Townships: Lower Holker

A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1914.

This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.

Citation:

'Townships: Lower Holker', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1914), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp270-276 [accessed 25 November 2024].

'Townships: Lower Holker', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1914), British History Online, accessed November 25, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp270-276.

"Townships: Lower Holker". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1914), , British History Online. Web. 25 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp270-276.

In this section

LOWER HOLKER

Holker, 1321.

This township contains Holker Hall, the chief residence in the parish, and the villages of Cark and Flookburgh. The southern half is low-lying and flat, but northward the surface rises, and Holker Hall, in a park, lies on the western slope of the hilly, tree-clad ridge which extends north to Newby Bridge. The village of Cark lies irregularly in and above the little chasm through which the Eea makes its way to the Leven estuary on the west; Flookburgh consists of a long straight street. Chanon Winder and Raven Winder are houses on little clumps of land rising above the marshy plain on the south. The area measures 2,387 acres, (fn. 1) and in 1901 the population was 1,062.

From Cark roads spread out in various directions. One goes north along the western base of the ridge above mentioned, two go north-east towards Cartmel, and another east to Templand. Another going south-east to the shore is crossed at Flookburgh by the road from Allithwaite west to the estuary at Sandgate. The Furness railway line goes through the centre of the township with a pretty station named Cark. The villages of Cark and Flookburgh lie respectively north and south of the station.

At Flookburgh is a cross erected in 1882 on the site of an ancient one and inscribed with a record of the charters granted to the place. (fn. 2) The stocks used to stand close by. 'Rushbearing Day' was kept up till the old chapel was pulled down in 1777. (fn. 3) The maypole also was standing about that time, but falling down was used for a roof tree for the adjoining public-house the 'Hope and Anchor.' (fn. 4) The Village Hall has a reading-room and small library. The principal industry is cockle-fishing; flukes also are caught. There is a corn mill at Cark.

The old road from Cark to Holker was known as Dobbie Lane, being considered haunted. (fn. 5)

There is a parish council of seven members.

Manor

In the earlier references to Holker it is not usually possible to tell whether Lower Holker or Upper is meant, (fn. 6) though the former part appears to be Holker proper. The greater part of the township was formerly held by customary tenants of the manor of Cartmel, and the rental of 1508–9 gives a number of details respecting Chanon Winder, Ravens Winder, Mireside, Daughtarn, Cark with Holker, which was the main portion, Quarrel Flat, now Quarry Flat, Horsbriggs and Waitholme. (fn. 7) The tenements were held by small rents payable at the four terms, a due called ingress, which appears to be the 'knowing silver' afterwards recorded as paid every two years and a half, and in some cases a payment in lieu of the services which should be rendered in autumn. Thus Richard Newby took a tenement at 19d. rent each term, 3s. for services, and 4s. 2d. for ingress; for an oxgang of land he rendered 14d. and for his part of Brackenbank he paid 4s. a year and four hens. William Newby, apparently his son, took a moiety of the same to occupy at the will of his father; he also took half the new intake on the marsh at 4d. a year. Thomas Newby his brother took the other moieties. (fn. 8)

After the suppression of the priory the Preston family acquired an estate at HOLKER and made it their seat. (fn. 9) The hall is supposed to have been built there by George Preston, (fn. 10) farmer of the rectory at the beginning of the 17th century. He was the grandson of Christopher Preston, (fn. 11) who heads the pedigree recorded in 1613, (fn. 12) and who acquired part of the priory lands about 1556. (fn. 13) George Preston distinguished himself by the rebuilding and adornment of the church in 1618. (fn. 14) His religious sympathies are indicated by this work and by the character of the decoration of the stalls he set up there; later in life he was an avowed Roman Catholic and suffered the penalties of a 'recusant convicted.' (fn. 15) He died in April 1640, (fn. 16) and his son Thomas, though 'always a constant Protestant,' gave assistance to the Royalists at the outbreak of the Civil War and welcomed the king's troops as late as 1644. (fn. 17) His estates were sequestered by the Parliament, and though he petitioned for leave to compound as early as 1646, protesting that his only 'delinquency' was the subscribing of warrants for the commission of array, that he was never in active service, and that he had done much for the Parliament, his fine was in 1649 fixed at £1,392, increased by £200 afterwards. (fn. 18) He had also to assign parts of his receipts as lay rector for the maintenance of the incumbent and curates of the parish. He survived to see the Restoration and recorded a pedigree in 1664. (fn. 19) He died in 1678, (fn. 20) and was succeeded by his son Thomas, who acquired the Furness Abbey estate forfeited about 1680 because Sir Thomas Preston, a distant cousin, had given it to the Jesuits. (fn. 21) Thomas Preston of Holker died 31 January 1696–7, leaving an only daughter Catherine. (fn. 22) By her husband Sir William Lowther of Marske (bart. 1697) she had a son Sir Thomas, who married Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the second Duke of Devonshire, and was succeeded by his son Sir William. (fn. 23) Leaving no issue, Sir William devised the Holker and Furness estates to cousins by his mother's side, Lords George (fn. 24) and Frederick Cavendish. (fn. 25) They accordingly succeeded in turn, and having no issue, Holker then went to their nephew Lord George Augustus Henry Cavendish, a son of the fourth duke. (fn. 26) He was created Earl of Burlington in 1831, and at his death in 1834 he was succeeded by his grandson William second earl, who became seventh Duke of Devonshire in 1858. On his death in 1891 Holker descended to a grandson Victor C. W. Cavendish, (fn. 27) who succeeded his uncle as Dake of Devonshire in 1908, Holker then becoming the property of his younger brother Lord Richard Cavendish, the present owner.

Preston of Hollter. Argent two bars gules, on a canton of the second a cinquefoil or, in chief a crescent for difference.

Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire. Sable three stags' heads caboshed argent.

There was never any manor of Holker, but a manor of Cartmel was once held by the owner of Holker. (fn. 28)

HOLKER HALL lies to the north of Cark village and is a modern mansion consisting of two wings at right angles forming the north and east sides of a quadrangle. After the original building passed to the Lowthers at the end of the 17th century much of it was taken down and a new north wing was erected 'in a more elegant style.' (fn. 29) The house remained without further alterations till after the Cavendishes came into possession in 1756, when the east wing was added in a corresponding style of 'elegant modern Gothic' architecture and so remained till about 1815, (fn. 30) when the whole of the exterior was 'made to wear one beautiful and uniform aspect by casing the whole front with a finishing of Roman cement.' A print of the time (fn. 31) shows a plain stuccoed building of two stories with straight parapets and square-headed windows, and a round bay in each wing, the middle window openings of which are pointed. (fn. 32) A portion of the original fabric was standing in the north wing in 1820, but almost the whole of the house was rebuilt c. 1840 in the Elizabethan style. (fn. 33) The present north wing is the building of that date, but the east wing was burnt down on 10 March 1871 and rebuilt in 1873 (fn. 34) in a modernized Elizabethan style with high roofs and stone dormers. The chief feature of the new building, which is of red sandstone, is a massive square tower with hipped roof and balustraded parapet. The house formerly contained some oak carvings (fn. 35) brought from Kirkby Hall about 1843, but these were destroyed in the fire of 1871.

Holker Hall from the South-east.

CHANON WINDER was in 1508 held of the Prior of Cartmel by the widow of John Kellet; she had also a close called Cow pasture and half an oxgang of land; for this last she paid 2s. 2d. a year and two quarters of salt. (fn. 36) The Kellets are found there till 1634. (fn. 37) Later Ann widow of Christopher Preston of Holker and her daughter Elizabeth Westby are said to have lived there, and thus the place is connected with Sir Thomas Tyldesley, the famous Cavalier. (fn. 38) This was the tenement of Thomas Walton the Jacobite of 1715. (fn. 39) After passing through various hands it was acquired by the Duke of Devonshire and joined to the Holker estate. (fn. 40)

Chanon Winder Hall, now a farm-house is a plain two-story building, of late 16th or early 17thcentury date, standing close to the shore, a mile to the south-west of Flookburgh facing west across the Cartmel sands. In plan it forms a parallelogram about 87 ft. long by 23 ft. wide externally, with a stone-roofed bay window going up both stories at the north end and a gabled staircase bay projecting 6 ft. on the west and principal front, 22 ft. from the north end. The building was for many years very much neglected, but was restored and a good deal modernized about 1900. The walls are covered with rough-cast and the roof, which runs unbroken the entire length of the building with a gable north and south, is covered with modern blue slates. The old stone mullioned windows remain, those to the ground floor having transoms. The hall appears to have been in the middle of the house, with the kitchen at the south end and a parlour at the north. The old doorway has been built up and a new one inserted farther to the north in the middle of what may have been a long window to the hall, or between two smaller windows each of four lights. At the north end of the back elevation is a built-up fivelight mullioned and transomed window and at the south end the kitchen chimney, the wide opening of which is built up inside, projects 6 ft. and terminates in a wide cylindrical shaft. The staircase is an ancient wooden one between walls, and two of the upper rooms have square oak panelling, moulded on three sides and with ornamental H hinges to the doors. In front of the house is a grass court inclosed by a high wall, the entrance to which from the shore is flanked by well-designed gate piers setting back towards the top and terminating in ball ornaments.

Chanon Winder Hall: West Front

RAVENS WINDER was perhaps at first a part of the manor of Allithwaite, and so had to be distinguished from the other Winder, held by the canons of Cartmel. It was, however, acquired by them before 1315, (fn. 41) and was in 1508 held of Cartmel Priory in moieties by Rowland Oxcliffe and the widow of William Oxcliffe. (fn. 42) James Oxcliffe and Rowland Oxcliffe were in 1534 disputing over a moiety of the place. (fn. 43) Janet Oxcliffe, widow of Brian, complained that Margaret wife of Christopher Preston, to whom she had entrusted the indentures of lease touching Ravens Winder, denied having the same. (fn. 44) Joan afterwards married Edward Barrow, and they in 1591 complained of the invasion of their turbary at Waitholme by William Bretton of Barngarth. (fn. 45) Through the 17th century it was owned by the Fletcher family; about 1750 it was purchased by Captain Hall, by whose representatives it was in 1856 sold to the Earl of Burlington and became united to Holker. (fn. 46)

DAUGHTERN was held by Christopher Simpson and Robert Bell in 1508. (fn. 47)

MIRESIDE in 1508 was divided into three separate tenements. William Kellet held one of them, with an oxgang of land for which he rendered 6s. 8d. a year, Nicholas Gardener held another, Thomas and William Caton held the third, two quarters of salt being part of their rent. (fn. 48) The Gardener part, known as Mireside Hall, was about 1600 in the hands of Robert Curwen, (fn. 49) and afterwards became attached to the Cark Hall estate, being in 1670 held by the representative of Robert Rawlinson. A rent of £2 17s. 11d. was due to the Crown. (fn. 50)

CARK HALL (fn. 51) was in 1582 owned by Thomas Pickering. (fn. 52) His daughter Anne in 1603 married Robert Curwen of Mireside Hall, (fn. 53) to whom the house was sold in 1615. (fn. 54) Robert died in 1650, bequeathing it to his nephew Robert Rawlinson of Greenhead in Colton, (fn. 55) who recorded a pedigree in 1665, his eldest son Curwen being then twenty-three years of age. (fn. 56) Robert died the same year, (fn. 57) and his son Curwen, while serving in the Convention Parliament as member for Lancaster, (fn. 58) died in 1689, (fn. 59) being succeeded at Cark by his son Monk, who died in 1695, and he by his brother Christopher, who died in 1733 unmarried. (fn. 60) The estates were held in moieties by the representatives of his father's sisters, Anne and Katherine, until 1860, when a partition took place, and the Mireside, Holker and other estates were assigned as one moiety to Henry William Askew as Anne's representative; Cark, Hampsfield and other estates to Henry Fletcher Rigge of Wood Broughton (two-thirds), and the manor of Lindale, &c. (one-third), to Millicent Ann Johnson. (fn. 61)

Rawlinson of Greenhead. Gules two bars gemels between three escallops argent.

The Hall is a rough-cast two-story building of H type with attics in the gables standing at the north end of Cark village on the west side of the road to Cartmel, the front facing east. (fn. 62) The house stands back from the road with a small court in front formed by high walls separating it from the modern highway, which apparently encroaches on or passes through the original quadrangle. It is now divided into two tenements. The main portion of the present building may date from 1580, though much altered and added to subsequently. The wings only project about 5 ft. and are of unequal width, that on the north being only 11 ft. across, the gable being thus considerably raised above the eaves of the roof, and over the entrance is a middle dormer gable of about equal width. The building has been considerably modernized, and the roof is now covered with blue slates, which somewhat detract from its otherwise very picturesque appearance. The windows are all mullioned, those in the north wing of two lights with transoms now built up, but the rest mostly low and of three or four lights, and the chimneys are of the massive circular type common in the district. In the 17th century a south-east wing three stories in height was added attached to the corner of the original south wing, with a frontage north to the courtyard of 33 ft. 6 in. This was probably the work of Curwen Rawlinson (1665–89), and his son Christopher Rawlinson appears to have remodelled the front of the original house, adding a Renaissance doorway of admirable design with attached Ionic columns, broken entablature and semicircular pediment inclosing a large shield of arms. The detail of the doorway, which is raised on three moulded steps, is very good, and the original panelled door remains. The shield has the arms of Christopher Rawlinson quartering Curwen and Monk, and is enriched by a wreath and surmounted by the Rawlinson crest. The doorway is a good example of concentrated ornament, the rest of the elevation being severely plain and without any horizontal lines. The interior has been very much modernized, but one of the bedrooms in the later portion is panelled and contains a good carved wood mantelpiece. (fn. 63) On the hill-side behind the house are traces of a terraced garden and the four walls of a stone summer-house 12 ft. 6 in. square inside, originally of two stories, but now open to the sky. The windows are of two lights with transoms, and there are two doorways, one over the other, on the east side, the head of the upper one carved with the interlaced initials of Christopher Rawlinson. The original barns and outbuildings remain on the south side of the house.

The other references to Holker (fn. 64) do not require much attention, as they are merely disconnected fragments.

Borough

The story of FLOOKBURGH (fn. 65) is obscure. It was perhaps in early times a part of the manor of Allithwaite or Wraysholme, (fn. 66) but in 1412 the 'manor' of Flookburgh is found in the hands of Thomas of Lancaster Duke of Clarence, younger son of Henry IV. He procured a royal charter for a market there every Tuesday, and two fairs of three days each at Midsummer and Michaelmas, viz. 23–5 June and 28–30 September. (fn. 67) This charter was confirmed by Charles II in 1663, (fn. 68) but there is little evidence that either market or fair was ever actually held. (fn. 69) At some time, perhaps much earlier, a borough had been created, but the only sign of it in the records is the occasional mention of burgages. (fn. 70) Certain regalia are preserved, (fn. 71) and the place is called a 'town' by the inhabitants. A house, once used as a school, was by tradition said to be the court-house of the borough and manor of Flookburgh. (fn. 72)

Several fines and inquisitions refer to this part of Holker. (fn. 73)

Church

As in most other cases, the origin of the chapel of ease at Flookburgh is unknown. The earliest reference to it is in 1520, when Robert Briggs, the benefactor of Cartmel Fell Chapel, gave to Flookburgh Chapel the farmhold occupied by John Simpson, 'on this condition, so that the intake which Sir William Pepper hath taken up may lie down into the common again. (fn. 74) In 1650 it had neither endowment nor minister, (fn. 75) but in 1717 the certified income was £9 1 2s. (fn. 76) and further endowments have since been secured, the net income being £275. (fn. 77) At the end of the 17th century the chapel was served by a 'reader.' George Bateman was licensed as 'teacher of English' at Flookburgh in 1677 (fn. 78); he was called the curate and was 'conformable' in 1689, (fn. 79) but no ordination is recorded in the visitation list of 1691. He was again called curate in 1716. The chapelwarden's returns to the visitation inquiries give some particulars of interest. In 1723 the commandments were written on the wall, but there was no font, communion table, or surplice; there were no burials there. It was served by a 'reader,' who read prayers twice every Sunday but 'not constantly on other days for want of a congregation'; he visited the sick and catechized. There were Quakers there. By 1734 a surplice had been provided, and there was communion once a year, at which time 'all things necessary' were brought from the church. In 1788 the annual communion service was at Easter Eve. The chapel was rebuilt in 1776–7, and called St. John the Baptist's. (fn. 80) It stood in the centre of the village, but has been taken down, a large new church having been erected near the railway station in 1900. A separate parish was created in 1879. (fn. 81) The vicars have been presented by the owners of Holker, Lord Richard Cavendish being now the patron.

The following have been incumbents:—

oc. 1726 Richard Hudson (fn. 82)
oc. 1741 — Sandys (fn. 83)
oc. 1771–96 Richard Fell
oc. 1812–20 John Charles Bristed, M.A. (fn. 84) (Emmanuel Coll., Camb.)
1822 William Rigg
1863 Thomas Rigg, B.A. (T.C.D.)
1875 Will Postlethwaite Rigge, B.A. (T.C.D)
1896 John Fewler

There is a Wesleyan Methodist chapel, built in 1904, near the station.

Footnotes

  • 1. The Census Rep. 1901 gives 3,332 acres, including 3 of inland water; also 1,093 acres of tidal water and 17,062 of forethore.
  • 2. Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxi 27.
  • 3. Stockdale, Annals of Cartmel, 24.
  • 4. Ibid.
  • 5. Ibid. 389.
  • 6. In the subsidy roll of 1332 the only local surname is Walton, connecting with Upper Holker; the other names, as Smithy, Kitchen, &c., are indefinite, unless Burgess refers to Flookburgh; Exch. Lay Subs. (Rec. Soc. Lancs. and Ches.), 95.
  • 7. Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surv. bdle. 4, no. 9.
  • 8. Ibid. Among the other surnames are Kellet, Caton, Birkhead, Grise, Breten, Stanes, Moon, Preston, Roskell and Bourdale. Sometimes tithe was included in the fixed payments; thus John Caton paid 3s. 10½d. rent, 9d. for services, 3s. 9d. for ingress, 3d. and two hens for tithe hay, and the same for akcrist and 2s. 6d. for leycrist. Winder Moor and Holker Banks were common lands open to the tenants of the manor; Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surv. bdle. 4, no. 12. The surnames above given recur later. Thus Thomas Roskell was a benefactor in 1703, and Robert Roskell was schoolmaster at his death in 1750.
  • 9. Thomas Preston held Walton Hall in Upper Holker in 1508; ibid. Richard Preston, the prior at the suppression in 1536, continued to farm the rectory.
  • 10. Stockdale, op. cit. 410–11.
  • 11. According to the pedigrees Christopher was a son of Thomas Preston of Preston Patrick in Westmorland and younger brother of John Preston of Furness Abbey. He died 25 May 1594 holding a messuage, &c., in Cartmel in socage of the queen as of her manor of East Greenwich; also three messuages, &c., in Lancaster. His son John (who married Mabel Benson) having died before him, Christopher was succeeded by his grandson George (son of John) Preston, aged fifteen, and already married to (Elizabeth) daughter of Ralph Assheton; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. xvi, no. 33. Christopher's widow seems to be the Anne Preston who left £200 to the poor of Lancaster and Cartmel; Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 3098. Christopher Preston was buried at Cartmel 27 May 1594, a John Preston 11 Sept. 1578, Mrs. Anne Preston of Winder 14 Aug. 1642; Reg. John Preston represented the borough of Lancaster in the Parliament of 1593; Pink and Beaven, Parl. Repre. of Lancs. 114.
  • 12. Visit, of 1613 (Chet. Soc), 25.
  • 13. 'Sir Oliver Houses' and Frith Hall; Pat. 2 & 3 Phil, and Mary, pt. iv, and Pat. 3 & 4 Phil, and Mary. 'Sir Oliver Houses' are also named in a lease to George Preston in 1607; Pat. 5 Jas. I, pt. vi.
  • 14. The principal contribution was his, possibly as farmer of the rectory, but the people raised various sums to assist him; Stockdale, Annals of Cartmel, 50–1. In 1613 his children were recorded as Thomas (aged fourteen), Christopher, Frances and Anne.
  • 15. Cal. Com. for Comp. iii, 1889, in a statement as to George Preston (d. 1644), son of George Preston of Holker by his second wife. See also Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), i, 125.
  • 16. Buried at Cartmel 6 Apr. 1640; Reg. The inquisition taken after his death shows that he held various tenements in Cartmel, including a water corn mill called Holker Mill, a capital messuage called Rowall in Catterall, and another called Nateby Hall; these last he had in 1623 settled on a younger son George. Thomas the son and heir was thirty-six years old; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), dc, 122, taken 16 Chas. I.
  • 17. See the account of Furness.
  • 18. Cal. Com. for Comp. ii, 1163.
  • 19. Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc), 235; Thomas Preston married Catherine Hoghton and then had three sons: George (aged eighteen), Thomas (sixteen) and Gilbert (thirteen). The father was knight of the shire 1664–79; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 78. He served as high sheriff in 1664. About the same time Thomas Preston the younger was sent up to Cambridge, being entered as a pensioner at St. John's College; Admissions St. John's Coll. i, 167. This was the only son who survived his father, but George Preston his elder brother left a daughter Elizabeth wife of Wilfrid Lawson.
  • 20. M.I. in Cartmel Church, which states that he gave £80 a year for the minister's stipend and placed a number of learned books in the vestry; he deserved well of the Church of England, having always been an energetic champion of the reformed religion. George Fox the Quaker was examined before him at Holker in 1663. In 1660 he had been visited and reviled in Lancaster Castle by Justice Preston's wife; Journ. (ed. 1852), ii, 12; i, 367. In 1670 Thomas Preston held a sea fishery of the Crown by a rent of £2 6s. 8d. and the mills of Holker by a rent of £4; Pat. 22 Chas. II.
  • 21. See the account of Furness Abbey; Pat. 35 Chas. II, pt. iv. Thomas Preston of Holker, as a Whig, represented Lancaster in the Convention Parliament of 1689, and in later ones till his death; Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 121–2.
  • 22. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 413; his daughter's fortune was supposed to be £30,000. For some of his letters see ibid. 134–6. An extract from his will is printed in Stockdale, op. cit. 278–9. The daughter died 12 Mar. 1700–1, in her twenty-fifth year, leaving two sons and two daughters; M.I.
  • 23. For the Lowthers see G.E.C. Complete Baronetage, iv, 171. Sir William died 1705, Sir Thomas 1745, and the second Sir William 1756; all are buried at Cartmel. 'Sir Thomas Lowther was a sportsman and fond of horse racing. The place where the horses were breathed and practised was on the rather flat piece of ground above the gardener's house and below the public road leading to Howbarrow. On this piece of ground, according to tradition, village sports and races were at one time annually held'; Stockdale, op. cit. 404. Sir Thomas, described as of the country party, was member for Lancaster from 1722 onwards; Pink and Beaven, op, cit. 124–5.
  • 24. Lord George Augustus Cavendish frequently visited Holker. He altered the old formal 'Dutch gardens' round the hall about 1788; Stockdale, op. cit. 414–15. He died in 1794 on his way to London, and was brought back to be buried at Cartmel. His brother Lord John Cavendish purchased the manor of Kirkby Ireleth in 1771, and on his death in 1796 this was added to the Holker estates.
  • 25. Lord Frederick Cavendish, a field marshal, died in 1803.
  • 26. G.E.C. Complete Peerage, ii, 82. His eldest son William died in 1812, leaving three sons and a daughter; the eldest was the William named in the text, born in 1808.
  • 27. Son of Lord Edward Cavendish (d. 1891), younger son of the seventh duke.
  • 28. See the account of Cartmel above,
  • 29. Lonsd. Mag. i, 49 (Feb. 1820), from which most of the above particulars are taken. A coloured frontispiece shows the hall as it was in 1820, and a lengthy description of the house and gardens is given.
  • 30. 'Within the last few years'; ibid.
  • 31. From a drawing by R. Stizaker, in Lonsd. Mag. already cited. The drawing by G. Pickering in Baines' Lancs. (1836), iv, 733, also shows the old stuccoed building of this date.
  • 32. These windows were perhaps the only justification for the term 'modern Gothic' as then applied to Holker Hall before the front was covered with cement. There may, however, have been others, and the character of the elevation may have been materially altered in 1820. The writer in the Lonsdale Magazine says: 'The architecture of Holker Hall has commonly been described under the vague and ambiguous term modern Gothic. The building, however, is copied from no style that ever prevailed in any period of English history. It approaches, perhaps, most nearly to that of the 12th century [sic], but considerably softened and mellowed by the light and lofty elegance of the present day.'
  • 33. The architect was Webster of Kendal.
  • 34. From the designs of Messrs. Paley & Austin, architects, Lancaster.
  • 35. A catalogue of the portraits at Holker Hall is given in Lancs. and Ches. Antiq. Soc. xxiii, 1; a list of those destroyed in 1871 is in Stockdale, op. cit. 425.
  • 36. Rental of 1508–9.
  • 37. Richard Kellet appears in 1597; Ducatus Lanc. (Rec. Com.), 355. In 1599 he was allowed to make 'a place or queare' for his family on the south side of the church; Stockdale, op. cit. 39.
  • 38. Elizabeth Westby (daughter of Anne Preston) of Winder in Cartmel died about 1652; two-thirds of her lands in Allithwaite, Flookburgh and Gressingham had been sequestered for her recusancy, and in 1654 her grandson Edward, son of Sir Thomas Tyldesley, desired to compound; Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 2569, 3098; Dugdale, Visit. (Chet. Soc.), 302. Janet Westby held Chanon Winder in 1670, paying £2 18s. 1d. rent; Pat. 22 Chas. II.
  • 39. The Forfeited Estates Papers (W 15, 17) show that Thomas Walton married about 1705 Anne sister of John Leyburne, the settlement including his capital messuage called Winder alias Chanon Winder with lands there and in Outerthwaite, Allithwaite, Flookburgh and Cartmel, also a messuage called Hungry Moors in Hambleton. In 1716 they had an only child Elizabeth. For his family see the accounts of Walton-leDale in Blackburn and Nateby; also Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc.), v, 153.
  • 40. Stockdale, op. cit. 509. It may be added that Chanon Winder (or the rent of 49s. from it) was in 1602 granted to Edward Casson and others; Pat. 44 Eliz. pt. iii.
  • 41. In 1315 William son of Robert de Farleton and Eva his wife (probably in her right) claimed a third part of 'the manor of Winder' against the Prior of Cartmel, but did not prosecute it; De Banco R. 212, m. 70 d. Thomas son of Ralph de Winder (Winderh), otherwise Thomas de Ketilscal, gave to the Prior and canons of Cartmel all his right in Ketilscal and Ravens Winder by a charter confirmed in 1323; B.M. Harl. Chart. 51, H 2.
  • 42. Rental of 1508–9. The surname is also spelt Oscliffe, &c.
  • 43. Ducatus Lanc. ii, 50.
  • 44. Duchy of Lanc. Plead. Eliz. xcviii, O 1.
  • 45. Ibid. clii, B 16. The queen in 1571 granted a lease of Ravens Winder and a great moss called Waitholme, part of the manor of Cartmel, to William Genge, who assigned to William Knipe, who in 1572 transferred to the said joan (Oxcliffe) and Brian her son. Bretton said he held by tenant right and he and all similar tenants had always had peat moss in Waitholme. Brian Oxcliffe son of Brian was baptized at Cartmel Church on 7 Apr. 1592.
  • 46. Stockdale, op. cit. 485–6. Thomas Fletcher held it in 1670, paying a rent of £2 18s. 1d.; Pat. 22 Chas. II.
  • 47. Rental ut sup.
  • 48. Ibid. Mireside Hall was in 1526 granted by the Prior and canons to Nicholas Gardener and Richard his son for eighty years; Duchy of Lanc. Misc. Bks. xxv, 25. The Caton part was in 1599 claimed by Christopher Potter; Ducatus Lanc, iii, 404.
  • 49. In 1602 the attorney-general, acting for Robert Curwen, claimed Mireside Hall, &c, against Anne Preston and others; ibid. 479. In 1546 Richard Ashton acquired, perhaps as trustee, various messuages and lands in Cartmel, Flookburgh, Whittington and Docker from Giles Curwen and Thomas his son and heir; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 12, m. 102. In 1567 Margaret Curwen and others had a dispute with Richard Curwen and others respecting Mireside gate in Holker; Ducatus Lanc, ii, 339. Robert Curwen obtained land in Holker from the Crown in 1602; Pat. 44 Eliz. pt. xxii. Grants of Mireside Hall in Holker were in 1607 made to Edward Ferrars and others; ibid. 5 Jas. I, pt. xxi.
  • 50. Ibid. 22 Chas. II.
  • 51. Karke, 1451.
  • 52. This account of Cark is derived from the Annals of Cartmel (433–69), Mr. Stockdale having examined the deeds, some of which he prints. Agnes wife of Thomas Pickering of Nether Cark was buried 24 Sept. 1616 and Thomas himself on 27 Jan. following; Reg.
  • 53. 20 Jan. 1602–3; ibid.
  • 54. Stockdale, op. cit. 433; indenture printed. A rent of 10s. 8d. was due to the king. A messuage at Girsgarth (or Grassgarth) in Cartmel was added.
  • 55. Ibid.435; the will (24 Jan. 1649–50) is printed. It has seals bearing the arms of Curwen and Pickering quarterly. The testator left £5 to be given to the poor 'in Walton township where I dwell,' and £10 to the school at Cartmel. He had nephews Hutton and Mohun (or Moon). Anne Curwen his widow died in 1657.
  • 56. Dugdale, Visit. 241; this states that his father William married Margaret daughter of Walter Curwen of Moorside. The memorial inscription in Cartmel Church, composed long afterwards, states that he was 'a great sufferer for his loyalty to King Charles the 1st,' but his name does not appear in the list of those compounding under the Commonwealth. He did not succeed to Cark till after the execution of the king.
  • 57. Stockdale, op. cit. 442; will (18 Oct. 1665) printed. He had lands at Mireside, Cark, Grassgarth and Birkby; Barbon Fields, Flookburgh, Preston Meadow; Crosby Ravensworth, Furness Fells, Hampsfield and Preston Grassgarth; and woods at Stribus. Robert Rawlinson, though then dead, is named as tenant of Cark and Mireside in 1670, when the rent for Cark and Walton was stated as £2 15s. 5d. a year, and 8s. 7d. was due for knowing silver; Pat. 22 Chas. II.
  • 58. Pink and Beaven, op. cit. 121; he was a Whig.
  • 59. Stockdale, op. cit. 447; will printed. His widow Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Monk, Bishop of Hereford, died at Cark in 1691; ibid. 454.
  • 60. He has been noticed above among the worthies of the parish. He erected the Rawlinson monument in Cartmel Church; it bears a long genealogical inscription. He left no will and his heirs were five cousins, daughters of his two aunts— Anne Rawlinson, who married Christopher Crackenthorpe and left daughters Anne and Deborah (unmarried); and Katherine, who married Roger Moore and had three daughters, Anne, Mary and Katherine, of whom only the last had issue. For their moiety see the next note. The other moiety went through Anne Crackenthorpe (who married Adam Askew) to her son Anthony, d. 1774 -s. Henry, d. 1852 -s. Henry William Askew, formerly of Conishead Priory.
  • 61. Roper, Churches, Castles, &c.t of North Lancs, i, 51. Katherine's three daughters all married. Anne married William Aylmer, vicar of Warton, but had no issue; she left her share to her greatniece Anne Rigge (daughter of Roger Rigge and Mary Fletcher), with the proviso that if she married Dr. John Heys the share should pass to her younger sister Jane (d. 1780), who married Edward Moore. The proviso took effect, and Stephen Roger Moore (d. 1841) succeeded his mother Jane and left a daughter Millicent Ann, who married T. F.Johnson (d. 1853) and had a son T. M. S.Johnson. The shares of Anne's sisters Mary and Katherine were united in the latter's grandson Fletcher Rigge. The descent is given in the account of Broughton. There was a recovery of the fourth part of the manors of Lindale, Hampsfield and Flookburgh in 1785, Joseph Aspden and others being tenants; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 642, m. 6 d. A fine in 1799, about the fourth part of the same manors, &c, had for deforciants Henry Askew, clerk, George Adam Askew and wife; Lent Assizes 39 Geo. III.
  • 62. Roper, op. cit. 1, 48; a view and description are given.
  • 63. There is a sketch of the building, with measured drawings of the doorway and mantelpiece, in John o'Gaunt Sketch Book, vol. ii, pl. 21–22.
  • 64. William son of Robert de Holme in 1313 in right of his wife Eve claimed land in Holker against the Prior of Cartmel; De Banco R. 201, m. 181 d.; 236, m. 71. In 1314 Adam Littlecroft claimed the moiety of a messuage; ibid. 206, m. 229. The following year Robert Gaitessun and Helewise his wife had to defend their right to a piece of land, which it was alleged had been given by Alan Ayel to Robert Sherwind and Christiana his wife to the disseisin of Maud Riutite (temp. Edw. I), whose grandson Henry Riutite (son of John son of Maud) was the claimant; ibid. 212, m. 329d. Matthew Sherwind as son and heir of Christiana wife of Robert Sherwind in 1346 claimed a tenement in Holker against William son of Robert the Tailor of Flookburgh, alleging that his father had demised it to Robert Gaitsun; ibid. 347, m. 34d.; 350, m. 283. Thomas son and heir of Alexander Waleys was called to warrant. William de Gill and Christiana his wife were concerned in suits in 1341–4; ibid. 328, m. 146 d.; 340, m. 430, 509. Christiana and Edith daughters of Thomas the Mason in 1354 claimed two messuages, &c, in Holker against the Prior of Cartmel. The prior said they were his villeins, but the jury found they were free, and decided for them; Duchy of Lanc. Assize R. 3, m. 1. William Casson was plaintiff in 1441; Pal. of Lanc. Plea R. 3, m. 13. Thomas Duckett of Holker and Janet his wife were convicted recusants about 1670; Misc. (Cath. Rec. Soc), v, 235.
  • 65. Flokeburg, 1246; Flokeburgh, 1332.
  • 66. From the account of this manor it appears that in 1298 a plough-land in Flookburgh was held by Michael de Harrington. William Thornburgh's land in Flookburgh was in 1521 held of the lord of Hornby; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. v, no. 41. James Harrington in 1606 held two messuages in Flookburgh of the king as of his manor of Cartmel. His heir was his son Thomas, aged thirty-nine in 1615; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), dclxxvi, 148. The following miscellaneous pleas may be added: Warine son of William le Festur in 1246 claimed a messuage and half an acre in Flookburgh as his inheritance against Michael le Fulun and Edith his wife, and his claim was allowed; Assize R. 404, m. 2. In 1302 Ralph son of William son of Ketel de Flookburgh made claims against various persons respecting a messuage, &c, in Holker; De Banco R. 141, m. 179. William the Marshal made a claim for a tenement in Flookburgh held in 1332 by William Granger and Christiana his wife, but did not prosecute it; Assize R. 1411, m. 12. In 1394 Thomas del S— of Cartmel, Alice his wife and Robert their son acquired three messuages, &c, in Flookburgh and Holker from John Tracey, litster, and Agnes his wife; Final Conc. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), iii, 44.
  • 67. This charter is known by its recital in the confirmation by Charles II. An earlier grant by Edward I in 1278 is alleged (West, Furness, p. xiv), but nothing is known of it, and it is not referred to in the 1412 charter. No lands in Lancashire are named in Dugdale's account of the duke's possessions; Baronage, ii, 196. He was created Duke of Clarence in 1411 and was killed at Beaugy in 1421; G.E.C. Complete Peerage, 271. His will is printed in Royal Wills, 230.
  • 68. Printed in Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. Soc. xvi, 41.
  • 69. A petition of 1685 printed in the Westmld. Note-bk. implies that the charter was used, but in 1724 Bishop Gastrell found that neither market nor fair was kept; Notitia Cestr. (Chet. Soc), ii, 504.
  • 70. Cartmel Priory had some land, &c, in Flookburgh, and in the rental of 1508–9 (Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surv. bdle. 4, no. 9) it is recorded that Richard Helme had a burgage, paying 4s. a year, and that William Inman had it afterwards. The other tenants of the priory included Robert Briggs (see Cartmel Fell), Richard Hubbersty, William Dicconson (1 oxgang of land, 13d. rent), Christopher Dawson, several Simpsons and Robert Kellet of Cark (1 oxgang of land in Flookburgh field, 12d. a term). The tenements were like those in other parts of the manor of Cartmel, and were held by a rent payable at the four terms, a fine called ingress, a payment for services, and in some cases certain bushels of salt. Richard Hubbersty agreed to maintain a gate called Moorthwaite gate. In 1609–10 the king granted to George Salter and others sixty-five burgages with sixty-five tofts in Flookburgh, part of the priory of Cartmel; Pat. 7 Jas. I. This may have been a 'concealed lands' grant. Edward Barrow died in 1612 holding a messuage, &c, in Flookburgh in free burgage; his heir was a daughter Agnes, aged six; Towneley MS. RR, no. 442.
  • 71. Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. Soc. ut sup.; illustrations are given. Also Stockdale, op. cit. 121.
  • 72. Stockdale, op. cit. 291. The same writer (in 1870) says: 'There ia a town firm, town term, touter, or, as it is now called, "town farm rent," payable at Flookburgh to the heirs of Lady Dashwood. . . . The agent who collects this rent in Flookburgh carries his wand of office with him on the occasion, to show his authority for so doing. . . . The staff or wand of office is about 3 yards in length (or was before it was broken), painted red and yellow, and called to this day "Lady Dashwood's stick'"; ibid. 124.
  • 73. Richard Bellingham and Anne his wife in 1508 had lands in Flookburgh; Final Conc, iii, 163. For heirs of Bellingham see the accounts of Hampsfield and Lindale below. Thomas Rigmaiden of Wedacre died in 1520 holding lands, &c, at Flookburgh. John Rigmaiden of Cartmel in 1651 desired to compound for the estates of his father Thomas, sequestered for recusancy. John was 'a good Protestant,' and had served the Parliament; his petition was allowed on his taking the oath of abjuration; Cal. Com. for Comp. iv, 2850. The Lawrences of Yealand Redmayne in 1534 and later held messuages, &c, in Flookburgh, as did their successors the Middletons, but the tenure was not known; Duchy of Lanc. Inq. p.m. vi, no. 41, &c. Lawrence Starkie of Lancaster in 1532 had a tenement in Flookburgh, said to be held of the king as duke by knight's service; ibid, ix, no, 21. His heirs sold it to Richard Johnson in 1547; Pal. of Lanc. Feet of F. bdle. 13, m. 244.
  • 74. His will is in Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surv. bdle. 4, no. 12.
  • 75. Commonw. Ch. Surv. (Rec. Soc. Lancs, and Ches.), 142.
  • 76. Gastrell, Notitia Cestr. ii, 503. There was a chapelwarden and one of the churchwardens of Cartmel served for the chapelry also.
  • 77. Carlisle Dioc. Cal.
  • 78. Stretford's Visitation List (1691) at Chester Dioc. Reg.
  • 79. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. iv, 229.
  • 80. There is a full account of the matter in Stockdale, op. cit. 284–91. Part of the expense was defrayed by the sale of the pews. The writer says: 'Such was the solidity of the walls of the old building that all the skill and ingenuity of the masons and labourers was scarcely sufficient to tear it down and some parts of the walls were blasted. In this chapel there was only one pew and that belonged to the ancient family of Rawlinson and Curwen of Cark Hall and Mireside; the rest of the congregation sitting upon rude oak forms amongst the rushes '; ibid. 24. Numerous extracts are printed from the old chapel book, 1711–1800, ibid. 257–98.
  • 81. Lond. Gaz.
  • 82. He died in 1727; M.I. at Cartmel.
  • 83. The list of incumbents is from the Rural Deanery of Cartmel, 1892, p. 61.
  • 84. Also rector of Brindle 1812–22.