Casterton is a small 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 authorit ...

close to Kirkby Lonsdale on the River Lune in the south east corner 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. ...

, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 500, decreasing at the 2011 census to 425. The parish is bounded by Kirkby Lonsdale, Barbon, Dent, Leck and

Burrow-with-Burrow Burrow-with-Burrow is a civil parish in the English county of Lancashire. The parish of Burrow-with-Burrow had a population of 191 recorded in the 2001 census, decreasing to 182 at the 2011 Census. It is on the River Lune south of the Cu ...

, and lies just inside the western edge of the

Yorkshire Dales National Park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England covering most of the Yorkshire Dales. Most of the park is in North Yorkshire, with a sizeable area in Westmorland ( Cumbria) and a small part in Lancashire. The park was d ...

: much of the

Three Counties System The Three Counties System is a set of inter-connected limestone solutional cave systems spanning the borders of Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire in the north of England. The possibility of connecting a number of discrete cave syste ...

, the longest explored natural

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

system in the country, lies beneath it. The western boundary, towards Kirkby Lonsdale, is formed by the river and has one of the finest

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

bridges in the country, one of those known as Devil's Bridge and a local

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

. The village is situated approximately from junction 36 (Kendal and the Lakes exit) of the M6 motorway, near the intersection of the A65 Kendal to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

road, and the A683 which runs up the Lune valley from the port of Heysham to the market town of Kirkby Stephen. The name of the village hints at a

Roman camp In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...

, though no evidence of that has been found, but the major Roman Ribchester to

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

road runs to the east of the village and a cross-stone was ploughed up and reerected in the 19th century. A

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The ...

can be seen to the east, on top of a ridge on the flanks of Brownthwaite Pike. The Ingleton Branch Line of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway ran through the village before its closure under the Beeching axe in the mid 1960s. The largest buildings in the village are at Casterton School, a private girls' school. The school was founded in 1820 by William Carus-Wilson as a school for servants and teachers. Carus-Wilson also founded the Clergy Daughters' School three years later at Cowan Bridge,

. The two schools were amalgamated on the present site in 1833. The Brontë sisters attended the Clergy Daughters' School on its original site and Lowood school in ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'' is based on it. The village Church of Holy Trinity, was also built under Carus-Wilson and was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different gro ...

on 5 October 1833 by the

Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in ...

. It was enlarged in 1865 and restored in 1891, and is at present run as part of the 'Rainbow Parish' based in Kirkby Lonsdale, a combination of eight, originally seven, churches. Casterton has a private 9-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

; an 18th-century

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tr ...

, The Pheasant Inn; a

bus shelter A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for ch ...

for the weekly bus; and a

phone box A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; usually the user steps into the booth and closes the booth ...

References

External links

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

See also

References

External links