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WHITBECK, Cumberland - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"WHITBECK, a parish in the ward of Allerdale-above Derwent, county Cumberland, Smiles S.E. of Bootle, and 8 S.E. of Ravenglass. It is situated on the sea-coast under the lofty mountain of Black Comb, which has on its summit a cavity similar to the crater of a volcano, and on its western slope a cascade. In the peat mosses, which cover part of the surface, trunks of oak and fir have been found of immense size. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Chester, value £80. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was partly rebuilt at the beginning of the present century. There is an hospital or almshouse, founded in 1632, and endowed with a rent charge of £25. In this parish are three Druidical temples, one termed Standing Stones, consists of eight massive stones disposed in a circle; Kirkstones, of 30, in two circles like Stonehenge; and the third of 12 stones: there is also a large cairn encompassed at the base by a circle of huge stones." "BARFIELD, a village in the parish of Whitbeck, ward of Allerdale-above-Derwent, in the county of Cumberland, 6 miles from Ravenglass. It stands near the sea-coast."

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