Supplementary Records: Langdale

LANGDALE.

1622 Among the contributions from the clergy to the king towards the recovery of the Palatinate of the Rhine, Mr. Mickelsell, curate of Langdale, paid 4s. Lanc. and Cheshire Record Society, vol. xii, p. 69.

1660 5 October. fforasmuch as Wm. Willson of Langdale, yeo., hath been this day indicted for disquietinge abuseinge and disturbinge John Thompson (vicar of Grasmere) in readinge ye booke of Comon Prayer or Service of ye Church and in his Collacon or preachinge at Langdale Chappell ye XXVI of September last past beinge ye Lord's Day........ It was thought fit By the Court y^t ye oath of Allegiance should be tendered unto him and forasmuch as he refused to take ye same It is therefore ordered that the said Wm. Willson shalbe comitted to the Common Gaole of the Countye there to remaine, etc., etc. K. Indict. Book, as quoted by Nightingale, The Ejected of 1662, vol. ii, p. 1065.

1673 7 October. John Holme to Daniel Fleming reporting that the bridge at Elterwater needs repairs to the amount of £45. Hist. MSS. Com., 12th Rep., p. 104.

1702 17 April. Elterwater Bridge, being a public bridge, is much in decay; Order to the chief constable of Kendall Ward, Mr. Sawrey, Leonard Benson, Benj. Browne and Reginald Brathwaite to view the same with assistance of workmen and give an estimate on 9 May. (K. Order Book, 1696–1724). The referees and workmen who viewed Elterwater Bridge in Langdale report that it is absolutely necessary to erect a new bridge in stead thereof with an estimated cost of £35; ordered that the chief constables of Kendall and Lonsdale Wards and the viewers of the bridge contract with an able workman to rebuild the bridge and make the same very substantial with a large and high arch, and to give security for maintaining the same for 7 years after building it. Ibid.

1706 11 October. The house of Dorothy Harryson in Great Landgale is licensed as a place for religious worship for the people called Quakers. K. Order Book, 1696–1724.

1711/12 18 January. Presentment that Elterwater and Colwith Bridges are in decay; order for a report from the chief constable. (K. Order Book, 1696–1724). On the 2nd May following the constable reported that at Elterwater Bridge the pavement must be raised from the key-stone to the hole that carries in the water at the bridge end which is in length 8 yards, and if the water should be turned, that the bridge may not be damnified, it should be paved further 18 yards, besides some pinning up of the butments of each end that are wanting. He estimates the cost at £2 10s. Colwith Bridge wants limeing and pinning up and 4 yards of ledges and to be new paved from the key-stone as far as it has been on Westmorland side which will be 20 yards. He estimates the cost at £3. K. Indict. Book, 1692-1724; Browne MSS., vol. i, n. 221.

1720/1 13 January. Presentment that the highway at Coom beck in Wrynose is in decay and that it is necessary that a stone bridge be erected there for the safety of passengers; order for a view and a report on the cost. (K. Order Book, 1696–1724). On 24 July, 1721, Robert and William Robinson entered into a bond to erect and build a new good and firm stone bridge over a river or water called Com beck which doth cross the public highway on Wrynose a little below the ford, to consist of one bend or arch and to be shot over with good choice stones called penn stones, and the said arch when shot and keyed to be filled, closed and covered with good and strong, pouring and hot porrage mortar made of hot lime. The battlements or ledges to be near twelve inches in breadth or thickness and eighteen inches high above the pavement and set with good and choice penn stones, the said battlements on the lower side to be 15 yards in length and on the higher side to be 10 yards at the least. The pavement to be made easy and gradually ascending and descending at the end thereof for carriage and passengers. To complete the said work on or before 24 August next ensuing. The undertakers will from time to time as often as shall be requisite and necessary well and sufficiently repair, maintain and uphold the said new bridge for and during the full end and term of seven years, etc. In consideration whereof, Benjamin Browne on the behalf of all the inhabitants of the Barony covenants to pay unto the said Robert the full sum of £5 when all the said work should be completed and approved by the said high constable. Browne MSS., vol. i, n. 254; iii, n. 190; xv, n. 151, 191.

1749/50 12 January. Presentment that Pumpelhow Bridge (Poundfell Howe on Bleamoss Beck) in Little Langdale is a public bridge and in such decay for want of reparation that the subjects of our lord the King cannot pass ride travel and labour over and upon the same as they used and ought to do without great danger, and that the said bridge has been repaired for time immemorial at the expense of the county and still ought to be amended, etc. (K. Indictment Book, 1738–50). On 27 April following the high constables were ordered to contract for the repair. K. Order Book, 1738–50.

1769 2 October. Upon the oath of the surveyor of highways for the township of Gt. Langdale, setting forth that the highways there are greatly out of repair and that the 6 days labour is not sufficient to effectually repair the same; it is ordered that an assessment of 6d. in the pound belevied upon the several inhabitants owners and occupiers and that in case of refusal or nonpayment within 10 days of demand, upon distress and sale of goods, etc. K. Order Book, 1760–70.

1770 23 April. Presentment that there is a certain common and ancient Pack and Prime way leading from the village of Great Langdale to the village of Ambleside, and that a certain part of the said Pack and Prime way, beginning at a certain place called Baysbrown and extending to Elterwater, and containing in length one mile and in breadth 4 yards, was and yet is very ruinous, etc., and that the inhabitants of the township of Great Langdale ought to repair the same. K. Indictment Book, 1760–70.

1790 Presentment that Langdale New Bridge is one of the public bridges belonging to the county and that the 300 feet of the road at each of the ends are in great decay for want of due reparation, and that the said bridge and approaches ought to be repaired at the public expense, when and so often as need shall require. K. Minute Book.

1794 10 October. Presentment that a moiety of a common bridge called Callah otherwise Colwith Bridge, and 30 ft. of the highway at the N.W. end thereof, situate in Little Langdale, in the King's highway leading from Hawkshead to Whitehaven, is narrow, ruinous and insufficient, and should be repaired by the inhabitants of co. Westmorland. (K. Order and Indictment Book, 1786–98). Certified to be in good repair on 14 January, 1797. Ibid.

1805 6 April. Elterwater Bridge and the 300 feet of road at each end to be repaired at the county expense. K. Order and Indictment Book, 1798–1811.

1824 12 January. Notice of D. Huddleston and Co., stating their intention to apply for a license to erect mills for the making of gunpowder with proper magazines, at Elterwater, which said license was granted at this Sessions. (K. Indict. Book, 1817–24). The company erected a school for the township, in consideration of a plot of land given them for the use of their mill. The school was endowed with £1000 in 1854 by John Braithwaite of Orrest Head.

1842 21 October. The Rev. Stephen Birkett, Incumbent of Langdale, took and subscribed the usual oaths and Declaration on his appointment. K. Indictment Book, 1839–52.

1857 The church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was rebuilt within the old chapel-yard.

1861 4 January. Rev. James Coward likewise. K. Minute Book 1859–75.

1863 3 July. Presentment that Colwith Bridge is in much want of repair, so much in decay and so inconvenient, as to render it expedient wholly to take down and rebuild the same. (Ibid.). On the 4th August following It was resolved that in accordance with a similar resolution by the co. of Lancaster that the bridge be taken down and rebuilt and that a sum not exceeding £300 be granted for that purpose the like sum having been granted by the County of Lancaster. K. Minute Book, 1859–75.

1923 10 August. The South Westmorland District Council reported to the County Council that in their opinion there was no possibility of making the present road over Wrynose into one that could be regularly used by motor cars and that the road was in sufficient repair for its present purposes. C. C. Minutes, 1923–4.