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St John, Ulpha
St John's Church
Ulpha Church
locality:-   Ulpha
civil parish:-   Ulpha (formerly Cumberland)
county:-   Cumbria
locality type:-   church
coordinates:-   SD19809325
1Km square:-   SD1993
10Km square:-   SD19
references:-   : 2005: Diocese of Carlisle, Directory 2004/5


photograph
BNJ01.jpg (taken 14.3.2007)  
photograph
BNJ02.jpg (taken 14.3.2007)  

evidence:-   old map:- Saxton 1579
placename:-  St Johns
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Westmorlandiae et Cumberlandiae Comitatus ie Westmorland and Cumberland, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, by Christopher Saxton, London, engraved by Augustinus Ryther, 1576, published 1579-1645.
image
Sax9SD19.jpg
Church, symbol for a parish or village, with a parish church.  "Sct Johns"
item:-  private collection : 2
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   probably old map:- Mercator 1595 (edn?) 
placename:-  St Johns
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Westmorlandia, Lancastria, Cestria etc, ie Westmorland, Lancashire, Cheshire etc, scale about 10.5 miles to 1 inch, by Gerard Mercator, Duisberg, Germany, 1595, edition 1613-16.
image
MER5CumG.jpg
"St. Johns"
circle 
item:-  Armitt Library : 2008.14.3
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Speed 1611 (Cmd) 
placename:-  St John's
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Cumberland and the Ancient Citie Carlile Described, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by John Speed, 1610, published by J Sudbury and George Humble, Popes Head Alley, London, 1611-12.
image
SP11SD28.jpg
"Sct. Johns"
circle, tower 
item:-  private collection : 16
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Jansson 1646
placename:-  St Johns
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Cumbria and Westmoria, ie Cumberland and Westmorland, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, by John Jansson, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1646.
image
JAN3SD28.jpg
"S. Johns"
Buildings and tower. 
item:-  JandMN : 88
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Seller 1694 (Cmd) 
placename:-  St Johns
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Cumberland, scale about 12 miles to 1 inch, by John Seller, 1694.
image  click to enlarge
SEL9.jpg
"St. Johns"
circle, italic lowercase text; settlement or house 
item:-  Dove Cottage : 2007.38.89
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Morden 1695 (Cmd) 
placename:-  St Johns
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Cumberland, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Robert Morden, 1695, published by Abel Swale, the Unicorn, St Paul's Churchyard, Awnsham, and John Churchill, the Black Swan, Paternoster Row, London, 1695-1715.
image
MD12SD19.jpg
"St. Iohns"
Circle, building and tower. 
item:-  JandMN : 90
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Badeslade 1742
placename:-  St Johns
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, A Map of Cumberland North from London, scale about 11 miles to 1 inch, with descriptive text, by Thomas Badeslade, London, engraved and published by William Henry Toms, Union Court, Holborn, London, 1742.
image  click to enlarge
BD10.jpg
"St. Johns"
circle, italic lowercase text; village, hamlet or locality 
item:-  JandMN : 115
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Bowen and Kitchin 1760
placename:-  St John's
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, A New Map of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland Divided into their Respective Wards, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Emanuel Bowen and Thomas Kitchin et al, published by T Bowles, Robert Sayer, and John Bowles, London, 1760.
image
BO18SD18.jpg
"St. John's"
circle, tower 
item:-  Armitt Library : 2008.14.10
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Garnett 1850s-60s H
source data:-   Map of the English Lakes, in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, scale about 3.5 miles to 1 inch, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, 1850s-60s.
image
GAR2SD29.jpg
cross, a church 
item:-  JandMN : 82.1
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old text:- Martineau 1855
source data:-   Guide book, A Complete Guide to the English Lakes, by Harriet Martineau, published by John Garnett, Windermere, Westmorland, and by Whittaker and Co, London, 1855; published 1855-76.
image MNU1P108, button  goto source
Page 108:-  "... Some time since there was a blind "priest" settled there. One Sunday morning, the bell rang before the people were all ready; and especially the stoutest farmer in the neighbourhood, who, detained by some cow, pig; or sheep, entered the church last of all, "thunnerin' down"
image MNU1P109, button  goto source
Page 109:-  "the aisle." "Wha's comin' now?" asked the blind priest; and, being informed by the clerk that it was John T---, he inquired further, "a-foot or a-horse-back?" ..."

evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, black and white, St John's Church, Ulpha, Cumberland, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s.
image  click to enlarge
HB0510.jpg
stamped at reverse:-  "HERBERT BELL / Photographer / AMBLESIDE"
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS173
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old photograph:- Bell 1880s-1940s
source data:-   Photograph, b/w, St John's Church, Ulpha, Cumberland, by Herbert Bell, Ambleside, Westmorland, 1890s?
image  click to enlarge
HB0298.jpg
item:-  Armitt Library : ALPS657
Image © see bottom of page

evidence:-   old map:- Nurse 1918
source data:-   Map, The Diocese of Carlisle, Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire North of the Sands, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, by Rev Euston J Nurse, published by Charles Thurnam and Sons, 11 English Street, Carlisle, Cumberland, 2nd edn 1939.
image
NUR1SD19.jpg
"ULPHA"
item:-  JandMN : 27
Image © see bottom of page


photograph
BNJ04.jpg  The two bells.
(taken 14.3.2007)  

evidence:-   database:- Listed Buildings 2010
placename:-  Church of St John
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"CHURCH OF ST JOHN / / / ULPHA / COPELAND / CUMBRIA / II[star] / 76285 / SD1980493246"
source data:-  
courtesy of English Heritage
"Parish Church. Present building probably C17; later additions and alterations. Wet-dashed rubble. Graduated slate roof with stone copings and kneelers; gabled bellcote to west end. Single-cell plan. C20 gabled porch added at west end; plank inner door. East window probably C17, remaining windows later (C20?) insertions. Interior: 6 (original?) roof trusses. Remains of C17/C18 wall paintings, uncovered in 1934, include part of Queen Anne's coat-of-arms, text boards, and 2 oval memorials dated 1793. Original octagonal basin to font on C19 pillar and plinth."

 sentences from scripture

incumbents:-  
Muncaster, John  1693 -  
Lewthaite, Thomas  1697 -  
Brackenthwaite, Edward 
Atkinson, Daniel  1705 -  
Noble, C David  1725 -  
Walker, Edward 
Brocklebank, Thomas  1754 -  
Nicholson, Clement  1757 -  
Philipson, Christopher  1763 -  
Hodgson, Hugh  1771 -  
Brockbank, Richard  1775 -  
Boulton John  1786 -  
Tyson, Edward  1797 -  
Myers, William  1800 -  
Gaitskell, Isaac  1802 -  
Walker, Jeremiah  1828 -  
Kewley, William  1881 -  
Whitaker, Charles  1897 -  

 sundial


photograph
BNJ05.jpg  Painted memorial:-
"Miles Whinfield, / Nicholas Whinfield, / 1793." (taken 14.3.2007)  
photograph
BNJ06.jpg  Painted memorial:-
"S. Danson / 1793." (taken 14.3.2007)  


photograph
BOR99.jpg  Gravestone, just outside the door to St John's Church, Ulpha:-
"In Memory of / JAMES CROSBIE JENKINSON, / of Whitehaven, / Who perished on Birker Moor / during the "pelting of the pitiless / storm" on the 1st. of January 1826, / aged 17 Years. / ..." (taken 27.2.2008)  
photograph
CFZ70.jpg  Gravestone, James C Jenkinson, d.1826.
(taken 28.4.2017)  
photograph
BOS03.jpg  Sunset sky and trees, from the churchyard.
(taken 27.2.2008)  

notes:-  
The church was founded as a chapel of ease to Millom in or before the reign of Henry VIII, perhaps on this site. There was a restoration in 1934.

Simpson, B S Wignall: 1966 (edn) & 1950 (edn) & 1934: Mountain Chapelry in Cumbria &Dale Larnin

story:-  
In the parish register is a brief history of the church at Ulpha, written by the incumbent, Jeremiah Walker, 1828-81:-
"Ulpha is a place or division of great antiquity. It had a Church or place of worship as early as the reign of Henry the Third. The Church or Chapel or Chantry originally stood at a place called Hall End. After the destruction of the Old Hall or Castle it was removed to its present site."
"There is a superstitious legend prevailing that although it stood during many Cent[u]ries & generations in its original position, but having fallen into a state of delapidation when it was found necessary that it should be rebuilt, the work could not be proceeded with, 'that whatever progress was made in the day the work was thrown down in the night & the materials taken to the place where the church now stands, &this was considered as a revelation from heaven.' So that the people removed it to its present situation. This took place about the end of the fourteenth century or the beginning of the fifteenth."
"There is no mention made of Ulpha or Ultima regio, the extremity of the County of Cumberland in the Liber Regis of William 1st Duke of Normandy. But after the dissolution of the Monasteries in the return made by Order of Henry VIII it is mentioned as of the annual value of Five Pounds (Vicarial Tithes Three Pounds fourteen shillings and eleven pence half-penny, & the remainder Offerings &Surplice Fees.)"
"The Registers or Ecclesiastical & Civil Memorandums & Records go as far back as the time of Elizabeth, when the Poor Law act was passed. Birker and Ulpha were united for the maintenance of their poor & continued so till about the commencement of the nineteenth century, when Birker ceased to have a Pauper. The Inhabitants of Birker used to attend Ulpha Church to receive the Sacrament, and provided or paid for half the wine &c. until the year 1856."
"The Registers were at first kept very irregularly and the Church most likely irregularly served, as the Stipend was so very small that no clergyman could afford to serve it. The Registers of Births and Deaths have been very regularly kept from the year 1703. But the Marriage Register has been neglected until the passing of the Act of Parliament to prevent clandestine marriages in the year 1753."
"Four grants of L200 each have been made from Queen Anne's Bounty for the augmentation of the Benefice."

hearsay:-  
William Wordsworth:-
"The Kirk of Ulpha to the Pilgrim's eye is welcome as a star."

dedication
person:-    : St John the Baptist
place:-   Ulpha / Carlisle Diocese

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