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"This extensive parish, comprehending over 80,000 acres, lies partly between two branches of the River Lyne, called the Black and White Lyne, and is bounded on the north by Nichol Forest and Scotland; on the west by Stapleton parish; on the south by Lanercost, and on the east by Northumberland. It comprises the townships of Bewcastle, Bailey, Bellbank, and Nixons, containing 26,645 acres of land subject to assessment, of which the rateable value is £11,590 17s."
[Description from T. Bulmer & Co's History, Topography and Directory of East Cumberland, 1884]
Tullie House Museum
Castle Street
Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 8TP
Tel: (01228) 34781
It's immediately across from the Castle and they also have a postal research service which seems to specialize in researching reivers and outlaws. They maintain an outstanding Reivers Web Page - don't miss it for the story of the turbulent border.
Bulmer published a series of directories; the 1884 edition being the one Don has. These contain rather extensive information on the various parishes, towns, and a listing of the inhabitants, their residence and occupation. A good place to start in learning about the parish.
This volume of the series offers an excellent article on the history of the Church of England 's St. Cuthbert's Church, Bewcastle, by J.F. Curwen, beginning on page 242 and featuring two high quality photographs of the early church.
This work documents the findings of several excavations at the site of the Roman fort which is located under St. Cuthbert's church and extending onto the neighboring farm (presently owned by Graham Noble, a cousin, incidentally). Although it concentrates on the bath-house portion of the fort and records some extreme detail, it offers a few excellent photographs including a very interesting aerial view on the cover.
Shielings were small dwellings constructed within the common grazing land for use by shepherds while away from their homes. Bastles were relatively small, fortified dwellings for the defense of a family and livestock. This work attempts an inventory of ruins from dwellings of these types and can provide the location and bits of information concerning long abandoned farms mentioned in the early records. Very good photographs and maps.
In 1597, the church was said to be "decayed for over sixty years and the patron unknown" and its condition had not improved by a Crown survey in 1604. The rector recorded it as in good repair in 1687, but in 1703, Bishop Nicholson of Carlisle wrote of its poor condition, noting that "The font wants a pedestal and looks like a swine's trough." and "...no bell to call them into divine service." A visitor in 1753 noted much improvement since the Bishop's visit, but a bell was not purchased until 1785. The church was remodeled in 1792 and significant repairs made in 1879, but by 1899 surveyors found that not only was the church in a bad state of repair, it was dangerous. Major work commenced in 1901 and the church reopened on Sunday, 3d November of that year.
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St. Cuthbert's Church, Bewcastle |
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Interior, St. Cuthbert's, Bewcastle |
| Baptisms | Marriage | Banns | Burial | Bishops Trans |
| 1737-1900 | 1738-1977 | 1754-1991 | 1737-1966 | 1665-1894 |
The original copies of St. Cuthbert's records are deposited with the County Record Office in Carlisle and, through the 1800's at least, have been microfilmed by the Mormons.
Transcripts of the records from 1665 through 1812, fully indexed, are available;
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Knowe Chapel, Bewcastle
The registers of the Knowe Presbyterian church are in two parts. Part one dates from the church's founding in 1788 through 1838 and part two, from 1839 on. The original of part one is held at the PRO, Chancery Lane, London, but a microfilm copy is held by the Cumbria Record Office in Carlisle.
An edited version of part one was made in 1853, entitled: Register of Names Selected From the Copy of the Register of Baptisms, Number 1 (kept by Revd. William Tweedie at Knowe Manse in 1853) of Persons Baptized who have Emigrated to America and Other Parts of the World, and Some Other Persons. This is kept by the CRO, Ref.: DX/170/3 and provides a tremendous aid in connecting listed people with their parents and identifying them later in life.
The entire Knowe registers, 1788 through 1994, have been transcribed, indexed, and the information from the 1853 supplement incorporated.
Bewcastle is a large parish, bordered on the north by Scotland, on the west by the parishes of Kirkandrews-on-Esk and Stapleton, on the east by Northumberland County, and on the south by Lanercost parish. Often the records of these parishes record events involving Bewcastle residents or descendants. Many "irregular" marriages were conducted at Gretna Green, just over the border in Scotland, which is near enough to have been used with some convenience by Bewcastle residents.
Organized churches of other denominations have not existed within Bewcastle. Any search for records of other groups should begin at the Cumbria Record Office in Carlisle and at the Public Record Office in London.
So take a look at Bewcastle from here; and if you're in the north
of England, a visit is tremendously enhanced by a bit of homework
and things are far easier to find with the aid of one of the Ordnance
Survey maps, either the Landranger 86 or the more detailed Pathfinder
532. Take a jacket, and a lunch.
[Don Noble, 1996]
The fort built at Bewcastle lacks any apparent military justification, lying almost in a valley, not on a likely invasion route, and unable to see the signal fires of other posts. The design of the fort breaks the most fundamental rules of Roman practice. It is neither square nor rectangular, but has six sides and internally, the standard layout of a Roman camp is ignored.
The ancient road called the Maiden Way passes near Bewcastle and may have been one of the few routes into the north capable of passing wheeled carts, even before the Romans arrived in about A.D. 79. Perhaps this was the site of an earlier British encampment and thus influenced the choice by the Romans.
The Romans abandoned the fort by A.D. 367 and the Angles entered the area, presumably occupying the Roman facilities. That Bewcastle was of some significance to them is evidenced by the presence, to this day, of the Bewcastle Cross, believed to mark the burial place of the Anglian King, Alcfrith, and erected in the seventh or eighth century. It sits in the churchyard of the present parish church, both lying within the walls of the earlier Roman fort.
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Bewcastle Cross
From the 14th century through the 17th century the border between England and Scotland was a turbulent place, with reiving, or banditry, reaching its peak in the mid 1500's. Bewcastle was the hub of reiving activity, with many routes crossing the parish. Large bands of reivers, often aligned along family lines, carried out bloodthirsty raids in which victim's homes were burned and they lost their cattle, possessions, and sometimes their lives. In 1582, Thomas Musgrave, Captain of Bewcastle, and his tennants lost 700 cattle, 300 sheep and building and crops which were burned. The total value of the loss was £10,000!
The stories of these raids, and the sorrows, have come down to us in the Border Ballads."
After the Conquest, reportedly ca. 1092, a 'modern' stone castle was erected on the site of the former Roman fort. With the permission of the author Mike Jackson, a detailed description of Bewcastle Castle is available as an extract from his book Castles of Cumbria.
In 1641, the castle, having been garrisoned by supporters of the King was destroyed, tradition has it, by Cromwell's forces placing cannon on a nearby hill and bombarding the structure until only two wall partially remained. Today, the ruins stand on Graham Noble's Demense farm, inhabited by sheep and cattle.
Comprehensive indexes exist, at the Carlisle CRO, in card files easily accessible in the reading room. The indexes cover from 1617 to 1941, listing the year of probate and the residence of the deceased. This is extraordinarily helpful in distinguishing between many individuals of the same name. Microfilm of many of these records, and a partial typescript of the indexes, is available at the Kendal office of the CRO.
[Page originated by Don Noble in 1996 and updated 2 Sep 2004 - Phil Stringer]
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[Adopted 8 Sep 2004. Last updated 2 Jul 2008 - 10:39 by Rosemary Lockie]