Kirkby Lonsdale () is a town 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 ...

in the

South Lakeland South Lakeland is a local government district in Cumbria, England. The population of the non-metropolitan district was 102,301 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 103,658 at the 2011 Census. Its council is based in Kendal. It include ...

district 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, on the

River Lune The River Lune (archaically sometimes Loyne) is a river in length in Cumbria and Lancashire, England. Etymology Several elucidations for the origin of the name ''Lune'' exist. Firstly, it may be that the name is Brittonic in genesis and der ...

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

, it lies south-east of

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of t ...

on the A65. The parish recorded a population of 1,771 in the 2001 census, increasing to 1,843 at the 2011 Census. Notable buildings include St Mary's Church, a Norman building with fine carved columns. The view of the River Lune from the churchyard is known as Ruskin's View after

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, who called it one of the loveliest in England. It was painted by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...

Governance

Kirkby Lonsdale is in the Westmorland and Lonsdale parliamentary constituency; Tim Farron of the Liberal Democrats is the current member. In local government it is in the Kirkby Lonsdale

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

District Council and the Sedbergh & Kirkby Lonsdale Division of

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it is an elected local government body respo ...

. It has a parish council: Kirkby Lonsdale Town Council.

Early history

Early signs of occupation include a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

stone circle on Casterton Fell and remains of Celtic settlements at

Barbon Barbon is a village and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 263, reducing to 236 at the 2011 Census. The church is dedicated to St Bartholomew. The village is abou ...

, Middleton and Hutton Roof. During the Roman period, a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

followed the

, linking forts at Low Borrow Bridge near

Tebay Tebay is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, within the historic borders of Westmorland. It lies in the upper Lune Valley, at the head of the Lune Gorge. The parish had a population of 728 in the 2001 census, increasing to 776 at th ...

and

Over 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 Cumb ...

, south of Kirkby Lonsdale. A Roman milestone unearthed in 1836 and described as "the best in the country" was re-erected on a hill near Hawkin Hall (SD 623 859), close to where it was found. St Mary's Church, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria - geograph

St Mary's Church, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria - geograph

Kirkby Lonsdale developed at a crossing over the River Lune, where drovers' and pack-horse routes converged. It is one of few Cumbrian towns mentioned in the 1086

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, where it is called Cherchibi (village with a church). An earlier church was rebuilt by the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

, who erected an artificial mound or

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

on nearby

glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

land. A wooden tower or keep is thought to have surmounted the stronghold as a base for controlling the surrounding area. In later years, the mound was used for

cockfighting A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

, hence the current name of Cockpit Hill. In 1093, Ivo de Taillebois (

Baron of Kendal The titles of Earl of Kendal and Duke of Kendal have been created several times, usually for people with some connection to the royal family. *The first creation was for John, 4th son of King Henry IV, who was created Earl of Kendal, Earl of ...

) granted the church at Kirkby Lonsdale to St Mary's Abbey in York, which held it until the Dissolution. Thereafter the abbey and its possessions, including St Mary's Church, passed to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, which retains the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

to this day. In 1227, the town gained a

market charter 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 ...

and the right to hold an annual fair every September. Each week stallholders gathered in Market Street to sell their wares, as did horse traders in the Horsemarket and pig sellers in Swinemarket. Thursday was as now the scene of great activity. Kirkby has an annual festival called the Victorian Fair.

19th century onward

The weekly market and daily throughput of drovers and pack-horse carriers created a bustling town, with a total of 29 inns and alehouses, of which eight remain. By the early 19th century, the old market area was becoming too congested and a new market place was built in 1822. The steep incline of Mill Brow with its fast-flowing, now culverted stream was the industrial heart of Kirkby Lonsdale, with several mills using water power for grinding corn, bark and bone, carding wool, manufacturing snuff, making bobbins and

fulling Fulling, also known as felting, tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelled waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven or knitted cloth (particularly wool) to eli ...

cloth, and sawing timber. The

Keighley and Kendal Turnpike The Keighley and Kendal Turnpike was a road built in 1753 by a turnpike trust between Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire and Kendal in Westmorland, England. The primary instigators were in Settle. The road followed a modified ancient r ...

of 1753 passed through Kirkby Lonsdale and met there with a turnpike from Milnthorpe on the coast. In 1818, the two trusts were amalgamated. Kirkby Lonsdale railway station, away in

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 Lancas ...

, opened in 1861 and closed to passengers in 1954. Today Kirkby Lonsdale remains a busy town with a market. The centre has a mixture of elegant 18th-century buildings and stone cottages huddled round cobbled courtyards and narrow alleyways, with names such as Salt Pie Lane and Jingling Lane. St Mary's Church is an active

Anglican parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes c ...

in the deanery of Kendal, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the

diocese of Carlisle The Diocese of Carlisle was created in 11 April 1132 by Henry I out of part of the Diocese of Durham, although many people of Cumbric descent in the area looked to Glasgow for spiritual leadership. The first bishop was Æthelwold, who was the k ...

. Its

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

is united with those of six local churches to form the Kirkby Lonsdale Team Ministry. It contains Norman architecture and is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

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 I ...

. Kirkby Lonsdale's Queen Elizabeth School in Biggins Road is a secondary specialising in the performing arts, sports and languages. A two-day Victorian fair used to be hosted in the town each September. The streets were closed to traffic and filled with traders' stalls, craft demonstrations and entertainment, while visitors were encouraged to wear Victorian dress.

Motorbike A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...

enthusiasts meet every Sunday at Devil's Bridge.

Devil's Bridge

The town is noted for the Devil's Bridge (), which at one time carried the Skipton to Kendal road over the River Lune. It dates from around 1370 and is built of fine

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

. Of its three spans, the western two measure each and the eastern one , or from river to parapet. The piers are hexagonal, round and extending upwards to provide pedestrian refuges. At the eastern end is a sundial in the form of a square block on an octagonal column. The bridge was probably built by monks of St Mary's Abbey, York. Like many bridges of the same name, it features a legend that the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

appeared to an old woman, promising to build a bridge in exchange for the first soul to cross over it. When the bridge was finished, the woman threw bread over the bridge and her dog chased after it, thereby outwitting the Devil. Several large stones in the surrounding area, including the Great Stone of Fourstones, are ascribed to the

's purse strings bursting open as he ferried masonry to build it. It was repaired in 1705 and repointed in 1829 using Roman-style cement. The eastern arch was repaired in about 1869. The roadway on the bridge is only wide, insufficient for modern traffic. As numbers increased the bridge was closed to vehicles in 1932. Traffic instead crosses the river by the Stanley Bridge, to the south, which was built in the 1930s. Devil's Bridge is a grade I listed structure and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The river beneath Devil's Bridge is popular with

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

for its relatively easy access and egress, deep rock pools (about 16 ft in a low swell) and good visibility. The bridge also witnesses illegal " tombstoning" (bridge diving), which has caused at least one death, of a 22-year-old man in 2012.

References

External links