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

The Parish

The parish of Kirkby Thore lies in the extreme north of Westmorland forming an extensive stretch of the border with neighbouring Cumberland, it is also not too far away from Durham which borders Westmorland to its east. Kirkby Thore is located roughly 6 miles northwest of the small market town of Appleby and around 9 miles southeast of Penrith, it sits a half mile east of the busy A66 road, one of the main cross-Pennine routes between the Great North Road and Penrith, Kirkby Thore is an extensive parish which also contains licensed chapelries at Temple Sowerby & Milburn both having their individual pages within this project. Kirkby Thore is a mid-sized village sitting on the northern banks of Trout Beck at the point where it joins the River Eden, a three-way junction of lanes forms the notional centre of the village which has also grown toward the A66 in more recent times as a strip of properties alongside that lane. The village's earliest origins lie in the Roman Fort of Bravoniacum which sits southeast of the village, the A66 here follows one of the principal Roman roads of the north of England. Given its lowland setting Kirkby Thore's farming economy would have had more of an arable component than many this far north, the outer reaches of the eastern end of the parish were, however, the western flanks of The Pennines rising to its highest point at Cross Fell and most of that area was set to sheep, local Hardwicks being the best breed for such hardy conditions. Today the extraction & processing of gypsum for use in plaster employs many in the village. Modern developments have come to the parish, the iconic Settle to Carlisle railway line passes close by but does not grant Kirkby Thore a station. The Eden drains the parish northwestwards, bordering the Pennine range until passing through Carlisle to meet the Irish Sea thorugh the Solway Firth. Kirkby Thore is sited at around 120 metres above the sea but as already mentioned the east of its extensive area rises to 893 metres on toip of mighty Cross Fell. Whilst the parish is extensive from east to west it is shallow in the north/south axis and only amounts in total to just over 2,400 acres within which a population of almost 1,200 parishioners would have been supported, but 750 of these would have counted either Milburn or Temple Sowerby chapelries as their base. Like much of northern England Kirkby Thore is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has little to no coverage this far north in western England.

The Church

St Michael's church sits on the northwestern edge of the village on the eastern side of Cross Street as it heads toward Newbiggin. The western tower appears to be the earliest part of today's church, it is of the 12th century Norman Romanesque in style but modified in the early 14th century as the bell-openings are of the Decorated style. Also of the Norman period one finds the chancel arch, often the point from which building expanded both east and westwards. The main body of the church has its origins in the next century, the 13th, a fact only revealed by later modification leaving untouched a single lancet style window amongst its many Decorated styled ones. The northern arcade also shows capitals typical of the late 13th century, Early English Gothic. A few changes were incurred during the Victorian period, a two-bay northern window for example, but no major restoration was inflicted leaving all of the medieval intact. Cross Street is sufficiently wide enough to permit careful parking, the churchyard has a hedge border sitting above a low brick wall with metal gates at the village end for entry. The interior has few obstacles for the photographer making for an easy subject.