Alston Moor, formerly known as Alston with Garrigill, is a
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
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
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, based around the small town of
Alston. It is set in the moorlands of the North Pennines, mostly at an altitude of over 1000 feet. The parish/ward had a population of 2,088 at the 2011 census. As well as the town of Alston, the parish includes the villages of
Garrigill
Garrigill, Cumbria is a small village in the North Pennine region of the UK, situated on the banks and close to the source of the River South Tyne. Historically part of Cumberland, today it is within the Garrigill ward of the civil parish of Al ...
and
Nenthead
Nenthead ( ) in the county of Cumbria is one of England's highest villages, at around . It was not built until the middle of the 18th century and was one of the earliest purpose-built industrial villages in Britain.
History
Nenthead was a maj ...
, along with the hamlets of Nenthall, Nentsberry, Galligill, Blagill, Ashgill,
Leadgate,
Bayles and Raise. Alston Moor is part of the
North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the second largest of the 40 AONBs in England and Wales.
Under the
Local Government Act 1894
The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...
, the parish, then known as Alston with Garrigill, which had previously been a
rural sanitary district
Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures:
*Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies
*Rural sanitary dis ...
on its own, became one of the few single-parish
rural district
Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...
s. This remained in existence until 1974 when it became part of the
Eden district. On 18 June 1974 the parish was renamed from "Alston with Garrigill" to "Alston Moor". The parish is divided into the wards of Alston (which includes Leadgate), Garrgill and Nenthead.
The area is drained by the
River South Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...
whose source is located in the fells above Garrigill and also by the Rivers Nent and Black Burn which, along with many other smaller streams, flow into the Tyne. The Rivers
Tees and
Wear
Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology.
Wear in m ...
also have their sources on the borders of the parish.
History
Alston Moor originally lay within the Liberty of
Tynedale
__NOTOC__
Tynedale is an area and former local government district in south-west Northumberland, England. The district had a resident population of 58,808 according to the 2001 Census. Its main towns were Hexham, Haltwhistle and Prudhoe. The ...
in the county of
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 ...
. It was later transferred to Cumberland by the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...
when lead mines were established in the region by Carlisle merchants.
The
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 ...
of Alston or Alston Moor changed hands several times until the 17th century when it passed to the Radcliffe family who held the title
Earl of Derwentwater
Earl of Derwentwater (pronounced "Durwentwater") was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1688 for Francis Radclyffe, 1st Earl of Derwentwater, Sir Francis Radclyffe, 3rd Baronet. He was made Baron Tyndale, of Tyndale in the Coun ...
, but after their part in the failed
1715 Jacobite rising
The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ;
or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts.
At Braemar, Aberdeenshire, lo ...
their lands were confiscated by the Government, who assigned it to the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
to support the
Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich
Greenwich Hospital was a permanent home for retired sailors of the Royal Navy, which operated from 1692 to 1869. Its buildings, in Greenwich, London, were later used by the Royal Naval College, Greenwich and the University of Greenwich, and ar ...
in London.
Greenwich Hospital remained the principal landowner in the parish and owner of the extensive mineral rights up until the 1960s. The estate was then transferred to the Trustees for
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Purposes who in the 1990s sold their remaining properties in Alston Moor.
![Randalholme - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Randalholme_-_geograph.org.uk_-_445392.jpg)
The poet
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
was to travel a great deal in Britain and abroad, but it is the wild region between the River Tees and
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...
which provides the backdrop to many of his poems and plays of the '20s and '30s, and echoes at intervals throughout his life. In America in 1947, an
Ordnance Survey
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map of Alston Moor hung on the wall of Auden's chaotic shack on Fire Island.
According to his brother
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, Auden came to love Alston Moor more than any other place. The poem entitled 'Alston Moor' dates from 1924, as does 'Allendale'.
Close to the River South Tyne, 2 miles north of Alston, lies Randalholme Hall, a 17th-century house incorporating a fourteenth-century
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 ...
.
To the south of Garrigill is the district of Priorsdale which was at one time regarded as separate to the rest of the manor of Alston Moor and was divided into the
liberties
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
of Eshgill or Ashgill, The Hill and The Hole which were further subdivided into other properties. Priorsdale was so named as it was originally given to the Priors of
Hexham Abbey
Hexham Abbey is a Grade I listed place of Christian worship dedicated to St Andrew, in the town of Hexham, Northumberland, in the North East of England. Originally built in AD 674, the Abbey was built up during the 12th century into its curre ...
but passed to the Crown after the
Dissolution of the Monasteries who gave it to the Lawson family, though most of it eventually became part of the Greenwich Hospital estate.
The principal
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church is St Augustine's in Alston, which along with the churches at Garrigill and Nenthead both dedicated to St John and three churches over the county border in Northumberland make up the Team Parish of Alston Moor within the
Diocese of Newcastle
The Diocese of Newcastle is a Church of England diocese based in Newcastle upon Tyne, covering the historic county of Northumberland (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne), as well as the area of Alston Moo ...
. Officially Garrigill and Nenthead are separate ecclesiastical parishes, although Garrigill used to be a
chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century.
Status
It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the communi ...
of the parish of Alston-cum-Garrigill, and it is believed it may have at one time been connected with
Kirkland on the other side of
Cross Fell
Cross Fell is the highest mountain in the Pennines of Northern England and the highest point in England outside the Lake District. It is located in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies within the county of Cumbria and ...
.
Mineral wealth
Alston Moor had some of the largest deposits of
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
and
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
ores in Britain. Lead was probably mined in Roman times. The Romans built a fort at
Whitley Castle
Whitley Castle (''Epiacum'') is a large, unusually shaped Roman fort ( la, castra) north-west of the town of Alston, Cumbria, England. The castrum, which was first built by the Roman Army early in the 2nd century AD, was partly demolished and r ...
, known to the Romans as Epiacum, and pieces of lead ore and slag have been found there, though few other traces of their work remain. There are various references to the mines of the area between the 12th & 16th centuries. Most emphasise the value of the silver, which makes up a small (<1%) proportion of the lead ore. This made the mines of interest to the Crown, who charged rents on the silver production. When Sir Edward Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater bought the estate in 1629 for £2,500, the mines were believed to be virtually exhausted.
From the 18thC. Greenwich Hospital leased the rights to mine for lead and other minerals to a number of companies. The most significant of these was the
London Lead Company
The London Lead Company was an 18th and 19th century British lead mining company. It was incorporated by royal charter. Strictly, it was The Company for Smelting Down Lead with Pitcoal.
Origins
The company was chartered in 1692 to investors who i ...
, but other smaller companies and partnerships also took on leases, with varying degrees of success. The London Lead Company's work led to Alston Moor becoming one of the main lead producing areas in the country by the mid-19th C, especially around Nenthead. The population of the area rose to a peak of around 5,000 in this period. By the 1860s, cheaper imports were making the local lead industry unprofitable, and by 1896 the leases had passed to the Vieille Montagne company, who worked the mines for zinc, which had earlier been of little commercial value.
The 20th C. saw a gradual decline in mining and the prosperity it had brought to the area. Little remained of the industry after World War II. Today the remains of the smelt mill at Nenthead Mines can be seen. A few of the old mines are accessible but must only be explored with expert guidance. The traces of hundreds of other small mines, shafts and spoil heaps are merging into the landscape.
Golf
Alston Moor is home to England's highest golf course. The Golf Club was founded in 1905 and has occupied numerous sites over the years. The first course was at Black House Farm, but the course is now located on the Hermitage Farm site. The official opening was on Easter Monday 1906, although there is evidence that a club was in existence for quite some time before this date.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Alston Moor
Alston Moor is a civil parish in the Eden District, Cumbria, England. It contains 89 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these,
three are listed at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at G ...
References
Related websites
Cybermoor community website with news, comment, webcams and information about Alston MoorAlston Moor Newsletter
External links
Cumbria County History Trust: Alston Moor(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
*
{{authority control
Geography of Cumbria
Civil parishes in Cumbria
Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972
Districts of England created by the Local Government Act 1894
Moorlands of England
Eden District