Staveley in Cartmel – a brief history by Richard Rhodes

For much of its history, the Cartmel peninsula has remained rather detached from much of the comings and goings of national life – largely due to its relative geographical isolation. Whilst there is plentiful evidence of the Roman occupation of Cumbria, there is little evidence in this immediate area, although Canon C.G.Townley in his 1933 pamphlet, "The Parish of Staveley in Cartmel" opines that there was a Roman Officer's house, or ‘Palatium' on the lake shore close to the ford over the lake.

The influence of the Nordic invaders in the 10th Century is clear from the names they left behind: –
 
Cartmel (Kart-Meir- sandy bank, by stony ground),
 
Allithwaite (‘the thwaite of Eilifr' – a Norse personal name),
 
Lindale (‘lime tree valley' or ‘white valley'),
 
Holker (‘Hollow marsh; Kerr - ‘Kjerr – a bog')
 
As listed in Eilert Ekwall's Concise Dictionary of English Place Names. It is fair to say that the names have stayed longer than they did.

After the compilation of the Domesday Book in 1086 the land in Cartmel was given by the King to Roger de Poitou who set up his administrative centre in Lancaster. This together with the route over the sands explains why Furness and Cartmel were encompassed within the borders of Lancashire despite their geographical link with Westmorland and Cumberland.
 
The Priory was founded by the Augustinians in Cartmel in the 12th Century. The earliest mention of Staveley comes from the thirteenth century when in 1228 Elyes son of Goditha of Staveley gave the Prior and Canons of St. Mary in Cartmel all the land of Medonstales in the tun of "Brotherne in Cartmel" This clearly refers to Broughton just along the Cartmel road. There is a thought that Medonstales refers to Seatle in the same district.
 
Life in the 13th and 14th centuries was dominated by the successive invasions by the Scots on England using the coastal route in west Cumbria and passing through Furness and Cartmel and across Morecambe Bay. Life in the Lake District as a whole at this time has been described as one in which poverty and starvation were never far away. These incursions made life even more difficult and there was particular devastation in Cartmel resulting from the invasion by Robert the Bruce in 1322.
 
Towers at Sizergh and Levens are testimony to the need to build defences against such intrusions. The local population was not always compliant. Lambert Simnel used Furness as the springboard for his invasion from Ireland for his abortive challenge to the throne of Henry VII in 1487. In the aftermath of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, four canons and ten villagers in Cartmel were found guilty of rebellion and hanged. Some interesting local names are contained in the list of those who were involved included the Bigland's, Newbys, and Birketts.

The Cartmel Priory list of tenants in Staveley in 1508-9 gives the names of the people who lived in the village at that time. There are some interesting names, including ‘James Newby', Barrow, Sands, Canny and Finsthwaite. In 1650 Thomas Preston of Holker was instructed by the Presbyterian Committee (Classis) to pay £40 per year to the clergyman at Staveley Chapel. In passing we might reflect that some things in life do get cheaper – the present Priest in Charge is a non-stipendiary minister responsible for three parishes!
In the Topography and Directory of Westmorland of 1851 Staveley in Cartmel, is described as the " township and chapelry" of Staveley. The village is situated six miles to the north of Cartmel in the County of Cumbria as created in the reorganisation of local government in 1974. Hitherto as a part of Lancashire it had been one of the five chapelries of Cartmel.
 
Its administrative authority also included the settlements of Ayside, Barber Green, Seatle, and part of Newby Bridge. In the Topography quotes the rateable value of Staveley Township as being £2571. 2s.

Reading the School Log it soon becomes apparent that the major issues throughout those early years were the difficulty in ensuring attendance of pupils, the occasional complaint from local residents about behaviour and the regularity with which the School Managers, Diocesan inspectors and others visited the school. In April 1882 an Inspector found that, "The singing is not very pleasant", but that " Needlework is praiseworthy"!
 
National issues did not compromise the daily routine very much but there are some notable exceptions. On 2nd June 1902 the log entry reads, "On hearing of the Declaration of Peace (Great Boer War) the master addressed the children laying great emphasis on the glories and responsibilities of the Empire. Then all sang, ‘O God Our help in ages past'". This was followed by three cheers (all led by the Master) for the King, the British Army, Lord Kitchener and finally the Boers – which either suggests great feelings of forgiveness or that political correctness was alive and well in 1902!
 
In the entries of Managers' Meetings of May and September 1940 we read; "An estimate of Mr. T Wren to provide fix frames for blackout at a cost of £3 17s 6d was accepted", and that "A confidential letter as to the use of the school buildings in the event of invasion was handed in to be read by the Managers".
 
Numbers in the school began to decline, falling to 21 in 1959 (from a peak of 70 in 1880) and, along with other schools in the locality at Finsthwaite and High Newton, the threat of closure became evident. The Diocesan Board of Education appears to have decided on closure unilaterally by 1966, much to the chagrin of the School Managers, and the school finally closed on 25th March 1970. The remaining children were transferred elsewhere – in the main to Leven Valley School in Backbarrow, which also became the recipient of the Barwick, Dixon and Townley charities. The building still stands next to the church and is currently used as a Village Hall.

The large house called Fell Foot is probably a very old tenement which stood over the spot where the more northerly of the two fords across the River Leven was situated. It appears to have been held by the Robinsons shortly after the Dissolution and in addition, William Robinson had been granted by purchase from Charles I a portion of the Priory lands in Cartmel well before 1640 when the rest of the Priory lands was transferred by the king to free tenants. Perhaps this is why in 1677 the new vestry was built at Cartmel Priory as the gift of William Robinson! The family's occupancy lasted until the early nineteenth century when the last two family members were known as Black Jack and Terrible Dick. It was from them that Jeremy Dixon purchased the estate after which a new house was built.
 
In 1854 Col. G J M Ridehalgh purchased Fell Foot from Dixon. It had formerly been the seat of Francis Palmer Duckinfield Astley and was situated near the shore of Windermere and while the buildings have now largely disappeared, the grounds are now owned by the National Trust and afford excellent facilities for families and those wishing to gain access to the lake. The Astley Plantation is still in existence on the side of Gummers How.

A few hundred yards from Fell Foot lies another house, Town Head, which was built in the early 19th Century by William Townley, High Sheriff of Lancashire. He was succeeded by his nephew, Edmund, who was curate in charge of Staveley from 1828 – 1864.The house still stands and is the centre of an antique business run by his descendants.
The facility of the ford across the River Leven close to Fell Foot came to an end in 1845 when the first Lake Windermere Steam Boat was built at Newby Bridge. In order for 'The Lady of the Lake' to reach the lake a navigable passage about five feet deep was dredged through the narrows thus rendering them impractical as fords. In the same year five large stones that lay opposite Fell Foot were dragged to Landing How on the opposite side, by horses and chains where they still lie.

Life in the 19th Century