Hide

Witherslack

hide
Hide

"WITHERSLACK, a chapelry in the parish of BEETHAM, KENDAL ward, county of WESTMORLAND, 7 miles (W.N. W.) from Milnthorpe, containing 477 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Richmond, and diocese of Chester, endowed. with £400 private benefaction, and £400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Vicar of Beetham. The chapel, dedicated to St. Paul, was built and endowed, in 1664, by Dr. John Barwick, a native of the place, and Dean of St. Paul's, London" [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]

Hide
topup

Church History

 

image

St Paul
Very late Gothic church of c1669 but heightened in 1768.
C18th woodwork inside.

Historical and architectural notes on National Heritage List (English Heritage site).
History and description on Wikipedia.
Photograph(s) and description on VisitCumbria.
Access and contact details on Church of England site.

topup

Church Records

Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts are held by Cumbria Archives :
originals at Kendal RO and microfilm copies at Carlisle RO.

Baptism registers 1671-1865
Marriage registers 1671-1969
Banns registers  
Burial registers 1671-1912
Bishops transcripts 1694-1887

See the CASCAT online calogue for WPR22 for information on these and other parish records..

For searching on LDS familysearch.org see IGI batch numbers (compiled by Jake Prescott)
or use the batch number search site (by Hugh Wallis).

topup

Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Witherslack which are provided by:

topup

Directories

The details for the parish from the Parson & White's Directory for 1829 are transcribed on Edenlinks site.

topup

Gazetteers

topup

History

Records relating to the Barony of Kendale, CWAAS, William Farrer & John F. Curwen (editors)
re available on British History Online (also Supplementary Records)

Cumbria County History Trust has published a "Jubilee Digest" for the township of Witherslack

Magna Britannica et Hibernia.Volume 6: Westmorland by Thomas Cox (Vicar of Bromfield, Essex) 45 pages, printed in 1731.
Transcription by Sarah Reveley, Joan Fisher and Lisl Schoenwald. (Rootsweb Westmorland Listmembers) (c) 2003

"Witherslack, the native Place of Dr. John Barwick, Fellow of St. John's College in Cambridge,and Chaplain to Dr. Thomas Morton, Bishop of Durham, who made him a Prebendary of that Church. In the late Times of Confusion he was turned out of all, and suffered Imprisonment, yet retaining a courageous Loyalty, and having a strong Persuasion of the Restitution of Monarchy and Episcopacy, he was not a little Instrumental in the new Settlement of them. After King Charles II.'s Return, he was made his Chaplain, took his Doctor of Divinity's Degree, and was preferred first to the Deanery of Durham, and then to that of St. Paul's, which having held four Years, he died, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, under a sumptuous Monument, demolished in 1666, by the great Conflagration of London. He built upon this Manor, a fair parochial Chapel, and endowed it. Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, dedicated it, and consecrated it to St. Paul. This was a great Piece of Charity, because of the Remoteness of this Village or Hamlet from Betham, the parochial Church."

topup

Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SD449828 (Lat/Lon: 54.237658, -2.846689), Witherslack which are provided by: