Kirkoswald is a village,

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 ...

, and former

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

located in the Lower Eden Valley of

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, formerly in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, about from Penrith. The village, referred to colloquially as KO, had a population of 870 at the 2001 census, which rose to 901 at the 2011 Census.

Heritage

The village name means "Church of St Oswald", the parish church being dedicated to Saint Oswald, King of

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

. The body of Oswald is believed to have been taken through the village. The church lies on the southern edge of the village overlooking the River Eden, close to the bridge connecting Kirkoswald to

Lazonby Lazonby is a village and civil parish in the Lower Eden Valley of Cumbria; it is located about north north-east of Penrith and 24 miles (38 km) south of the Scottish Borders. The total population of the ward of Lazonby, which also includ ...

. St Oswald's Church is unique in having a 19th-century bell tower on top of a hill 200 yards from the church itself. Parts of the church date from the 12th century, the chancel being added in 1523, when the "College" was founded by

Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, KG (25 November 1467 – 24 October 1525) was the son of Humphrey Dacre, 1st Baron Dacre of Gilsland and Mabel Parr, great-aunt of queen consort Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King He ...

and his wife. A sacred spring lies under the nave of the church, and a well is found on the west wall.Kirkoswald Cumbria
In 1808 a hoard of perhaps 543 Northumbrian copper alloy

styca The styca (; . ''stycas'') was a small coin minted in pre-Viking Northumbria, originally in base silver and subsequently in a copper alloy. Production began in the 790s and continued until the 850s, though the coin remained in circulation until the ...

s and a silver trefoil ornament was found amongst an uprooted tree in the parish. One of Kirkoswald's most splendid buildings is the College, its name recalling the days when St Oswald's Church was a collegiate church. Originally built in 1450 as a

Pele Tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

it became, after dissolution in 1547, home to the Fetherstonhaugh family, which previously lived at

Featherstone Castle Featherstone Castle, a Grade I listed building, is a large Gothic style country mansion situated on the bank of the River South Tyne about southwest of the town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland, England. Medieval origins In the 11th century t ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

Amenities

The village has one main street rising up a steep hill passing through a former market place with its two pubs – the ''Crown Inn'' and the ''Fetherston Arms''. A third pub, the ''Black Bull'', which at one time won awards for its food, overlooked the square, but this closed in the early 1990s. It also has a shop that houses a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, a

Methodist church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

and a well-attended

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. Until recently there were further shops, including a butcher and a branch of the

Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...

. Given its market charter in the 13th century, the village held a market before it was moved to

Lazonby and Kirkoswald railway station Lazonby & Kirkoswald is a railway station on the Settle and Carlisle Line, which runs between and via . The station, which is situated south-east of Carlisle, serves the villages of Kirkoswald, Lazonby and Great Salkeld, Eden in Cumbria, ...

after the opening of the

Settle to Carlisle Railway Line Settle or SETTLE may refer to: Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania * ''S ...

in 1876.

Governance

Kirkoswald is in the Eden district of Cumbria. Included in the parish are the nearby village of Renwick and the hamlets of Staffield, High Bankhill, Parkhead and Scales. From 1866 to 1934 Staffield was a separate civil parish. Renwick was also a separate parish until 1934. The parish council meets at the village hall in Kirkoswald's former market square. An

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the same name stretches north to

Ainstable Ainstable is a village and civil parish in the English county of Cumbria. The parish stretches from the banks of the River Eden to the summits of the North Pennines where it borders Northumberland and includes the villages of Croglin and Ne ...

, with a total population at the 2011 census of 1,471.

Notable people

* Timothy Brown (1743/1744–1820), radical, banker, and merchant, was born in Kirkoswald *

Maria Fetherstonhaugh Hon. Maria Georgiana Fetherstonhaugh (née Carleton) (1847–3 August 1918) was an English novelist, known also as Minna Carleton. A modern critic concludes that her novels, "when not marred by over-wrought sentiment... have vitality.... Her wome ...

(1847–1918), a novelist who also used the name Minna Carleton, was married at Kirkoswald in 1865 to Timothy Fetherstonhaugh, once a captain of the 13th Hussars.

References

External links