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Ravenstonedale
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"This parish hath its appellation from a brook of the name of the Raven running through it; in like manner as the village of Renwick (Ravenwick) in Cumberland. It was commonly of old time written Ravenstandale: So there was Stanmore in the parish of Brough. The parish is bounded on the East by the parish of Kirkby Stephen; on the South, by the parishes of Kirkby Stephen and Sedbergh; on the West, by the parish of Orton; and on the North, by the parishes of Crosby Garret and Kirkby Stephen: And contains about 225 families; whereof 59 are dissenters [in 1777]. The church is said to be dedicated to St. Oswald. It is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Sir James Lowther baronet. ... The church was rebuilt in the year 1744, in an elegant manner. It hath a square tower steeple, with three bells. In the old church there were two rows of seats below the communion table, where (it is said) the steward and jury of the manopr sate formerly, in their court of judicature. And the malefactors were imprisoned in a hollow arched vault, the ruins whereof are still to be seen, on the north side of the church. ... There is also an handsome dissenting meeting house at Ravenstonedale."
[Nicolson and Burn: The history and antiquities of the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland. 1777. Transcribed by Anne Nichols.]
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The parish is bounded on the East by the parish of Kirkby Stephen; on the South, by the parishes of Kirkby Stephen and Sedbergh; on the West, by the parish of Orton; and on the North, by the parishes of Crosby Garret and Kirkby Stephen.
Newbiggin-on-Lune later became its own parish (but does not have its own page on this site)
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The FC-Rdale Independent History Archive - assembled by Frank Chalmers.
M.I.s for Ravenstonedalewere transcribed in Monumental Inscriptions of Westmorland by E. Bellasis 1888-89 and are available on Westmorland Papers.
An index to gravestones is available on the Ravenstonedale siteNo returns survive for the 'census' of 1787.
Census returns are available from the usual sources for 1841-1911.
Transcript for heads of households in 1841 and 1891 has been made available by Janis Garcia.
Transcript and index for 1851 has been published by the Cumbria Family History Society and also in 'North Westmorland - An Index to the 1851 Census' compiled by David Lowis and Barbara Slack.
A transcript for 1881 is available on EdenLinks.
St Oswald C18th church with W tower, nave and single bay chancel. Though with older NW and SW porches, the latter with reset doorway of c1200. Georgian furnishings inside including 3-decker pulpit and W gallery. There are the ruins of a Gilbertine priory to the North. This and other photographs are on the Geograph site. |
Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts are held by Cumbria Archives :
originals at Kendal RO and microfilm copies at Carlisle RO.
| Ravenstonedale | Newbiggin-on-Lune | |
| WPR6 | WPR102 | |
| Baptism registers | 1571-1852 | 1892-1979 |
| Marriage registers | 1577-1973 | 1893-1966 |
| Banns registers | 1814-1913 | 1893-1973 |
| Burial registers | 1571-1980 | |
| Bishops transcripts | 1667-1895 |
Search the CASCAT online catalogue for information on these and other parish records.
For searching on LDS familysearch.org see IGI batch numbers (compiled by Jake Prescott)
or use the batch number search site (by Hugh Wallis).
Ravenstonedale parish registers, (1571-1812) by Ravenstonedale. Parish Published in 1893, printed by Wilson (Kendal) available on OpenLibrary
Non-conformist registers:
Presbyterian Church 1708-1837 (baptisms) - Kendal Record Office
Independent Chapel 1775-1837 (births, baptisms and burials) - Public Record Office, PRO
Much useful information is given on the Ravenstonedale website
The University of Leicester History, Directory & Gazetteer of Cumberland & Westmorland, 1829
- Ask for a calculation of the distance from Ravenstonedale to another place.
The Later Records relating to North Westmorland by John F. Curwen (1932) on British History Online
Cumbria County History Trust has published a "Jubilee Digest" for the township of Ravenstonedale
The history and traditions of Ravenstonedale, Westmorland.
by William Nicholls Published in 1877, J. Heywood, Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; (Manchester, London) available on OpenLibrary
There is a Ravenstonedale Parish History Group
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NY719021 (Lat/Lon: 54.41339, -2.434298), Ravenstonedale which are provided by:
- OpenStreetMap
- Google Maps
- StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
- Bing (was Multimap)
- Old Maps Online
- National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
- Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
- English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
- Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
- GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)
- All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.
Hearth Tax records for 1674 Ravenstonedale transcribed on Edenlinks.
Hearth Tax records for 1674 Ravenstonedale (2) transcribed on Edenlinks.
Hearth Tax records for 1674 Ravenstonedale (3) transcribed on Edenlinks.
Hearth Tax records for 1674 Ravenstonedale Weasdale transcribed on Edenlinks.
Window Tax records for 1777 Ravenstonedale transcribed on Edenlinks.