The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Carlisle (medieval)
Parish church
Kirkby Lonsdale is not unusual in north-west England for its great width, as the larger parishes of the 14thc. led to a need for extra aisles. What is unusual is the scale of its earlier, pre-Perpendicular work. The church has a very showy aisled 13thc. choir with an E counter-facade of rich Early English ornament. This is still out-done by the Romanesque work, with its three full-length arcades in a clean rectangle. The earliest section is the N arcade which clearly echoes Durham Cathedral at some remove. The later S arcade is Transitional late Romanesque, and probably goes with the priest's door preserved in the S aisle of the current chancel. The major W portal and S doorway are mid- to late 12thc..
The church has been much altered: a 16thc. clerestory above the Romanesque arcades has been added and removed, meaning the walls above the Romanesque arcades are all rebuilt. The biggest interference to the Romanesque fabric seem to be the 1705 reconstruction of the tower, attested by a date stone, when work was probably done on the west portal. However, Neo-Norman replacement is confined to the ringing gallery on the E face of the tower; otherwise the sculpture is occasionally damaged but untouched by restoration efforts.
Parish church
The small church is built of coursed, roughly-ashlared stones. It is dedicated to St Bride, a shortened form of Bridget, who was an early Irish saint. The plan of the church consists of nave, square-ended chancel and W bellcote. The original chancel seems to have been shorter and was extended at a later date. In 1703, Bishop Nicolson described the condition of the church as ‘nasty’. Substantial work was carried out on the church in 1895-9, at which time the chancel was substantially rebuilt re-using some of the original stones. There is also a later porch off the S side of the nave and a 20thc vestry off the S side of the chancel. All early features within the building - chancel arch, doorway and windows - are carved plain. Only the loose font bowl is carved with any decoration.
Parish church
Ainstable is a small village about 11 miles SE of Carlisle, and the church lies to the N of the village. The church of St Michael was rebuilt in the early part of the 19thc and again in 1870-1, the tower of that church being taken down in 1983. Inside the present church is a late 14th-c graveslab of John de Denton and a small Romanesque pillar piscina. There are also two effigies from St Cuthbert’s Church, Carlise, which were moved there when that church was taken down in 1778. No part of the medieval fabric appears to survive.
Chapel, former
The only roofed parts of the church surviving are a rectangular chancel and a mausoleum built on the S side of the chancel. Both the W and E sides of the chancel arch are built with plain, uncarved voussoirs, with the central area of the arch blocked up. There are simple imposts but no capitals. On the N wall of the chancel is a Norman window. There are also a few later windows in the chancel. The mausoleum built off the S side of the chancel appears to have been first built as a chapel in 1587 and was rebuilt in 1671. In 1897-9, a new church was built at a site in Leesrigg (the village now named Fletchertown), the old church only used occasionally. The S chapel became the mausoleum for the Moore family. In 1935, the nave, S aisle and porch were demolished, leaving the nave filled with rubble and only lower sections of its outer walls. The whole of the nave area is overgrown, and the interior of the chancel and mausoleum are in a poor state
Museum
In 1979, the carved fragment of yellow sandstone was found during the excavations of an 18thc pit at Keays Lane, Carlisle.
Private house
Cumrew lies 13 miles E of Carlisle. St Mary’s church was extensively repaired by John Calvert, curate of the church(1679-1690). Later, in 1814, a W tower was erected. The small church was entirely rebuilt in 1890. Carved stones from the 12thc can be seen re-used on both the interior and exterior outer walls of a neighbouring building, now a private house, and these stones are believed to have originally formed part of the medieval church. Previous to it being made into a house, the building was used for storage. The N exterior wall of the house contains a number of carved stones, but the carving of several of these cannot easily be determined, as another building N of the house has subsequently been built close to it. There is no early reference to the building before it was made into a house, but suggestions for the date of its construction have been put forward as late-16thc or 17thc.
Redundant parish church
Standing about a mile from the centre of the present town, only the chancel of the once larger medieval church remains. The earliest section may have been built before the church was given to Lanercost Priory in 1169, this part extended eastward in the late-12thc./early-13thc. By the late-17thc. it had already been proposed that a church might be erected in the town, itself, and in 1702/1704 the bishop of Carlisle wrote that the church was in a bad state. In 1788/9, most of the old church was torn down, with the exception of the chancel, which then became a mortuary chapel. The new parish church was created by enlarging the hospital (almshouses) chapel, which was in the centre of the town. A west porch was added to the old chancel in 1861, and further repairs were carried out in the 1890s and in 1987. In 1978, the old church was made redundant. A few medieval grave covers also survive.
Church
Extensive changes were made to the church in 1873, when it was given a more ‘Gothic’ appearance. The church now consists of a chancel, nave, S aisle, N porch and W bellcote. The earliest surviving feature is the chancel arch, with plain imposts and no other sculpture.
Parish church
The earliest sections of the church are 12thc. This church appears originally to have consisted of a rectangular nave and rectangular chancel. Carved work from the 12thc. survives on the baptismal font, S doorway, a grave cover and a small chancel window. Various additions were made in the 13thc. and the W tower constructed in the 14thc. Fragments of an early cross were found in excavations carried out in 1880. The N aisle was built in 1882.