Old Cumbria Gazetteer - St Kentigern, Great Crosthwaite: GentsMag 1849 pp249-254


included in:-	St Kentigern, Great Crosthwaite
	St Kentigern, Great Crosthwaite: GentsMag 1849 pp249-254
evidence:-	old text:- Gents Mag
source data:-	Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922. goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.249 "CROSTHWAITE CHURCH, CUMBERLAND," "THE BURIAL-PLACE OF SOUTHEY." "Something in this aspiring world we need To keep our spirits lowly, To set within our hearts sweet thoughts and holy. 'Tis for this they stand, The old grey churches of our native land. - MARY HOWITT." "..." "In the second volume of "Sir Thomas More, or Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society," its learned author, whose residence in this charming vale has so strongly connected it with every classic remembrance of his age, in a brief notice of the church of Crosthwaite, assigns it an antiquity as far back as Norman times; and, in the story of its patron saint, he exhibits one of those fanciful creations of monastic romance which formerly received the meed of universal credence. "Alice de Romeli," says Southey, "heiress of Egremont and Skipton, who, in the reign of Stephen or his successor, married the Lord of Allerdale, is supposed to have been the person by whom it was founded and endowed, and who subsequently gave it to Fountains Abbey. It was soon after appropriated to that monastery, the collation being reserved to the Bishops of Carlisle. Wiliam Fitz Duncan, the husband of this Alice, was son to the Earl of Murray, and brother to David, King of Scotland; and this may perhaps explain why the church was dedicated to the Scotch saint, Kentigern, Bishop of Glasgow, and patron saint of that cathedral, a personage once high among the saints of that age, though now utterly forgotten here, in the parish where, during so many generations, his festival used to be celebrated on the thirteenth of January. Here followeth his legend, which hagiologists have related without scruple, and which"
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.250 "during many ages was believed without hesitation. The saint in question was, as the romance says of Merlin the son of the devil, a gentleman on his mother's side, his mother, Thermetes or Themis, being the daughter of King Lot of Lowthean and Okenay, a personage well known in the annals of the Round Table, by Anna, daughter to Uther Pendragon, and half-sister to King Arthur: a more illustrious stock could scarcely be found in chivalrous genealogy. The time of his birth has been fixed in 514; and, after living and flourishing in holiness and miracles, none of which, however, seem to have had any relation to, or been performed in, this parish, he died at the prodigious age of 185 years. ... When our calendar was purged at the Reformation, directions were given that respect should be had to saints of the blood royal. This must have been the chief reason why Saint Kentigern's name was inserted, though not in red letters, in the calendar prefixed to that liturgy which gave occasion to the Scottish covenant. Perhaps another motive was, that, as his other name, Mungo, had become not uncommon in Scotland, his memory, owing to that circumstance, might still have been popular. Yet we may reasonably wonder that any motives should have prevailed for its insertion, seeing how entirely fabulous the legend is in all its parts." Coinciding in this opinion, it is not therefore necessary to attach further consideration to a "legend," which, as the author just quoted has truly observed, "is a better word than history for such tales."" "..."
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.251 "..." "Lady Alice also bestowed much of her lands and goods upon the abbeys of Pomfret and Fountains, and upon other religious confraternities, Thus, among other donations, she gave the church at Crosthwaite to the last named institution; but though a supposition on the subject is hazarded by the luminous writer already quoted at length, the county historians are silent as to her being the foundress thereof, their narratives being merely to the effect that "the church of Crosthwaite was anciently rectorial, and was given to the abbey at Fountains by Alice de Romeli, and soon after made appropriate, the Bishop of Carlisle reserving to the see the right of collating a vicar."" "Leaving, however, the unrecorded era of its primary foundation involved in that historic doubt, which the absence of unimpeachable authority for elucidation renders obligatory, and passing over the long interval of nearly four hundred years posterior to the days of Lady Alice, the current of time flows onward to the epoch when the fabric, now standing, is supposed to have been built." "Dating its construction from an age, when, as Rickman says, "there prevailed a very rough mode of executing the details of the different styles in the north of England, and particularly with respect to the Perpendicular examples in this county," the edifice of which an account is here essayed is one of those old structures erected in the times of the last Henries, when strength and durability were regarded as important considerations, especially in those churches on the exposed frontier of Cumberland, which, until the union of the crowns, was continually re-echoing to the slogan of border warfare. It is a spacious fabric of very late and very poor Perpendicular architecture, mixed with some very trifling portions of preceding styles, and on whose ornate embellishment architectural taste has until recently, been but sparingly bestowed; the walls, which are coated with roughcast and whitewash (the parapets and battlements, and dressings of the doorways and windows being alone uncovered,) are thick, with buttresses, and a strong square tower at the west end, which imparts an air of dignity to the exterior. It stands on a slight elevation near the centre of the vale, about midway between the lakes of Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite, half a mile from the town, and somewhat further from the foot of Skiddaw. Apart from its associations, it is an object on which the eye rests with pleasure, and many a sketch-book will have preserved it, as one of the conspicuous features in a scene, second to none for the picturesque richness of landscape adornment." "..." "In some distant era, but at what exact period it is not easy to discover, -"
source data:-	goto source 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. ..." "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"
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.253 "inroads had again made hurtful attacks on the stability of the structure, and its general state of decay was such as to afford matter for serious consideration. The roof of 1812 had become infirm, and in danger of falling in; and the exterior walls likewise proclaimed it to be in a rapidly progressive state of decrepitude. The rude old pews and forms, which were placed in every variety of position, had become rickety with age. An ossuary, or charnel vault, filled to the top with the remains of mortality, occupied the west end of the north aisle. The mullions and glass in the windows were broken, and otherwise defective, in many places. The Derwentwater effigies, removed from their original situation, lay exposed to harmful treatment near the door at the principal entrance. The Lord's Table was a plain massive plank of oak, set on four equally unornamented legs; and the whole interior was deeply encrusted with the plastering and whitewash of centuries. The stone-seated porch was old and crazy. The door was of strong oaken plank, three inches thick, studded with iron nails, and braced with long strong hinges, both internally and externally, of the same material. Embedded in it were found several leaden balls; and there appeared marks in two or three places as if at some distant day it had been pierced with cannon shot, it being considered that nothing but a circular missile, projected with extreme force, could have cut holes so clean and round where the shot had struck and splintered on the inside, where, with exhausted impetus, they had torn the wood. Of the time in which such violence was committed record and hearsay are alike silent, leaving it to be surmised as not unlikely to have occurred during the disastrous epoch of the civil wars in the seventeenth century, when , it is known, even this retired district did not escape outrage from the conflict of parties." "Such was the condition and aspect of the church, when Mr. Stanger of Lairthwaite, a gentleman of wealth, returned to the parish, of which his forefathers had been inhabitants - induced by those pious impulses which in earlier ages urged the great and humble alike to contribute to the erection of religious houses, proposed to restore and embellish it, principally at his own expense. Like as unto the Holy David, to whom it appeared unseemly that the Ark of God should "remain under curtains" whilst he "dwelt in a house of cedar," Mr. Stanger lamented to behold the fabric sanctified in the affections of so many generations in such a state of dilapidation and decay; with a munificence therefore that might vie with the most earnest feelings of those zealous ages when men were not niggardly of their means to make the house of God worthy of the holy object for which it was designed, he resolved on its perfect renovation, and from thenceforth until its completion the undertaking was a principal subject of his thought and care." "Having obtained the consent of the parishioners, as well as the necessary ecclesiastical authorization, the commission of restoration was entrusted to Mr. George Gilbert Scott, an eminent architect, whose taste in church architecture is only equalled by his knowledge and skill; and from his designs the church has arisen to its present finished state of renewed beauty and adornment; the whole cost, with the exception of 400l. subscribed among the parishioners for the expense of the roof of the nave, being defrayed by Mr. Stanger." "The plans for the restoration having been decided upon, the first operation engaged in was to empty the charnel vault of the collection there heaped up of the relics of frail humanity, which were all carefully removed, and deposited in deep holes on the east side of the churchyard. The walls which separated this osseous receptacle from the nave and aisle were then taken down, and the space occupied thrown open to its pristine use. The singers' gallery, the pews, the altar-table and rails, the reading-desk and the pulpit, were taken away and sold; the last mentioned article, which was of oak elaborately carved, being bought for the chapel in Newlands. The flags were taken up, and the underlying earth, which for unnoted generations had been used as a place of sepulture, excavate, and transferred with all its contents - except the remains in the vaults of the families of Stephenson"
source data:-	goto source Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.254 "and Jackson, which were left undisturbed - to the same side of the cemetery where the bones from the charnel vault had been interred, and there covered deeply with fresh mould. In the progress of these cuttings, some old coins of silver, so worn as not to be deciphered, and a leaden coin of Stephen's reign, depositied in Crosthwaite's Museum, were discoverd near the west end of the nave. Numbers of small encaustic tiles about six inches square, and nearly an inch thick, of a deep red brick colour, inlaid with figures of yellowish white, and evidently once forming a decorative pavement, were also exhumed, at the east end of the north aisle of the chancel. When hollowing out that part of the ground at the east end of the south aisle of the chancel, regard was particularly bestowed upon it, under the impression that as the brasses commemorative of Sir John Ratcliffe and his lady rested on their tomb in that portion of the church, and where also the more ancient marble effigies of some of the earlier Derwentwaters had reposed before their removal, their burial vault, or at least some of their coffins might be found. However, after a careful sifting of the ground to the depth of four feet, nothing was brought to light beyond a quantity of bones, which were also consigned to the churchyard, and the small piscina of the chantry in the south wall, now concealed under a seat. The dilapidated porch and time-worn oaken doors were taken down, and the latter burned. The heads of Saint Anthony and Mary Magdalen, and the Ratcliffe arms in stained glass, the only remnants left of the ancient fenestral decoration, were likewise carefully displaced." "A correct drawing of the large east window was made, which threreupon, together with a considerable portion of the adjoining wall, was entirely broken away previous to its reconstruction. The roofs of the nave, chancel, and aisles were stripped off, and the piers, arches, walls, and mullions of the windows denuded of their plaster and whitewash." "Here it may be mentioned, that on the occasion of putting up in 1839 on the flank wall of the north aisle of the chancel, between the first and second wiindows from the east end, the white marble mural tablet to the memory of Lieut.-Gen. Peachey, of Derwent Island, a painting on an inner coat of plaster, of a circular form, and aboout eighteen inches in diameter, was revealed underneath the space now occupied by that obituary memorial. It was composed of a series of rings or concentric circles, each being about an inch broad; the outer one was coloured black, the second red, and the third yellow; the centre was white, and painted thereon in black letters and figures of the old character, were on different lines the words "and," "my," "thy," with, on a line below, the numerals "191," which were all that were legible. Investigation has not elicited anything satisfactory relative to the purport of this inscription, though it has been assumed to have reference to the era of the building of the Norman church; but a conjecture nearer to its true intention may be hazarded, that it had regard not to the foundation, but was a portion of one of those texts of scripture, which in Edward the Sixth's time were by the 82nd canon ordered to be painted upon the walls of churches." "A low semi-circular arched doorway, supposed to have been used in Roman Catholic times as an entrance through which penitents were admitted, and which was supposed to have been walled up at the Reformation, was under the same process of denudation exposed to view near the west end of the flank wall of the north aisle of the nave. The was also uncovered on the stone frame-work on the left-hand of each of the windows a carved circle about four inches in diameter; containing a cross within, and which figure was likewise found on the stone dressings on the left-hand side of each window on the exterior." "All things being thus prepared, the renaiscence of the whole structure commenced, and continued in a style designed to harmonise in wall and window, roof and pillar, glass and carvings, as nearly as possible, consistent with arrangements of a reformed place of worship, to the style of the latter end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century, the era when the present edifice is supposed to have been erected."

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