England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Firbank St John the Evangelist

The Parish

The chapelry of Firbank, its mother parish being Kirkby Lonsdale, lies in southern Westmorland forming a stretch of the county's border with the West Riding of Yorkshire. Firbank sits just over 10 miles north of Kirkby Lonsdale and sits on the B6257 road, a linking road joining the A684 (Kendal to Sedbergh) road with the A685 (Kendal to Kirkby Stephen) road. There is no village as such to the chapelry merely scattered upland farms across the area covered. The parish sits on the banks of the River Lune so richer pastures would have lined that river but the majority of the chapelry is upland grazing home to the hardy Herdwick sheep of the area. Modern developments have come and gone from the chapelry, a branch railway line linking Kirkby Lonsdale and Sedbergh to the main West Coast London to Glasgow line once followed the Lune valley through Firbank without granting a station, it is now closed and largely dismantled leaving several fine viaducts as reminders of its past glory. Firbank is drained southwards by the River Lune which after Kirkby Lonsdale gradually swings westward to reach the Irish Sea through Lancaster. Firbank is sited at around 160 metres above the sea in its valley setting, to the east land rises steeply into the Howgill Fells where The Calf reaches 676 metres a little over 3 miles from Firbank. Around 3,000 acres of the vast Kirkby Lonsdale parish were assigned to Firbank that acreage in these infertile uplands could support around 200 parishioners. Like most of northern England Firbank is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

St John's church sits on the western side of the B6257 roughly 1 mile north of the A684 and at the base of steeply rising ground westwards, the church has fine views towards the Howgill Fells. Sadly the present church is not that in which these marriages took place, it was completed in 1841 replacing a chapel and burying ground which stood on the edges of an extensive moor. The style chosen is that of the once again fashionable Early English Gothic with lancet styled windows appropriate to the style. The bell-turret which Pevsner amusingly terms "like a weeny tower" is the standout feature of the building. Parking at the church is a major issue as the B6257 is very narrow at that point, a passing place a few yards to the south may suffice for the determined. A sloping path runs up to gates granting entry to a churchyard that is as petite as the church itself, there are no obstacles at all for the photographer.