Gents Mag 1849 part 1 p.252

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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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	-- (St Kentigern, Great Crosthwaite (GLASinc))

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