Chapter 27

Cockermouth’s Early Churches

The Anglican churches

A survey of church possessions ordered in 1552 by Edward VI to check unauthorised spoilation since the survey of Henry VIII makes no mention of Cockermouth, although Brigham and Embleton are included. There is a tradition however, that a church was built by Walde of contemporary with the castle and it has been suggested that William de Fortibus enlarged or rebuilt it about 1220. It was certainly rebuilt in the reign of Edward III (1327-77), but whether this was the second or third on the site is not known. When in 1395 Henry Percy endowed a chantry in the chapel of All Saints the dedication had already been changed from the earlier one of St. Mary. [J] The 14th century building was reputed to have been “the most ancient and beautiful specimen of Gothic architecture in the North of England”. [2]

The 1711 Church

The Gothic building was demolished in 1711 except for the tower, which was incorporated in a new church which, judging from prints of the time was very unattractive. One hundred feet long [131m] (the present church is 122 feet) it had a gallery round three sides. Enlargement was already being considered in 1749. A clock and chimes and a new peal of bells were installed in 1777 and interior alterations were made before the end of the century to accommodate the children of the Charity and Sunday Schools. [3]

A subscription was raised in 1817 for a “Gallery to be erected above the Communion Table upon which an Organ be placed and for the better accommodation of the Singers”. [4] This may have been a barrel organ similar to one in Bridekirk Old Church which played 14 hymns and psalms, or may have been a proper pipe organ. The sittings were increased to about a thousand.

There are frequent references in the vestry minutes to the maintenance of the fabric roughcasting outside, whitewashing inside, and in 1831 an order to the churchwardens that they “cause the church to be thoroughly cleansed, and use such other means as they may consider to be most advisable for curing the dry rot and stopping the growth of fungus”. In 1793 the wardens were told “to procure Iron pipes to be put at the bottom of the present Lead ones on the sides of the Church at a sufficient height to prevent the Lead from being cut away and wasted”, so lead was valuable then. About the same time references were made to repairing the ‘stairs’ leading to the church from the north side.

The 1850 Fire

Then in 1850 disaster struck. To quote from the ‘Pacquet’ [5]

• “On the morning of Friday, the 15th day of November, 1850, the Church at Cockermouth was destroyed by Fire. About half-past one in the morning Police Officer Chapman whilst passing over Cocker Bridge discovered sparks issuing from the Church and he immediately called up several persons and an alarm was instantly spread throughout the town. In a short time an immense concourse of people had assembled round the scene of the conflagration but the fire at that time had attained such a height as to bid defiance to all human exertions.

• It is thought the Fire originated in the Steeple End, and from the immense quantity of wood the flames spread with frightful rapidity demolishing the peal of six Bells, the Organ, Church Clock, Chimes, Chandeliers, galleries, pulpit, pews, paintings near the altar, Marble Monuments, everything in short but the bare walls, and these were much injured.

• Several of the officials, at great personal risk, rushed into the Church and secured the Register and other books, and these together with the surplices, gown, Pulpit and Reading desk cushions, Church Prayer Book and Bible, and a few private cushions and hooks were the only articles snatched from the devouring elements. A public meeting of the Inhabitants was held the same evening …. a Community of Investigation was appointed … to inquire into the origin of the Fire and to co-operate with the Churchwardens in taking steps most likely to raise funds for building another Church.”

Services were transferred to the General Sunday School, as shown by the record

• “Jonathan Denwood. labourer, and Sarah Kelly of Working ton. Banns published for the third time on Sunday, November 17th., in the General Sunday School, the Church having been destroyed by fire the Friday previous.” [6]

Fortunately the church plate was saved, for the verger, grandfather of the late Mr. Joseph Mounsey (the grocer at 72 Main Street), was in the habit of taking it home for safety. In Mr. Mounsey’s words

• “It was undemeath my grandfather’S bed in a baize-lined box. He used to have to be verger and sexton and different things for the church, being a very keen churchman. When the church silver was needed for communion it was carried up there, used, brought back, cleaned and stored.”

With one exception the marble monuments were destroyed, including two recording donations to the poor and seven memorial tablets.

Rebuilding

Although the town lost little time in considering rebuilding, in the event the task led to a great deal of dissension. The building committee selected six designs from the many submitted and asked a York architect to make the final choice. Commenting in a full report on size, cost, appearance, etc., he selected one by Hay of Liverpool, not one of the committee’s six. There was immediately trouble because a Mr. Wood on the committee favoured a design submitted by his cousin. The final choice was of a plan by Joseph Clarke of London, with one dissenter – Mr. Wood.

The whole affair seems to have been very acrimonious, probably arising from the need to disturb graves. In 1851 Edward Waugh produced a 26-page printed statement ‘To the Ratepayers of Cockermouth’ defending himself as secretary of the committee against attacks made on him and stating his and the committee’s aims to be a beautiful church, with good accommodation and minimum disturbance of graves and expense. Feeling must have run very high, for he wrote

• “They talk about desecration of graves – can that be an excuse for their conduct, when by lawless proceedings – followed by a lawless mob – they committed on Thursday last, acts of desecration, compared with which the removal of 100 graves would be mildness itself, and then there was George Cape, brawling for an hour in the graveyard, offering vulgar bets to gentlemen, as ifhe were on a race course.” [7]

There were further complaints after building of incompleted work, reduction of sittings, etc., which went in 1857 before Chancellor Burton as the ‘Cockermouth Church Case’.

THE PRESENT CHURCH

The foundation stone of the present Early English church was laid by Archdeacon Headlam on 28th February 1852 and the completed building consecrated by the Bishop of Chester, Dr. Graham, on 15 June 1854. The church had sittings for 750 and cost £7, 143-12s-7d including £300 for the organ, £600 for the bells and £240 for the clock and chimes. With a total length of 122 feet, it has a nave roof 60 feet high and a spire of about 90 feet surmounting a tower of the same height. The pulpit and font are of Caen stone. The side walls have corbels for the possible addition of galleries.

The east window, inserted in 1853 at a cost of £300 is a Wordsworth memorial, the west window a memorial to Edward Waugh, MP 1880-85. There are other memorial windows and a number of wall tablets and brasses, including those to Mitchells, Thomas Wilson, Andrew Green Thompson and General Sir Henry Wyndham, this last giving a detailed account of his career. A painted board on the NE pier records the town’s gratitude to the Earl of Lonsdale for appointing an Assistant Curate. A tablet on the north wall lists charities.

The Lady Chapel dates from 1925, with 1937 alterations. The nails used in 1850-2 to fix the roofing slates having corroded, extensive repairs were carried out in 1979.

THE BELLS AND CLOCK

Originally there were two bells and when a third was added they became known as the great, middle and little bells. The church records for 1672 have “For mending of the great bell and for beare (beer) for yem that tooke it downe 7s-7d.”

The following year were recorded:

Ffor taking the Greater Bell out of the earth and removing the old bell into its frame: 5s-0d

To George Jeffrey for a new gudgeon for the old bell and for a locke to the quire doore and other things: 8s-7d

To John Atkinson for making ye clock strike on the old bell: 2s-0d

To Richard Peirson Geo Peirson and Jo Hudson for drinks and for their ringing 29th. May and 5th. Nov. 3s-6d

In 1691 victory celebrations were rung

Paid ringers at ye taking of Athlone: 3s-0d

Paid ringers at ye taking of Limerick: 4s-0d

Paid at ye news of Happy return of ye King to England: 3s-0d

The existing tower being incorporated in the 1711 building the same bells presumably continued in use until the new peal of 1777. In 1817 “two of the Bells (the second and third) having some time ago been cracked or received such injury as entirely to spoil their tone and render them useless”, the vestry directed the churchwardens to use money from the church rate to “get them replaced by two other bells ofproper tone and dimensions”.

The wardens were also told to

• “engage a set of proper persons … to undertake the office of Ringers and who shall ring the bells upon all usual occasions and be paid a yearly salary out of the Ch. rate and that six handbells be procured by the Chwardens to be used in instructing the ringers.”

The six 1777 bells were destroyed in the fire and the new church has eight. At one time they played well-known tunes every three hours. [8] Early in the 19th century it was written that when approaching the town “on the right the old church stands high above the river, with its barn-like walls and square tower, from which come the sweet tones of chimes ringing the air of’Home, Sweet Home’” [9]. There is a story told of Betty Waif [10] who became lost after dark on Slate Fell. Sitting down to rest she heard the church bells and by their help found her way back to the town. As a thanksgiving and to help others who might get lost she left a legacy to provide £2 a year to have the bell rung from 7.00 to 7.05 pm. in the darkest quarter of the year, Hallowe’en November 1st to Candlemas February 2nd. When this began is not known, but the evening bell was being rung when Askew wrote in 1866 and still in Bulmer’s time of 1883. The eight ringers took a week each. Another tradition is that it was a man who was lost, but Betty is perpetuated in Betty Waifs’s Stone, a large boulder on which she was sitting when the bells began to ring. Askew is precise in his location of it – over the stile at the first gate on the right before coming to S1. Helen’s Tollgate, a good road over the Annfield estate leads to the stone, which is 26 paces from the gate in the west hedge of a field.

Going back some two hundred years before Betty Waif, the first payment in the churchwardens’ book which relates to the 1676 grammar school appears in 1679

• “Paid to Rd. Peirson for morning bell and for glazening £1-12s.”

The morning bell was rung to call the scholars and by 1690 was known as the scholar bell, for in that year was

• “paid Richard Pearson for ringing the Scholar Bell for a year £ 1-0s-0d.”

In 1804 we read

• “Directions for the Clerk. The Church Clock never to be altered but on Sunday mornings and notice of the alteration given to the congregation before the sermon. Directions for the Ringers. A bell to ring at 8 o’clock every Sunday morning by the sexton. At Ten 0’clock the large Bell to call the ringers who are to ring the Bells from a Quarter after Ten for Halfan Hour, when there are to be Chimes until the service commences, then each ringer is to stay Church. No extraordinary ringing on any occasion without leave from me in writing, and the Clerk and Sexton being the only persons who have Keys of the Churchyard to be answerable for any breach of this Order.”

The instruction regarding altering the clock shows that it played an important part in the town’s time keeping. It was last restored in 1974 in memory of Gilbert James, a churchwarden from 1951 to 1965.

THE CHURCH SILVER

The church silver, saved from the fire, consists of the following

1639. I) A chalice inscribed “This Chalice was ye free gift of Luke Pirry to the Church of Cockermouth. Anno Domini 1639.” (Pevsner says it was remade in the 18th, century.) [11]

2) A small vessel with a lid “Given for the ufe of the poor sick Communicants in Cockermouth in Cumberland 1734”

3) A jug or flagon inscribed “The Revd Mr. Thos. Jefferfon Minister. Mr. Thos. Potter, Mr. In Jackfon, Mr. Ed. Pearfon, Mr. Rid Layburn, Church Wardens for the Burrough ofCockermouth. 1740”

4) A paten or dish with “The Revd Mr. Thomas Jefferson Minister. Jos Jackson, Robt. Stainton, John Dunn, John Meals, Church Wardens 1740”

5) A chalice with the same inscription as item 4.

6) A paten inscribed “Thomas Jefferson Minis: Robert Farish : William Shepherd: George Muray : Richard Smith: Church Wardens 1747”

7) A christening basin “The Gift of Mrs. Ann Peele Midwife to the Church of Cockermouth For the use of Baptizing. May 23rd. 1772”

The two early patens have a stem, similar to a cake stand. To them has been added a flat one inscribed “Presented by the Revd Canon Parker to All Saints Church August 1932.”

THE LIVING AND FEES

The Earl of Lonsdale, the impropriator of the living, appointed a vicar or perpetual curate to undertake the church duties. Eventually tithes helped to maintain the priest, but at times clergy had to live by whittlegate – “the valuable privilege of using his knife for a week at any table in the parish”. Whether Cockermouth clergy needed to move round the parish we do not know, certainly some in the surrounding villages did so, but on the other hand the living was not sufficient to attract the type who advertised for a living with good hunting and light duties. About 1800 the income was £26-13s-4d. paid by Sir James Lowther as impropriator and £8 from fees. [12]. In 1979 the diocese paid £3500, of which in All Saints parish £1000 came from endowments. All fees are now paid into diocesan funds by the incumbent.

The vestry book recorded the following fees for minister, clerk and sexton respectively in 1792

For marriage by license – minister 2s – clerk 1s

by Banns – minister 1s – clerk 6d

Publishing Banns – minister 6d – clerk 3d

Churching of Women – minister 8d – clerk 4d

Burial of an Adult – minister 10d – clerk 7d – sexton 8d

for an Infant – minister 6d – clerk 5d – sexton 6d

The records of 100 years earlier indicate higher fees for burial in the church than in the churchyard. In 1668 we have

Received of Mrs. Swinbum for Interring of a child in the Chancele – 6s8d

Received of Mrs. Raines for the burieing of her husband in the Church – 3s-4d

In 1979 the total marriage fees (banns, service and certificate) were £19.50. Funerals ranged from £7.00 for a cemetery burial without a service to £15.00 with a church service. The organist charged £5.00 for a wedding and £3.00 for a funeral. By 1995 these had increased to £124.50 for the wedding and £55.00 for the funeral of any type, while the organist’s fee was £20.00 for a wedding and £15.00 for a funeral.

INCUMBENTS

There were from time to time difficulties in the church either because there was no incumbent or because he was inefficient. Thus in 1793 we find that although prayers were followed by a sermon on Sunday morning this was not so in the afternoon. The parishioners felt that “the usual service of the Church has of late been neglected” and asked the churchwardens to enquire into the matter, but it was not unti11840 that Lord Lonsdale appointed an Evening Lecturer or Assistant Curate. In 1865 Herbert B. L. Puxley was licensed to the ‘perpetual curacy’ of Cockermouth and he was followed in 1873 by Eldred Green. instituted to the ‘vicarage’ of All Saints. It was presumably between these two dates that Cockermouth ceased to be a chapelry of Brigham, probably when Christ Church was opened (1865). (Appendix 17)

CHURCH RATE AND VESTRY DECISIONS

Under an ordinance of 1647 all residents and property owners in a parish had to subscribe

• “sums of money for and towards the reparation and maintenanee [of the parish church and for] providing books for the said Church or Chappel, and of Bread and Wine to be used at the administration of the Sacrament there, and for repairing the walls and inclosures of the Churchyards or burying places thereunto belonging.”

We have referred several times to this ‘cess’. which varied according to the needs – 4d. for example in Cockermouth in 1832, occasionally as high as 8d. but in 1840 only B-1d. The fixing of the rate could be a lengthy business – the meeting lasted eight hours in 1842! In 1668 payments by individuals ranged from 2d. to £1-17s-6d. [13]

The churchwardens’ book tells how the money was spent and the following are typical items for 1668:- [14]

Paid

to Lanclot Fforth of Kendall for Souther [solder] and Workmanship £8-0s-0d

to Richard Rainicock for Lead for ye Church £9-0s-0d

for Two loads of Limestone 11d

for repairing one of the bells 1s-0d

to William Haggard for a Roope 2s-6d

to John Atkinson for mending ye clock 1s-6d

for Peates 10s-0d

to Richard Peirson for mending ye Church Windows 7s-9d

to George Jefferey for making a sneck 6d

In the same year the following running expenses were recorded:

Paid

for this booke and other paper 6s-0d

for writing Articles and Sesse bills and other things 3s-6d

to Mrs. Rickarby for washing ye surplas for a year 2s-0d

There were also payments for travelling expenses and fees. The 1668 payments include help to people

Paid to a portugal stranger 2s-0d

More to a distressed stranger 1s-0d

More to a stranger 2s-6d

An entry in the churchwardens book in 1670 lists the possessions of the parish, in addition to the actual fabric of the church and school:

“Delivered over to the New Churchwardens The Records Book. one Church Bible with other utinsalls belonging to the ffree Gramer School of cockermouth.

Imprimis.

4 Servis bookes

1 ould book called Erasmus parafrase.

2 Rentall Bookes belonging to the ffree Gramr Schoole.

1 pUlpit cloth and Quisson. (cushion)

2 Surplases one Linem Cloth

2 Silver cups with Covers

I large puther fflagon.

• A copy of a deed for the payment of five pounds yearly from Mr. (Lancelot) Fletcher ofTallentire to the Schoole (and other deeds).

• One spade, a shuffle and a hack, 1 New Reidgester Book, Tow ould Reidgester Bookes … One handbell, One booke of articles. One book of Canons. One paper Booke with a list of the Stalls in the Church, One chist and two keyes.

• 2 Dixonaries given by Mr. Peeter Murthwaite for ye use of the Gramer Schoole.”

The transfer to the new churchwardens in 1673 added to the list

• “the 39 articles of ye Church of England new … One linen table-cloth with silke fringe and bosses .. One new Coffen and Hearsecloth for public use of ye parish … 4 boxes for gathering Collections.”

The parish now had a publicly owned coffin for the use of poor families.

Throughout the years there are many entries of repairs and replacements (e.g. a new coffin and hearse-cloth in 1773-4). An interesting entry in 1673-4 is of “charges for bringing forth John Bouch the old clarke and for his winding sheete, 6s-6d.” Bolton notes the frequent use of ‘bringing forth’ in the records of the Carlisle guilds in bidding members to a funeral.

The responsibility for some articles later passed to the sexton or parish clerk, elected at the Easter Vestry. On retirement he had to hand over to his successor “the public shroud, the public coffin and. two shuffles”.

The Vestry took care to ensure that the affairs of the town and church were managed in good order. The churchwardens had to render their annual accounts within four days of the Easter vestry, under penalty of 40s, each, the fines to go to the relief of the poor. On 21st June 1764 the following orders were minuted

“That the bread be bought by the Churchwardens for the communicants.

That the Churchwardens do take care and get the surplisses washed and mended.

That all the wine for the communicants be bought at one house where the Chwardens can get it the best and the cheapest.

That no wine be given to any clergyman to carry home.”

In 1784 the £415 in hand was to be invested in public concerns – £280 to the Widows Hospital, £35 to the Grammar School, and seven years later in 1791 it was decided to take proceedings to recover £100 which had been lent to Thomas Rudd from parish funds. In all these affairs the control of premises, churchyard, bells, books, registers, money, etc., was in the hands of the people of the town, either directly through the Vestry meeting which they were entitled to attend or through the churchwardens whom they elected and who were answerable to the vestry, All inhabitants paid the church rate and all had a right to a seat in the church and to the services of burial, etc., which it provided.

SEATING

Although deeds to property in the town often contained a clause “together with the pew in All Saints numbered ……” this did not grant ownership. The Chancellor of the Diocese emphasised in 1877 the equal right of all to a seat without distinction and the duty of the churchwardens to show no favour, except for a few exceptional claims to certain pews as occupiers and not proprietors. [15]

Seating often presented trouble – people installing seats, selling seats for their own profit or claim and counterclaim, as when Edward Waugh brought a case to the Consistory Court in 1858 that John Rowland, a Cockermouth publican, had intruded himself into pew 39 and removed and tom up cushions, footstools and carpet belonging to Waugh.

SETMURTHY

Burials were difficult when Robert Rickerby was reinstated in the living after the Commonwealth period. He refused interment to some parishioners, although it was illegal for him to do so. We learn that in June 1669

• “That eminent brother and servant of the [Congregational] Church, Thomas Blethwaite, of Cockermouth, departed this life; the which day he was buried with great solemnity at the burying place belonging to the Quakers in Eaglesfield, he being denied burial by Robert Rickerby in the common burying place at Cockermouth, contrary to law.” [16]

The following month, for the same reason, Henry Birkett was buried in his own garden at Gilgarren. [17] In December the land now known as Sepulchre Close at Town Head was given to the Independent or Congregational Church, but it was not used until 1671. [18] The churchyard was originally unfenced, but on 24 September 1800 the Vestry was

• “unanimously and decidedly of opinion that it ought to be forthwith enclosed and made close on account of the very great abuses and various depredations which are Committed in the said Churchyard from time to time and at all times, besides the very shameful and nameless practices carried on in the very entrances of this sacred place.’

With enclosure the grass grew. In 1829 we find a Vestry minute

• “It was unanimously agreed that the churchyard should be farmed by the Churchwardens for the sum of four pounds per annum. And they are hereby empowered to let the same to cut for hay, and whatever sum is deficient to be paid out of the Church Rate. It is the decided opinion of this meeting that no horses, cattle or sheep shall on any account be allowed to pasture in the Churchyard.”

More care was obviously being taken of the churchyard. The fenced pathway dates from the rebuilding of the 1850s.

In April 1874 the Vestry decided to spend £20 on trees and shrubs for the churchyard and the reasons given during the discussion include not only that they would “assist in maintaining the sacred character” and be of practical use because the place was so windy that one “cannot put an umbrella up”, but the interesting observation of one member that “their roots hasten the process of decay and their leaves absorb the noxious exhalations that arise from the decaying humanity”. [19]

Later in the same year it was decided to discontinue Sunday funerals, except when infection required urgent burial. [20] While it was realised that Sunday funerals were economically desirable, as mourners did not need to miss their work, the decision was taken because the crowds who were free to attend on Sundays were doing considerable damage to the shrubs and flowers.

Many of the gravestones commemorate people important in the history of the town, although some inscriptions are badly weathered. [21] The grave of Wordsworth’s father is near the south-east corner of the church.

When repairing the Kirkgate churchyard entrance, at the beginning of this century, a mass grave was discovered. The victims of the plague in the earlier centuries are reputed to be buried near Hundith Hill crossroads, but there were outbreaks of cholera in the town in 1832 and 1848. It is recorded that victims of the earlier outbreak were buried in. a row in the churchyard. Was this the grave discovered?

HOLY WATER STOUP

In August 1937 when alterations were being made to Wild’s garage in Crown Street an interesting stone block was found built into a wall. [22] Roughly rectangular in shape, carved from grey sandstone with a 12 inch base and a height of 8 1/2 inches, it was possibly a holy water stoup, a possibility supported by a small incised cross below the brim on the inside, a feature common on altar slabs. The absence of a drainage hole suggests that it was not a font and as there is no sign of attachment to a wall it probably stood on a pillar. It may be 14th century, but its origin is uncertain. It is now in the church.

REGISTERS

From 1538 all parishes were required to keep registers of baptisms, marriages and deaths, but government records did not begin until 1837. All Saints registers are complete from 1632. The first entry was a baptism in September of that year

• “Margaret, the daughter of Sw in bum of Hewthwaite Hall.”

The first marriage recorded was in October

• “Hugh, the fonne of John Gibfon with Barbara (?) the daughter of John Dalton.”

CHURCHROOMS

The church rooms across the fenced pathway replaced the old grammar school, being built in 1896-7 at a cost of four to five hundred pounds. [23] The large hall upstairs seats 300 and there is a series of smaller rooms on the ground floor.

A tablet on the outside of the building reads

• “On this site stood the Grammar School which WiIliam Wordsworth, Poet Laureate, attended as a boy. To this school also came Fletcher Christian, Leader of the Mutiny on the Bounty, April 28th. 1788.”

CHRIST CHURCH

Not until 1863-5 was a second Anglican church built in the town, some 30 years after it was first suggested. The foundation stone of Christ Church was laid by Percy Wyndham on 29th July 1863 and the building, designed by Mr. Bruce of Whitehaven was consecrated and opened by Samuel Waldegrave Bishop of Carlisle, on 13th June 1865.A plaque on the chancel wall reads

• “AD 1865. This Church was erected chiefly by the means and entirely by the exertions of the Revd. H. B. L. Puxley, MA., assistant curate of Cockermouth.”

Puxley was expected to be the first vicar and had much public support, but the appointment went to William Williams, chosen by the bishop and other trustees, to whom – the Earl of Lonsdale had given the patronage. Rev. Puxley’s disappointment was lessened when he was appointed to the living of All Saints later in the year. [24]

The church, which cost £4,000 and seats some 800, serves a parish carved out of Brigham (Cockermouth west of the Cocker) and Bridekirk (the Gote area) parishes, it has a number of typical 19th century features – three galleries on iron pillars, long windows in the nave and a plain tower with corner pinnacles. Changes were made in 1873 when the reredos was added and further considerable alterations, including a new doorway, were made in 1933. In 1960, an attractive small side chapel was constructed, as a memorial to those killed in the two world wars. The Christ Church vicarage was ‘Lane Head’, at the top of Double Mills Lane, built in 1972. It became a private dwelling when the livings were joined.

The east window of”Christ healing the sick” by Heaton Butler and Bayne,

• “was erected by public subscription in affectionate memory of the later Henry Dodgson MD of this town who died July 10th 1882 aged 49 years.”

Henry Dodgson has a second memorial at the end of the south gallery, a wall tablet erected by members of the Cockermouth Rifle Corps to their Hon. Major. There are a number of other memorial windows and tablets.

Christ Church living was worth £180 in 1883, rose gradually to £380 in 1919 and is now similar to All Saints. The church rooms next to the church were erected in 1880 for £1000, the large hall seating 200 and there being a number of classrooms. [25]

That churchwardens need not be members of the Anglican church is illustrated by the appointment of a Mr. Straughton as a warden of Christ Church in ] 876. He was not only an advocate of disestablishment but a Congregationalist and Superintendent of the Congregational Sunday School. Furthermore he was appointed by the casting vote of an Anglican clergyman! [26]

It is interesting to note that in 1938, the population served by the newer parish was considerably greater than that of the older one – 3252 compared with All Saints’ 1815. This has since been evened up by the new housing estates east of the Cocker.

UNITED BENEFICE AND TEAM MINISTRY

The two parishes were eventually joined in a ‘united benefice’ under one vicar usually assisted by a curate. This had been proposed in 1939. Then in 1977, a further development linked All Saints, Christ Church, St Cuthbert’s at Embleton and St Margaret’s at Wythop under one team ministry. The team at present comprises two priests-in-charge and an honorary curate. A second vicarage was bought – No.1 Fern Bank, Cockermouth, replaced by a modem house, 14 Harrot Hill in 1987. A new rectory was built in the grounds of the former one in Lorton Road in the early 1980’s. In 2005, Bridekirk Church also became a member of the team ministry.