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St Mary, Whicham, Cumberland

Location
(54°13′54″N, 3°19′48″W)
Whicham
SD 134 826
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Cumberland
now Cumbria
medieval York
now Carlisle
medieval St Mary
now St Mary
  • James King
20 May 2014, 09 April 2017

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Feature Sets
Description

The church is of of rectangular plan, with a bell-gable at the W end, a N transept and a N vestry. There is a S doorway off the nave (thought to be of 12thc. date), with a porch in front of it. There had also been a N doorway, found in the early 20thc., but this was walled up and plastered over. In 1858 the N transept and new windows were added and various repairs on the church undertaken. In 1901-2, further repairs were carried out, the vestry added, and three new windows installed in the nave.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the patronage of Whicham Church was in the hands of Hugh Askew. After his death, his widow married one of the Penningtons of Muncaster. In 1717, it was held by the Penningtons, but later it was soled to Lord Lonsdale.

History

Only three parishes on the Cumberland coast are actually mentioned in Domesday Book, of which Whicham is one. This states that 'Witingham' (i.e. Whicham) was a property of the king and that Tostig had land there as part of Hougun. Not until the 12thc., however, is there a reference to a church in Whicham, which was given to St Mary's Abbey, York and St Bees (a cell of St Mary's) sometime between 1119 and 1134. The arrangement meant that an annual payment would be made to St Bees, but the advowson would belong to St Mary's Abbey, York. At some point during the abbacy of Clement of St Mary's, York (1161-84), the benefice of Whicham was in two medieties, one of which was held by Gil-Andreas 'clerico' of Whicham and the other held by Richard, 'clericus', son of William Corbeth, the Corbeths having become lords of Whicham by this time. Later in the 12thc., the two medieties were in the hands of Richard de Boivil and Alan 'clerico de Cauplandia'. In the Taxatio of about 1291, the church was assessed at £10. 13s. 4d.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Comments/Opinions

Documents refer to a church in Whicham in the 12thc. and the S doorway is said to be Norman, but there is little stylistic evidence to help place a date on it. Cut into one of the stones is the date 1702, which is believed to refer to the building of the S porch.

Bibliography

T. Graham, ‘Cumberland’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series: 26 (Kendal, 1926), 280.

M. Hyde and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (New Haven and London, 2010), 670.

The Surtees Society, The Register of the Priory of St Bees (Durham and London, 1915), 31 no. 3, 33-4 no. 5, 35 no. 6, 37 no. 8, 38 no. 9, 106-7 no. 76, 107-8 no. 77, 108-9 no. 78, 109-10 no. 79, 110 no. 80, 110-11, no. 81, 146 no. 107, 472 no. 479 and fn. 4, 534 no. IX.

W. Sykes, ‘Notes during the Restoration of Whicham Church’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd Series: 2 (Kendal, 1902), 322-8.

W. Sykes, ‘On the identification of some ancient places in South Cumberland’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd Series: 26 (Kendal, 1926), 128-9.

W. Sykes, ‘The de Boyvils of Millum and Kirksanton’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd Series: 41 (Kendal, 1941), 18, 31 and 34.

Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae Auctorite P. Nicholai IV. circa A.D. 1291, London 1802.

E. Venables, ‘The Dedications of the Parochial Churches and Chapels of the Modern Diocese of Carlisle’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1st Series: 7 (Kendal, 1884), 146 and 148.

A. Williams and G. Martin (eds.), Domesday Book, A complete Translation (London, 1992), 796.

J. Wilson, ed., The Victoria History of the County of Cumberland, 1 (London, 1901), 300 and 336.

J. Wilson, ed., The Victoria History of the County of Cumberland, 2 (London, 1905), 179 and 181.