Great Musgrave

Great Musgrave
Westmorland
St Theobald's Church, Great Musgrave
Location
Grid reference:	NY767135
Location:	54°30’58"N, 2°21’40"W
Data
Population:	165  (2011)
Post town:	Kirkby Stephen
Postcode:	CA17
Dialling code:	017683
Local Government
Council:	Westmorland & Furness
Parliamentary constituency:	Penrith and The Border

Great Musgrave is a Westmorland. It is about a mile west of Brough.

Great Musgrave sits atop a hill near the River Eden and Swindale Beck. Its location provides views over the vale of Eden and the nearby northern Pennines.

The village name comes from the Musgrave family who lived here. The wider civil parish of Musgrave includes Little Musgrave; the parish population at the 2011 census was 165.

Stone-built cottages in the main village street

The village was served by Musgrave railway station which opened in 1862 and closed in 1952.

Parish church

The stone church of St Theobald, on the edge of the village, dates from 1845–46, but two earlier churches (the first dating back to the 12th century) stood nearby. Unfortunately they were placed too close to the river and were subject to flooding in 1822 the water was three feet deep in the church.

Leading up to the present church with its slate roof is a row of horse chestnut trees. The square church tower contains two bells. The interior has one small stained glass window, a 13th-century coffin lid, a brass of a priest dated 1500 and carved heads on the roof beam corbels above the windows.

The church has an annual rush bearing ceremony on the first Saturday in July. Girls wear garlands of flowers, and boys carry rush crosses in a procession through the village and to the church where a service of praise and thanksgiving is then held.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Great Musgrave)