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MELMERBY, Cumberland - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"MELMERBY, a parish in the Leath ward, county Cumberland, 9 miles N.E. of Penrith, its railway station and post town. It is a small agricultural village situated on the Maiden Way, under Hartside Fell, which rises above the village 1,312 feet. The ascension of this hill is 1 foot in 20, and the surface is of a smooth nature, producing excellent pasture for sheep. About half the land is under cultivation, the remainder, about 2,000 acres, in fell and common. The soil is a sandy loam upon a subsoil of sand and gravel. There are two mineral springs, one sulphurous and the other chalybeate, and some quarries of freestone. A lead mine was formerly worked. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Carlisle, value £172. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, a structure of red freestone with a tower, was thoroughly restored in 1849, and contains several ancient monumental stones. There is an endowed school with an annuity of £30, the produce of recently enclosed lands. Melmerby Hall is the principal residence, and is of great antiquity. This parish is subject to the helm-wind, which occasionally blows with great violence. The Rev. John Hall is lord of the manor and chief landowner. There are annual fairs for cattle and sheep held on the 22nd April and 28th September, both of which were established about 1850."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]