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St Cuthbert, Aldingham, Lancashire

Location
(54°7′48″N, 3°5′53″W)
Aldingham
SD 2834 7103
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Lancashire
now Cumbria
medieval York
now Carlisle
  • James King
  • James King
05 Aug 2015

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Description

Aldingham is located on the E coast of the Furness peninsula in southern Cumbria. The church consists of a rectangular chancel, aisled nave, and W tower. The earliest surviving part of the church is the south arcade of the nave. There is also a loose waterleaf capital. The present chancel may date from about 1300, with some modifications made to it in later centuries. The W tower is thought to have been constructed in the 14thc. and added to in the 15thc. The S aisle appears to have been rebuilt in the 14thc., while the N nave aisle was built in 1845-6. There is also a modern vestry built onto the N side of the church.

History

Domesday Book states that Ernulf/Earnwulf held six carucates to the geld at Aldingham at that time. By 1127 it had been granted to Michael le Fleming as part of the manor of Aldingham/Muchland, by either Stephen (later king) or King Henry I. Muchland seems to be a corruption of ‘Michelland’, named after this first Michael le Fleming. Michael was also referred to as Michael de Furness from about 1160. Michael and his heirs initially held the manor under the lord of the Honour of Lancaster. William, son of Michael, witnessed a charter of 1153 and seems to have succeeded his father before 1186. This William appears to have died about 1203; his son Michael succeeding. From 1227, however, the immediate lord was the Abbot of Furness. The church was dedicated to St Cuthbert, and Daniel, its first known parson, appears in the records from the 1180s onwards. It is possible Daniel was a son of the first Michael le Fleming and may have been parson of Urswick before becoming parson of Aldingham. The male line descending from the first Michael le Fleming died out in the later 13thc.

Features

Interior Features

Arcades

Nave

Loose Sculpture

Comments/Opinions

Pevsner (1969) suggested a date of about 1190 for the S arcade of the nave. VCH (vol. 8) proposes a ‘late 12th or early 13th-century date’.

Ryder suggested that the grave cover inscribed with the name Godith (the name which he left out) should be dated to the late-12th/early-13thc. It appears that Michael I le Fleming had a daughter called Godith, and various people have suggested she died about 1204. This could mean that the grave cover is hers. The VCH (vol. 8) ascribes to the grave cover a 13thc. date and says the inscription reads: HIC IACET GODITHA DE SCALES. This information, however, is not quite correct, as the inscription clearly states: HIC IACET GODITH DE. The word following this, said to be ‘SCALES’, is heavily eroded. VCH also states that this grave cover, along with two others, was found in 1845-6 used as a lintel in the old N nave wall.

Bibliography

F. Arnold-Forster, Studies in Church Dedications or England’s Patron Saints, 3 (London, 1899), 30.

T. Beck, History and Antiquities of the Abbey of Furness (London, 1844), xxv-xxix, 114, 154-5, 189, 189-91, 228, 235-6, and 316 fn.

W. Collingwood, ed., The Memoirs of Sir Daniel Fleming, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Tract Series no. 11 (Kendal, 1928), 5-13.

J. Denton, et al., Taxatio (Sheffield, 2014), https://www.dhi.ac.uk/taxatio (accessed 25 Feb. 2023)

W. Farrer, trans. and annotated, The Lancashire Pipe Rolls of 31 Henry I., A.D. 1130, and of the Reigns of Henry II., A.D/ 1155-1189; Richard I., A.D. 1189-1199; and King John, A.D. 1199-1216. (Liverpool, 1902), 302-3 notes, 312 notes, 360-1 no. 3 and notes, 366-7 no. 6 and notes.

W. Farrer, ‘The Domesday Survey of North Lancashire and Adjacent Parts of Cumberland, Westmorland, and Yorkshire’, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 18 (Manchester, 1901), 94-8.

W. Farrer, ed., Lancashire Inquests, Extents and Feudal Aids, A.D. 1205 - A.D. 1307, The Record Society for the Publicationof Original Documents relating to Lancashire and Cheshire, XLVIII (1903), 82-5 and 455.

W. Farrer and J. Brownbill, eds, The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, 2 (London, 1908), 8 fn. 43, 100-101 and fn. 16, 119-20 and fns 57 and 64, 184 and fn. 72, and 214.

W. Farrer and J. Brownbill, eds, The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster, 8 (London, 1914), 1-3, 300-2 and fns, 320-9 and fns, and 336 and fn. 145.

T. Graham and W. Collingwood, ‘Patron Saints of the Diocese of Carlisle’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series: 25 (Kendal, 1925), 12-4 and 17.

Historic England listed building no. 1335944, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1335944 (accessed 01 March 2023)

M. Hyde and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Cumbria (New Haven and London, 2010), 91-2.

P. Kelly, ‘Muchland and its Owners and Newbarns’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series: 24 (Kendal, 1924), 260-70.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, North Lancashire (Harmondsworth, 1969), 48.

P. Ryder, The Medieval Cross Slab Grave Covers in Cumbria (Kendal, 2005), 185-6.

V. Tudor, ‘St. Cuthbert and Cumbria’, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 2nd series: 84 (Kendal, 1984), 67-77.

E. Venebles, ‘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), 118-49.

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