Caldbeck, Cumberland

Description
Caldbeck, a village, three townships, and a parish in Cumberland. The village stands on the river Caldbeck at the foot of the fells, 8 miles from Plumpton station on the L. & N.W.R., and 9 SSE of Wigton, under which it has a post and money order office. It was founded together with an hospital, soon after the Norman conquest, by D'Engaine, forester of Inglewood, for the protection of travellers. It has a scattered character, yet looks pleasing and even picturesque. A number of its inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of bobbins, blankets, flannels, and stocking yarn. The three townships are Low Caldbeck, High Caldbeck, and Caldbeck-Haltcliff. Acreage, 13,742; population, 1068. The parish includes also the township of Mosedale, in the district of Penrith. Caldbeck House was the seat of the Backhouse family, and Woodhall was the seat of George Fox, the founder of Quakerism. About 13,000 acres are on the fells, and available only for sheep pasture. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Carlisle; net value, £440 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Carlisle. The church dates from 1112, but has been modernized, and was renovated and embellished in 1880-81. There are a Quaker meetinghouse, and a Wesleyan chapel. The fells are a northeastern offshoot of the Skiddaw range. They culminate on High Pike, at an altitude of 2101 feet above the level of the sea; have a bleak, wild, moorish character, and afford limestone, copper, lead, bismuth, molybdena, and tungsten. The river rises on the fells, and runs 7 miles north-eastward to the Caldew, 3/4 of a mile north of Hesket-Newmarket. Both this stream and the Caldew, at places near the village, make great descents, and are overhung by romantic scenery.