirit
pervades the scene, and every spot on which the eye can rest
is vocal with the associations of his life, so it cannot be
more fitly concluded than with another extract borrowed from
the same delightful book, after which, it would be sacrilege
to add one word more.
"I was walking alone in Howrah looking upon the church and
upon Skiddaw behind it, which was then in the glory of a
Midsummer sunset. The weight of time and eternity was on my
spirit; I had been also thinking of the change in human
institutions, a thought naturally connected with any
permanent monuments of nature or art. The shadows glide over
that mountain, and the clouds collect there, and the sun
glorifies it, as they did when the Druids performed their
rites within yonder circle of stones, when the Romans and
romanised Britons erected altars to Jupiter and
Belatucadrus, and when the Danes offered up victims to Thor
and Woden. The church too has undergone its changes. The
rood loft has disappeared; not a bell rings on Saint
Kentigern's Day, and not a trace of the saint remains in his
own parish. I was contemplating that church and yonder
mountain. Seven centuries have gone by since the church was
founded; and there Skiddaw has stood since the foundations
of the hills were laid. My years will presently be like a
tale that is told. These will remain; the one unchangeable,
the other, I trust, never to be changed in its destination
and uses, whatever renovations the structure may require."
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