England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Selside St Thomas

The Parish

The chapelry of Selside lies in southern central Westmorland, a small part of the enormous parish of Kendal, and situated roughly 4 miles north of the county town. Selside has no defined village as such merely a scatter of rough countryside with the church site sitting a half mile east of the A6 road which connects Kendal through to Shap. The chapelry has small settlements at Garth Row, Watchgate and Garnett Bridge scattered alongside the route of the A6. Whilst the chapelry sits outside the boundaries of the Lake District National Park, nevertheless this is upland countryside with sheep grazing the major economic force. In the past some extractive industries were present and limited quarrying of the local stone still occurs but mainly for field boundary maintenance.Selside has the Rivers Mint and Sprint to both east and west either being fed by small backs, the pair meet at Kendal forming the Kent which reaches the Irish Sea through Morecambe Bay. Selside church is sited at 190 metres above the sea, the parish has a varied terrain with the rivers at 120 metres whilst land rises into the National Park reaching 397 metres on nearby Whiteside Pike. Some 11,000 acres form the extent of the chapelry, all within the wider parish of Kendal and within that extent a population of just over 500 would have been provided. Selside, like much of the extreme north of the country, is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Thomas' church sits on the eastern side of a narrow lane heading southeast from the A6 towards Selside Hall and onwards towards Patton Bridge. Sadly this is not some medieval masterpiece but an early Victorian rebuild dating from 1838 - so not the venue for these marriages. Built largely in rough-cast and utilising an Early English Gothic style of lancet windows, the church is small as befits a rural upland chapelry. Despite its late origins the church was also much modified in 1894 when the distinctive blocky western tower was added and the roof, east window and interior fittings were finished. Sitting opposite the church is a substantial gravelled parking area, a god-send given the width of the lane, with extensive views across to open fells to the west. The church's distinctive tower sits flush to the roadside whilst the remainder of the churchyard, which slopes markedly to the south, is open and with no obstacles to photography.