Crosthwaite with Lyth

Chapelry and township in Heversham parish, Kendal ward, Westmorland.

Acreage:

7,958 acres [3,221 ha]; commons totalling 4,042 acres [1,619 ha] enclosed 1815.

Population:

509 in 1801, rising to 761 in 1851 and 771 in 1881; gradual decline to 636 in 1931 and to 562 by 2001.

Landownership:

part of barony of Kendal (q.v.).

Economy:

largely agricultural. Quarrying and lime-burning in 19th century. Paper-making at Starnthwaite Mill 1709 to 1849; then bobbin-turning mid-19th century; had become sawmill by 1880s.

Places of worship:

medieval chapel of ease of St Mary granted parochial rights 1556; tower constructed 1626; church rebuilt 1878 and tower replaced 1885.

Schools and other institutions:

school taught in church before 1665, when George Cocke left legacy to build school; this was replaced by new school room 1822 and school was rebuilt on new site 1878; now Crosthwaite CE Primary School. Girls’ school at Howe, opened 1872; closed 1946. Starnthwaite Home Colony founded 1892 on site of disused mill by Herbert V. Mills as a utopian community at Starnthwaite Mill and Browhead Farm, in Crook (q.v.); subsequently used as farm colony for epileptic boys (from 1902) and as approved school (from 1935), known as Starnthwaite Ghyll School from 1962. Argles Memorial Hall opened 1931; refurbished 2002-03.