Old Cumbria Gazetteer - St John, Ulpha

St John, Ulpha

St John's Church

Ulpha Church

locality:-

Ulpha

civil parish:-

Ulpha (formerly Cumberland)

county:-

Cumbria

locality type:-

church

coordinates:-

SD19809325

1Km square:-

SD1993

10Km square:-

SD19

references:-

: 2005: Diocese of Carlisle, Directory 2004/5

BNJ01.jpg (taken 14.3.2007)
photograph

BNJ02.jpg (taken 14.3.2007)

evidence:-

old map:- Saxton 1579
placename:- St Johns

source data:-

Map, hand coloured engraving, Westmorlandiae et Cumberlandiae Comitatus ie Westmorland and Cumberland, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, by Christopher Saxton, London, engraved by Augustinus Ryther, 1576, published 1579-1645.

Sax9SD19.jpg
Church, symbol for a parish or village, with a parish church. "Sct Johns"
item:- private collection : 2
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

probably old map:- Mercator 1595 (edn?)
placename:- St Johns

source data:-

Map, hand coloured engraving, Westmorlandia, Lancastria, Cestria etc, ie Westmorland, Lancashire, Cheshire etc, scale about 10.5 miles to 1 inch, by Gerard Mercator, Duisberg, Germany, 1595, edition 1613-16.

MER5CumG.jpg
"St. Johns"
circle
item:- Armitt Library : 2008.14.3
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Speed 1611 (Cmd)
placename:- St John's

source data:-

Map, hand coloured engraving, Cumberland and the Ancient Citie Carlile Described, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by John Speed, 1610, published by J Sudbury and George Humble, Popes Head Alley, London, 1611-12.

SP11SD28.jpg
"Sct. Johns"
circle, tower
item:- private collection : 16
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Jansson 1646
placename:- St Johns

source data:-

Map, hand coloured engraving, Cumbria and Westmoria, ie Cumberland and Westmorland, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, by John Jansson, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1646.

JAN3SD28.jpg
"S. Johns"
Buildings and tower.
item:- JandMN : 88
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Seller 1694 (Cmd)
placename:- St Johns

source data:-

Map, uncoloured engraving, Cumberland, scale about 12 miles to 1 inch, by John Seller, 1694.

click to enlarge
SEL9.jpg
"St. Johns"
circle, italic lowercase text; settlement or house
item:- Dove Cottage : 2007.38.89
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Morden 1695 (Cmd)
placename:- St Johns

source data:-

Map, uncoloured engraving, Cumberland, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Robert Morden, 1695, published by Abel Swale, the Unicorn, St Paul's Churchyard, Awnsham, and John Churchill, the Black Swan, Paternoster Row, London, 1695-1715.

MD12SD19.jpg
"St. Iohns"
Circle, building and tower.
item:- JandMN : 90
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Badeslade 1742
placename:- St Johns

source data:-

Map, uncoloured engraving, A Map of Cumberland North from London, scale about 11 miles to 1 inch, with descriptive text, by Thomas Badeslade, London, engraved and published by William Henry Toms, Union Court, Holborn, London, 1742.

click to enlarge
BD10.jpg
"St. Johns"
circle, italic lowercase text; village, hamlet or locality
item:- JandMN : 115
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Bowen and Kitchin 1760
placename:- St John's

source data:-

Map, hand coloured engraving, A New Map of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland Divided into their Respective Wards, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Emanuel Bowen and Thomas Kitchin et al, published by T Bowles, Robert Sayer, and John Bowles, London, 1760.

BO18SD18.jpg
"St. John's"
circle, tower
item:- Armitt Library : 2008.14.10
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Garnett 1850s-60s H

source data:-

Map of the English Lakes, in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, 1850s-60s.

GAR2SD29.jpg
cross, a church
item:- JandMN : 82.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old text:- Martineau 1855

source data:-

Guide book, A Complete Guide to the English Lakes, by Harriet Martineau, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Whittaker and Co, London, 1855; published 1855-76.

goto source
Page 108:- "... Some time since there was a blind "priest" settled there. One Sunday morning, the bell rang before the people were all ready; and especially the stoutest farmer in the neighbourhood, who, detained by some cow, pig; or sheep, entered the church last of all, "thunnerin' down"

goto source
Page 109:- "the aisle." "Wha's comin' now?" asked the blind priest; and, being informed by the clerk that it was John T---, he inquired further, "a-foot or a-horse-back?" ..."

evidence:-

old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s

source data:-

Photograph, black and white, St John's Church, Ulpha, Cumberland, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.

click to enlarge
HB0510.jpg
stamped at reverse:- "HERBERT BELL / Photographer / AMBLESIDE"
item:- Armitt Library : ALPS173
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s

source data:-

Photograph, b/w, St John's Church, Ulpha, Cumberland, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s?

click to enlarge
HB0298.jpg
item:- Armitt Library : ALPS657
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-

old map:- Nurse 1918

source data:-

Map, The Diocese of Carlisle, Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire North of the Sands, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Rev Euston J Nurse, published by Charles Thurnam and Sons, 11 English Street, Carlisle, Cumberland, 2nd edn 1939.

BNJ04.jpg The two bells.
(taken 14.3.2007)

evidence:-

database:- Listed Buildings 2010
placename:- Church of St John

source data:-

courtesy of English Heritage
"CHURCH OF ST JOHN / / / ULPHA / COPELAND / CUMBRIA / II[star] / 76285 / SD1980493246"

source data:-

courtesy of English Heritage
"Parish Church. Present building probably C17; later additions and alterations. Wet-dashed rubble. Graduated slate roof with stone copings and kneelers; gabled bellcote to west end. Single-cell plan. C20 gabled porch added at west end; plank inner door. East window probably C17, remaining windows later (C20?) insertions. Interior: 6 (original?) roof trusses. Remains of C17/C18 wall paintings, uncovered in 1934, include part of Queen Anne's coat-of-arms, text boards, and 2 oval memorials dated 1793. Original octagonal basin to font on C19 pillar and plinth."

sentences from scripture

incumbents:-

Muncaster, John	1693 -
Lewthaite, Thomas	1697 -
Brackenthwaite, Edward
Atkinson, Daniel	1705 -
Noble, C David	1725 -
Walker, Edward
Brocklebank, Thomas	1754 -
Nicholson, Clement	1757 -
Philipson, Christopher	1763 -
Hodgson, Hugh	1771 -
Brockbank, Richard	1775 -
Boulton John	1786 -
Tyson, Edward	1797 -
Myers, William	1800 -
Gaitskell, Isaac	1802 -
Walker, Jeremiah	1828 -
Kewley, William	1881 -
Whitaker, Charles	1897 -

sundial

BNJ05.jpg Painted memorial:-
"Miles Whinfield, / Nicholas Whinfield, / 1793." (taken 14.3.2007)
photograph

BNJ06.jpg Painted memorial:-
"S. Danson / 1793." (taken 14.3.2007)

BOR99.jpg Gravestone, just outside the door to St John's Church, Ulpha:-
"In Memory of / JAMES CROSBIE JENKINSON, / of Whitehaven, / Who perished on Birker Moor / during the "pelting of the pitiless / storm" on the 1st. of January 1826, / aged 17 Years. / ..." (taken 27.2.2008)
photograph

CFZ70.jpg Gravestone, James C Jenkinson, d.1826.
(taken 28.4.2017)
photograph

BOS03.jpg Sunset sky and trees, from the churchyard.
(taken 27.2.2008)

notes:-

The church was founded as a chapel of ease to Millom in or before the reign of Henry VIII, perhaps on this site. There was a restoration in 1934.

Simpson, B S Wignall: 1966 (edn) & 1950 (edn) & 1934: Mountain Chapelry in Cumbria &Dale Larnin

story:-

In the parish register is a brief history of the church at Ulpha, written by the incumbent, Jeremiah Walker, 1828-81:-

"Ulpha is a place or division of great antiquity. It had a Church or place of worship as early as the reign of Henry the Third. The Church or Chapel or Chantry originally stood at a place called Hall End. After the destruction of the Old Hall or Castle it was removed to its present site."

"There is a superstitious legend prevailing that although it stood during many Cent[u]ries & generations in its original position, but having fallen into a state of delapidation when it was found necessary that it should be rebuilt, the work could not be proceeded with, 'that whatever progress was made in the day the work was thrown down in the night & the materials taken to the place where the church now stands, &this was considered as a revelation from heaven.' So that the people removed it to its present situation. This took place about the end of the fourteenth century or the beginning of the fifteenth."

"There is no mention made of Ulpha or Ultima regio, the extremity of the County of Cumberland in the Liber Regis of William 1st Duke of Normandy. But after the dissolution of the Monasteries in the return made by Order of Henry VIII it is mentioned as of the annual value of Five Pounds (Vicarial Tithes Three Pounds fourteen shillings and eleven pence half-penny, & the remainder Offerings &Surplice Fees.)"

"The Registers or Ecclesiastical & Civil Memorandums & Records go as far back as the time of Elizabeth, when the Poor Law act was passed. Birker and Ulpha were united for the maintenance of their poor & continued so till about the commencement of the nineteenth century, when Birker ceased to have a Pauper. The Inhabitants of Birker used to attend Ulpha Church to receive the Sacrament, and provided or paid for half the wine &c. until the year 1856."

"The Registers were at first kept very irregularly and the Church most likely irregularly served, as the Stipend was so very small that no clergyman could afford to serve it. The Registers of Births and Deaths have been very regularly kept from the year 1703. But the Marriage Register has been neglected until the passing of the Act of Parliament to prevent clandestine marriages in the year 1753."

"Four grants of L200 each have been made from Queen Anne's Bounty for the augmentation of the Benefice."

hearsay:-

William Wordsworth:-

"The Kirk of Ulpha to the Pilgrim's eye is welcome as a star."

dedication

person:-

: St John the Baptist

place:-

Ulpha / Carlisle Diocese

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