England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cleator St Leonard

The Parish

The parish of Cleator lies in the extreme west of Cumberland not too far from its Irish Sea coast. Cleator is located about 5 miles southeast of the port and industrial town of Whitehaven. Cleator is a largely linear village lying along the A5086 which connects nearby Egremont with the market town of Cockermouth, the A5086 follows the western banks of the River Ehen. Cleator was a largely industrial settlement, mines for both coal and iron ore abound in the area and would have provided considerable employment, in addition manufacturing of spades & other edged tools was a local industry. The wider parish would have been used mainly for pastoral farming, cattle in the lower portions whilst sheep roamed the extensive fells of the western edges of the Lake District which rise immediately east of the village. Today Cleator is a much quieter place with industries largely moved away, it features on the hiking calendar as a stop on the Coast to Coast Walk created by Alfred Wainwright and a statue of that iconic character is sited where the path leaves Cleator to cross the Ehen. The Ehen drains the parish southwards to eventually reach the Irish Sea through the village of Sellafield. Cleator is sited at around 60 metres above the sea but land rises steeply to the east into the National Park where nearby Dent rises to 352 metres within a couple of miles. By Cumberland standards Cleator parish was relatively small, it covered almost 2,700 acres and would have supported a population of around 750 parishioners. In common with much of this area there is no mention of Cleator in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St Leonard's church sits just west of the A3086 along Church Street where it sits on the southern side within 100 metres of the junction. St Leonard is not a mediaeval church having been built in 1841, but in replacing the mediaeval predecessor some features were reused. Pevsner cites a window from the chancel as being Norman Romanesque in style and probably 12th century whilst another window in the southern wall is 15th century Perpendicular. Despite its relatively recent build the church was enhance between 1900 and 1904 by the creation of the present northern side which Pevsner is moved to describe as "handsome". The church sits behind a mid-height sandstone wall with a lychgate granting access, The churchyard is compact and bordered with trees which do impede slightly the angles available for photography.