England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Kentmere St Cuthbert

The Parish

The chapelry of Kentmere, its mother parish being that of Kendal, lies in western Westmorland roughly 9 miles northwest of the county town of Kendal. Kentmere lies in an area devoid of significant numbered roads, it sits at the end of a long and winding valley road north of the village of Staveley, indeed its closest numbered road , geographically lies over mountains to its west, the A592 linking Windermere with Penrith. Kentmere is a tiny upland settlement, its once extensive mere has been drained to provide pastures and replaced with Kentmere Reservoir to provide Kendal with water. The village's economy, at the time of this transcript consisted of two themes, sheep, dominated by hardy Herdwicks, grazed the poor upland pastures whilst the extractive industries quarried both limestone and slate. Today Kentmere is dominated by outdoor pursuits, for hikers the Kentmere Horseshoe is one of Lakeland's classic circuits taking in the roller-coaster of Froswick, Ill Bell and Yoke west of the valley. The upper areas are also home to some rare orchids. In addition fishing and general water sports are another draw in what is spectacular upland scenery. The River Kent drains the chapelry southwards passing through Kendal en route to reaching the Irish Sea through the shifting sands of Morecambe Bay. Kentmere is sited at 170 metres above the sea at its humble church, mountains rise all around with the head of the valley at Thornthwaite Crag topping out at 784 metres and carrying traces of the Roman's incredible feat of creating a road across these fells. Roughly 4,000 acres of the vast Kendal parish were assigned to Kentmere, 90% unimproved upland pasture, and that acreage supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. Domesday Book has no coverage this far to the north so Kentmere is not mentioned in that book.

The Church

St Cuthbert's church sits close to the end of Kentmere's access road, it heads onward for another mile, at the foot of the drover's track of Garburn Pass which lead across a pass to Troutbeck to the west. The church's origins are lost to history but an artist work of the 1690s recorded its triple-grouped windows so the building, at least, predates that. That work also indicated the church once had a steeple but whether it fell or was simply removed we do not have evidence. Much of the church's fabric dates to Victorian times, to a major rebuild of 1866, at which time its characterful saddleback western tower was constructed. Pevsner suggests it sits upon much older foundations, perhaps which once bore that spire. Parking in the tiny village can be an issue especially at weekends when fell-hikers dominate, if fortunate one finds a churchyard which only has a single venerable yew tree, picturesque rather than an obstacle, to trouble the photographer.