Lanercost

• There are no record repositories within the parish. Information on County Record Offices and Libraries generally may be found on our Cumberland Archives and Libraries web page. Additional records are at the University of Durham - Library Archives and Special Collections.

• A number of books and materials of interest are available from the Cumbria Archive Service and are described on that page.
• One fiction title especially captures the early Lanercost experience. It is set at Askerton, in the north of Lanercost parish and gives an image of life during the reiver era.
  • The Candlemass Road, George MacDonald Fraser, Harvill, An Imprint of Harper Collins, London, 1993. ISBN 0 00 271362 4.
  This is historical fiction; entertaining and very interesting as it concerns real names and places from the Lanercost (Askerton), Bewcastle and border area, set during the border troubles and laced with reiver names: Noble, Elliott and Armstrong. A very good read by an author who is an expert on the area and its history.
• History, Topography and Directory of East Cumberland, T.F. Bulmer, T.Bulmer & Co., Manchester, 1884. One of several 19th century directories that covers Lanercost. It provides a good description and history of the parish and lists the residents.

• A typescript of Monumental Inscriptions from Lanercost churchyard is available at the Carlisle CRO. If it has been otherwise published, I am unaware of it.

• The parish draws its name from that of Lanercost Abbey or Priory, and its history is perhaps the greatest factor influencing the history of the parish. The ruins of the Abbey are open for visits during the mild weather months of the year, and are managed by English Heritage. The nave of the original Abbey is used as the parish church to this day, and is open for visit year round. In about 1166, Robert de Vaux, provided an endowment, establishing a house of Augustinian Cannons. The church was partially completed by 1200 and finished by 1220. Lanercost continued as a Priory until the Dissolution in 1536. During this period, the Priory was visited three times by Edward I but was also three times ransacked by invading Scots. Following the Dissolution, the buildings belonged to Sir Thomas Dacre, but the north aisle was used as a parish church. In 1740, the church was enlarged by the restoration of the nave, the arrangement used today.
• The History of the Priory (archived copy) is also covered as a part of the Heritage Trail for Cumbria.

The original records and bishops transcripts are held in Carlisle RO, but readers can only access registers on microfilm.
The reference number links to the CASCat catalogue listing for all church records for the parish.

IGI batch numbers are those compiled by Hugh Wallis on Rootsweb (Hugh Wallis)  that  can be used to search directly in FamilySearch.
Alternatively try the Archers Software interface.

The FamilySearch Research Wiki page also indicates coverage on other resources, including paying and subscription access genealogical platforms

The following transcriptions of the Church Records are available:-

• The Register of the Parish of Lanercost, Cumberland. Baptisms, Weddings and Burials, 1666-1730, Ed; T.W. Willis, Brampton, 1908
• The Register of the Parish of Lanercost, Cumberland. Baptisms, Weddings and Burials, 1731-1837, Ed; T.W. Willis, 1912

• Geograph
• Flickr

• The transcription of the section for Lanercost from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Lanercost to another place.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NY556637 (Lat/Lon: 54.965936, -2.69502), Lanercost which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• In researching Lanercost records, the following notes by T.W. Willis (see Register above) can be extremely helpful:

  Note that these are quite distinct places:

  • Lea Hill and Lees Hill
  • Brampton and Brampton Loan
  • Bush and Birk Bush
  • Heugh and Heugh Brae

  Willis also suggests that Herdhouse and Hardhurst are the same place.