I 
 
 /SVn 
 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 WORDSWORTH COLLECTION 
 
 FOUNDED BY 
 CYNTHIA MORGAN ST. JOHN 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 VICTOR EMANUEL 
 
 OF THE CLASS OF I919 
 
B Cornell University 
 B Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924105429215 
 
LEAVES FROM THE ANNALS 
 
 OF A 
 
 MOUNTAIN PARISH 
 
 IN 
 
 LAKELAND : 
 
 BEING A 
 
 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHURCH AND BENEFICE 
 
 TORVER, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH ITS SCHOOL ENDOWMENTS, 
 CHARITIES, AND OTHER TRUST FUNDS. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. T. ELLWOOD, B.A., 
 
 Rector of Tower, and formerly Master in St. Bees Grammar School. 
 
 ULVERSTON : 
 
 Printed by James Atkinson, Bookseller, &c., 6, King Street. 
 
 1888. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 At a meeting- of the Archdeacons and Rural Deans 
 of the Diocese of Carlisle, held at Rose Castle, in 
 1886, under the presidency of the Bishop, it was 
 resolved "That it is desirable that the clergyman of 
 each Parish should produce a statement concerning 
 the History of his Church and its Endowments," and 
 it is in response to this suggestion, which was com- 
 municated to me by Rev. L. R. Ayre, Rural Dean of 
 Ulverston, that I have extracted from Parish Registers, 
 memoranda and other available data, the following 
 sketch of the History of this Church and Benefice, 
 prefaced by some gleanings of the Earliest History of 
 the Parish. 
 
 Mr. Ayre — to whom I here return my hearty thanks 
 — has throughout taken a most kind and cordial 
 interest in this sketch. He furnished a translation 
 of the Latin document, which runs in the name of 
 Henry VHI., confirming Cranmer's Faculty for the 
 confirmation of Torver Church and Churchyard ; and 
 though in that document, as well as in Cranmer's 
 Latin Faculty itself, which I have myself translated, 
 there has, owing to the almost entire obliteration of 
 letters, words, and even sentences by the damp, been 
 
considerable difficulty in preserving the connexion of 
 meaning ; yet I venture to hope they have been as 
 fully rendered as the imperfect condition of the Latin 
 manuscript will permit. 
 
 I have entered in detail into the History of our 
 Church and School Building, and more particularly 
 of our Church Endowments (as was suggested by the 
 Diocesan), and I think I have been able to show the 
 origin of every farthing of our endowments from the 
 time when the living consisted only of the Minister's 
 Salary (about £^ a year) until the present time. The 
 record of those particulars of Church and School 
 Building and Church Endowment is but the record 
 of the unceasing kindness and liberality of the friends 
 to the parish and the benefice. The Rev. A. Peache, 
 J. Robinson, Esq., and William I. Barratt, Esq., are 
 amongst those whom I will ever remember with the 
 deepest gratitude ; and I trust it will never be forgotten 
 that the great amount of help that has thus been 
 accorded to us, was solemnly dedicated to the service 
 and worship of God. 
 
 T.E. 
 
SOME GLIMPSES OF THE EARLIER 
 HISTORY OF THE PARISH. 
 
 EFORE proceeding to deal with 
 the History of the Church and 
 Benefice of Torver, it may not 
 be out of place to give a sketch 
 of what can be gleaned of the 
 earliest history of the Parish. The 
 names of a place, and also in this 
 district, the dialect, supply the 
 earliest available evidences of its 
 history; and the name Ulverston, from which this 
 parish was formed, is Norse, Ulfr or Olafur being found 
 very commonly as a surname in Iceland at present. 
 Originally the wordUlph meant ivolf, and the diminutive 
 is found in the name of Ulphilas, a Gothic Bishop of 
 the 4th century, the relics of whose translation of the 
 Scripture have a remarkable correspondence with our 
 northern dialects. Ulpha seems to contain the same 
 word, while the ton of Ulverston is the old Norse fun, 
 originally an enclosure, then a single dwellinghouse or 
 farmstead, then a village ; for the old Norse had no 
 towns. Tun fra ttini is yet a phrase in Iceland, and 
 means, from house to house. 
 
The stream that flows through Torver has evidently 
 given its name to the parish. I find it spoken of 
 in early accounts as the river Torver. One part 
 of it rises in the lonely and romantic Tarn of Gates 
 Water (also a Norse name), and its waters are very 
 clear ; while the other portion, which drains the mossy 
 uplands of Torver High Fell and Bleaberry Hause, flows 
 with a very black and turf - coloured stream, and is 
 often known as the Black Beck of Torver, and may, from 
 the name Torva, dark-rolling, or muddy, have given its 
 name to the stream, and hence to the parish. In old 
 documents, I find the stream called Torva. 
 
 The dialect of High Furness, as of the Lake 
 Country generally, is unmistakeably Norse, and we 
 have in Torver many dialect words which are un- 
 doubtedly Norse, as well in their form as in their 
 specially applied meanings ;— such words are, arvals, 
 brant, brandrith, gartli, gimmer, grund, rake, reeaiis, thwaite, 
 tivintev, tvinter, with many others, which form, I think, a 
 sufficient proof of the Norse origin of the dwellers in 
 those dales. 
 
 Upon Torver High Fell, extending for two or three 
 miles in right lines, are remains of what have apparently 
 been a ditch and wall. These have evidently served 
 as a means of defence to the dwellers amongst those 
 mountains, and I venture to suggest, subject to the 
 correction of antiquarians, that they are early Celtic. 
 Some tuiiinli or cairns are found in places near the 
 side of this wall, and last year Mr. Swainson Cowper, of 
 Yewfield Castle, Hawkshead, engaged workmen and 
 
excavated some of them situated at Bleaberry Hause. 
 I was present at the excavation. Acting upon the 
 suggestion of Canon Greenwell, an expert in such 
 matters, the north-east corner of the mounds was 
 most carefully excavated and ransacked, and in one we 
 found a stone cist, filled with charred human bones — it 
 had evidently been used for burial purposes ; in one of 
 the others were found bones, though others of them had 
 evidently been examined and rilled before. Mr. Cowper 
 read a Paper on the subject before the Cumberland and 
 Westmorland Antiquarian Society which appeared 
 in the transactions of the society for the present year. 
 Mr. Cowper is, 1 believe, inclined to refer them to the 
 so-called Stone age. 
 
 The Cinder Heaps or Scoria which are found scattered 
 over the parishes of Torver and Coniston, as well as 
 other districts of High Furness, afford some trace of 
 their early history. They contain a very large percentage 
 of rudely-smelted iron and are the remains oi the ancient 
 Bloomeries in which the iron of Low Furness was in 
 early times brought here to be near the woods which 
 abounded in High Furness, and which were used for 
 fuel in smelting. In the transit of the ore the lake 
 seems to have been utilized as a water-way; and judging 
 from the remains, the largest Bloomeries were near the 
 margin of the lake. There has been one at the foot of 
 Moor Gh}^!, upon Torver Low Common, and one at 
 Knapping Tree (Knab-End Tree), a field belonging to 
 Mr. Barratt, on the edge of the lake. 
 
 These Bloomeries seem to have existed from a very 
 early English or possibly from a Roman period. However 
 
in the time of Elizabeth, the tenants complained that 
 their ^yood was being destroyed b}' the unceasing use of 
 charcoal, and that the same process deprived them of 
 their "proper fewell for the maintenance of their hedges" 
 and "the yearly use to fell and cutt slender wood, and 
 to shed, lop, crop, top, and browse all other woods and 
 trees ; " therefore, in the seventh year of the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth, 1565, the Bloomsmithies were 
 suppressed. 
 
 Mr. Kerr, in a Paper which appeared in the transac- 
 tions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 
 for the year 1872, shows that when Bloomeries were, 
 in 1565, abolished in High Furness by the decree of 
 Elizabeth, Blocmeries were established in their place at 
 about the same date, 1565, in the Forest of Rossendale, 
 and the Low Furness red haematite ore which had 
 hitherto been smelted at Torver, Coniston, and other 
 places in High Furness, was afterwards conveyed from 
 Ulverston to Preston by water, and hence to the 
 Bloomeries in Rossendale by pack-saddle horses. Mr. 
 Kerr has investigated the remains of four such 
 Bloomeries in Rossendale. He infers that the iron 
 used in those Rossendale Bloomeries came from Low 
 Furness, because the slag shows the original ore to 
 have been of a purer and richer character than that 
 found in the more immediate neighbourhood of Rossen- 
 dale, and because " the red ore scoria from the Bloom- 
 eries of Torver and Coniston is found on comparison to 
 be identical in character with that tound on the sites of 
 those in Rossendale." 
 
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH AND BENEFICE 
 OF TORVER. 
 
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 |2| 
 
 r^-,< 
 
 ^^ 
 
 1 
 
 ^M 
 
 N the Reign of Henry II., which 
 is included between the dates 
 of 1 1 54 and ii8g, WiUiam de 
 Lancaster with Gamel de Pen- 
 nington founded the Priory or 
 Hospital of Coningshead or 
 Conishead, and gave charge 
 thereof to the canons of St. 
 Aufjustine. 
 
 He granted to it, amongst other specified sources 
 of income, " the Church of Ulverston with its Chapels 
 and appurtenances." 
 
 The Chapel of Torver, elsewhere described as Capella 
 de Torver infra parochiam ecdesiam de Ulverston, was one of 
 the oldest, if not oldest, of the chapels belonging to 
 Ulverston, and therefore was included in this gift, 
 hence we have a date for its existence fixed between 
 J154 and ii8g. 
 
The chapel, whatever maj^ have been the exact date 
 of its erection, appears to have continued without legal 
 consecration until the time of Archbishop Cranmer, but 
 was nevertheless supplied with a curate or parish priest, 
 who had charge of this pastoral mountain district, and 
 ministered in its chapel, in qua incolae villulae hundred sive 
 liamelecte de Torver missas ef alia divina officia attdire et sacra- 
 menta et sacramentalia (praetev mortuonnn septdturain ) omnia 
 participare solent, — i.e., "in which the inhabitants of the 
 village hundred or hamlet of Torver were accustomed 
 to hear mass and other divine services and partake of 
 the sacraments and sacramentals with the exception of 
 the burial of the dead." This passage which occurs in 
 the deed for the consecration of the church and church- 
 yard of Torver by Archbishop Cranmer, and which I 
 shall quote in full further on, is one of the few remaining 
 relics of the history of Torver chapel from its foundation 
 until 1538. And it tells us a great deal. It tells us 
 that for that long period which elapsed between the 
 foundation of the chapel and its consecration in 1538, 
 the inhabitants of the parish had advantage of all the 
 ordinances of religion in their own chapel excepting the 
 burial of the dead. 
 
 The gift of William de Lancaster of the Church of 
 Ulverston, with its chapels and appurtenances was 
 confirmed by inspeximus, date 1319, in the reign of 
 Edward II., including a licence of mortmain Avhich the 
 statute of King Edward I. had rendered necessary for 
 securing the appropriation of the said church and 
 rectory to the said priory for ever. 
 
It may he well to remark in passing, that with the 
 granting of church livings to monastic institutions, as 
 in this case, originated the distinction between Rectorial 
 and Vicarial Tithes, which in many instances continues 
 to the present day. The monastic body to which the 
 church was granted represented the rector, and as such 
 received the greater or rectorial tithes — rectory rents, 
 as they are termed here; while the parish priest, or 
 secular, as he was called in distinction to the monks or 
 regulars, took the labouring oar in parish work under 
 the title of Vicarius, and received the vicarial tithes — 
 priests' wages, or ministers' salary, as they were also 
 called. How the vicarh of High Furness had to eke out 
 the £/[ or £^ a-year, of which those priests' wages 
 consisted, may be seen in the case of the wonderful 
 Walker, who had his first incumbency in the parish of 
 Torver. How many wonderful Walkers lived in those 
 mountain dales before his time I cannot say, but there 
 is abundant evidence that very many of the parish 
 priests of those earlier times were men of industry, of 
 thrift, of energy, and of piety— though they might not 
 be fortunate enough to have a Wordsworth to place his 
 enduring impress upon the record of their life. 
 
 We shall better understand this distinction between 
 Rectorial and Vicarial Tithes if we go back to the time 
 of the Norman Kings, under whom the number of the 
 parochial clergy was much depressed by the founding 
 of so many Abbeys and religious houses, as were erected 
 within the first two centuries after the Conquest, and 
 endowed, not only with rich manors, lordships, and 
 
extensive baronies, but had also conferred upon them 
 the advowsons, glebes, mansions, tithes of parishes, and 
 pastoral functions, to the great prejudice of the secular 
 clergy, the regular and hereditary pastors of the church, 
 and other great inconveniences ; the faithful were often 
 neglected, the sick and poor frequentlv despised, to the 
 great scandal and prejudice of religion ; hospitality was 
 often refused, churches and rectories sometimes dilapi- 
 dated ; and on that footing did those things remain 
 until the time of King Edward III., when, under the 
 auspices of that magnanimous prince, an immediate 
 parochial clergy was appointed, and vicarages endowed 
 by such religious houses as were possessed of the parish 
 tithes. 
 
 The wise regulations then made, however well 
 directed, did not effectually remove the complaints the}' 
 were intended to remedy. 
 
 The officiating minister being no more than a deputed 
 curate to the appropriator, who had it in his power to 
 appoint his stipend and remove him at pleasure, gave 
 occasion to new complaints, and the legislature again 
 interposing, it was enacted by statute, 15th Richard II., 
 ch. 2, " That in all appropriations of churches, the 
 diocesan bishop shall, in proportion to the value of the 
 living, ordain a competent sum to be distributed to the 
 poor parochians annually, and that the vicarage shall 
 be sufficiently endowed." By this Act, some regard was 
 had to the original purpose of paying tithes, and a legal 
 stipend was provided for the regular pastor ; but still it 
 was in the power of his rector to remove him at will ; 
 
and this proved a check upon his insisting too rigidly 
 upon a legal salary. This evil was afterwards removed 
 by statute of 4th Henr_vIV.,ch. 12, where it was ordained 
 " That the vicar shall be a secular clerk, not a member 
 of any religious house ; that he shall be canonically 
 instituted, inducted, and endowed with a sufficient 
 stipend, at the discretion of the ordinary, for the express 
 purpose of celebrating divine service, for instructing the 
 people, and keeping hospitalit}^ ; and moreover he shall 
 be a perpetual vicar, not removable at the pleasure of 
 the appropriator." 
 
 The incumbents of such vicarages as were endowed 
 in consequence of these statutes still retain the name 
 and are in effect perpetual vicars. 
 
 The statutes show by what process the secular curate 
 or parish priest by degrees acquired his fixed status in 
 the parish. " The discretion of the ordinarj^," however, 
 does not seem to have had much effect in creating a 
 sufficient stipend for the vicar out of the bare pastures 
 of High Furness, and notwithstanding these liberal 
 enactments, up till 1759 the vicar's stipend consisted 
 of the minister's salary or vicarial tithes alone, and 
 continued at the modest figure of about £"4 a year, 
 augmented by the interest of ;^40, a private benefaction 
 given to it in 171 7. The interest of this ^40 was about 
 £1 a year. From 1693 until 1819, the curate or parish 
 priest of Torver was also parish schoolmaster, and in 
 some cases, doubtless, had the privilege of "whittle 
 gate," as it is called in Cumberland— ?.«., free Board 
 with the parents of his pupils, in rotation. I find no 
 
 c 
 
mention of this made, however, in the case of Rev. 
 Robert Walker. 
 
 One of the oldest records of the early history of the 
 church of Torver is to be found in an old Parchment, 
 still preserved in the church chest. It is in Latin, and 
 runs in the name of Archbishop Cranmer, the Martyr, 
 and is a Faculty for the consecration of the church and 
 churchyard, for the use of the inhabitants of Torver, 
 for ever. It runs as follows : — 
 
 Thomas, niiseratione divina, Cantuariensis Archiep'ns f otitis 
 Anglie Primas et Metropolitanus ad infra Scripta aucfe Varlia- 
 menti Anglie rtime fiilciUis. Ad perpdnam rei meinoriam. Quia, 
 sicitt accepiuius, Capella de Torver que infra parocliiaui eccVie de 
 Ulvevston prope jfnvnes Ebor' dioc existit et in qua Incole villule 
 hundred sive hamelecte de Torver predict' missas et alia divina 
 officia audire et sacrainenta et sacrainenialia [pretev mortuoruui 
 sepulturam) omnia participare solent ab eccVia ilia parochiali de 
 Ulverston per sedecim milliaria anglicana vel circiter distat, ac 
 propter distantiam locorum, aquanun inuiidationes, vias lutosas, 
 interposita viontiunijuga,et alia discrimina frequenter contingentia, 
 prefatis incolis mortuorum corpora ad ipsani eccriam deUlverston 
 sepelienda afferre sive portare admodinn reddatnr difficile : Nos 
 vfltis mi is incolarum vilhile hundred sive hamelecte de Torver 
 stipradicte hororabtliter amittentes eis ut capellam antedictam 
 et ejus cimitcrium per quemcunqiie episcopum Catlioliciim 
 consecrata facere atque in eisdem postmodum corpora mortuorum 
 dictam vilhdam hundred sive hamelectem pro tempore liabitantium 
 ecclesiastice sepulture perpetuo tradere sev tradi obtinere valeant 
 et possint aucfe p'di ta, dummodo consensus Rectoris eccl'ie 
 Parocli de Ulverston predicte et aliorum (panca hie 
 desunt J 
 
Datum in Manevio nostra de Lamhehith sub nostro sigillo 
 ad facultates vicesimo tertio die mensis Jidii, Anno Domini 
 Millesimo Quingentesinio Tricesimo Octavo et nostve consecva- 
 tionis Anno Sexto. 
 
 JO. HUGHES. 
 
 Stephens Vaughan, regie )ii'tis ad facilitates cl'icus. 
 
 " Thomas, b}' Divine compassion, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, Primate of All England, and Metropolitan, 
 legitimately supported by the authority of the English 
 Parliament in regard to the things hereunder written. 
 
 " To the perpetual memory of the matter. 
 
 " Inasmuch as we have learned that the Chapel of 
 Torver, which is within the Parish of the Parish Church 
 of Ulverston in Furness in the Diocese of York, and 
 in which the inhabitants of the village, hundred, or 
 hamlet of Torver aforesaid are accustomed to hear 
 masses and other Divine Offices, and to partake of all 
 sacraments and sacranientals except the burial of the 
 dead, is distant from the Parish Church of Ulverston 
 i6 English miles, or thereabouts; and that on account 
 of the distance, the water floods, the boggy roads, the 
 high hills intervening, and other difficulties frequently 
 occurring, it is rendered very difficult for the said 
 inhabitants to convey or carry the bodies of their dead 
 to the Church of Ulverston for burial : We yield to the 
 unanimous petitions of the inhabitants of the village, 
 hundred, or hamlet aforesaid, honourably granting to 
 them the permission to obtain Consecration for the 
 Chapel aforesaid and its burial-ground [Cimitemim) by 
 some Catholic Bishop, and for ever afterwards to afford 
 
to ecclesiastical sepulture th^ bodies of the dead who 
 resided at the time of their death in the aforesaid 
 village, hundred, or hamlet, pro\-ided the consent of 
 the Rector of the Parish Church of Ulverston, aforesaid, 
 and of others — (a portion of the writing has here been 
 obliterated by damp.) 
 
 " Given in our IManor of Lambeth, under our seal for 
 Faculties, on the Twentj'-third da}' of the month of Jul}', 
 in the year of our Lord One Thousand Five Hundred 
 and Thirty- Eight, and in the Sixth year of our 
 Consecration. 
 
 "JO. HUGHES. 
 
 " Stephen Vaughan, Clerk to the Faculties of the 
 King's Majesty." 
 
 In some places the Parchment has been so affected 
 by damp that the words are illegible. 
 
 The royal confirmation of the Archbishop's Faculty, 
 annexed thereto, runs as follows : — 
 
 Henricus octavus Dei gra A nglie Francie Rex fidei defensor 
 Dominus HiVnie et in terra sitpremum caput Anglicane eccVie 
 Oninihns ad quos presentes lie pevveninnt salutem. Iiispexiimis 
 qnasdam literas dispensaf sub Rev'endissimi in Christo P'tris 
 Thome Cantuarien' ArchiepH sigillo ad facultaf auctojntate 
 nijnsdam actus inde in Parliamento n'ro editi Incolis Villnle 
 hundred sive hamelecte de Tower in com' n'ro ebor' conccssas 
 Quas p'seutibus annex' et singula in eis content' juxta p'visionem 
 actus p'd'ti ratijiranms approbamus et confivmamns per presentes 
 Ita quod p'd'tilncole in d'tis t'ris nominatini omnibus et singulis 
 in eisdein spedficatis uti frni et potiri valeant ac possint libe' et 
 
13 
 
 quiete licite et impune secundum viuiformam et effectnui earundeiu 
 absque impedimento qiionmq eo qu expressa mentio de consiietudine 
 perniissoruin aut de aliis donis sive conressionihus per nos iisdeui 
 imolis ante hec fcmpora facf in pvesentibus i/iinime fad' existit, 
 aut aliqiw statuto, adu, ovdinatione, provisione. sive restrictione 
 inde in contrariiiin far.t\ edit\ ordinaf , sive ]ivovis\ aut aliqtia 
 aha re, causa, sen materia quacwnque in aliq^io non obstante. 
 In cujus rei testimonio has literas nostras fieri feninus patentes. 
 Teste ineipso apud Westinon. vicesiuio tertio die Julii Anno 
 regni nostra tricesinw. 
 
 VAUGHAN. 
 (Annexed is the Great Seal of England in a good 
 state of preservation.) 
 
 " Henry the Eighth, by the grace of God, king of 
 England and France, Defender of the Faith, Lord of 
 Ireland, and supreme head on earth of the English 
 Church, to all to whom these presents come, 
 greeting. 
 
 " We have inspected certain letters of dispensation 
 under the seal for the Faculties of the most reverend 
 father in Christ, Thomas,ArchbishopofCanterbury, by the 
 authorityof a certain Act put forth for that purpose in our 
 parliament, to the inhabitants of the village, hundred, 
 or hamlet of Torver in our county of York; which, as 
 annexed to these presents, and everything contained in 
 them, according to the provision of the aforesaid Act, 
 we ratify, approve, and confirm by these presents ; so 
 that the aforesaid, namely, the inhabitants of the 
 said lands, may be able to use, enjoy, and possess all 
 and singular the things specified in the same, freely 
 
14 
 
 and quietlj^ lawfully and with impunity, according 
 to the force, form, and effect of the same without 
 any hindrance whatsoever, so far as express mention 
 of things permitted by custom, or by other gifts or 
 concessions made by us to the same inhabitants before 
 these times, is not made in these presents ; any statute, 
 act, ordinance, provision or restriction done, published, 
 ordained or provided to the contrary, or any other 
 thing, cause, or matter whatsoever in anything, not- 
 withstanding. In testimon}' of which thing we have 
 caused these our letters patent to be issued. Witness 
 m^'self at Westminster on the Twenty Third day of July 
 in the Thirtieth year of our reign. 
 
 " VAUGHAN." 
 
 The distance from Torver to Ulverston by the high- 
 road is now 12 miles or thereabouts. 
 
 The interposita nioninivi Jiiga would seem to suggest 
 that in those daj's the usual road passed over the hills, 
 and in that case the vias Ititosas would refer to the peat 
 bogs or morasses which still abound in some portions of 
 these fells. 
 
 This document has a most important bearing upon 
 our church and church3'ard, as being the warrant uoon 
 which they both ground their claims to Consecration. 
 And though the church has been twice rebuilt since the 
 date of that Faculty, yet in both cases the walls of the 
 new church included a portion of the old church wall, 
 and as in each case the walls proceeded almost exactly 
 upon the same lines they included the very same space 
 
15 
 
 as that included by the old church or chapel of 153S, to 
 which Cranmer's Facult}^ refers. The church, therefore, 
 dedicated to St. Luke, by Dr. Goodwin, Lord Bishop of 
 Carlisle, in October, 18S4, is really the same church 
 that had been consecrated by Thomas Cranmer's deed 
 of consecration of 1538, of which I have here given the 
 Latin text and a translation. 
 
 It may appear strange at first sight wh}- this conse- 
 cration deed should proceed from the Registry of the 
 Archbishop of Canterbur}' rather than that of York, in 
 which province the parish is situated ; the following 
 extract, however, from Smith's History of England will 
 show that at that tmie the See of York was probabl}' 
 vacant: — " The popular discontent at the suppression 
 of the lesser monasteries led to insurrections in Lincoln- 
 shire and Yorkshire. The latter under Robert Aske, of 
 Doncaster, was called the Pilgrimage of Grace. It was 
 joined by the Archbishop of York, Lord Darcy, and 
 other noblemen, and was only put down in 1537, when 
 Darcy was executed, with the other leaders, among 
 whom were several Abbots." 
 
 Registers began to be regularly kept in 1661 — the 
 Registers before that time, though extending back 
 for a considerable time, are imperfect. Edward Walker 
 was incumbent, or curate, as it is then called, in 168S, 
 and in the year 1698 there is record in the Parish 
 Register of his marriage with Rachel Park. 
 
 According to Bishop Gastrell's notes, this Edward 
 Walker must have been the first licensed schoolmaster 
 
i6 
 
 at Torver ; for it appears from those notes that the first 
 master to the school was licensed anno 1693, and that 
 there was then no endowed school, only the curate 
 taught in the chapel. Edward Walker continued curate 
 until 1707. In the year following, however, he was 
 succeeded as curate by Andrew Naughley, as appears 
 from the following entry in the Registers: — Andreas 
 Naughley intrabat lianc ecclesiam infra ecclesiam de Ulverston, 
 in Coniitatu Lancastriae Decimo Die Septenibris Anno Domini 
 1707. — -"Andrew Naughley entered this church, which 
 is under the Church of Ulverston, in the County of 
 Lancaster, on the Tenth Day of September, in the year 
 of our Lord, 1707." 
 
 In the Registers there is the following entry concern- 
 ing flagging the floor of the church : — 
 
 " Memorandum. This Chapell of Torver was paved 
 with flagg stones at the Cost of the said Town and with 
 the Consent of the Sidesmen and Churchwarden upon 
 the Thirty Day of March and in the year of our Lord 
 
 1708. 
 
 [Signed,) 
 
 " Andrew Naughley, 
 
 Then " derate. 
 "Wm.Whinfield,^ 
 
 ^ , , , 1 " Edward Park, 
 
 "Edw'^ Tackson, I ., _ 
 
 „, , ] Sidesmen. Then '' Chapelwarden.'' 
 
 "Jo". Wilson, ^ 
 
 "Joseph Park, .' 
 
 In 1709, Naughley was succeeded by John Stoup, as 
 shown by the following entry in the Registers : — 
 
I? 
 
 Ego. Johannes Stoitp, ini^^avi lianc Ecclesiain De Tower in 
 Parochia De Ulverston in Comitatu Lancastriae nndecimo die 
 Septembris Anno Domini 1709, et subinisse oro a Deo quod ilU 
 placeret milii gmtiani et Benedictioneni dare qua officio meo ad 
 gloriam suam et Landeni et Majestateni fungere posseni, usque 
 ad finem vitae meae. Amen. 
 
 " I, John Stoup, entered this Church of Torver in the 
 Parish of Ulverston, in the County of Lancaster, on 
 the eleventh Day of September, in the year of our Lord 
 1709, and humbly I pray to God that it will please 
 Him to give me Grace and P^lessing, by which [ ma}' 
 be able to fulfil my duty to His Glory and Praise and 
 Majesty to the end of my life. Amen." 
 
 John Stoup became vicar of Coniston in February, 
 1 716, as appears from an entry to that effect in the 
 Coniston Registers, kindly communicated to me by 
 Rev. C. Chapman, vicar of Coniston. 
 
 It appears from what I can learn of the church 
 endowment at this time that the salary of the curate 
 of Torver, in 1717, was £6 is., made up of minister's 
 salary, and the interest of ^"40, which, according to 
 Bishop Gastrell's notes, had been given as a private 
 benefaction in 1717, and which was made up as 
 follows: — Given by W. Fleming, ^30 ; J. Fleming, £^ ; 
 J. Atkinson, £s ;— ^40-=' 
 
 Thomas Poole succeeded John Stoup, and was curate 
 until 171S ; for in that year there is entered in the 
 
 * This £i\.o was, with the consent of the patron and the diocesan, 
 taken towards building the present Rectory, and appears in the 
 subscription list to the Rectory Building Fund given on another 
 page. 
 
i8 
 
 Registers, and witnessed by Thomas Poole, as curate, 
 a true and exact " coppy of an order granted from the 
 Comissary for the x\ssessment of the Parisli, also here- 
 with is entered a full and exact accompt of Weddings, 
 Christnings and Burialls in their particular order, — 
 " For Wedding tenpence if askt in Church 
 " P'or Christning one penny and Churching twopence 
 " For burialls. sixpence." 
 
 It appears from an entry in the Register that Thomas 
 Poole was succeeded as curate of Torver by John Hall, 
 on the loth day of December, in the same year, 171 8. 
 
 The name of John Hall appears again as curate in 
 the Register, in the year 1731, and so fa-r as I can make 
 out from the data accessible to me, he was curate until 
 succeeded by Rev. Robert Walker, in 1734. This is 
 shown by the following entry in the Registers, in the 
 handwriting of Mr. Walker: — " Robert Walker, Curate 
 at Torver, ent'red the 29th Day- of December, 1734." 
 Robert Walker also exercised trie office of schoolmaster 
 in Torver church. His entries in the parish Registers 
 are made in a remarkably neat and clear hand. Judging 
 from entries in the Register, one of his sons seems long 
 afterwards to have come to the parish, and resided here 
 for many years. 
 
 John Hastwell succeeded Rev. Robert Walker as 
 curate of Torver, and his first entry is April, 1736. 
 
 Rev. Robert Bell became incumbent in 1740, as 
 appears from the following entry in the Registers : — 
 " Robert Bell, curate of Torver, ent'red iSth Day of 
 May, 1740." 
 
19 
 
 The incumbency of Mr. Bell is remarkable as being; 
 one of the longest in the neighbourhood. He himself 
 records in the Registers the date of his entering upon 
 the curacy of Torver as '• iSth Day of May, 1740," and 
 in the Registry of Burials for 1S07, there is the following 
 entry:— "Rev. Robert Bell, Curate of Torver, v^-as 
 buried February 15th, aged 92." 
 
 Thus he died in the 67th year of his incumbency, 
 having been incumbent 65 whole years, and exceeding 
 the incumbency of the " Wonderful Walker," at Sea- 
 thwaite, by one year. He lived at Scar Head, a 
 residence situated at a short distance from the church ; 
 and in the latter portion of his incumbenc_v he appears 
 to have become blind, as his assistant makes his entries 
 for him in the Registers, and when his name is entered 
 the word " Caecus,'' is placed after it. 
 
 He was succeeded by the Rev. Matthew Inman 
 Carter, M.A., of Christ's College, Cambridge. 
 
 Mr, Carter was incumbent of Torver for 56 vears, 
 and seems to have been master of the parish school 
 until the year iSig or thereabouts, and he eked out his 
 income by farming, having for about 20 3'ears rented 
 and cultivated the estate of Brackenbarrow, containing 
 about 40 acres. He belonged to a Kendal familv, and 
 was brother to the Dean ofTuam, who in some measure 
 owed his preferment to having been tutor to one of the 
 members of the royal famil}-. 
 
 There was no Parsonage in Mr. Carter's time, and he 
 seems to have been somewhat difficult to please in his 
 choice of a residence, as several houses have been 
 
pointed out to me as having at times formed his 
 residence. 
 
 He was very retiring in his manners, but seems to 
 have been a man of great mental powers and extensive 
 reading. As a walker he is still renowned in this 
 district, and frequently after the evening service at 
 Torver lie walked to Kendal, a distance of over 20 miles. 
 
 On account of the growing infirmities of age, Mr. 
 Carter left the parish and went to reside at Kendal in 
 1 861, and the curacy (sole charge) of the parish was in 
 that year entered upon by Kev. T. Ellwood, the writer 
 of the present sketch. 
 
 For the few months that intervened between Mr. 
 Carter's leaving Torver and my coming to it the sole 
 charge was taken by the Rev. James Jackson, who is 
 best known in the lake district b}^ his tragic end, caused 
 by a fall from the Pillar Rock. Mr. Carter died in 
 1863, at the age of 86 years. It is, I think, worthy of 
 remark that the two incumbencies of Mr. Bell and his 
 successor, Mr. Carter, extend over a period of 123 years. 
 
 The right to present was disputed for some time, 
 between the landowners of the parish and Mr. T. 
 Coward, of Cambridge, who had purchased it from 
 Petty and Postlethwaite, of Ulverston, to whom it had 
 come, together with the other estates and advowsons 
 belonging to the late Colonel Bradyll of The Priory, 
 Ulverston. At the end of the dispute, the presentation 
 to the Living lapsed (pro hac vice) to the Archbishop of 
 York, who in 1864 gave the Living to Rev. T. Ellwood, 
 who had been curate in charge of the parish since 1S61. 
 
After this the advowson was purchased from A^Tr. 
 Coward by Rev. Alfred Peache, M.A., The Firs, 
 Hampstead Heath, who, together with four trustees, is 
 the present patron. 
 
 The value of the benefice when I entered upon it was 
 about £^o a year, and consisted of minister's salary or 
 vicarial tithes, about ^4 los. a year, as mentioned above. 
 A farm at Sandground, Hawkshead, was purchased 
 in 1769 with :^40o (being ^200 from private benefaction 
 and;/f2oo from the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty;) 
 this is attested by a stone tablet'" in Torver church. 
 
 There was also a moiety of a parcel of land in 
 Kentmere, since sold, and a feld called Narrow Rail, 
 near Kendal. This land would also appear to have been 
 purchased with a portion of the above mentioned ;^400. 
 There was also the interest of ^40, of which I have 
 spoken before in quoting Bishop Gastrell's notes ; this 
 was placed in the bank at £2 per cent, interest. 
 
 Church affairs in the parish at that time were not of 
 a very promising character. There was no parsonage, 
 the church was said to be faUing, and the school was 
 in all respects unsatisfactory. Its floor was paved with 
 cobbles, the rain came through the roof in torrents, and 
 when a fire was lighted in the grate the smoke seemed 
 
 * This tablet existed in the old church and has been carefully 
 replaced in the new church. It bears the following dates and 
 inscription : — 
 
 " 1756 This Living was augmented and in 1769 Lands purchased 
 with ;^400 whereof Given by Queen Annes Bounty /200 
 
 " The Executors of W. Stratford, L.L.D. 100 
 " By other Benefactors 100" 
 
to find its way in every direction excepting;' up the 
 cliimney, the seats and desks were exceedingly bad, and 
 I was told that the building was considered the worst 
 of its kind in the whole diocese. 
 
 The first church work that was commenced alter I 
 came into the parish, was the effort to obtain a new 
 Rectory, and through the very kind and cordial co- 
 operation of the bishop of the diocese, the Hon. and 
 Right Reverend Samuel Waldegrave; W.Barratt, Esq., 
 of Holy How, Coniston, who gave a very suitable site ; 
 J. Robinson, Esq., of Brown How, and others of the 
 parishioners, a suitable and commodious Rectory was 
 completed in iS68, with funds obtained entirely from 
 private benefactions, at a cost, including site, of about 
 ;^I250. 
 
 The Ecclesiastical Commissioners, however, looked 
 upon this as a benefaction, and as such met it with an 
 annuit}' of £1^ 13s. 4d. a year, derived from a sum of 
 ^Soo from their common iund, placed at interest in the 
 name of the Living. 
 
 About the same time the rectorial tithes of the parish 
 which had been purchased by the Reverend Alfred 
 Peache, the patron, were presented by him lo the 
 Living. These rectory rents, as the}' are called, amount 
 now to £\ 4s. 8d. a year. Mr. Peache's kind gift was 
 literally a case of Bis dai qui cito dat ; for it was given 
 just in time to be included as a portion of benefaction 
 of the new Rectory, and being reckoned at a 30 j^ears' 
 purchase, it was met by a grant of about ;^i2o, which is 
 included in the Commissioners' grant mentioned above. 
 
23 
 
 By an Act then in force entitled "The District Church 
 Tithes Act, 1865," the Living was, by the acquisition of 
 those rectorial tithes, constituted a Rectory, and the 
 instrument notif5ang this appeared in the London Gazette 
 of November 20th, 1868, a copy of which is still kept in 
 the church safe. 
 
 I may remark that these rectorial titlies have in 
 reality been given to the Living as a private benefaction 
 tinice over. Originally they were given as a private 
 benefaction by the owner of the land of the parish, just 
 as land is frequently charged by its owners with 
 annuities and payments to individuals ; then they 
 became alienated from the church of Torver by the 
 division into vicarial and rectorial tithes, — a process 
 that I have spoken of elsewhere, --again they were 
 purchased and presented a second time to the Living 
 as a strictly private benefaction for the use of the 
 minister of Torver for ever. Surely after evidence of 
 this kind it is needless to make any reply to those who 
 call such benefactions the public property of the state, v 
 
 After completing the building of the Rectory, the 
 school seemed to be the next subject to be dealt with, 
 and as, in the official inspection of school buildings 
 made under the Education Act of 1871, the existing 
 school building was pronounced to be incapable ot 
 repair and altogether unsuited for the purposes of a 
 school, the parishioners had the alternative placed 
 before them of providing a new school from voluntary 
 contributions or of submitting to the expensive 
 machinery of a School Board, maintained by a very 
 hiffh and continuous school rate. 
 
24 
 
 At this crisis, J. Robinson, Esq., of Brown How, 
 Torver, most generously made the offer that he would 
 double whatever I could raise by voluntary contributions 
 from the parishioners or others in the neighbourhood. 
 £^-2 13s. 6d. was raised in this way including £7.1 from 
 W. Barratt, Esq., of Holly How, Coniston, and Mr. 
 Robinson most kindly sent me a cheque for £^2 13s. 6d. 
 as his contribution to meet this amount. 
 
 A piece of ground to enlarge the site upon which the 
 old school stood was given by Mrs. ivlassicks of Torver, 
 and wnth other contributions and grants the present 
 new school was completed in 1873, ^^ ^ cost, including 
 site given, of about ^350. The premises were conveyed 
 to the rector and churchwarden, for the time being, in 
 trust to be used for the purposes of a Sunday school 
 and day school for the parish, and a committee, 
 consisting of the rector of the parish as chairman 
 ex-officio, and other members, contributors of not less 
 than 20s. annually to tlie school funds, to be elected by 
 other annual contributors of not less than los. 
 
 When the school building vv^as completed, there was 
 a debt upon it, and I acted as parish schoolmaster for 
 about nine months, and took the mone}^ I earned thus 
 to clear off the debt. 
 
 The church, in the next place, had a pressing claim 
 upon our consideration. Its walls had for a considerable 
 time been giving way, and an architect who made an 
 inspection of the church reported those walls to be in a 
 a dangerous condition. It was also reported to the 
 bishop of the diocese to be utterly unfitted to be used 
 for Divine service. 
 
25 
 
 Upon an appeal for help, Mrs. Barratt, widow of the 
 late William Barratt, Esq., J. P., of Holly How, with 
 five members of her family, most kindly promised ^250 
 to begin with, and gave further aid as the work went on. 
 J. Robinson, Esq., of Brown How, Torver, who gave in 
 all £155, and the Rev. A. Peache, patron of the Living, 
 who gave ^145, were both most kind in helping us at 
 the outset. 
 
 Messrs. Mandall, quarry owners in the parish, gave 
 us stone suitable for building, the parishioners carted 
 most of the stone gratuitously, and the Furness Rail- 
 way Company conveyed all our other bui'ding materials 
 free of cost. A detailed list of contributors to the 
 Church Building Fund is given elsewhere. 
 
 'A new church, from designs by Messrs. Paley and 
 Austin, of Lancaster, was commenced August, 18S3, 
 and consecrated October, 1884, by the Right Reverend 
 Harvey Goodwin, D.D., Lord Bishop of the Diocese, 
 and was, at the suggestion of his lordship, dedicated to 
 the evangelist St. Luke, — it appears from Bishop 
 Gastrell's notes that the former church had not been 
 dedicated. The whole cost of erection was about 
 ^1300 — this includes stone given; free carriage of 
 materials and carting, also stained glass windows, and 
 many gifts of church furniture, &c., mentioned elsewhere. 
 It accommodates 150 worshippers, and all the sittings 
 are free. 
 
 At the opening service the church was crowded, many 
 being unable to obtain admission. Upwards of 20 of 
 the neighbouring clergy were present, including the 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 archdeacon, the rural dean, and others. The bishop 
 took for his text, St. Matthew iv., 23 : — " And Jesus 
 went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues." 
 From these words he preached a most impressive and 
 eloquent sermon ; dwelling especially upon the advan- 
 tages derived by scattered mountain parishes, by having 
 a church in their midst. 
 
 The tea which was afterwards partaken of in the 
 schoolroom was most numerously attended, all the 
 parishioners seeming to turn out to it in a body. 
 
 Since then, St. Luke's Day, October i8th, has yearly 
 been our most successful and best attended service ; 
 the number present on that occasion having increased 
 every year, and it is looked forward to as our most 
 pleasant gathering of the year.* 
 
 BENEFICE AUGMENTATION. 
 
 £ S. D. 
 
 I have already mentioned the grant of ;/f8oo 
 towards the augmentation of the Living 
 that was made by the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners' in 1868, to meet the Rector}^ 
 House, considered as a private benefac- 
 tion. This ;^8oo is deposited with the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners' in the name 
 of the Living and bears interest at the 
 rate of 3^ per cent 800 o o 
 
 * Other work in connexion with the church has been the gift by 
 will of a small mountain chapel, at Greenrigg, b)' Mrs. Airey, for 
 use for divine service on Sundays. We had for five years unmttr- 
 rupted service in this chapel on Sunday evenings, and I trust to be 
 able to resume it again. She left, also, a small endowment to it, 
 but this was cut off by the statute of mortmain. 
 
27 
 
 To this must be added the Rectorial Tithes 
 Rent Charge (called also Rectory Rent), 
 given at the same time as a private bene- 
 faction by the patron, amounting to £\ 
 4s. 8d. a year and reckoned at a 30 years' 
 purchase 127 o o 
 
 In 1S73 was completed a benefaction, by 
 which a sum of £^^^ was placed to the 
 credit of the benefice with the Governors 
 ofQueen Anne's Bounty ; of this sum, ^316 
 were raised by private benefactions ; /250 
 were received as a grant from the Carlisle 
 Diocesan Church Extension Society, and 
 ;^40o as two grants from the Governors 
 of Queen Anne's Bounty* 966 o o 
 
 In the year 1886— through the kind help of 
 the bishop, who obtained for us^2oo from 
 the Carlisle Diocesan Church Extension 
 Society, and the patron ol the Living, 
 who gave ^"200 as a private benefaction, 
 together with ^100 which we borrowed to 
 be repaid when it could be obtained by a 
 bazaar or by private subscriptions — we 
 got together a sum oi-£^oo. This ^500 we 
 offered as a private benefaction to the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners', who met it 
 on the 14th of May, 1886, by a like grant 
 
 * We had great difficulty in making up the final portion of this 
 benefaction, and in order not to lose the grant, which would have 
 lapsed if not met at the required date, I advanced myself £^0 los 
 lod. This I did with great difficulty, and in the hope that it would 
 be repaid to me at some future time. That time has not come yet. 
 
28 
 
 of £500 out of their common fund, and 
 the whole sum of ;^iooo is lodged with 
 them in the name of the Living, at 3 per 
 cent., producing a total of ^30 a 3'ear ... 1000 o o 
 
 ;^2893 o o 
 
 Cost of Rectory, built 1868 1150 o o 
 
 Cost of School, including site, built 1873 ••• 35° o o 
 
 Cost of Church, built 1884 1300 o o 
 
 £5^93 o o 
 
 Summing up this, the whole amount of our church 
 and school work, I find that about ^5,700* have 
 during the past 20 years' been contributed by private 
 benefactions, and by grants from church funds for 
 church and school purposes in the parish ; and that we 
 have thus secured new Rectory, new School, and new 
 Church, while the income of the benefice has by this 
 means been augmented from under ,^50 to over ;£'i6o 
 a year. 
 
 I cannot recall these things without feeling at the 
 same time the deepest gratitude to those kind friends 
 who have so often and so liberally aided us in God's 
 work in thi^ parish, and above all the}' are due to that 
 friend who, in parochial work as in all other experience, 
 has so often made darkness to become light before me 
 and crooked things to become straigfht. 
 
 * The exact sum as I have calculated it is ;^56g3, but the 
 purchase of harmonium for church and other requirements, which 
 I have not put down, will bring it up to considerably over /5700. 
 
29 
 
 Below I give a detailed list of subscribers to new 
 Rectory and new Churcii, and it will be seen therefrom 
 that every farthing has been obtained either from private 
 benefactions or from church funds ; and in the case of 
 the Church, we have had to go on soliciting aid from our 
 friends for between five and six years* altogether, and 
 reducing the debt pound by pound, and at last almost 
 shilling by shilling. 
 
 It is difficult to understand how, in the face of such 
 direct evidence as this, anyone can be found to assert 
 that our churches or parsonages were ever erected by or 
 ever could with any show of right be claimed by the 
 state. So far as I can see the incumbent of a parish is / 
 just as much the owner of his parsonage house as any- 
 one else can be the owner of his own house. The 
 Parsonage, which is generally of freehold tenure, is 
 conveyed to the incumbent of the parish for the time 
 being by a legal conveyance, as binding as the legal 
 conveyance of any other house. The clergyman is 
 entered in the parish rate book as the legal owner — as 
 legal owner he is liable for all rates and taxes, and as 
 legal owner he is liable for all alterations and repairs. 
 
 TORVER RECTORY BUILDING ACCOUNT. 
 
 Subscriptions, &c. 
 
 I 
 John Robinson, Esq., 
 
 Brown How . . . .125 
 Rev. A. Peache, patron 
 
 of living 80 
 
 His Grace the Duke of 
 
 Devonshire . . . . 50 
 
 Payments — Buildimg Expenses. 
 
 I s. D. 
 
 Cost of Rectory, includ- 
 ing chimney pieces and 
 grates, together with 
 architect scommission925 o o 
 
 Well sinking and walling 
 
 same 8 10 o 
 
 * I obtained the first subscription for building the church in 1882. 
 As I write this in July, 1888, the debt has just been cleared off. 
 
30 
 
 Rev. T. Ellwood . . . . 40 
 J. G. Marshall, Esq., . . 30 
 His Grace the Duke of 
 
 Buccleuch 20 
 
 E.BWheatleyBalme.Esq 20 
 The late J. Barratt.Esq. 20 
 G. Gaskell, Esq, Kendal 10 
 Mrs. Bolland . . . . 10 
 The Bishop of Carlisle 5 
 Miss Beever, Coniston 5 
 Mrs. Parker, Hazel Hall 5 
 Mrs. Harrison, Ambleside 5 
 R. Moser, Esq., Kendal 5 
 M. Ainslie, Esq, Grizedale 5 
 J. Robinson, Esq, Langdale 5 
 G.H. Head, Esq. .Carlisle 5 
 M. B. Harrison, Esq. . . 
 Mr. Harrison, Bradford 
 Mr. Harrison, Torver.. 
 The Venble. Archdeacon 
 
 Cooper 
 
 The late Canon Gwillym 
 Right Hon Col.W.Patten 
 CanonBattersby, Keswick 2 
 Trustees of G. A. Geldard, 
 
 Esq 2 
 
 Rev. J. Patch, Blawith 2 
 Sums under £2. . . . . 7 
 Grant of Carlisle Diocesan 
 Parsonage Building 
 
 Society 200 
 
 Given as Private Bene- 
 faction, about lyiy.by 
 W. E. and J. Fleming 
 and J. Atkinson 
 Received from Commis- 
 sioner of Woods as a 
 Private Benefrction 
 from Torver Manor. . 
 Presented by Rev. A. 
 Peache from sale of 
 Rectory rents . . . . 10 
 Advanced by Rev, A. 
 
 Peache 90 
 
 Part of Money belonging 
 to Living lodged with 
 Queen Anne's Bounty 103 
 
 Force pump, in addition 
 
 to estimate for 
 
 ordinary pump 
 
 Extras in joiners' work 
 
 Additional pipe for 
 
 pump, &c 
 
 o 16 6 
 
 40 
 
 13 14 o 
 
 ;^939 7 
 
 ;if939 7 6 
 
 July 2ist, 1870. 
 
 Examined and found conect, 
 
 JOHN ROBINSON, 
 WILLIAM BARRATT. 
 
 We received at the time of 
 building new Rectory a 
 grant of /200 from the 
 Governors of Queen .Anne's 
 Bounty to meet the value 
 of land given as site for 
 Rectory, and a benefaction 
 in money. ;;^i03 2s. 6d of 
 this ;i/^200 was spent upon 
 building Rectory, as shown 
 on the other side. The 
 remaining ^96 17s. 6d. was 
 given by Governors of 
 Queen Anne's Bounty for 
 various additional items 
 connected with building 
 Rectory, as erecting new 
 porch, building fence, walls 
 &c. The Governors have 
 vouchers for these payments. 
 This, together with value of 
 site and other items brings 
 up the cost of Rectory to 
 about £1150. The site was 
 given by W. Barratt, Esq., 
 J. P., Coniston. 
 
31 
 
 TORVER NEW CHURCH BUH.DING FUND. 
 
 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS. 
 
 50 O 
 
 Receipts. £ 
 Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, as Lady of 
 
 Torver Manor 
 
 The Bishop of Carlisle 30 o o 
 
 The Rev. A. Peache, Hampstead Heath, London (patron 
 
 of the livins;) 145 o o 
 
 Mrs. Barratt, Holly How, Coniston .. 60 o o 
 
 Alfred Barratt, Esq., West Kensington, London . . . . 45 o o 
 
 Jas. W. H. Barratt, Esq., Holywath, Coniston. . .. .. 49 10 o 
 
 William I. Barratt, Esq., Millom 49 10 o 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hancock, Putney, London 49 15 o 
 
 Major and Mrs. Brooks, Edgbaston, Birmingham .. .. 49 15 o 
 
 John Robinson, Esq., Brown How, Torver 155 o o 
 
 Thomas Barlow-Massicks, Esq., The Oaks, Millom .. 25 o o 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Devonshire 20 o o 
 
 E. B. W. Balme, Esq., Loughrigg, Ambleside.. .. .. 25 o o 
 
 John Kendall, Esq., Coniston .. .. 550 
 
 Mr. George Park, Torver 500 
 
 Edward Park, Brocklebank Ground, Torver .. .. 500 
 
 ,, Thomas Prickett, High Style, Torver 500 
 
 ,, Joseph Tyson, High Ground, Coniston 7 10 o 
 
 ,, Edward Tyson, High Ground, Coniston 7100 
 
 ,, Thomas Barrow, Little Arrow, Coniston .. .. 500 
 
 Irving Hare, Esq.. Pall Mall, London 10 o o 
 
 Mrs. Caine, Broom Hill, Broughton-in-Furness . . . . 500 
 
 Harrison, Water Park, Blawith .. .. 500 
 
 Miss Harrison, Water Park 220 
 
 Mr. Richard Charniey, Torver .. .. .. 220 
 
 ,, Wilson, Hollin Bank _. 500 
 
 ,, William Parker, Torver 500 
 
 The Venerable Archdeacon Cooper, Kendal 3 3 o 
 
 Mrs. King (the late). St. Peter's Terrace, Cambridge .. 51 o o 
 
 ,, Kennedy (the late). Stone Cross, Ulverston .. .. 500 
 
 The Rev. Canon Cashel (the late), vicar of Oswestry, Salop 2 11 o 
 
 Rev. J. W. Nesbitt, Lincolnshire 100 
 
 R. B. Nesbitt, Yorkshire .. 100 
 
 ,, H. T. Baines, Sawrey, Windermere 100 
 
 Mrs. Pearson, Westmorland o 10 o 
 
 Mr. S. Pickthall, Torver .. .- .. 020 
 
 ,. John Barrow, Coniston 100 
 
 Miss M. Coulthar'd, Torver 060 
 
 Mr. T. Kendall, King Street, Ulverston ., 300 
 
 Thomas Butler, Esq", Syke House, Broughton-in-Furness 220 
 
 Rev. [. Ashburner, vicar of Blawith 200 
 
 Major Harrison, Leamington .. 500 
 
32 
 
 Miss Pearson, Little Arrow, Coniston i o o 
 
 Mrs. Airey, Torver 050 
 
 Harry Arnold, Esq., Ambleside, Milnthorpe 210 
 
 Mr. Wm. Bell, Coniston i 59 
 
 Rev. L. R. Ayre, Rural Dean, Ulverston 320 
 
 Miss Ormandy, Greenodd .. 100 
 
 Colonel Steble, Ramsdale Bank, Scarboro' 1000 
 
 Mrs. Petherick, South Kensington, London 1000 
 
 Mr. F Warhurst, Ulverston i i o 
 
 Dr. Woodburne, Broughton-in-Furness 2100 
 
 Mr. Moses Harrison, Beckstones, Torver 500 
 
 Rev. C. H. Lowry, vicar of Kirkby o 10 o 
 
 Mrs. Wood, Windermere 100 
 
 Mrs. Browne, Moor house, Torver 500 
 
 T. Evennett, Esq., Coniston o 10 o 
 
 Messrs. Redhead Brothers, Coniston 050 
 
 Mrs, Roebuck, Leeds 100 
 
 W. G. Ainslie, Esq., M.P 500 
 
 George Case, Esq., Ulverston i i o 
 
 J. Eccleston, Esq., Silecroft 100 
 
 Miss Binless, London 100 
 
 The Rev. J. H. R. Sumner, Ellesborough Rectory, Bucks 500 
 
 The Venerable Archdeacon Crosse 220 
 
 The Carlisle Diocesan Church Extension Society .. .. 76 13 4 
 
 Proceeds of Three Concerts in Torver Schoolroom .. 12 5 o 
 Collected at Torver School Services and in Church on 
 
 various occasions 37 16 10 
 
 Bank Interest 4^5 i 
 
 Proceeds of Tea in Schoolroom 5 30 
 
 Mr. E. P. Warhurst, Ulverston 100 
 
 ,, T. H. TBenson, Ulverston ,. o 10 o 
 
 ,, A. Tyson o 10 8 
 
 J. Mashiter o 10 o 
 
 Offertory in Torver Church, December iSth, 18S7. . . . 020 
 
 Mrs. Charnlej', Green Rigg 220 
 
 Mrs. Wilson, Bank End 100 
 
 Mr. R. Prickett, Crook o 10 o 
 
 Mrs. Ellwood, Torver Rectory .. , 100 
 
 Mr. J. F. A. Ellwood, Mail S.S. Leibnitz o 10 o 
 
 Mr. W. E. Ellwood, Mountain City, Manitoba . . . . o to o 
 
 Mr. T. E. Ellwood, Queen's College, Cambridge . . . . o 10 o 
 
 Mr. G. B. Ellwood, Barrow o 10 o 
 
 J. R. Adams, Esq., Kensington, London 500 
 
 Mrs Benson, Stable Harvey . . . . 0100 
 
 Miss M. Coulthard, S.S 020 
 
 Bo.x at Holy Wath 0126 
 
 Collection in Torver Church on Easter Sunday, 1888 . . on 9 
 
 ;^III9 19 II 
 
Fees for obtaininc; Facult\ 
 
 33 
 
 Payments. / 
 
 5 17 3 
 
 Bell and Usher on account Contract 1030 4 
 
 Paley and Austin on account Architects' Fees 63 4 i 
 
 Advertising for tenders in sundry newspapers 2 11 6 
 
 Bank Commission and Interest on Overdraft 15 19 11 
 
 Bank Interest to date 230 
 
 ;^iii9 ig II 
 
 Signed, 
 
 JOHN ROBINSON, ) „, , 
 
 WILLIAM 1. BARRATT, L .,,. ^^lufch 
 THOMAS ELLWOOD. jBuddrng Committee. 
 
 The following gifts were also presented to the new 
 church : — - 
 
 Stained Glass Window, with three lights, at east end of Church — 
 Presented by Mrs. Barratt. Holly How, in memory of her 
 husband, the late W. Barratt, Esq., J. P. 
 
 Altar Cloth— Presented by Mr. and Mrs. Hancock. 
 
 Kneeling Cushion in front of Communion Rails— Worked and 
 presented by Mrs. Brooks, Edgbaston, Birmingham. 
 
 Two Kneeling Cushions within Communion Rails — Presented by 
 Mrs. J. W. H. Barratt, Holywath. 
 
 Worked Fall for Pulpit--Presented by Mrs. W. Barratt, Millom. 
 
 Chair within Communion Rails— Presented by C. Vaughan, Esq., 
 Millom. 
 
 Book Stand for Communion Table— Presented by Dr. Stoney, 
 Millom. 
 
 Book Stand for Communion Table — Presented by Jonathan Bell, 
 Coniston 
 
 Two Service Books for Communion Table — Presented by Major 
 Johnstone. 
 
 Worked Covers, Stand, &c., for Com_munion Plate — Presented by 
 Miss Robinson, Brown How, Torver. 
 
 Alms Dish — Presented by Mrs. Wood, Windermere. 
 
 Worked Cover for Alms Dish — Presented by Miss Wood. 
 
 F 
 
34 
 
 CHURCHWARDENS OF TORVER. 
 
 It appears from the statement contained in an old 
 church book that Torver was originall}^ divided for 
 cluirch purposes into four quarters, viz.: — Hoathwaite 
 Quarter, Parkground Quarter, Groundrigge or Greenrigg 
 Quarter, and Torver Park Quarter, and that a church- 
 warden was selected from each of these in rotation. 
 Torver has never had more than one churchwarden at 
 one time. 
 
 CHURCHWARDEN. DATE. 
 
 Hoathwaite quarter — Myles Wilson of Highsteel 1703 
 
 Parkground quarter — James Taylor of Stable Harvey 1704 
 
 Groundrigge quarter — Anthony Atkinson of Bank End 1705 
 
 Torver Parke quarter — Myles Fleming of Scar Head 1706 
 
 Edward Park, Roslathorns 1707 
 
 V James Bigland, Mill 1708 
 
 Robert Fleming, Southerstead 1709 
 
 William Wilson, Undercragg 1710 
 
 John Atkinson, Houthwaite 1711 
 
 Thomas Parke, Oxenhouse 1712 
 
 William Atkinson, Ground Rigge 1713 
 
 John Fleming, Church House 1714 
 
 James Wilson, Hoi House 1715 
 
 Richard Park, Sunny Bank 1716 
 
 Thomas Brocklebank, Brocklebank 
 
 Ground 1717 
 
 Rodger Fleming, Undercragg 1718 
 
 Edward Park, Brackenbarrow 1719 
 
 Luke Browne, Oxenhouse 1720 
 
 Edward Atkinson, Souterstead 1721 
 
 Thomas Birkett Crook 1722 
 
 William Wilson, High Steel 1723 
 
 John Parke, Beckstones 1724 
 
 William Jackson, Hassel Hall 1725 
 
 William Fleming, Torver Park 1726 
 
 William Wilson, Grass Garth 1727 
 
 Roger Whinfield, Park Ground 1728 
 William Wilson, for Jane Brown of 
 
 Rose Hill 1729 
 
 John Jackson, Brige House 1730 
 
 Richard Harrison, Grassgarth 1731 
 
 James Parke, Parkground 1732 
 
 1733 
 
35 
 
 Edward Parke, Brocklebank Gd 1734 
 
 John Brocklebank, Moor 1735 
 
 ., . ,, ., 1736 
 
 Isaac Atkinson, Houthwaite 1737 
 
 Joel Park, Brown Hall 1738 
 
 Anthony Atkinson, Bank End 1739 
 
 Richard Lowther, Souterstead 1740 
 
 Ishmael Wennington, Undercragg 1741 
 
 John Jackson, Brackenbarrow 1742 
 
 Leonard Parke, Stable Harvey 1743 
 
 John Atkinson, Bank End 1744 
 
 Joseph Wilson, Moor 1745 
 
 Edward Park, Roslathorns 1746 
 
 Richard Park, Stable Harvey 1747 
 
 William Birkett, Crook 1748 
 
 William Wilson, Gross Ground 1749 
 
 William Whinfield, Torver Park 1750 
 
 James Garner, Hollace 1751 
 
 Thomas Parke, Oxenhouse 1752 
 
 William Postlethwaite, Green Rigg 1753 
 
 William Fleming, Scar Head 1754 
 
 Benjamin Wilson, High Steel 1755 
 
 James Bigland, Mill 1756 
 Isaac Wilson, for Jn. Atkinson's estate 1757 
 Edward Parke, Brocklebank Gd, for 
 
 Undercragg 1758 
 
 Daniel Fleming, Brackenbarrow 1759 
 William Lindow, for Dorothy James' 
 
 estate 1760 
 
 John Atkinson, for Tamar estate 1761 
 
 William Fleming, Church House 1762 
 
 James Bigland, Elm Hall 1763 
 
 Thomas Harrison, Beck Stones 1764 
 
 1765 
 
 Anthony Smith, own estate 1766 
 
 Ishmael Wennington, own estate 1767 
 
 John Jackson, Brackenbarrow 1768 
 
 Thomas Birket, Sunny Bank 1769 
 
 Edward Atkinson, Souterstead 1770 
 
 Christopher Bellman, Torver Park 1771 
 
 |ohn Fearon, Grassgarth 1772 
 
 George Ashburner, Park Ground 1773 
 William Stilling, for Jane Redhead 
 
 estate 1774 
 
 John Massacks for Scar Head ^775 
 
 John Dixon. Houthwaite 1776 
 
 John Atkinson, Parkground 1777 
 "John Bainbridge, for Mr. Russel's estate 
 
 at Bank End 1778 
 
 Ishmael Wennington, Bridge House 1779 
 
36 
 
 John Atkinson, Roslathorns 1780 
 
 Abraham Sawrey, Brown Hall 178 1: 
 
 Thomas Wilson, Rose Hill 1782 
 
 John Brocklebank, Moor 1783 
 
 Edward Park, for Harrison's Estate 1784 
 Paul Brocklebank 1785 
 
 Edward Park, Brocklebank Gd 17S6 
 
 John Birkett, Crook 1787 
 
 John Rigg, Hollace 1788 
 
 Paul Brocklebank ] 789 
 
 William Dickinson 1790 
 
 John Brocklebank, Moor 1791 
 
 John Brocklebank, for High Style 1792 
 
 John Birkett, for Stable Harvey 1792 
 
 William Smith ^794 
 
 John Massacks, Brackenbarrow ^797 
 
 Jno. Myles 179S 
 
 William Rigg for Green Rigg i799 
 
 Thomas Fawel, for Scar Head 1800 
 
 Frances Rawson, Undercragg 1801 
 
 William Coward, Brackenbarrow 1802 
 
 Thomas Harrison, Mill House 1803 
 
 \nthony Smith, Southerstead 1804 
 
 William Parker, Hassel Hall 1806 
 
 1807 
 John Massacks, Church House 180S 
 
 Thomas Harrison, Beck Stones 1809 
 
 Mary Park, for Undercragg 1810 
 
 John Birkett, Sunny Bank 181 1 
 
 John Redhead, Souterstead 1812 
 
 William Brocklebank, High Torver 
 
 Park 1 81 3 
 
 Robert Woodend, Grassgards 1814 
 
 John Briggs, Park Ground 1815 
 
 James Tyson, Greaves Ground 1816 
 
 t8i7 
 John Procter, for Mr. Saunders' estate 
 
 at Hoathwaite 1818 
 
 John Briggs, Park Ground 1819 
 
 Robert Dawson, Bank End 1S20 
 
 1821 
 1822 
 1823 
 1824 
 1825 
 ,, 1826 
 
 1827 
 
 William Wilson, High Stile 1828 
 
 John Park, Brocklebank Gd 1829 
 
 1830 
 
37 
 
 Thomas Wilson, Bank End 1831 
 
 James Tyson, Rose Hill 1832 
 
 Thomas Wilson, Bank End 1833 
 
 John Parker, Hazel Hall [834 
 
 Thomas Walton 1836 
 
 No name of Churchwarden occurs for 
 
 some years. 
 Anthony Smith, Moor 1847 
 
 Stephen Grave, Souter Stead 1848 
 
 1S49 
 Henry Hudson. Hoathwaite 1850 
 
 Daniel Birkett, Scar Head ' 1851 
 
 William Sarginson, Stable Harvey 1852 
 
 William Smith, Ellice How 1853 
 
 John Briggs, Emlin Hall 1854 
 
 1855 
 Daniel Tyson, Groves Ground 1S56 
 
 1857 
 1858 
 William Wilson, Bank End 1859 
 
 John Smith, Ellice How i860 
 
 John Wilson, Green Rigg 1861 
 
 William Parker, Hazel Hali 1862 
 
 1863 
 
 1S64 
 
 1S65 
 
 Edmund Park, Brocklebank Ground 1866 
 
 ., ,. M 1867 
 
 1S68 
 
 Richard Prickett, Crook 1869 
 
 ,1 1870 
 
 „ 1871 
 
 John Browne, Moor 1872 
 
 1873 
 
 1874 
 
 George Shuttleworth, Undercragg 1875 
 
 ., ,1 1S76 
 
 Joseph Jackson, High Torver Park 1877 
 
 1878 
 John Ullock, Green Rigg 1879 
 
 1880 
 
 1S81 
 Thomas Prickett, High Style 1882 
 
 1883 
 
38 
 SPECIMEN OF TORVER CHURCH ACCOUNTS. 
 
 April 28th, 1744 — 
 Then did Leonard Parke of Stable Harvey being churchwarden 
 for the year 1743 give up his accounts to the New Churchwarden 
 and Sidesmen as followeth : — 
 
 To the Parson 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 Spent 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 For Parchment 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 For Rashing Church 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 For washing Surplice & Cloths 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 For Bread and Wine 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 For Mending windows 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 For Ringing 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 For mending Table 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 For Prayer Books 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 9 
 
 For Besoms 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 One journey to Cartmel 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 One journey to Ulverstone 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 To Thomas Wilson for wood & work 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 To Smith for Nails and Work 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 Commissary Fees 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 For Drawing Presentments ) 
 
 
 
 
 and Sess Bill j 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 
 Book 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 Writing 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 s d 
 Remains in John Atkinson's hands 2 ,, 9 
 
 May 15th, 1745— Then did John Atkinson of Bank End being 
 Churchwarden for the year 1744 give up his accounts to the 
 Sidesmen as followeth ; — 
 
 Spent at taking in accompts 
 
 One journey to Ulverston o 4 
 
 For lead for Dial Post i o 
 For Board and Drink for workmen 
 
 at Dial Post 4 6 
 
 To John Fearn for a Day work o 10 
 
 For Dial Post 10 6 
 
 For Rushing Church i o 
 For getting and leading Stones 
 
 and my work 3 2 
 
 To William Whinfield for a Stone o 6 
 
 For Peck of Lime o 4 
 
 For Brimstone 2 Besoms and a Lock o 10 
 
 D S 
 
39 
 
 For glassing and a Prayer Book and 
 
 
 
 
 Cask 
 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Bread and Wine at Easter 
 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 For Repairing Churchyard walls 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 For surplice washing twice 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 For Smith work 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 To Thomas Wilson 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 For Drawing Presentments and 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sess Biil 
 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 For journey to Ulverston 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Commissary Fees 
 
 
 S 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Rmging 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Remains in hand gd, 
 
 2 
 
 II 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 May 2ist, 1748 — Then did Will 
 
 iam 
 
 Birkett being Churchwarden 
 
 for the year 1747 give up 
 
 his 
 
 accounts to the Sidesmen as 
 
 followeth : — 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 s 
 
 D 
 
 
 A journey to Ulverston 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Spent with Mr. Sharpe 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 7 orders by Council 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 Ringing and Dog whipping 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 
 Spent at taking accompts 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 Windows and glas=ing 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 Thomas Wilson a Days work 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 Bread and Wine 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 
 Book and Proclamation 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 
 
 Spent at Setting work 020 
 
 Bread and Wine at Xtmas 085 
 
 For altering seats, yeat, &c. 6 10 o 
 
 For washing surplice 080 
 
 Other small items make this up 
 
 to a Total of 10 o i 
 
 Remains in hand 12 6J 
 
 The usual annual expenses of the church are at 
 this time somewhat over £2. In the year 1747, which 
 includes several larger items for the repairs and fitting 
 up of church, the amount is brought up to a total of^io. 
 
 A church3'ard dial is mentioned as having been 
 erected in Torver churchyard in the year 1744. 
 Churchyard dials were at one time very common 
 in the lake country. The dial at Torver had been 
 
40 
 
 removed before my time, but the dial in the church- 
 yard at Seathwaite still remains. 
 
 In 1864, the Bishop of the Diocese (Dr. Waldegrave) 
 visited many of the mountain churches in this district. 
 I accompanied him (partly as guide over the mountains), 
 and I remember that one special object he seemed to 
 have in view was to ascertain all about the old dials 
 that had existed or were existing in the country church- 
 yards we visited. He said the information was for the 
 use of an antiquarian friend who intended to bring out 
 a work on churchyard dials. I never heard whether it 
 appeared. 
 
 Dog whipping is an item which appears very 
 regularly in our accounts for many years. The farmers 
 often came to church directly from shepherding on the 
 fells ; at such times their dogs accompanied them, and 
 the dut}' of the dog whipper was to keep the dogs 
 outside and thus to prevent the misdemeanour of 
 brawling in church. Bell ringing and dog whipping are 
 generally included under the same item, and seem both 
 to have been performed by the churchwarden until 
 the year 1S35 when a parish clerk was first appointed. 
 
 Paishing the church is also an annual item represented 
 by about one shilling per year. The rushes were spread 
 upon the church floor and served as a covering for the 
 whole year."' Annual rusli-bearings originating thus are 
 
 " The object of thus rushing or rashing the church was to 
 counteract the effect of the damp, unpaved church floor ; there is 
 allusion to this in the hymn - 
 
 " Our fathers to the house of God, 
 
 As yet a building nude. 
 Brought offerings from the flowery sod, 
 And fragrant rushes strewed." 
 
41 
 
 still kept up at Ambleside and other places in this 
 district. 
 
 We have regular yearly statements of the church 
 accounts extending back till the year 1730. In that 
 year, in which William Wilson of Grass Gards was 
 churchwarden, there was the following entry with 
 regard to the bell : — 
 
 £ S. D. 
 
 " For ye nevve Bell in Weight 252 Pounds — cast in 
 Dublin and for Stocking thereof besides ye old Bell 16 4 10 " 
 
 The price paid for this bell was obtained by a " Sess" 
 or rate levied equally upon the parish, and it is the bell 
 at present in use. 
 
 An entry in the church accounts for the year 1754, 
 notifies that by the will of Dr. Stratford, deceased, the 
 parish received the following books : — " Stanhope on 
 the Epistles and Gospels," " Nelson on the Fasts and 
 Festivals," "Altham's Sermons," and " Gastrell's X'an 
 Institutes." These, together with " Stackhouse's History 
 of the Holy Bible," " The Book of Canons," the " Old 
 Church Homilies," and the " 39 Articles," seem to have 
 formed the Parochial Library of Torver at that time. 
 
 Dr. Stratford was private secretary to Bishop Gastrell, 
 whose visitation notes taken in 1720 I have quoted 
 elsewhere. Dr. Stratford seems to have spent his time 
 and his large private fortune in unceasing efforts to 
 better the condition of the poorer clergy of his diocese, 
 and ;^20o of private benefaction given by him in 1759 
 was the principal means for purchasing the land now 
 belonging to the living of Torver. 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 Dr. Stratford is said to have given away a thousand 
 pounds a year in such benefactions. His aid to the 
 poorer clergy was unceasing, and by various amounts, 
 which generahy took the form of perpetual annuities, 
 he augmented upwards of 60 livings. 
 
 SOURCES OF AID IN' CHURCH AND PARSONAGE BUILDING 
 AND BENEFICE AUGMENTATION. 
 
 As one of the objects of this work is to trace out the 
 origin of church endowments, and to make it clear that 
 not one penny of those endowments was given by the 
 State, I may notice here the origin of three sources of 
 endowment to which, in addition to private subscrip- 
 tions, we have been largely indebted in augmenting this 
 living, viz. : Queen Anne's Bounty, the Common Fund 
 of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the Carlisle 
 Diocesan Church Extension Society. 
 
 ist. — Queen Anne's Bounty. 
 
 The origin of Queen Anne's Bounty is the gift to 
 the Church by Queen Anne of the first fruits and tenths 
 which, from the time of the Reformation, had been paid 
 to the Crown. This really was a tax upon the clergy 
 and paid by the clergy themselves. It was a tax upon 
 church dignities and the richer livings, for the benefit 
 of the smaller livings, and amounted to about ;^i5,5oo 
 a year. 
 
 The fund has been increased from time to time by 
 legacies or by other gifts from private persons. Out of 
 this bounty fund the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty 
 have been in the habit of making grants of ;^2oo to 
 meet a like amount or a greater amount paid to them 
 
43 
 
 as private benefactions on behalf of the poorer livings. 
 The grant and the private benefaction are taken by 
 the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty and laid out in 
 the purchase of land, which henceforth belongs to the 
 incumbent for the time being of the living on whose 
 behalf it was purchased, or in case no land is purchased 
 the money is in the name of the living invested in the 
 funds, which generally used to make a return of about 
 ;^3 per cent., though lately this interest has, through the 
 operation of the reduced 3 per cents., become less. It 
 will be seen clearly, however, that the grants from this 
 fund are paid by the clergy themselves, and that the 
 private benefactions by which those grants were met 
 were paid by private individuals with a view of better- 
 ing the value of the living. On referring to our endow- 
 ments it will be seen in several instances that we have 
 been aided by grants from Queen Anne's Bounty, and 
 I trust that this explanation will make it sufficiently 
 clear that no portion of this endowment had its origin 
 in the State. 
 
 2nd. — The Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 
 By certain Acts of Parliament a large amount of 
 property, part of which belonged to Bishops' Sees, 
 part to Deans and Chapters, and part to Canonries as 
 separate estates, has become vested in the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners; and the income arising therefrom con- 
 stitutes what is called their " Common Fund." The 
 leading purpose of this common fund is to make better 
 provision for the care of souls in parishes where such 
 assistance is most required. This is done in various 
 ways, as by endowing new parishes, augmenting the 
 
44 
 
 value of livings which administer to a large population, 
 or also in helping parishes which have a local claim 
 on account of their paying a tithe rent charge, or 
 containing land the rent of which belongs to the 
 commissioners. They also make grants out of this 
 common fund to be met by an equal sum from private 
 benefactions to augment the value of poor livings. 
 
 To give the instance of our own case. When I 
 obtained this living of Torver the net value of the living 
 was under ;^5o, without any parsonage. The Bishop 
 of the Diocese (Bishop Waldegrave) told me to offer to 
 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners a private benefaction 
 of ;^8oo on behalf of the living to be met by a like sum 
 out of their common fund. The commissioners having 
 made a full inquiry into all the circumstances of the 
 living, agreed that if ;^8oo of private benefaction were 
 paid to them by a certain date that they would meet 
 it by a like benefaction of ;^8oo out of their common 
 fund ; they moreover intimated that this private bene- 
 faction might be laid out in providing the living with a 
 rectory house. Accordingly, after a very strong appeal 
 to our friends for aid in which the bishop most kindly 
 co-operated, and after we had pointed out to them that 
 their benefactions would be doubled if made within the 
 time specified by the commissioners, we obtained, after 
 the most pressing and unceasing efforts, ;^8oo* ; this 
 
 * It is desirable that I should here make a clear distinction 
 between the ;^8oo which we raised by private subscriptions, and 
 the /Soo grant from the Common Fund of the Commissioners by 
 which it was met. The /8oo of private subscriptions (a list of the 
 subscribers has been given before) was applied to building the new 
 Rectory, which was thus entirely built by private supscription. 
 The /Soo grant from the Common Fund of the Commissioners by 
 which it was met was invested in the Consols to augment the value 
 of the living. 
 
45 
 
 was met with a like sum by the commissioners, and the 
 amount of private benefaction, which I have particular- 
 ised elsewhere, was spent in the erection of a Rectory 
 house. 
 
 Now, how was this private benefaction obtained from 
 our friends ? It was obtained under the express con- 
 dition that if they raised ;^8oo it would be met by a 
 like grant of ^800 out of this common fund of the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and that the interest 
 derived from that grant should be devoted to increase 
 the value of the li\'ing of Torvav for ever. These were 
 the express conditions upon which people were led to 
 give their money to help the living. 
 
 Surely if that pledge, which we have in the London 
 Gazette expressly sealed and ratified by the commis- 
 sioners, can be broken under the false and dishonest 
 pretext that either the benefaction or the grant is State 
 property, then there is no safeguard in either pledge or 
 bond of any kind ; but there will be equal justification 
 in asserting that the estates of private individuals 
 (which are held by deeds, bequests, and conveyances, 
 not one whit more binding) are also the property of the 
 State, v"^ 
 
 The various augmentations which we have obtained 
 have been obtained by a process of raising money by 
 private benefaction precisely similar to this, 
 f' ]In dealing with this subject I have quoted from the 
 bishop's Pastoral of 1887, and a further quotation v^ill 
 show more clearly that none of those grants are derived 
 from State property. Speaking of the common fund of 
 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the bishop says : — 
 
46 
 
 " In no case does the Incumbent receive anything 
 which is not derived either from private bounty, or 
 from cash or Stock produced by sale of property which 
 previously belonged to a living, or from the revenues 
 which have belonged for many years (often for centuries) 
 to one of the Ecclesiastical Corporations of the Church 
 of England. In none of these cases is there a sixpence 
 given to the Church by the State, or from any public 
 i/ fund outside the Church itself." 
 
 yd.~ The Carlisle Diocesan Church Extension Society. 
 In church and parsonage building and benefice 
 augmentation, it will be seen that we have been 
 very largely indebted to the Carlisle Diocesan Church 
 Extension Society. This society was founded in 1862 
 by Bishop Waldegrave, and it has been extended and 
 carried on in its course of usefulness by our present 
 Diocesan. All its grants are made from purely private 
 benefactions which it lays out so as to secure the most 
 extended measure of help from the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners and the governors of Queen Anne's Bounty. 
 Its records show that no deserving case has ever been 
 refused help, and the accounts at the annual meeting 
 of September 5th, 188S, showed that up to that date 
 the whole amount expended b}' the society out of its 
 own funds during its existence had been /'57,i63 6s. 4d., 
 and the amount arising from public and private sources 
 and devoted to the objects of the society comes to 
 ;^3i6,g74 los. lod. ; the results of the combined ex- 
 penditure being the building and enlarging of 128 
 churches and 94 parsonages, the augmentation of 129 
 benefices, and the building or maintaining of 16 
 mission rooms. 
 
47 
 
 TORVER CHARITIES. 
 
 The parish of Torver has the following charities 
 which have accrued to it by donation or bequest : — 
 
 John Middhtons Chavity. 
 
 John Middleton, by will dated June 2nd, 1685, left a 
 sum of money to the parish of Torver, and he desired 
 his executors carefully to secure the money which they 
 should thus receive, and dispose of the yearly increase 
 as they should think " most requisite, pious and 
 charitable." 
 
 It cannot now be ascertained what was the sum 
 originally received by the parish of Torver, as their 
 share of John Middleton's bequest. From an old book 
 in which the accounts have been regularly entered 
 since the year 1695, it appears that the Principal was 
 at one time £'^T, but that in 1738, by savings, it 
 amounted to ^50. 
 
 The sum is secured on mortgage ot a copyhold estate 
 in the Manor of Muchland and Torver, now the 
 property ot Mrs. Mary Wilson of Bank End, who 
 succeeded to it on the death of her husband 21 years 
 ago. 
 
 Mrs. Wilson pays interest for this money at the rate 
 of ^4 per cent., and this money is paid by her to an 
 annual vestry meeting held for the purpose of distributing 
 charities, and distributed then in accordance with what 
 the Vestry consider the most deserving cases. 
 
 I find upon referring to the minutes of this annual 
 meeting that this and the following charities have been 
 
so distributed at this annual meeting for the past 37 
 years, and the names of the various recipients are duly 
 entered in the minute book. 
 
 Chanties for the Poor. 
 
 There is in this division or parish the sum of ^70* 
 which was left or given by different individuals. 
 This ;^70 forms a portion of ;^2oo now deposited in 
 the name of the churchwarden and overseers of 
 Torver, on Debenture Stock of the Furness Railway 
 Company, at £/[. per cent., payable half-yearly. The 
 Interest is distributed annually at the above-mentioned 
 vestry meeting to the poor who seem most deserving. 
 
 Samuel Towers' Charity. 
 
 There is in the church chest an extract, without 
 date, from the will of Samuel Towers. From this copy 
 it appears that he gave ;^4o to the township of Torver, 
 to be secured on free land or to be placed out, the 
 interest to be laid out yearly, as follows : — " To the 
 Curate of Torver 7s 6d for a sermon — to the Clerk i s 
 Sexton 6d Churchwarden and overseers each is, and 
 
 * The sum appears to have been originally more ; for the follow- 
 ing lists of " Donations to the Church and the Poor of Torver" was 
 taken from a board placed up upon the wall within Torver Old 
 Church and copied when that church was taken down in A.D. 1848 : 
 
 £ 
 
 " Given from Rydal 5 ^ 
 
 " By William Fleming 30 Benefactions to the 
 
 " By John Atkmson 5 Church of Tor\'er ■ 
 
 ■•By Dorothy Jackson 4L probably laid out in 
 
 " By James Pritt 3 the purchase of land 
 
 " By Anthony Atkinson 5 as noted before. 
 
 "£52 ' 
 " Signed, Robert Bell, Curate ) ,, 
 
 "William Fleming, Churchwarden] '^4- 
 
49 
 
 the remainder to be laid out in buying Common Prayer 
 Books, till every house have two or three at least that 
 are of the Church of England, and to be always supplied 
 with the same sort ; and the said curate, churchwarden 
 and overseers shall then buy bibles or other books of 
 Devotion with the rest of the interest and divide them 
 equally to all alike." 
 
 This/'40 forms a portion of the^aoo above mentioned 
 as deposited on Debenture Stock of the Furness Railway 
 Company at £^ per cent. 
 
 After paying away us. in the manner specified, the 
 remainder is given away in books which are given to 
 the houses of the parish in rotation. 
 
 The Kilner Bequest. 
 
 Ann Kilner of Ulverston, spinster, by her will dated 
 26th of December, 1849, bequeathed unto the church- 
 wardens and overseers of the township of Torver the 
 sum of;^ioo; and she directed that the said church- 
 wardens and overseers should invest the same sum 
 
 £ 
 
 " Given by Rowland Atkinson 5 
 
 " By Thomas Atkinson 5 
 
 " By Mr. Ambrose 17 
 
 " By Henry Fleming 5 
 
 " By John Whinfield 5 
 
 " By John Atkinson 5 "■ £ 
 
 " By William Fleming i 
 " By Elizabeth Fleming 
 " By Anthony Atkinson 
 
 Benefactions to the 
 Poor of Torver. 
 
 59 Dated 1738 
 52 Dated 1754 
 
 "i:59 / 
 
 ;^iii Total. 
 
 " Signed, Joel Park, ^ 17 s " 
 
 " Chapel warden [ '^ 
 
 I have little doubt that the /70 mentioned above had its origin in 
 this last list of donations. 
 
50 
 
 upon government or other approved securities, and 
 receive the interest and dividends thereof, and once in 
 every year for ever thereafter, equally divide the same 
 amongst six poor women residing in the said township 
 ol Torver who should not then be receiving parochial 
 relief, such poor women to be selected annually by 
 the said churchwardens and overseers along with the 
 Incumbent of the Parish Church of Torver aforesaid, 
 or by a majority of them assembled for the time being. 
 
 It appears from what I am able to learn that payment 
 for duty, and other expenses connected with receiving 
 this bequest, reduced the original sum of /"loo to ;^90, 
 and this sum of ;^90 forms a portion of the /200 which, 
 as I have mentioned above, is now depositei in the 
 name of the churchwarden and overseers of Torver on 
 Debenture Stock of the Furness Railway Company at 
 £'4 per cent. At the annual vestry meeting the rector 
 of the parish, with the churchwarden and overseers, 
 divide the portion of interest accruing upon this sum 
 of ;^go equally amongst six poor women in the parish 
 who seem most deserving. There are records of the 
 minutes of this annual meeting and of the names of 
 the recipients of this charity for the last 37 years — i.e. 
 nearly down from the time when it was bequeathed. 
 
 TORVER SCHOOL ENDOWMENTS. 
 
 Fleviing Trust. 
 
 John Fleming, by will dated 3rd December, 1777, 
 
 left to Thomas Dixon, William Fleming and Edward 
 
 Atkinson, ^200 to be placed out at interest, to be 
 
 applied and paid towards establishing and supporting 
 
51 
 
 of an English Grammar School at Torver, for the 
 schoolmaster there for the time being ; and he further 
 directed, that if the schoolmaster should be negligent, 
 the trustees should withhold the interest, and that his 
 said trustees should appoint as many poor scholars to 
 be taught free, as they should judge the greatest objects 
 by charity ; and that upon the death of any of the 
 trustees, the survivers should appoint an impartial 
 reputable inhabitant within the hamlet of Torver, or 
 Little Arrow, in Coniston, to suppl}^ the place of the 
 deceased. 
 
 Through the interest accumulating at the intervals 
 when there was no schoolmaster this money now 
 amounts to £'2.10, and this sum, as I learn from one of 
 the trustees, is deposited upon mortgage of houses at 
 Barrow, at £^ per cent interest, and the sum of £\i 
 los. interest accruing therefrom is annually paid by the 
 trustees to the schoolmaster on Easter Tuesday. It 
 would appear that the incumbent of the parish acted 
 also as parish schoolmaster up to the year i8ig ; 
 since then a schoolmaster has been appointed. 
 
 I have elsewhere given a detailed account of the 
 building of Torver school. Upon Easter Tuesday in 
 each year the trustees appoint three children to be 
 taught English, writing, and accounts (if fit for it) for 
 the above sum. It does not appear that there were 
 ever more than three children appointed. The present 
 trustees are Mr. Edward Park, Brocklebank Ground, 
 Torver, and Mr. Thomas Barrow, Little Arrow, Coniston, 
 and a vacancy in the third trusteeship has just occurred 
 by the death of Mr. Joseph Tyson, High Ground. 
 
52 
 
 John Woodvill's Bequest. 
 An old Tablet is placed up in Torver church bearing 
 the date of April the gth, 1729, and records " The Gift 
 of John Woodvill, Mariner of Whitehaven, of £1^ to 
 William Wilson and his heirs to dispose of for the use 
 of the poor of Torver ; as to paying for learning and 
 Books." 
 
 Respecting this sum, the commissioners appointed to 
 report in 1820, say that " William Wilson the eldest 
 son of Thomas Wilson the direct descendant of William 
 Wilson, executor of John Woodvill, considers himself 
 accountable for it since his father's death, and has 
 given avv'ay to the amount of at least 12s. 6d. a year in 
 Books and money and meat to the poor of Torver."' 
 
 The commissioners recommend that a more public 
 distribution take place, though William Wilson should 
 still direct it. 
 
 John Birketfs Bequest. 
 
 Extract from the will of John Birkett, late of Crook 
 in Torver, yeoman, deceased, dated 24th June, 1822 : — ■ 
 
 " I give and bequeath unto my said relation Daniel 
 Birkett and the Reverend Matthew Inman Carter the 
 sum of forty pounds to be paid to them by my relation, 
 William Birkett, at the end of twelve calendar months 
 next after my decease, to be by them placed out at 
 Interest and the Interest as received to be applied in 
 paying the quarterage schooling for poor children born 
 of parents or a parent belonging to the said Township 
 of Torver, and educated at Torver school kept by a 
 
53 
 
 master of the Established Church within the said 
 Township." 
 
 This sum of £^^0 is now invested by the Charity 
 Commissioners in the funds, and annual payment of 
 £1 4s. IS made to the schoolmaster of Torver on 
 behalf of it. 
 
54 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 HE Rev. Robert Walker is a 
 memorable example of industr}', 
 thrift, and piety. His life portrays 
 the union of the parish priest 
 and parish schoolmaster, which 
 was so generally found in these 
 mountain dales during the last 
 century. 
 
 The Parish of Torver was 
 where he first commenced his career as a parish priest, 
 and his life here was in almost all respects the same as 
 it was afterwards at Seathwaite ; I have, therefore, 
 thought that a sketch of it might not be out of place 
 in a history of the parish. 
 
 Mr. Walker was born December 21st, 1709, at 
 Undercragg, in the valley of Seathwaite, of obscure 
 but respectable parents. As there was no school in 
 Seathwaite he received his education at Ulpha, and in 
 Eskdale, under a Mr. Parker. Before he was 17 years 
 old he had the misfortune to lose his father, and being 
 the youngest of 12 children, without any provision for 
 life, he was constrained to leave home. 
 
55 
 
 Mr. Walker obtained the situation of master of the 
 school at Gosforth, near Egremont in Cumberland. He 
 continued there two or three years, and was much 
 respected for his learning and modest behaviour. From 
 Gosforth he went to Buttermere, where he obtained a 
 nomination, and took deacon's orders. 
 
 Mr. Walker having entered the sacred profession 
 with the most conscientious motives, and anxious to 
 fulfil its numerous duties, spared no trouble or fatigue 
 to render himself capable of being useful. But his 
 poverty was a great obstacle to his literary improve- 
 ment. 
 
 The time when Mr. W^ajker entered upon the twofold 
 office of curate and schoolmaster of Buttermere was 
 about the 3^ear 1732, or 156 years ago; and the salary 
 of the parish priest at that time, so far as I can make 
 it out, amounted in money payments to just nothing at 
 all. The emoluments of the office were in kind ; and a 
 friend of mine who knows the neighbourhood has kindly 
 summed up for me what she remembers of them. 
 
 They were a "Darrack of Peats," a "Goose Grass," a 
 " Harden Sark," and the right of "Whittle Gate."* 
 
 The word ' Darrack ' means in the old dialect of 
 Cumberland and Westmorland, a day's work. The 
 
 * The particulars of the remuneration given to the teaching 
 pastor at Buttermere enables us to see the very slender sources from 
 which the ministers stipends in mountain parishes had their first 
 origin; and insignificant though the emoluments were at Buttermere, 
 they would, I think, be quite equivalent to the £4 or ^^ a year 
 which Mr. Walker received when he became curate of Torver and 
 afterwards of Seathwaite. 
 
56 
 
 priest's ' Darrack of Peats ' meant as much turf as he 
 could dig upon the common moss in a day. 
 
 A ' Goose Grass ' was the right of putting upon the 
 fell or common for pasturage a goose, a gander, and 
 their goslings. Such a phrase was well known in 
 Scotland, and is often found in the notes to Sir W. 
 Scott's works. I had some doubts as to whether it was 
 then used in the same sense in this district ; I find, 
 however, in the old allotments of depasturing the fells, 
 that as there is a right of cows grazing and sheep 
 grassing, so, also, there was a regular and admitted 
 right of goose grazing as well. 
 
 The ' Harden Sark ' implies the obligation of the 
 parishioners to provide the curate with a part of his 
 clothing. It was a shirt of very rough and coarse linen ; 
 that being the sense in which the word 'Harden' — now 
 obsolete in the dialect — was then very generally used. 
 
 Lastly, The system of 'Whittle Gate'* — which was at 
 that time in vogue all over Cumberland and Lakeland 
 as the most suitable means of providing for the preach- 
 ing schoolmaster — was the means by which Mr. Walker, 
 whilst in Buttermere, obtained his principal support. 
 By 'Whittle Gate,' as here applied, Mr. Walker engaged 
 to instruct the children and perform the clerical duty 
 of the parish, on condition that the parishioners should 
 supply him with board and lodging. It was agreed — 
 as usual in such cases — that he should live at each of 
 
 * For the support of the parish schoolmaster the sj'stem of 
 'Whittle Gate ' was kept up in mountain parishes until a recent 
 date ; Wasdale Head— containing 8 houses with a population of 
 about 50 — was where it was last continued. 
 
57 
 
 their houses a week or a fortnight in the year ; thus, 
 all the time he remained at Buttermere, he was remov- 
 ing from house to house. This mode of living would 
 to many have been too restless and uncomfortable, but 
 to Mr. Walker it was productive of many advantages, 
 besides the daily opportunities it afforded of mingling 
 with his flock ; of knowing their failings, and removing 
 their prejudices. 
 
 Having been always accustomed to rise early, to 
 work hard, to endure all the extremities of cold and 
 wet, he found no difficulty in apparently laying aside 
 the dignity of his office, and offering, for a small 
 remuneration, to assist his friends in their pastoral 
 and agricultural pursuits. Here he began to exercise 
 himself in those arts and those offices which are com- 
 monly far distant from the sanctity and respectability 
 of a teacher of salvation. His situation secured him 
 bread only, and that of an inferior sort — he had need 
 of many other things to make life tolerable. To a mind 
 ever intent upon labour, and ingenious in operation, all 
 employments by which his wants might be supplied 
 were alike acceptable. 
 
 In the mornings before school time, and in the 
 evenings he laboured in manual occupations ; during 
 the day, he taught school. He publicly catechised the 
 children, and performed the whole duty, morning and 
 afternoon, on Sunday. In summer he rose between 
 three and four o'clock, and went to the field with his 
 scythe and his rake, and in harvest time with his sickle. 
 He ploughed ; he planted ; he went on the mountains 
 after the sheep ; he sheered and salved them ; he dug 
 
58 
 
 peat — all for hire. When engaged in these employments 
 he would be at work long before those who were regular 
 labourers, and remain after they had finished their day's 
 work. Nor was he only diligent in such labours ; he 
 excelled. In winter he occupied himself in reading, in 
 preparing for his Sunday duty, or in those domestic 
 employments which are now generall}' performed, if not 
 by machinery, by old and indigent females. 
 
 He was an excellent spinner of linen and cotton 
 thread. All his own clothes and afterwards those of 
 family were of his own spinning. He knit and mended 
 his own stockings, and made his own shoes. In his 
 walks he never neglected to gather the wood from the 
 hedges and bring it home. He was also the physician 
 and lawyer of the place ; he drew up all wills, convey- 
 ances, bonds, &c., wrote all letters and settled all 
 accounts. These labours (at all times considerable) at 
 one period of the year, viz., between Christmas and 
 Candlemas, when many transactions are settled in this 
 country, were so intense that he passed great part of 
 the night, and sometimes whole nights, at his desk. 
 
 The curacy of Torver becoming vacant, he applied 
 for the situation and obtained it. His first entry in the 
 Torver Registers is in 1734. It is as follows: — '-Robert 
 Walker, Curate at Torver ent'rd 2gth Day of December 
 1734;" and his last entry in those Torver Registers is 
 April 26th, 1736. His handwriting is unmistakable and 
 altogether different from any other entries to be found 
 in those Registers. The living of Torver would at that 
 time be between £^ and £^ a year ; being made up of 
 
59 
 
 the minister's salary and the interest of a private 
 benefaction of £"40. Torver was certainly his first 
 incumbency, and it appears from what I can learn that 
 his position at Buttermere was little more than that of 
 schoolmaster and lay helper. 
 
 His life at Torver was much the same as ihat 
 recorded in the later portion of his history, and he 
 taught school in Torver church/'^ He lodged with one 
 Higham, and so far as I can learn his residence was at 
 a house called Scar Head. On coming to Torver he 
 took priest's orders. While at Torver he married. His 
 wife had been a domestic servant, and he seems to 
 have deferred his marriage until he had the prospect 
 of obtaining the incumbency of Seathwaite, his native 
 valley, which adjoins the parish of Torver for a 
 considerable distance ; their line of boundary running 
 near the summit of the precipitous mountains called 
 Dhu Craggs, and continuing along the declivity called 
 Walna Scar. At that time Torver was certainly the 
 
 * From Bishop Gastrell's notes it appears that the first school- 
 master at Torver was the curate, about a.d. 1690 Now that there is 
 an effort in some quarters to drive the clergyman, and with him 
 religious instruction, out of our parish schools altogether, it may be 
 well to bear in mind that for many a generation in our mountain 
 parishes if the parish priest had not also been the parish school- 
 master there would have been no schoolmaster at all. In asserting, 
 therefore, their right to a place in the schools the clergy, in rural 
 parishes in this district, are but asserting a right which belonged to 
 them from the earliest beginning of those schools, which were, in 
 fact, in many instances originated by them. And now, after 20 
 years' experience of the School Board system, with its expensive and 
 complex machinery and the ceaseless wrangling attending it, I have 
 no hesitation in asserting that the education given by the parish 
 priests in our mountain valleys was a better education than many 
 of the children receive at present ; that there was a great deal more 
 in it of what we really understand by an education, and a great deal 
 less of what we understand by a "cram." -^ 
 
6o 
 
 better living, yet Mr. Walker seems to have been drawn 
 to Seathwaite by a yearning fondness for his native 
 vale. He therefore accepted the living. His wife's 
 fortune was about £^o. This sum Mr. Walker, on their 
 marriage, invested in the funds. But so careful were 
 they, and so attentive by their industry always to 
 command the necessaries of life, that they never were 
 compelled to demand either principle or interest ; on 
 the contrary, with a very slender income and with an 
 increasing family, they continued to add yearly to this 
 little sum. 
 
 On his removal to Seathwaite, Mr. Walker found 
 the same stimulus to labour, and possessed the same 
 perseverance in his exertions as he had before his 
 marriage. Always keeping in mind the sacred obliga- 
 tions of his office, he endeavoured by precept and 
 example to make his hearers doers of the word. He 
 was particularly exact in enforcing a regular attendance 
 on public worship, at all times appointed by the church, 
 and always provided a sermon suited for the day. 
 Though it was not till many years after his preaching 
 at Seathwaite that he took upon himself the adminis- 
 tration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, he most 
 diligently attended to the catechetical instruction of the 
 children and the timely preparation of the com- 
 municants. His discourses to the public, though 
 delivered to an illiterate congregation who were ill able 
 to judge of his style or abilities, were always received 
 with most respectful attention and interest. 
 
 Nor was Mr. Walker only indefatigable in the 
 discharge of public duties, in visiting the sick, and 
 
6i 
 
 relieving the necessitous. His family required those 
 exertions to be increased which before had been 
 employed in providing for himself. He laboured, and 
 his labour was not in vain. He was always cheerful, 
 happy, and pious ; and at the same time, strict, regular, 
 and diligent. He sat up late and rose early. His wife 
 went to bed about 8 o'clock. He retired to a little 
 room he had buik on the roof of his house. He had 
 slated it and fitted it with shelves for his books, his 
 stock of cloth, wearing apparel, and his utensils. There, 
 through many a cold winter's night, without a fire, 
 while the roof over his head was glazed with ice, he 
 remained reading or writing till the day has dawned. 
 He taught the children in the chapel, for there was 
 no schoolhouse. Yet in that cold and damp place he 
 never had a fire. He used to send the children in 
 parties either to his own fire at home or make them 
 run up the mountain side. During the day he wore 
 while in school a large cloak of his own making. His 
 seat at church was lined by himself with cloth of his 
 own spinning. Though I believe he seldom received 
 any pecuniar}^ remuneration from the parents of the 
 children he instructed, 5^et he was never known to be at 
 school five minutes after his appointed time, and gave 
 as much attention to the improvement of his pupils as 
 if they had paid him hundreds per annum. They 
 requited his labours by offices of love. They were too 
 poor to give money. They assisted him to dig his 
 potatoes and his fuel, to cut his hay, to reap his corn. 
 On market day, if he was bearing a heavy burden, they 
 would share the load. It he had observed any of his 
 
62 
 
 congregation absent from church, he was sure to remind 
 them of their negligence, and exhort them to a more 
 punctual attendance. 
 
 The church, summer and winter, was uniformly filled 
 in the mornings, and great numbers, for the population 
 and the distance they had to come, assembled in the 
 afternoons. He allowed no Methodist or dissenter to 
 interfere in the instruction of the souls committed to 
 his charge ; and so successful were his exertions, that 
 he had not one dissenter of any denomination in his 
 whole parish. Though he dressed so plainly, and 
 though his manners were so simple, and his mode of 
 life so laborious, yet all his parishioners loved and 
 respected him. He has ii children, and his skill in 
 education may best be gathered from the manners and 
 character of those children. 
 
 Mr. Walker died in June, 1802, in his 93rd year. 
 His wife was born in 1707, and died in 1800, 92 years 
 old. Until the sickness of his wife, a few months 
 previous to her death, his health and spirits aiid 
 faculties were unimpaired. But this misfortune gave 
 him such a shock that his constitution gradually 
 decayed. His senses, excepting his sight, still- retained 
 their powers. He never preached with steadiness after 
 his wife's death ; his voice faltered — he always looked 
 at the seat which she had used. 
 
 Mr. Walker was an ardent lover of Nature. He 
 was skilled in fossils and plants. He was a constant 
 observer of stars and winds ; the atmosphere was his 
 delight. He made many experiments on its nature and 
 
63 
 
 properties. In summer he used to gather a number of 
 flies and other insects ; and by his entertaining descrip- 
 tions amuse and instruct his children. They shared all 
 his daily employments, and derived many sentiments of 
 love and benevolence from his observations on the 
 works and productions of Nature. Whether they were 
 following him in the field, or surrounding him at school, 
 he took every opportunity of storing their minds with 
 useful information. 
 
 He lived in perilous times. Rebellion, treason, and 
 bloodshead frequently surrounded him, As he was the 
 friend of peace, so he was the friend of loyalt}'. He 
 loved his native village ; he loved his native country ; 
 and he blessed God for giving him a constitution under 
 which he enjoyed liberty and happiness. 
 
 I never heard that Mr. Walker was intoxicated. His 
 food was plain — oatmeal porridge night and morning. 
 On his first going to Seathvv-aite, butcher's meat was 
 seldom got, even on Sundays. During the summer, 
 dinners generally consisted of vegetables, bread, milk 
 and cheese ; in winter, dried beef and bread. He was 
 extremely frugal ; yet daily gave proofs of his Christian 
 hospitality. It is curious to observe that all the old 
 men of Seathwaite of the present day write exactly the 
 style of Mr. Walker. This is a strong proof of the 
 influence of early habits. His house was a nursery of 
 virtue. All the inmates were industrious, cleanly, and 
 happy. Sobriety, neatness, and quietness, characterised 
 the whole family. No railings, idleness, no indulgence 
 of passion were permitted. Every child, however young. 
 
64 
 
 had its appointed engagements ; every hand was busy. 
 Knitting, spinning, reading, writing, mending clothes, 
 making shoes, were by the different children constantly 
 being performed ; the father himself, sitting amongst 
 them and superintending their operations, was himself 
 at the same time engaged in some useful work. 
 
 There are three subjects in connection with this 
 sketch of the Kev. R. Walker that may seem suitable 
 for our brief consideration, viz. — Church Endowments 
 in his time — the connection of the parish priest with 
 the parish school — and the marked and lasting influence 
 which he seems to have maintained over all the members 
 of his flock. 
 
 With regard to Church Endowments, we see them in 
 the Rev. R. Walker's stipend at Torver and Seathwaite 
 reduced to what may be called their original figure — 
 the ;^4 or ^^ a year of which his salary consisted was 
 derived from what were called ministers salary or 
 priests wages. Tracing them downward, we see joined 
 on to this the parent stock by a gradual process of 
 private benefaction, supplemented by grants from 
 church funds, the endowments that have raised church 
 livings to their present status. 
 
 Two agencies of Private Endowment are, so far as 
 our mountain parishes are concerned, very greatly 
 contributed to by these endowments : the private 
 beneficence of Dr. Stratford, who is said to have given 
 over ;^iooo a year for the augmentation of such poor 
 livings, and to have augmented in all about 60 of such 
 livings ; and secondly, the still more wide and powerful 
 
65 
 
 agency of the Diocesan Church Extension Society, 
 which was founded by Bishop Waldegrave in 1862, and 
 fostered and directed by our present Diocesan. 
 
 It is interesting, however, to note in those priests' 
 wages of very earl)' times, the first origin of Church 
 Endowments in those out of the way mountain parishes. 
 And what were those priests' wages ? My opinion is, 
 though I am aware there is considerable controversy 
 upon the subject, that they were the smaller or vicarial 
 tithes. There is no doubt, I think, whatever, that in 
 the case of Torver, and in the case of some of the 
 surrounding parishes, they were a charge upon the 
 land, and were proportionate to the extent of the land 
 possessed by those who paid them. They are extended 
 in some cases to single fields ; and I find wherever a 
 division of the land was made there was also made a 
 proportionate division of the minister's salary or priest's 
 wages, which I take to have been the local name of the 
 smaller or vicarial tithes. That the rectory rents are 
 the larger tithes there is abundant evidence; and I 
 have observed, in carefully tracing them, that there 
 is a very close connexion between those rectory rents 
 and the minister's salary. They are each levied on 
 the same divisions of land ; they are each collected 
 from those divisions in almost exactly the same 
 proportions ; they are classed together in the oldest 
 documents in which I can find any evidence of their 
 existence ; and I believe, therefore, that they were 
 originally one, and consisted, before they were divided 
 by the process of which I have spoken, of the tithes 
 
 K 
 
66 
 
 originally charged upon land which came down from 
 early Saxon times. 
 
 I have already mentioned the very close connexion 
 there was between the curate and the parish school 
 in those mountain parishes, and how faithfully and 
 unremittingly Mr. Walker attended to his duties as a 
 teacher ; and to this he owed much of the lasting 
 influence he obtained over his flock. 
 
 In his school he maintained the same unbroken 
 adherence to strict discipline, to industry, to obedience, 
 to virtue, that he maintained over his own children 
 in his own house. He still had the strong hold of 
 their Baptismal Covenant upon them, and they realized 
 that he was their spiritual pastor and master in the 
 truest and closest meaning of the words. He so 
 blended kindness with the strict requirements of duty 
 that the children learned to revere him as a father, and 
 to obey him from a sense of dut}' rather than from any 
 feelings of fear. 
 
 His influence in the parish had the same origin. 
 That influence was first felt and acknowledged in his 
 own house, and then on a more extended scale it was 
 felt and acknowledged in his school, and again it was 
 everywhere felt and acknowledged when it went out 
 into the still wider compass of the parish. His 
 parishioners were still asked to remember and act 
 upon their original covenant in God's name and in 
 God's service, that God's guardianship and therefore 
 the guardianship of God's minister did not terminate 
 
67 
 
 either with home influence or school influence, but 
 that it remained with them as a solemn and lasting 
 contract to the close of their life. I think it was 
 because he firmly insisted upon this contract and this 
 responsibility that he had such a strong hold upon his 
 people in his parochial intercourse with them, that 
 despite his scanty, scattered, and in most cases, very 
 distant population, nevertheless enabled him to fill his 
 church both in summer and winter, that secured for 
 him such a regular attendance at God's Table, and 
 that enabled him to claim them as his people in no 
 uncertain and hesitating manner but with a firmness 
 and consistency which they felt they could not gainsay 
 or resist. 
 
 Mr. Walker's name and memory have been of such 
 an enduring character among his native mountains, 
 and the influence and example of his parish work 
 have so widened and deepened as time went on, that, 
 perhaps, with the single exception of Oberlin, the pastor 
 of Steinthal in the Vosges, there is hardly any remote 
 mountain pastor whose labours and active every-day 
 life have been so generall}' and so lastingly known. 
 Wordsworth, in the " 7th Book of the Excursion," 
 having summed up the labours of Mr. Walker, says 
 of him — 
 
 "An unelaborate stone may cover him, 
 And by its help perchance 
 A century shall hear his name pronounced, 
 With images attendant on the sound ; 
 Then shall the slowly gathering twilight close 
 In utter night." 
 
68 
 
 A century has now almost elapsed since he died, and 
 yet his name and his memor}^ are, I think, even more 
 widely known now than they were then.""'' 
 
 * Professor Ruskin, who is a near neighbour to us and who has 
 always been an ardent admirer of the lovely scenery of the Torver 
 valley, wrote to me some years ago giving an unfavourable criticism 
 of the architecture of Torver. He was particularly severe upon the 
 church (since pulled down and rebuilt) ; and he said that we clergy- 
 men of the Lake Country ought to understand that our old white- 
 washed churches were most in keeping with the surrounding 
 scenery. I replied, with all deference that we were not responsible 
 for our church architecture, as we were in general powerless in the 
 hands of the architects ; but I added that Seathwaite old church, 
 which was just then going down, might possibly yet be saved, 
 intimately connected as it was with the memories of Wordsworth 
 and Rev. Robert Walker. To this Professor Ruskin sent the 
 following reply ; — 
 
 " Brant wood, 
 " Coniston. 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " I am very greatly obliged by your note. I will try 
 " and get a Drawing of Seathwaite church directly— if I can't save 
 " it — but I'll try for that if there is any time 
 
 " Ever gratefully yours, 
 
 "J. RUSKIN." 
 
 In accordance with the tenor of this letter, Mr. Ruskin made a 
 strong effort to save that venerable whitewashed edifice, but the 
 scheme for its demolition and re-building had gone too far to admit 
 of being stopped. 
 
 THE END. 
 
ADDENDA. 
 
 List of Endowments of the benefice of Torver in the 
 year 1864. (See page -21.) : — 
 
 Minister's salary about ^4 los. a year — 
 
 Farm at Sandground, Havvkshead, j p'^r i v^t e b'ene7a?tions 
 
 „. ,j ,, , -^ -o -1 . i T' J 1 from Dr. Stratford and 
 
 Field called Narrow Rail at Kendal, ^ ^^^ers, (see notes page 21 
 
 ,^ . ^^ . T, . ,, I flH<f 48 J, and Grant from 
 
 Moiety of Farm in Kentmere, since sold j g^g^^^ ^^^^,^ Bounty. 
 
 Interest of ^40 given as private benefaction in 1717. 
 (See page ij.) 
 
 The net vakie of these endowments was in all a little 
 under £^0 a year. 
 
 LIST OF INCUMBENTS OF TORVER FROM If 
 
 Rev. Edward Walker 1688 
 
 Rev. Andrew Naughley 1707 
 
 Rev. John Stoup 1709 
 
 Rev. Thomas Poole 1716 
 
 Rev. John Hall 1718 
 
 Rev. Robert Walker* 1734 
 
 Rev. John Ha'stwell 1736 
 
 Rev. Robert Bell 1740 
 
 Rev. Matthew Inman Carter 
 
 M.A. 1807 
 
 Rev. Thomas Ellwood, B.A.1S61 
 
 Referring to my suggestion, at page 15, that the 
 Faculty for the consecration of Torver church pro- 
 ceeded from the Province of Canterbury rather than 
 
 * In the shetch of Mr. Walker's life I have been much indebted 
 to an account of him by his great grandson, Rev. R. W. Bamford, 
 which appeared in the Christian Remembrancer for i8ig. I note this 
 more especially as in some instances quoted Mr. Bamford speaks of 
 Mr. Walker from personal recollection, and in the first person. 
 
70 
 
 that of York because York was then vacant. Since 
 this was in print, the Bishop of the Diocese has most 
 kindly given me the following explanation : — 
 
 " Faculties always issue from Canterbury for this 
 Province. It is so now. A Special Licence for 
 Marriage, a Dispensation to hold Livings in Plurality, 
 &c., all come from the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 through the Master of Faculties, i.e., (at the present 
 moment) Lord Penzance. The reason is said to be 
 this. These Faculties and Dispensations are a relic of 
 Papal Power. King Henry VIIL transferred the Power 
 from the Pope to the Archbishop of Canterbury."'