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MILLOM, Cumberland - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"MILLOM, a parish in the ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, county Cumberland. 4 miles from Broughton, its post town, and 2 from Holborn Hill station on the Whitehaven and Furness Junction line of railway. It is situated on the W. bank of the river Dudden, and is a subport to Whitehaven. The parish, which is bounded on the W. and S. by the Irish Sea, contains the townships of Upper and Lower Millom, Birker Chapel, Sucken, and Austhwaite, and the chapelries of Thwaites and Ulpha. Millom was formerly an extensive lordship, and came to the earls of Lonsdale through the Boyvills and Huddlestons, the remains of whose castle are still to be seen, having on one of the walls the arms of the Huddleston family in excellent preservation. Formerly the lords of Millom had a special jurisdiction over which the sheriff of the county had no power, including the punishment of death, which was carried into effect at a place called Gallows Field, where a stone has been erected with a suitable inscription. The soil consists of loam and gravel on a substratum of limestone. The mineral productions are slate, iron, and copper ore, but these are not worked to a considerable extent. The village, formerly a market town, stands on the bay formed by the mouth of the Dudden, and famous for cockles, sand eels, and mussels. The market and fair granted by charter of Henry III. have long been disused. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Carlisle, value £189, in the patronage of the crown in right of the Duchy of Lancaster. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is an ancient stone structure, with a bell gable containing two bells. Portions of the church have been greatly disfigured by modem alterations. There are several brasses and monuments to the Huddlestone and other families of great antiquity, among which may be mentioned a tomb of alabaster of rare beauty and workmanship; it consists of the effigies of a male and female in recumbent position, with the representation of six angels on either side, each bearing a scroll. This noble and ancient production of art evidently bears signs of fast decay, not so much from the hand of time as from the dampness of its situation. In the churchyard is an ancient stone cross in excellent preservation. There are also two district churches, viz: at Thwaites and Ulpha, the livings of which are perpetual curacies,* value £115 and £65 each. The parochial charities produce about £41 per annum. There is a parochial school for both sexes, and a new one has been recently erected near the church. Lord Lonsdale is lord of the manor. In Upper Millom are several saline springs, called Holy Wells, of a purgative nature." "AUSTHWAIDE, a township in the parish of Millom, ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, in the county of Cumberland, 5 miles to the E. of Ravenglass. It is united with the township of Birker." "BIRKER, a township joined with Ansthwaite, in the parish of Millom, ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, in the county of Cumberland, 6 miles to the E. of Ravenglass. It is situated in Eskdale, in a district abounding in fine scenery. In the vicinity are Birker Force and Stanley Gill, the former having a fall of between 60 and 70 feet, and being one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Cumberland." "CHAPEL SUCKEN, (or Kirksanton), a township in the parish of Millom, ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, in the county of Cumberland, 12 miles S.E. of Ravenglass, and 6 miles from Bootle. It is stated that a church lies buried beneath a large sheet of water here, whence arises the name of the place." "KIRKSANTON, (or Chapel Sucken), a township in the parish of Millom, county Cumberland, 6 miles from Bootle, and 9 from Broughton. It consists of a few houses and scattered farms. It is supposed to have derived its names from a circular piece of water, 400 feet in circumference, which covers the ruins of a church. Kirksank Town is a small tumulus, with two large stones on the top, called "standing stones"." "STAINTON-FARM, a hamlet in the parish of Millom, ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, county Cumberland."

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