Westmorland
is served by the Cumbria
Archive Service and the
principal office relevant for the county is:
Kendal
Record Office, County Offices, Strickland Gate, KENDAL,
Cumbria LA9 4RQ
Telephone: +44 (0) 1539 773540 E-mail: kendal.record.office@cumbriacc.gov.uk
There is an ARCHON
directory Kendal RO detailing some of their holdings
However
there will also be some useful
material at other record offices, especially Probate
Records which will be found at
Carlisle (e-mail),
Preston, York
and London. Other
relevant material
might be found at
Barrow (e-mail).
There
are searchable resources on the National
Archives site.
The A2A
site has extracts from catalogues of record
offices.
This
includes Westmorland Quarter Session records at Kendal. Individual
names are indexed.
The
most useful library for genealogical
material in Westmorland is Kendal
Library [EARL - Familia]. The Society
of Genealogists
Library in
London also has much useful material. 
Westmorland
is served by the Cumbria
Archive Service and the
principal office relevant for the county is:
Kendal
Record Office, County Offices, Strickland Gate, KENDAL,
Cumbria LA9 4RQ
Telephone: +44 (0) 1539 773540 E-mail: kendal.record.office@cumbriacc.gov.uk
There is an ARCHON
directory Kendal RO detailing some of their holdings
However
there will also be some useful
material at other record offices, especially Probate
Records which will be found at
Carlisle (e-mail),
Preston, York
and London.
Other relevant material
might be found at
Barrow (e-mail).
There
are searchable resources on the National
Archives site.
The A2A
site has extracts from catalogues of record
offices.
This
includes Westmorland Quarter Session records at Kendal. Individual
names are indexed.
The
most useful library for genealogical
material in Westmorland is Kendal
Library [EARL - Familia]. The Society
of Genealogists
Library in
London also has much useful material.
The
essential
book for family historians is Cumbrian Ancestors
published by
and available from
Cumbria
Archive Service.
Also
Cumberland and Westmorland: a
genealogical bibliography. Stuart Raymond. 1993. Published
Federation of Family History Societies. ISBN 1 872094 56 2
Westmorland
books can be searched in the
catalogue of the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
Much
useful information can be found in Cumbria
FHS
Publications including many transcriptions for the 1851
census.
There is an
index to Newsletters
The
Cumberland and Westmorland
Archaeological and Antiquarian Society (CWAAS) has listing of its publications
and
the contents (1997-) for its invaluable transactions.
These latter are held by several public libraries within
Cumbria and
elswhere.
Other sources of publications and bookships are listed on Les
Strong's EdenLinks
The
following books (record
transcriptions) have been digitised on British
History Online;
- The
Later Records relating to North Westmorland or the Barony of Appleby
by J Curwin 1932
and has a wealth of information for North
Westmorland parishes
- Records
relating to the Barony
of Kendale: volume 1 William Farrer & John F. Curwen
(editors) (1923)
Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and
Archaeological Society. Record Series, 4.
(20 townships of the
parish of Kendal)
- Records
relating to the Barony of Kendale: volume 2 William Farrer
& John F. Curwen (editors) (1924)
Cumberland and
Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Record Series, 5.
(33
townships in the parishes of Grasmere, Windermere, Heversham, Beetham,
Burton and Kirby Lonsdale.)
- Records
relating to the Barony
of Kendale: volume 3 John F. Curwen (editor) (1926)
Cumberland
and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Record Series,
6.
(the barony of Kendale, plus records for individual
townships supplementary to volumes 1 and 2.)
Biography
Worthies
of Cumberland and Westmorland on Steve Bulman's
site
Lords &
Earls of Westmorland; Gentlemen of Note from Magna
Britannica et Hibernia.Volume 6: Westmorland by Thomas Cox printed in
1731. Earls
of Westmorland
Cemeteries
(and Monumental
Inscriptions)
MIs
for certain churchyards have been
published in: Monumental Inscriptions of Westmorland
by E.
Bellasis 1888-89
It is a 2 volume set and a copy is availablefor example in
Kendal Library.
Some parishes
are transcribed and searchable on Westmorland
Papers. The transcripts for the other parishes are available
on this site from the respective parish pages. An
index of Monumental
Brasses in the county is available
Returns
for the national censuses of 1841
to 1901 are available on microfilm from the usual places, including
Kendal Library.
They are searchable online at e.g. Ancestry.com
by subscribers. The 1901 census is available for a fee online
on the PRO
website The
summary
of census results for 2001 (38 pages) is available on the
Online Historical Population Reports site
The
database of
places on the 1891 census will aid locating the appropriate
film.
The
British
1881 census is searchable on the LDS familysearch site, and
is also available on computer and microfiche at Mormon Family History
Centres and other libraries, and also available for purchase on CD-ROM.
Much
of the 1851 census has been
transcribed by Cumbria
FHS and booklets can be purchased. Names appearing in these
transcripts are available in a name
index
from
Roland Grigg.. There is also 'North Westmorland - An Index to the 1851
Census' compiled by David Lowis and Barbara Slack. This indexes heads
of households. For places on the 1851 census see the place
index by
Roland Grigg.
There
was also a 'census' of 1787 (also
known as the Constables' Census) the surviving returnsof which are held
at the Kendal Record Office of Cumbria Archives Service. The Record
Office reference is WQ/SP/C. They are transcribed in Vital
Statistics published by Curwen Archives Trust 1992. ISBN
1897590008.They contain names of all householders, their families and
tenants, and their occupations. There is an index
to the 1787 census on Edenlinks.
There
are also lists of inhabitants of
Westmorland parishes 1695. These survive only for part of the Borough
of Kendal and for Lonsdale Ward. They contain the names of
householders, their families and servants and their occupations. They
are held at Kendal RO and their reference is WD/Ry Box 32. A card index
is available. Though not actually a
census, there are also Protestation Oath records for 1641 which record
the males over 18 who swore an oath of allegiance (and those who
didn't). These returns have survived for the East and West wards and a
transcript has been published.
The earliest "census" was
the Domesday
Book
which covered parts of Westmorland.
Ecclesiastical History etc
from Magna
Britannica et Hibernia.Volume 6: Westmorland by Thomas Cox printed in
1731.
There
are some fine churches in
Westmorland with work dating from Saxon and Norman times to the present
century.
Many pictures
are now
available on this site and also on the Edenlinks site, on
Steve
Bulman's Images
of Cumbria and churches
sites,
and included in Visit Cumbria's Churches of
Cumbria
For
brief
descriptions see under the parish concerned, but for detailed
descriptions see:
Salter
M. The Old Parish Churches of
Cumbria. Folly Publications. 1998. ISBN 1871371356
Pevsner
N. The Buildings of
Cumberland and Westmorland. 1967.
Actual
church
plans are available online.
Parish
Registers will usually be in the Kendal Record Office,
as will
the Bishop's Transcripts. There should also be copies at the Carlisle
Office. Microfilm versions should also be available through LDS Family
History Centres.
Use
the normal sources for indexes and
obtaining microfilms. In particular the International Genealogical
Index (IGI) is available on the Mormon LDS
Church Familysearch
site, and Westmorland parishes are searchable via Hugh
Wallis' interface. A list of IGI batch numbers is also
made available by 'Jake' Prescott.
There
are also published Printed
Parish Registers
available at the Society of Genealogists. Some of these are available
at other major UK libraries.
The registers for 4 Westmorland
parishes
are included in a parish
register index by Roland Grigg (Internet
Archive).
Some are available on the Edenlinks
site.
See
also Ted Wildy's UK Marriage
witness index
entries for Westmorland
[ ftp
]. Diocese
of Carlisle Marriage
License/Bonds are at Carlisle Record Office and have been published by
Cumbria FHS/Cumbria Archive service
- Volume
1 1668-1739
- Volume 2
1740-1752
- Volume 3 ?
- Volume
4 ?
- Volume 5 ?
- Volume
6 1789-1800
Older
church records include Westmorland
Protestation Returns 1641-2 which record the males over 18 who swore an
oath of allegiance (and those who didn't).
These returns have survived for the East and West wards and a
transcript has been published by M A Faraday.
There
are not many Roman Catholic records
for Westmorland.
The county was in Hexham Diocese in 1860
and had only
2 chapels: Kendal and Dodding Green (records in Kendal record Office
for 1762-1941).
The best source of details of 'early' RC records is Michael Gandy,
"Catholic
Missions and Registers 1700-1880" vol. 5 North West England
2nd
Ed. 1998 (ISBN 0 9528879 2 4). A
list of Papists
of Kendale 1650 is transcribed on EdenLinks.
Noin-conformist
registers are usually
deposited at the PRO in London. Microfilm copies for many are available
in the Kendal Record Office.
Details
of Society of Friends are given
on the Quaker
FHS Site
General
details on registration of births,
marriages and deaths and their indexes are provided on the
GENUKI
England site.
Brett
Langston has provided details of Westmorland
Registration Districts 1837-1930.
Certificates
of birth,
death and marriage can be obtained from the Superintendent Registrar at
Kendal
District
Register
Office.
[Ordering guidelines are given on the
Genuki
Register Offices webpage]
This
county was divided into two grand divisions called the Barony
of
Westmorland and the Barony of Kendal. The
former was
divided into two wards called East Ward and West
Ward,
and the latter comprised the Kendal and Lonsdale
Wards,
forming the south-west part of the county. Transcriptions of
descriptions from Parsons & White 1829 are given on
Edenlinks. Magna
Britannica et Hibernia.Volume 6: Westmorland by Thomas Cox
printed
in 1731 includes topography and natural history. Historical
Guides
to the Lakes are available on a site maintained by the
Geography Department, Portsmouth University. Westmorland
is now part of Cumbria and
is a still a very sparsely populated rural area. It is best-known for
including part of the beautiful Lake District National Park. It
contains the longest lake - Windermere - and second highest mountain -
Helvelleyn - in England. Many present day photographs are
available on Visit
Cumbria. Old
photos of Westmorland
are available on the Francis
Frith site Links to
Westmorland, Lake District and Cumbria sites are provided.
A
number of printed directories exist
covering or including the county. There is a collection in Kendal
Public Library covering 1829-1938.
The
Leicester University project Historicaldirectories.org
[select Westmorland] has facsimiles of a number of directories for the
county.
These include:
- Pigot
& Co.'s Directory, 1828-29. [includes
Westmorland]
- White's History,
Directory &
Gazetteer of
Cumberland &
Westmorland, 1829
- Post Office
Directory of
Westmorland, 1858
- Post Office
Directory of
Cumberland &
Westmorland, 1873
- History,
Topography &
Directory of Westmorland,
1885
- Kelly's Directory of
Westmorland,
1894
- Kelly's
Directory of
Westmorland, 1897
- Kelly's
Directory of Westmorland, 1906
- Kelly's
Directory
of Westmorland, 1910
- Kelly's
Directory of
Cumberland & Westmorland,
1914
Parson
& White's Directory for 1829
is indexed as Principal Inhabitants of Cumberland and
Westmorland with Furness 1829, R. Grigg, Ed., Beewood
Coldell,
1988. ISBN: 1871418003 and still available on web archive:
The
details for all parishes from this
directory are transcribed on Edenlinks
site.
Harriet
Martineau's
Directory of the Lake District 1855 is transcribed by Roland Grigg
(available through the Wayback Machine Internet Arvhive):
These
and several other Cumbrian
directories have been combined on Roland
Grigg's website (Wayback Machine Internet Archive): .
Westmorland
is included in
Pigot's Trade Directory 1830 searchable database.
Publications
available for sale in microfiche format
include:
Pigots
Directory of Westmorland
1828/9. "Owners Of Land 1873"
available from MM Publications, The White
Cottage, The
Street, Lidgate, Near Newmarket, Suffolk. CB8 9PP priced at GBP
£1-50 each.
[ Post free UK & Europe. Overseas add
£1 to the order. ]
Use
the national Online
Parish
Locator to identify a particular place in Westmorland (or to
identify other places within a certain distance.
| Or
search the place index for Westmorland (in the 1891 census). | | The
index includes "Registration
District", "Registration Sub-district", "Place", "PRO Piece Number" and
"LDS Film Number". Enter the place-name in the text-box and
press
the "Search" Button.
For
places on the 1851 census see the place
index by
Roland Grigg. Old
Cumbria Gazetteer Portsmouth Univ, Geography Dept.
The
Ordnance
Survey site
is useful for identifying and locating places. There is also a useful map site [for
the whole of the
UK] with a placename search facility for locating places
History and Gazetteer from
Magna
Britannica et Hibernia.Volume 6: Westmorland by Thomas Cox printed in
1731.
Genealogy
A mail-list
for Westmorland genealogy is hosted and archived by
Rootsweb
History
"Westmorland is an inland County, no where touching on the
Sea, but
bordering on the East on Part of Yorkshire and the Bishoprick of
Durham, on the South on Lancashire, and on the West and North
on Cumberland: It extendeth thirty Miles in Length, but is not much
above twenty-four Miles in Breadth, which making it 120 Miles
in Compass, it contains in it thirty-two large Parishes, in which are a
great Number of Chapels of Ease, eight Marker-Towns, Six
thousand five hundred and one Houses, Five hundred and ten thousand
Acres of Land, which is divided into two large Baronies, viz. the
Barony
of Westmorland, which is a large Champian Country, and the Barony of
Kendale, which is full of Mountains, or as they are called by the
Inhabitants,
Fells. These two Parts belong to two Dioceses, viz. the former
Carlisle, and the latter to Chester.
This County was
Part of the large Country of the Brigantes, of whom we having given a
large Account in Cumberland, we shall supersede any Description
of them here, as we shall also of the Northumbrian Kingdom established
by the Saxons, of which this Shire was a Part, because we have also
set down the Succession of the Kings thereof in Northumberland, to
which we thought it most properly to belong, because from that County
it took
its Name, and thither also we refer our Reader.
How
the Conqueror, after England became perfectly subject to him, dealt
with this little County, our Historians are altogether silent. 'Tis
probable,
it was so remote from his Eye, that he little regarded it; and though
his great Commanders were greedy to heap to themselves great
Inheritances
from the Saxons Spoils; yet this being an hilly barren Country, we do
not find it disposed of to any, till the Reign of King John, who
rewarded
the great Services of Robert de Vipont, who had been with him at the
memorable Battle of Mirabel, in which the French and Poictovins
received so
terrible an Overthrow; with a Grant of the Castles of Appleby and
Burgh, and the whole Bailiwick of Westmorland, to hold during the
King's Pleasure. This Robert still continuing in the King's
Wars, had the next ensuing Year another Grant for his better Support of
the Premisses, together with the Services of all those that
held not by military Services, to hold to him and his Heirs, by the
Wife that he then had, by the Service of four Knights Fees for
all Service; provided, that he should not commit Waste in the Woods of
Winesell, nor hunt in them during the King's Life, except he were there
himself
in Person, and saving to the King and his Heirs, all Pleas of the Crown.
In the two Baronies of Westmorland and Kendal before-mentioned, we find
no Hundreds, but only Wards, Deaneries, Parishes, and Constablewicks;
all which but the Deaneries, not being distinctly known to us,
we are obliged to treat of the Towns in an Alphabetical Order, putting
the Market-Towns in capital Letters for the more easy finding
them. The Reason given by our Antiquaries, why this County was not
divided into Hundreds, Rapes or Wapentakes, as all the other
Counties of England are, is, because in antient Times these Parts paid
no Subsidies, being sufficiently charged in Border Service
against the Scots" | Magna
Britannica et
Hibernia.
Volume 6: Westmorland
by Thomas
Cox
45 pages, printed in 1731.
Transcription
by
S
Reveley, J Fisher and L Schoenwald. (Rootsweb
Westmorland Listmembers) (c) 2003 |
History
and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland,
by Joseph Nicolson and Richard Burn, 1777 is available from Google Books
Gazetteer
of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 compiled at
the Centre for Metropolitan History
Inventories,
Registers, Catalogues
Some
of the county was
included in the Domesday
Survey of 1086.
Feet
of Fines - abstracts on medieval.org.uk giving details of
conveyance of freehold property in Westmorland 1360-1485.
Information
on manors is available on Lancaster University's Cumbrian
Manorial Records
website. The register is coming soon.
The Manorial
Documents Register can be searched by selecting Westmorland
as the county.
Maps
Links
to web versions of maps of
Westmorland and surrounding area from several centuries are provided on
Facsimiles
of C19th Ordnance Survey maps
of Westmorland are available on the Landmark
Oldmaps site. Current
OS maps are available on the Ordnance
Survey site. A
Mordern
map of 1695 is available on Sarah Reveley's site. There
is also an undated
map by Mackenzie
A
Boundary Commisioners' map of 1885 (Eyre & Spottiswoode) is
available on the londonancestor.com
site
Newspapers
| Newspaper
Name | Place
of
publication | BL
Holdings | | The
Appleby Chronicle, Kirkby Stephen Reporter and North Westmorland
Journal. |
Appleby |
1886-1886 |
| Cumberland
& Westmorland Herald.- archive
website | Penrith |
1925
to date |
| Cumberland
and Westmorland Advertiser and Penrith Weekly Chronicle |
Penrith |
1855-1898 |
| Cumberland
and Westmorland Advertiser, and Penrith Literary Chronicle. |
Penrith |
1854-1855 |
| The
Kendal Mercury and Westmorland Advertiser. | Kendal |
1834-1840 |
| The
Kendal Mercury and Northern Advertiser | Kendal | 1840-1880 |
| The
Lake District Herald, etc. | Penrith | 1920
to date |
| The
Lancaster Gazetteer, and General Advertiser for Lancashire,
Westmorland, etc. |
Lancaster |
1801-1803 |
| Mid
Cumberland and North Westmorland Herald | Penrith |
1891-1925 |
| Penrith
Herald, and East Cumberland and Westmorland News | Penrith |
1869-1891 |
| Penrith
and District Times. | Penrith |
1898-1898 |
| Penrith
Times and Cumberland and Westmorland Advertiser. | Penrith |
1898-1901 |
| Westmorland
Advertiser and Kendal Chronicle. | Kendal | 1811-1834 |
| The
Westmorland Gazette, etc..
- website | Kendal |
1818
to date |
| The
Westmorland Gazette, etc. | Kendal | 1818-1826 |
| The
Westmorland Journal. | Kendal |
1875-1875 |
| Westmorland
Journal and Kendal Guardian. | Kendal | 1878-1880 |
| Westmorland
Mercury and Times. | Kendal |
1913-1917 |
These can
be
searched in the British
Library newspaper catalogue for further BL holding details. An
extensive list
of Cumberland,
Westmorland and Furness newspapers and their holdings is
available on Cumbria County Council's eLibrary. A list is
published by CWAAS: A Hand-list of newspapers
published in
Cumberland, Westmorland & North Lancashire. By F.
Barnes &
J.L. Hobbs (1951, PB, ISBN 1 873124 07 0)
(£1/£1.50) Transcribed items are being added to Cumberland and Westmorland
Newspaper Transcriptions
Occupations Most
employment within the county would
have been connected with agriculture, but a selective bibliography of other
occupations is available. Tables
for occupations recorded in censuses e.g. for 1841
and 1901
are given on the Online Historical Population Reports site
Poor
Houses / Poor
Law
Poor
Law Unions existed for East
Ward, Kendal
and West
Ward documented on Peter Higginbotham's site.
Details are also given on Ross Brett's website for East
Ward and Kendal
Population
Westmorland with only 65,010
inhabitants had the third lowest population in England in
1871.
Population
tables and statistics are provided.
And also other statistics
on the VisionOfBritain site.
Probate
Records
Most
wills for the North of the County
will be in the
Carlisle R.O. as this is the Diocesan office for the Carlisle
Diocese.
Wills
for the Southern half of
Westmorland will also be at
Carlisle since about 1858 but before that will be at the Preston
R.O. as it was in the Diocese of Chester until that time.
Being
situated in the Province of York,
some probate material relevant to the whole of the county will be in
the Borthwick
Institute
in York.
The
booklet Index and Extracts of
Cumbrians in Wills proved at the P.C.C. is published by Cumbria
FHS
and includes wills for Westmerians available in the National
Archives in London.
Taxation
Name lists have been
transcribed on EdenLinks for:
This
page last updated Nov 2009 | 
