Beetham is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England, situated on the border with

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, north of

Carnforth Carnforth is a market town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay. The parish of Carnforth had a population of 5,560 in the 2011 census, an increase from the 5,350 reco ...

. It is part of the

Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Arnside and Silverdale is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England, on the border between Lancashire and Cumbria, adjoining Morecambe Bay. One of the smallest AONBs, it covers 29 square miles (75 km2) between the Kent Estuary, the Ri ...

. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,724, increasing at the 2011 census to 1,784.

History

Craven in the Domesday Book The extent of the medieval district of Craven, in the north of England is a matter of debate. The name Craven is either pre-Celtic Britain, Britonnic or Romano-British in origin. However, its usage continued following the ascendancy of the ...

shows that up till 1066

Earl Tostig Tostig Godwinson ( 102925 September 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson. After being exiled by his brother, Tostig supported the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion of England, and was killed ...

was lord of Beetham and the surrounding areas of Farleton, Preston Richard,

Hincaster Hincaster is a small hamlet and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, located between Kendal and Milnthorpe. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 195, increasing at the 2011 census to 209. "Caster" oft ...

Heversham Heversham is a small village and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 647, increasing at the 2011 census to 699. It is situated above the marshes of the Kent estua ...

and Levens in

plus

Yealand Redmayne Yealand Redmayne is a village and civil parish in the English county of Lancashire. Community The civil parish also includes the hamlet of Yealand Storrs. The village borders Yealand Conyers and the villages share their facilities. The shared ...

and

Borwick Borwick is a village and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, about 8 miles north of Lancaster, on the Lancaster Canal. It is situated just south of the border with Cumbria. The parish of Borwick had a popula ...

. Beetham

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

then amounted to 25

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( lat-med, carrūcāta or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms ...

s (ca3000 acres/1250ha) of ploughland. The

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

added it to the extensive lands of

Roger de Poitou Roger the Poitevin (Roger de Poitou) was born in Normandy in the mid-1060s and died before 1140. He was an Anglo-Norman aristocrat, possessing large holdings in both England and through his marriage in France. He was the third son of Roger of Mon ...

Demography

The parish had a population of 1,724 recorded in the 2001 census, increasing to 1,784 at the 2011 Census.

Community

Points of interest include: * The Church of St Michael and All Angels, parts of which date from the 12th century. * The

Heron Corn Mill The Heron Corn Mill is a working 18th-century water mill on the River Bela at Beetham, Cumbria, England. The mill and its mill race are grade II* listed, and in 2013 it was awarded a £939,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund for major resto ...

, a working

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

and active arts and education center. * The Heron Theatre, an 80-seat

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

housed in the listed 18th century

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. * The Fairy Steps, a natural staircase in a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

crag, in the woodland to the west of the village. * A small shrine to

Saint Lioba Leoba, OSB (also Lioba and Leofgyth) (c. 710 – 28 September 782) was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine nun and is recognized as a saint. In 746 she and others left Wimborne Minster in Dorset to join her kinsman Boniface in his mission to the German peo ...

(or Leoba), built into a stone wall in the nearby hamlet of Slackhead.

Geography

The

River Bela The River Bela is a short (approximately ) river in the county of Cumbria, England. It is in the ancient county of Westmorland. The river is formed by the confluence of Peasey Beck and Stainton Beck at Overthwaite. It runs through Beetham wh ...

flows past the village and through the deer park of

Dallam Tower Dallam Tower is a grade I listed country house in Beetham parish, near Milnthorpe, South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. It is a member of the Historic Houses Association but is not open to the public except for occasional charity events, visits to ...

, skirting

Milnthorpe Milnthorpe is a small market town on the southern border of Cumbria, 7 miles south of Kendal, civil parish and electoral ward are in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Westmorland and on the A6, the ...

before it washes out into the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Estuary near Sandside. Half a mile to the south-east,

Beetham Hall Beetham is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, situated on the border with Lancashire, north of Carnforth. It is part of the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the 2001 census the parish had a populati ...

is a 14th-century fortified manor house, now largely ruined, adjoining later buildings. It is a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, with a separately II* listed curtain wall and a grade II

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G. ...

, and is now occupied by a firm of

funeral director A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as w ...

s. To the north of the village is the paper factory employing 140 people and producing 45,000 tonnes/year, specialising in

kraft paper Kraft paper or kraft is paper or paperboard (cardboard) produced from chemical pulp produced in the kraft process. Sack kraft paper (or just sack paper) is a porous kraft paper with high elasticity and high tear resistance, designed for packag ...

for pharmaceutical and food packaging. In 2021 it was acquired by Inspirit Capital from

BillerudKorsnäs Billerud AB is a Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Solna, Sweden. The company simplified its name from BillerudKorsnäs to Billerud after the acquisition of Verso 2022, an American producer of coated paper. Billerud has ni ...

and renamed Pelta Medical Papers, the word ''Pelta'' deriving from the Greek word for a light-weight shield carried by a

peltast A ''peltast'' ( grc-gre, πελταστής ) was a type of light infantryman, originating in Thrace and Paeonia, and named after the kind of shield he carried. Thucydides mentions the Thracian peltasts, while Xenophon in the Anabasis disting ...

. There has been a paper mill on the site since 1788, and in 1964 it was the UK's largest producer of kraft paper. Records at

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are i ...

show the previous company names as J & J. Makin (19011990), (J.) Bibby Paper (19901997), Barlow Paper (19971999), Henry Cooke (19992004), and Billerud/BillerudKorsnäs (20042021.

Civil parish

The civil parish of Beetham includes the main villages of Beetham and

Storth Storth is a village near Arnside in Cumbria, England, situated near the border with Lancashire. It is in the historic county of Westmorland. The village faces the estuary of the River Kent. Although the village is ancient the vast bulk of the ...

and the smaller communities of

Carr Bank Carr Bank is a small hamlet near Arnside, Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 a ...

, Sandside,

Hale Hale may refer to: Places Australia *Hale, Northern Territory, a locality *Hale River, in southeastern Northern Territory Canada *Hale, Ontario, in Algoma District United Kingdom * Hale, Cumbria, a hamlet near Beetham, Cumbria *Hale, Greater Man ...

, Slackhead, Farleton and

Whasset Whasset or Whassett is a hamlet near Milnthorpe in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Westmorland. It is in the parish of Beetham and lies south of Ackenthwaite. The spelling ''Whasset'', with single "t", is used ...

Gallery

File:Beethama6.jpg, The main road into Beetham before the A6 road development File:Footpath_to_Leighton_Hall_-_geograph.org.uk_-_126503.jpg, Footpath to

Leighton Hall Leighton Hall may refer to: *Leighton Hall, Lancashire *Leighton Hall, Powys Leighton Hall is an estate located to the east of Welshpool in the historic county of Montgomeryshire, now Powys, in Wales. Leighton Hall is a listed grade I property. ...

File:Highland_cows_-_geograph.org.uk_-_76335.jpg, Highland cattle grazing File:Beetham Hall - geograph.org.uk - 862919.jpg, Beetham Hall in 2008

Navigation

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Beetham
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
Beetham Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Cumbria Civil parishes in Cumbria