Ireleth

Ireleth
Lancashire
View down to Ireleth and the estuary
Location
Grid reference:	SD222775
Location:	54°11’20"N, 3°12’14"W
Data
Post town:	Askam-in-Furness
Postcode:	LA16
Dialling code:	01229
Local Government
Council:	Westmorland & Furness
Parliamentary constituency:	Barrow and Furness

Ireleth is a village in Lancashire, close to the Duddon Estuary which marks the county boundary with Cumberland to the west. Ireleth sits immediately east and inland of Askam-in-Furness and the two villages have grown together and share a parish council.

Ireleth has its origins as a mediæval farming village clustered on the hillside overlooking the flat sands of the Duddon Estuary. Askam down by the shore was established following the discovery of large quantities of iron ore near the village in the middle of the 18th century.

The nearby River Duddon estuary and surrounding countryside have made the area well known for its wildlife, while the villages' exposed position on the eastern bank facing the Irish Sea have encouraged the establishment of wind energy generation, amidst local controversy.

History

Ireleth has origins back in the Norse period, as evidenced by its name. It was originally clustered along a stream, named 'Hole Beck', about half a mile up the hill from the estuary below. It was also the junction of four roads passing through the area. Firstly, there was the 'Sands' road, named 'Marsh Lane' in maps of the 1850s, heading down the hill towards the shore, where it met one of the possible routes for crossing the treacherous tidal sands of the Duddon at low tide. Secondly, there was the lane heading north along a ridge towards Kirkby-in-Furness. Part of these two roads form today's A595 main road. There was also a road leading up the stream's valley towards the hamlet of Marton, and finally a road east over the hills towards Dalton-in-Furness.

Viking origins exist in two forms: remains have been found near St Peter's parish church and the name of the village itself is Viking, translated from the Old Norse as 'hill-slope of the Irish'.

It is thought the village was included in the Domesday Book, compiled soon after the Norman Conquest, but there is debate over which of the entries for the Furness area in Domesday actually refers to modern day Ireleth. Several sources name a settlement called Gerleuuorde, part of the Manor of Hougun, as the correct entry but there is no conclusive evidence to support this, not least because of the discrepancies in spelling. Samuel Lewis' A Topological Dictionary of England, written 1848, posits a different contender as the true Ireleth. He claimed Ouregrave referred to the village because of the existence of a mill named Orga-Mill, but he conceded this was also conjecture. Lewis' full text on Ireleth is below.

“

IRELETH, a chapelry, in the parish of Dalton-In-Furness, union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 3 miles (N.) from Dalton; containing 744 inhabitants. Ogra-Mill, in this township, has been conjectured to be the Ouregrave of the Domesday survey: Roanhead is the point for crossing Dudden sands by the ancient road into Cumberland. Upon the east borders of Ireleth, also called Above Town, are the iron-mines of Whitridge, Lindal Moor, Cross Gates, and Inman Gill, the richest and most productive mines in Furness, with the exception of Cross Gates, the works of which have been suspended. Many thousand tons of ore are raised annually in the township. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £100; patron, the Vicar of Dalton. The chapel was built in 1608, by Giles Brownrigg, and was originally intended for a school.

”

St Peter's Church

During the Middle Ages, the entire area was controlled by the Cistercian monks of Furness Abbey. During this time, Ireleth was little more than one of many farming communities in Furness. The iron ore developments of Askam largely bypassed Ireleth, and the village developed slowly, housing farmers and workers from local towns.

In 1608 an endowment was created to fund a village school. Giles Brownrigg, named variously as a local landowner or a tailor who had left the area to make his fortune in London, gave money to establish a school house and a salary for a schoolmaster. This building existed on what is today Sun Street; the only remains today are a font and a plaque, kept in the modern day school building, inscribed:

“

Giles Brownrig caused this school house to be builded the 6 yeare of King James ano 1608 and gave a yearly salari to the schole maister for ever

”

Ireleth featured in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. In this, it is said-

“

IRELETH, a village and a chapelry in Dalton-in-Furness parish, Lancashire. The village stands at a st. of the Furness railway, on the E side of the Duddon sands, 2¾ miles N of Dalton; is a small sub port to Lancaster; and maintains communication across the sands at low water. The chapelry includes also the hamlets of Lindale and Marton; but does not appear to have definite limits. Post town, Dalton-in-Furness. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £100.* Patron, the Vicar of Dalton. The church stands on an eminence, overlooking the Duddon.

”

Ireleth did not have a parish church at this point, falling into the 'Above Town' area, together with the hamlets of Marton and Lindal, of the parish of Dalton-in-Furness. Lacking a place of worship, it was decided the newly-built school could also be put to use as a chapel. Fishwick's 'Lancashire & Cheshire Church Surveys, 1649–1655' of 1849 cites this record from a church survey taken in 1650:

“

That the Chappell of Irleth is not farr distant from its parish Church [Dalton in Furness], but neare enough thereto, and was onely built for a schoole, and some for their perticuler ease would have the same made a Chappell

”

In 1860, Ireleth, along with the newly founded Askam, petitioned for the creation of its own parish following the rapid increase in population. Construction of a parish church began, with the money to build St. Peter's coming from the new-found profits of iron ore mining, giving rise to the name the 'Iron Church'. It was dedicated for use on St. Peter's Day, 29 June 1865, but approval for a new ecclesiastical parish of 'Ireleth-with-Askam' did not come until almost ten years later in 1874.

Name

The name of the village is Old Norse, apparently from Íra hlíð, meaning "Hill-slope of the Irish".

Ireleth is often confused in archival records with 'Kirkby Ireleth', the former name for the community (two miles to the north) now known as Kirkby-in-Furness. These communities are differentiated in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales.

Churches

The parish church is St Peter's Church atop Ireleth Hill, and is the oldest of the churches in two villages.

Duddon Road Church in Askam, shared with the Church of England and is the headquarters of the local scouts, cubs, beavers, rainbows and brownies.

The churches in Ireleth and in Askam are:

• Church of England:
  • St Peter's, Ireleth
  • Duddon Road Church, Askam, shared with the Methodist Church

The Temperance Hall was once used as a church. Others were active too in past days; Zion, on Beach Street, Askam, was a Primitive Methodist church, founded in 1870 and closed in 1985, and a United Methodist Church in Askam, now used as a social club. The Gospel Hall on Duke Street closed in 2007.

Environment

Geology

On the upper slopes of the hill near Ireleth are home to dark blue slate and is found on the roofs of several local dwellings. Haematite, the bright red iron ore, was discovered in an exceptionally large deposit—the second largest in the country—south of the current villages in the 1840s. Askam sprung up on the Ireleth marshes as a home for the miners attacking the new deposit. The other mineral found in large quantities, conveniently with a commercial use, is shale. This is fired with water to make red brick, and the brickworks, which is still operational today, was built in 1845 to exploit this.

Wildlife

Much wildlife is found on the Duddon Estuary, perhaps most notably 20% of the national Natterjack toad population, who are attracted to the shallow breeding pools. The slagbanks around Askam are also very important as nesting sites for the rare Sandwich terns that live in the area.

The beach is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of the range of flora and fauna present on the sands.

Wind energy

The Askam and Ireleth Wind Farm can be found a mile and a half east of the village, on the southern slopes of Hare Slack Hill. Work on the turbines started in late 1998, and the wind farm took eight months to complete.

The Marton, Askam and Ireleth Windfarm Action Group (MAIWAG) was one of the first such organisations in the UK dedicated to fighting windfarm development.

Sport

Many sports facilities and teams are shared between Ireleth and Askam:

• Rugby League: Askam Amateur RLFC, formed in 1879 and playing at Fallowfield Park
• Football:
  • Askam United FC, playing at Duddon Sports and Social Club
  • Duddon Sports Junior Football Club
• Golf: Dunnerholme Golf Club, with a 10-hole links golf course. The course has one particularly interesting feature, namely a green atop Dunnerholme Rock, a large uneroded limestone rock which stands out from the surrounding flat course and sands. The golf club has been in existence since 1905.

Temperance Hall

The village hall in Ireleth is the Temperance Hall on Saves Lane, which is a reminder of the strong influence of non-conformism in Lancashire. Built by the Society of Friends (the Quakers) in 1872, it was marked as a place of worship on Ordnance Survey maps of the late 19th century, and was used by a Methodist offshoot group called the Bible Christians. It later fell out of use as a religious centre, being marked on maps in 1913 as simply a hall.

The Temperance Hall was closed before being renovated in the 1990s, and is now used as a community centre and one of the seats of the parish council (which sits alternately in Ireleth and Askam).

Pictures

• 
  The Temperance Hall, in Ireleth
• 
  Ireleth school

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ireleth)

• A Short History of Ireleth and Askam-in-Furness, by Mark Maclean. This book is available freely in PDF format, and the information has been compiled from numerous other sources, all of which are cited in the book.