Bewcastle Heritage Society

Information about Bewcastle parish itself can be found on the GENUKI page for the village; here information is provided about a group dedicated to preserving its heritage.

Purpose

The Society was founded to capture and preserve some of the history and culture of the parish before it is lost. In stating the various subjects of interest to the Society, the listing should not be taken to restrict the interests, but rather should be viewed very broadly, including any subject of interest or value to knowing the history, people and personality of Bewcastle.

Activities

We hold monthly meetings, usually within the parish and include interesting outings during the summer months. Anyone with an interest in the parish is welcome at our meetings or as a member. Details of meetings are on the Parish Newsletter on the village website.

Publications

The Bewcastle Journal is published twice yearly, containing a collection of local articles compiled by the Society, recording information about the parish that may otherwise be lost. Recent articles have included genealogies of the Story, Nixon and Armstrong families, data from the 1604 survey of the manor, excerpts from the Church Warden's accounts, and Memories of Pipehead and Maggie.

Also available are a poster of the crests of local families, additional literature and back issues of the Journal.

A Society member and Bewcastle historian transcribed the early parish registers of the Church of England for Bewcastle and those of the Presbyterian chapel in the parish. Having recorded the relevant information from the original registers, he then indexed by full names and also by place-name, providing an invaluable tool for the Bewcastle researcher, as well as providing fascinating insights into the lives of earlier generations. Copies of these transcripts were printed some time prior to 1999, and were available for purchase from the Society, but now (2008) I cannot find the details which were apparently available originally on the Bewcastle Publications webpage.

Contact

Contact details for publications are on the Bewcastle Publications webpage.

[Page originated by Don Noble (as bewsoc.htm) in 1999 and updated 29 Aug 2004 - David Hawgood]