Culgaith
| Culgaith | |
| Cumberland | |
|---|---|
 An old Cumberland farmhouse in Culgaith | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY607296 |
| Location: | 54°39’36"N, 2°36’38"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 826 (2011) |
| Post town: | Penrith |
| Postcode: | CA10 |
| Dialling code: | 01768 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Westmorland & Furness |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Penrith and The Border |
Culgaith is a village in Cumberland, standing above the east bank of the River Eden, just north of where the Crowdundle Beck, which forms the county border with Westmorland to the south, meets the Eden. In the long, green Eden Valley Culgaith is to be found between Temple Sowerby (Westmorland) and Langwathby (Cumberland).
The parish church in the village is All Saints' Church,
The village also has a primary school,[1] a pub and garden centre. The village had a railway station on the Settle–Carlisle line, which closed in 1970.
Name
The name of the village is in origin from the ancient Cumbric language or Old Welsh. It is formed from the base cūl (which in Modern Welsh is cil, meaning 'corner, retreat,' and caiton (the Welsh coed), meaning 'wood'. It is reckoned that the name was later rendered in Old English as 'Cylcet.[2]
History
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The village was probably named from Henry de Culgaith, Clerk, who received a grant of lands in Carlisle, the local see, in vico Francorum. In circa 1296, his widow Alice de Culgaith quitclaimed the dower held of Holm Abbey which included her late husband's fee farm for rents.[3] There was originally a chapel of Latin Christendom, attached to a mother church at Kirkland.[4][5]
However, at the time, the Lord of the Manor in Moieties of Land was Sir Michael de Hercla, later Earl of Carlisle. He fought alongside King Edward I in the wars in Scotland, and was present at the siege of Caerlaverock Castle in 1300. The Earl fell foul of the King, and was attained and sent to the dungeon at Carlisle. The Manor was alienated to Sir Hugh Monceby, a brave knight.
Lady Knyvett inherited the estates of the Morricebys and Pickerings at Culgaith. Sir Michael's son and heir Sir Andrew de Hercla further angered the new King Edward II, who ordered his execution at Carlisle in 1327, supposedly the year of his own demise.[6] Nonetheless, the wood, Kirklandres, at Culgaith Manor, was conveyed to the monks at York. During the Wars of the Roses, the Manor was transferred to the Priory of Carlisle, with the church and chapel of ease.[7]
A grammar school was founded at the heart of the village opposite the parish church, for the parishes of Culgaith and Blencarn. Lands at Culgaith was used to found the Barton Grammar School. Before his death in 1443 he conveyed the manor to Hugh Salkeld.[8]
By the census of 1811, the population of the area was grouped within the parish with the townships of Kirkland, Blencarn, and Skirwith. There were 141 houses and 608 inhabitants in the chapelry, under the superior township of Skirwith. The population did not grow significantly until the 1960s. During the previous hundred years, Culgaith increased by only four people.
During the industrial revolution the parish was distinctly agricultural, of which 3,052 acres were arable, 4625 were grazing pasture, and unbelievably, only 16 acres were woods in the whole of Kirk to Linton.[9]
Culgaith was formerly served by a railway station on the Settle-Carlisle line, which station opened in 1880 and closed down in May 1970.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Culgaith) |
References
- ↑ Culgarth: the school
- ↑ Armstrong, A.M. & Mawer; A.; Stenton, F.M. & Dickins, B.: 'Place-Names of Cumberland , Part 1' (English Place-Names Society, 1950), page 185
- ↑ Bishop of Carlisle, Register
- ↑ Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons: 'General history: Civil and ecclesiastical divisions', in Magna Britannia: Volume 4, Cumberland' (London, 1816), pp. xxviii-xxxi
- ↑ T.Cadell & W.Davies (eds.), Magna Britannia, vol.IV, Cumberland (London, 1816)
- ↑ the fate of this family is told in the Chronicle of Lanercost Abbey.
- ↑ C139/112/61; Cumberland and Westmorland. Antiquarian and Archaeological Society n.s. xxxiii. 53; Calendar of Pipe Rolls, 1429-36, p. 116.
- ↑ C139/112/61; Cumberland and Westmoreland. Antique and Archaeological Society n.s. xxxiii. 53; Calendar Pipe Rolls, 1429-36, p. 116.
- ↑ 'Kirkdale - Kirk-Linton': Lewis, Samuel: 'A Topographical Dictionary of England' (S. Lewis and Co., 1848) pp746-751 ISBN 978-0-8063-1508-9