Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for RAVENSTONEDALE

RAVENSTONEDALE, a village and a parish in East Ward district, Westmoreland. The village stands on ahead stream of the river Eden, 1¾ mile S E of Newbiggen r. station, and 4¾ S W of Kirkby-Stephen; and has a post-office under Penrith, a weekly market on Thursday, and fairs on the Thursday after Whitsunday, the Wednesday before the second Thursday of March, the Wednesday before the second Sunday of April, and 29 Aug. The parish is divided into the quarters of Town, Newbiggen, Fellend, and Bowderdale. Acres, 18, 450. Real property, £7, 371. Pop. in 1851, 939; in 1861, 1, 264. Houses, 247. The increase of pop. Arose from the temporary presence of labourers on railway works. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to Watton nunnery, and passed to the Whartons and the Lowthers. The surface includes much mountain, called R. fells; and contains sources of the rivers Eden and Lune. Tumuli are at Rasate; a Druidical circle, near Rotherbridge; and "a holy well, " and formerly a chapelat Newbiggen. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £110.* Patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. The church was rebuilt in 1744. There are chapels for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, an endowed grammar school with £42 a year, and charities £22.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Ravenstonedale CP/AP       East Ward RegD/PLU       Westmorland AncC
Place: Ravenstonedale

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