GenUKI Contents

Yorkshire

West Riding

Nearby places

The Ancient Parish of LOW BENTHAM

[Transcribed information from the early 1820s]

"LOW BENTHAM, a parish-town, in the wapentake of Ewcross; 4 miles SW. of Ingleton, 9 from Kirby Lonsdale, (Westm.) 12 from Settle, 15 from Lancaster, 71 from York. Pop. 2,102. The Church is a rectory, dedicated to St. John Baptist, in the deanry of Kirby Lonsdale, and diocese of Chester, value, £35. 7s. 8½d. Patron, T.L. Parker, Esq. The township of Bentham is divided into four quarters, viz. Low Bentham, High Bentham, Mewith, and Grasingle.

At this place was born, of poor parents, Thomas Wray, D.D. Fellow of Christ College, Cambridge, and successively chaplain to Archbishops Hutton and Secker. He was a pious, abstemious, mortified man, never married, of weak constitution, of most amiable deportment, yet a zealous reprover of vice in public and in private. He had learned too, from his master, Secker, not to despise the meanest, nor to shrink from the most disgusting offices of his functions. He died at Rochdale, February, 1778, aged 55, where a plain stone within the altar rails is erected to his memory. The Editor of Butler's Remains thus notices him:-

       "While Modest Wray with silent grace,
        Just steals a meaning smile."
                                         Nichols' Lit. Anecdotes.

Information on the following places in this Parish is contained on a supplementary page.

Barnfield Smithy Braniers Chapel Le Dale Colcotes Douk Cave Fowgill

Gearstones Gingle Pot Graystonegill High Bentham Ingleborough Ingleton

Mewith Ribblehead Skereth Slatenberg Twisleton Yarlsber

Churches

• Here are photographs of Churches etc. in the parish:
  • St. John the Baptist's Church, Low Bentham.
  • St. John the Baptist's Church, Low Bentham.
  • The Methodist Church, Low Bentham.
  • St. Mary's Church, Ingleton.
  • Ingleton Methodist Chapel, Ingleton.
  • St. Margaret's Church, High Bentham.
  • The Methodist Church, High Bentham.
  • The Roman Catholic Church, High Bentham.
  • St. Leonard's Church, Chapel Le Dale.

Church Records

• The whereabouts and dates of the Registers etc. for the Parish of Low Bentham.
• The whereabouts and dates of the Registers etc. for the Chapelry of Chapel le Dale.
• The whereabouts and dates of the Registers etc. for the Chapelry of Ingleton.
• A transcription of the 1944 to 2000 Burials transcribed from photographs of the book in the church at High Bentham.

Description and Travel

• Maggie Cassidy has written an article about Ribblehead and the Salt Lake Cottages.
• There are photographs of the Ingleton area available for free download from the freefoto.com website.

Directories

• Transcript of the entry of "professions and trades" in Baines's Directory and Gazetteer Directory of 1822.

Gazetteers

• There is further information about this parish from National Gazetteer 1868 Yorkshire extracts.

Maps

• 
• For a more detailed map of the parishes in the riding please see the Yorkshire parish maps page.
• For a more detailed map of the county please see the Yorkshire map page.
• Here is a map showing the wapentakes for the county.
• View maps of Low Bentham and places within the boundaries of its ancient parish.

Memorial Inscriptions

• A transcription of the Memorial Plaque to Gerald Kirk.
• A transcription of the War Memorial Plaque.
• A transcription of the War Memorial at Ingleton.
• A transcription of the the memorial plaque to the Railway workers who lost their lives 1869-1876.
• A transcription of the Memorial Plaque for the 1914-18 War in St. Margaret's Church, High Bentham.

Names (Geographical)

• The following places are within the boundaries of this (ancient) parish, but I have no further information on them other than the Ordnance Survey Landranger Grid reference shown:
  • (SD716712) Cold Cotes

Societies

• This parish is covered by the following Society:
  • Wharfedale FHG