England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
isel St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Isel lies in west central Cumberland about 3 miles northeast of the market town of Cockermouth. Isel is located, in lanes, about 2 1/2 miles north of the A66 road which connects Cockermouth with the Westmorland town of Penrith and sits on the northern banks of the River Derwent. There is not much to today's Isel no distinct village as such just a scatter of farms and cottages across an undulating and mainly pastoral landscape just outside the Lake District National Park. Isel is dominated by the hall and grounds of Isel Hall, a spectacular building showing its original pele tower as well as later Tudor features. Isel would almost certainly have earned its living from pastoral farming, cattle in the valley bottom and sheep on the rougher, higher grazing. The Derwent drains the parish westwards to reach the Irish Sea through the port of Workington. Isel is sited at around 70 metres above the sea but land rises nearby to around 250 metres on Setmurthy Common a mile or so to the south. Cumberland parishes are always large and Isel was no exception, it covered over 6,700 acres and would have supported a population of around 500 parishioners. There is no mention of Isel within Domesday Book which largely did not cover this area.

The Church

St Michael's church sits almost on the banks of the River Derwent close to where Isel's main lane crosses that river. This is certainly an ancient structure as Pevsner details many Norman features and gives the building a date of around 1130. Although it is a simple structure of nave & chancel with just a bellcote gracing the western end, the chancel is perhaps the church's main feature. The sundial stones are a delightful legacy of times past. As is fairly typical the Victorians made a major restoration to the building but on this occasion they did not alter much beyond refreshing a window or two. The church sits a little away from the lane and is accessed by a footpath which crosses a cattle-grid by a "To the Church" signpost. The churchyard is found after 100 yards or so and has few obstructions to photography.