Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for KIRKBY-IRELETH

KIRKBY-IRELETH, a township and a parish in Ulverston district, Lancashire. The township lies on the Duddon estuary, and on the Furness railway, 4½ miles NW of Ulverston; has a station, of the name of Kirkby, on the railway; is divided, for local purposes, into the sections of Middle Quarter, Low Quarter, Heathwaite, and Woodlands; and contains the hamlets of Beckside, Chapel, Cross-Beck, Gill-Beck, Beanthwaite, Sandside, Soutergate, and Grisebeck, -the last of which has a Post office under Ulverston. Acres, 9, 010. Real property, .£11, 844; of which £5, 600 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 1, 748; in 1861, 1, 666. Houses, 332. The manor, with most of the land, belongs to the Duke of Devonshire. Kirkby-Hall was long the seat of the Kirkby family; contains some curious ancient decorations; and is now a farm house. Quarries of excellent dark blue roofing slate are on Kirkby-Moor, in Middle-Quarter; extend in a series along a hill; give constant employment to about 350 men; and send their produce to all parts of the kingdom. A large proportion of the township id moor and mountain. Many families are engaged in cockle fishing in the Duddon.—The parish contains also the township of West Broughton, and that of Dunnerdale-with-Seathwaite. Acres, 25, 740. Real property, £20, 729. Pop. in 1951, 3, 366; in 1861, 3, 1 38. Houses, 628. The property, except in K..I. township, is much subdivided. The manor of West Broughton belonged, for several centuries till 1487, to the Broughton family; and that of Seathwaite belongs to J. J. Rawlinson, Esq. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £140. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of York. The church stands at Beckside; is ancient, but good; consists of nave, N aisle, and chancel, with a tower; and contains ancient monuments of the Kirkby family. The p. curacies of Woodlands, Broughton-in-Furness, and Seathwaite are separate benefices. There are two parochial schools, and charities £88.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a township and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Kirkby Ireleth AP/CP       Ulverston RegD/PLU       Lancashire AncC
Place: Kirkby Ireleth

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