Ponsonby
| Ponsonby | |
| Cumberland | |
|---|---|
 Ponsonby Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY050048 |
| Location: | 54°25’48"N, 3°27’50"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 205 (2011) |
| Post town: | Seascale |
| Postcode: | CA20 |
| Dialling code: | 01946 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cumberland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Copeland |
Ponsonby is a village in western Cumberland: a place of just 205 souls at the 2011 census.
The village is just two miles from the Irish Sea coast, stretching along the A595 halfway between Calder Bridge and Gosforth (the next large village, two and a half miles away) with the vast Sellafield complex between Ponsonby and the sea. It is eleven miles to Whitehaven, the nearest town.
The village is at the edge of the Lake District fells (and of the National Park) as the hills approach close to the coast here.
The parish church was built in 1840 and had further additions in 1874.
History
In the 1870s Ponsonby was described as
- "PONSONBY, a parish in Whitehaven district, Cumberland; on the river Calder, at Calder-Bridge. The manor was held, at the Norman Conquest, by the Ponsonbys, ancestors of the Earl of Bessborough, and, with P. Hall, belongs now to W. Stanley, Esq. The hall was built about 1786; containsmany old curiosities, brought from Dalegarth; and stands in a finely wooded park, with picturesque features, and commanding extensive views. A Roman camp is at P. Fell. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £113.* Patron, W. Stanley, Esq. The church is ancient; and has some old stained glass, and a tower and spire; and contains monuments of the Stanleys."[1]
Just outside the village is Calder Bridge, within which lies the Grade II listed Pelham House (named after Herbert Pelham, 3rd Sufragan Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness) but formerly known as Ponsonby Hall.[2] It was built in 1774 and was designed by James Paine for Edward Stanley. This is currently used as offices for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and before this was used as an 'approved school' for boys.[3][4]
Ponsonby Church
The church stands between Ponsonby and Calder Bridge and is a Grade II listed building.[5]
The church has many links to the Stanley Family who were part of the village of Ponsonby and lived in the Calderbridge during the 14th Century and the church has a number of different memorials to the family. The church can be accessed by passing the dry moat, the moat is there due to the time the Church was built. From the Church are contrasting views; of Sellafield to the west and the Lakeland Fells to the north-east.)
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ponsonby) |
References
- ↑ Wilson, John Marius (1870). Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. A. Fullerton & Co. http://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/4612. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ↑ Pelham House - British Listed Buildings
- ↑ Parks and Gardens: Pelham House
- ↑ Pelham House School for Boys, Calder Bridge, Cumberland, on Children's Homes
- ↑ Ponsonby Church - British Listed Buildings
