Old Cumbria Gazetteer - St Augustine, Alston

St Augustine, Alston

St Augustine's Church

Alston Church

locality:-

Alston

civil parish:-

Alston Moor (formerly Cumberland)

county:-

Cumbria

locality type:-

church

coordinates:-

NY71834653

1Km square:-

NY7146

10Km square:-

NY74

CCL27.jpg (taken 20.2.2015)
photograph

BMI74.jpg (taken 7.7.2006)

evidence:-

old map:- OS County Series (Cmd 34 9)
placename:- St Augustine's Church

source data:-

Maps, County Series maps of Great Britain, scales 6 and 25 inches to 1 mile, published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton, Hampshire, from about 1863 to 1948.
"St Augustine's Ch. / (Vicarage) / Grave Yard"

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.

NUR1NY74.jpg
"ALSTON"
"... and Nenthead Parishes"
item:- JandMN : 27
Image © see bottom of page

hearsay:-

There is a gravestone of a cobbler, with a curious inscription:-

"My Cutting-board's to pieces spilt,
My Size-stick will no measure mete,
My rotten Last's turned into holes,
My blunted Knife cuts no more soles.
My Hammer's head's flown from the haft,
No more Saint Mondays with the craft,
My Nippers, Pincers, Stirrrup and Rag,
And all my Kit have got the Bag;
My Lapstone's broke, My Colour's o'er,
My Gum-glass froze, my Paste's no more,
My Heel's sew'd on, my Pegs are driven,
I hope I'm on the road to Heaven."

Bulmer 1880s

the Derwentwater clock

stained glass

kneelers; story of St Augustine

evidence:-

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

source data:-

courtesy of English Heritage
"CHURCH OF ST AUGUSTINE / / FRONT STREET / ALSTON MOOR / EDEN / CUMBRIA / II / 73112 / NY7183546536"

source data:-

courtesy of English Heritage
"Parish Church. 1870 by J.W. Walton, spire 1866 by G.D. Oliver replacing 1770 church by Smeaton on medieval site. Ashlar with plinth, buttresses and moulded eaves. Welsh slate roofs with apex crosses to stone copings. Nave with south aisle; lower chancel. South porch under offset 3-stage tower with corner pinnacles. Early English style with lancet and plate tracery windows, those to nave clerestory 3-light under segmental arches. Trumeau separates shouldered porch doors with marble nook shafts. Tympanum of Christ in Majesty. Interior: 4-bay nave has arcade of squat polished granite piers with foliate caps. 3-bay chancel with painted 5-panel reredos. East window designed by Wooldridge and made by Powell. Font in nave has round bowl on central stem with detached marble shafts. Derwentwater clock on west wall presented 1767 and restored 1978. Wrought-iron weather vane now inside, dated 1770."

evidence:-

database:- Listed Buildings 2010

source data:-

courtesy of English Heritage
"WALLS AND GATES TO ST AUGUSTINE'S CHURCHYARD ENTRANCE / / FRONT STREET / ALSTON MOOR / EDEN / CUMBRIA / II / 73113 / NY7182646501"

source data:-

courtesy of English Heritage
"Low walls of snecked rubble with chamfered coping. Rectangular gate piers of ashlar and coursed rubble have gabled caps with fleurs-de-lys moulded ridges; C20 wrought-iron lamps. C20 wooden gates have carved heraldic panels. Included for group value."

evidence:-

old print:- Wallace 1890

source data:-

Print, lithograph, Alston Church ie St Augustine's Church , from a photograph by T Bramwell, Alston, Cumberland, published by Mawson, Swan and Morgan, Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, 1890

click to enlarge
WC0203.jpg
Tipped in opposite p.62 in Alston Moor, its Pastoral People, its Mines and Miners.
printed at bottom:- "T. Bramwell / Photor. Alston / ALSTON CHURCH."
item:- private collection : 160.4
Image © see bottom of page

ring of bells

cross slab gravestones

incumbents:-

Galfrid	1154 -
Adam le clerk	1279 -
Gilbert	1285 -
Brengwenne, Hugh de	1292 -
Haucle, John de - Harcla, John de	1304 -
Poynton, William de	1308 -
Robert	1313 -
Melton, William de	1339 -
Kilvesey, Hugh de	1342 -
Waverton, John de	1362 -
Bridekirk, Thomas de	1366 -
Teasdale, John de	1396 -
Cokeden, John	1422 -
Lambert, William	1422 -
Hilton, Robert	1423 -
Fawell, Thomas	1436 -
Jackson, Robert	1451 -
Stephynson, Robert	1451 -
Ellison, John	1495 -
Graye, Thomas	1499 -
Stephaneson, D	1517 -
Hynmers, John	1536 -
Yates, Henry	1558 -
Watson, Anthony	1577 -
Tesdaile, William	1578 -
Nelson, John	1618 -
Young, Ralph	1624 -
Hill, Francis	1625 -
Troutbecke, George	1638 -
Fell, John	1662 -
Lee, John	1665 -
Stobert, William	1683 -
Walton, Nicholas	1696 -
Topping, JOhn	1728 -
Lancaster, Thomas	1756 -
Jackson, Benjamin	1790 -
Foster, William	1835 -
Beebee, Meyrick	1839 -
Salvin, Hugh	1841 -
Snowe, William Nash	1853 -
Baylee, William Cecil Pery	1862 -
Milner, John	1873 -
Bowman, Edward Lawson	1875 -
Rutherford, William Alan	1889 -
Oxland, William	1902 -

BRD21.jpg Organ.
(taken 25.7.2009)
photograph

BOK06.jpg Organ pipes.
(taken 9.7.2007)
photograph

BOK07.jpg Organ pipes.
(taken 9.7.2007)
photograph

BMI75.jpg The standard of the Alston Mountaineers, or Alston Rifle Volunteers.
Raised 1860; consolidated into 1st Cumberland Rifle Volunteers, 1880; became a volunteer battalion of the Border Regiment, 1881; etc.
(taken 7.7.2006)
photograph

BMI76.jpg Board recording grant aid:-
"The Incorporated Society for Building &Churches GRANTED L50 A.D. 1869, TOWARDS REBUILDING THIS CHURCH, ON CONDITION THAT ALL THE SITTINGS BE FREE AND SUBJECT TO ALLOTMENT BY THE CHURCH-WARDENS ACCORDING TO LAW." (taken 7.7.2006)

BMI71.jpg (taken 7.7.2006)
photograph

BMI72.jpg The coat of arms on the church gate are of the Royal Greenwich Hospital who had the Derwentwater estates confiscated after the 1745 rebellion. The incumbent used nearly always to be an ex Royal Navy chaplain.
(taken 7.7.2006)

notes:-

It is thought there might have been a saxon church here. The earliest record is of the appointment of Galfric/Galfrid as rector by Henry II, between 1154 and 1189, but there may have been rectors before.

At the visitation of the venerable John Sharp, Archdeacon of Newcastle, 1763, the church was in a ruinous condition. He ordered the churchwardens to busy themselves:-

"The weeds growing out of the walls to be plucked up.
The walls to be repaired and pointed where necessary.
The pavement repaired where deficient throughout the Church and chancel and made even.
The roof of both the Church and the chancel must be repaired, both in the lead and the timber.
All the pews in the Church and the gallery to be furnished with kneeling boards.
All the broken pews repaired."

but, overall, recommended pulling it down and rebuilding.

It was pulled down in 1769, and a new church built to designs of John Smeaton (well known for the 3rd Edystone Light). This church lasted only 100 years, it is suspected that the building was not done well. The present church was built 1869-70. The tower is not strong enough for change ringing with the 10 bells. A spire was added 1886.

: 1975 (etc): church leaflet

dedication

person:-

: St Augustine

place:-

Alston / Newcastle Diocese

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