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

The Parish

The parish of Urswick sits in that portion of Lancashire known as Lancashire-beyond-the-water, i.e. in the Furness peninsula that extends southwards from the National Park of the Lake District, the parish forms a lengthy stretch of the county's coastline with Morecambe Bay. Urswick is located about 3 miles southwest of the market town of Ulverston and sits a little under 2 miles south of the A590 road which links Ulverston with Barrow in Furness. Urswick is a complex village, consisting of two distinct entities Great & Little Urswick roughly 3/4s of a mile apart. Great Urswick, home to the church, has at its eastern edges a lowland tarn typical of Lakeland and a great asset to the community. Great Urswick curves around the northwestern shores of said tarn whilst Little Urswick is a small and compact village built along the base of a small hill. The area has a ling history of human settlement to the east of Great Urswick lies Birkrigg Common with enclosure holding Bronze Age cremation burials whilst neolithic long cairns are found at Skelmore Heads. At the time of this transcript there was a farming economy underpinned by pastoral farming whilst as a coastal community fishing and the shell-fisheries of Morecambe Bay were also important to the local economy. The role of the Cistercians of Furness Abbey should also not be discounted in exploiting the land, a fact commemorated today by the local Cistercian Way local trail connecting sites of importance to that religious community. The village's tarn drains southwards as a small stream to reach nearby Morecambe Bay at Newbiggin. Urswick is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in undulating limestone countryside where local high spots of 136 metres on Birkrigg Common are only exceeded beyond the A590 rising into the fore-hills of Lakeland. Urswick parish was a typically extensive northern parish, covering around 3,500 acres it would have supported a population of around 750 parishioners. Whilst Urswick is not mentioned in Domesday Book the small manor of Burton is a holding of King William but was undeveloped and typically described as "waste".

The Church

St Mary & St Michael's church sits on the southern edge of Great Urswick on the eastern side of the lane, Church Road, which links the two halves of Urswick. One is immediately struck with the strong, almost fortress-like western tower, the basal stages of which are the oldest part of the church and from the 13th century, Early English Gothic in style. That western tower is almost the same width as the nave on the end of which it sits and appears almost defensive, the walls being so thick as to conceal within them a staircase on the northern side. A deep-set lancet style window in the chancel also indicates such a date for that piece but early 14th century work saw it extended and given new Decorated style windows too. It is likely too that the nave has its origins in the same period, but later changes have almost removed any confident dating details from that early period, since a vestry on its northern side is confidently dated as 14th century. Work of restoration began early for this church with a western gallery added in Georgian times, 1828, whilst the major restoration fell into the early 20th century, in 1908 when the east window was replaced by a copy and most of the internal fittings also renewed. Church Road has a lengthy parking bay on its western side and north of the churchyard which is entered by a small wooden gate. Sadly for the photographer the church sits within a veritable forest of trees with most angles obliterated by the resultant foliage, a major challenge for the photographer to adequately record.