Aikton, Cumberland Family History Guide
Aikton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cumberland.
Other places in the parish include: Briglands and Gamblesby, Biglands, Wampool, Wathinpool, Wiggonby, Leathes, Gamblesby, and Biglands and Gamblesby.
Parish church: St. Andrew
Parish registers begin: 1694
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
AIKTON, a township and a parish in Wigton district, Cumberland. The township lies E of the Wampool river, 2¾ miles ESE of Kirkbride r. station, and 4 NNE of Wigton. Real property, £2,088. Pop., 284. Houses, 58.
The parish includes also the townships of Wampool, Wiggonby, Biglands, and Gamblesby. Post Town, Wigton. Acres, 6,157. Real property, £7,299. Pop., 806. Houses, 154. The property is much subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £546. Patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. The church is small and old. Charities, £176.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851
Aikton, a parish in the ward and county of Cumberlan; 8 miles south-west of Carlisle; it is in the union of Wigton, and comprises the townships of Aikton, Biglands, Gamelsby, Wampool, and Wiggonby.
Living, a rectory in the archd. and dio. of Carlisle; rated at £14 13s. 1½d.; gross income £550. Patron, in 1835, the earl of Lonsdale.
There is a school here endowed by Margaret Hodgson in 1792, in which poor children are instructed in reading, writing, and accounts. The annual revenue amounts to £175 15s., and the expenditure to about £95. The schoolmaster’s salary is £40. Pop. of the township of Aikton, in 1801, 185; in 1831, 261. Houses 53. Pop. of the parish, in 1831, 755. Houses 150. Acres 5,270. A. P. £5,174. Poor rates, in 1837, £362.
Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
AIKTON (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Wigton, Cumberland ward, E. division of Cumberland, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Wigton; comprising the townships of Aikton, Biglands with Gamblesby, Wampool, and Wiggonby; and containing 802 inhabitants, of whom 318 are in the township of Aikton.
The parish comprises 5491 acres, of which 160 are common or waste. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £14. 13. 1½.; net income, £546; patron, the Earl of Lonsdale.
A school has been endowed by Margaret Hodgson, with houses and land valued at £150 per annum, and is free to the poor of Aikton, Burgh-upon-Sands, and Beaumont, and to all persons of the founder’s name.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Magna Britannia 1816
AIKTON, in Cumberland ward, lies five miles from Wigton and nine from Carlisle. It has four townships — Aikton; Biglands and Gamelsby; Wathinpool, or Wampool; and Wiggonby. The whole parish, in 1811, contained 129 inhabited houses, and 614 inhabitants.
The manor of Aikton having been anciently parcel of the barony of Burgh, was brought in marriage by one of the coheiresses of Sir Hugh Morville, lord of that barony, to Sir Richard Gernon, who had his seat within this manor, at a place called Downhall. Having passed by female heirs to the families of Baliol, Colvill, Daniel, and Ratcliffe, it was purchased by the Dacres, in the reign of Henry VI. and again united to the barony of Burgh. It is now the property of the Earl of Lonsdale. Downhall, near which is a moated site, is now the property of Mr. Joseph Hodgson, whose family have possessed it many years.
The manor of Biglands and Gamelsby was in ancient times held under the barony of Burgh by William Brewer, and afterwards by the Crookdakes; the coheiresses of the latter married Raughton and Boyvill. Raughton’s moiety having passed successively by marriage or purchase to the families of Aspilon, Warcop, Crakenthorp, and Denton, was sold by the latter to the several tenants. Boyvill’s moiety having passed by marriage to Highmore, and by sale to Dacre, became again parcel of the barony of Burgh, now vested in the Earl of Lonsdale.
The manor of Wathinpool belonged to a family of that name, afterwards to the Warwicks, by whom it was sold to the several tenants.
The hamlet of Leathes gave name to a family who possessed the manor till the reign of King James I., when Adam de Leathes sold it to the tenants. This family of Leathes have been long settled at Dalehead, near Keswick.
The church of Aikton is a rectory in the diocese and deanery of Carlisle. The rectory was formerly in moieties, occasioned, as is supposed, by the division of the Morville estate between the coheiresses of Sir Hugh. These moieties were afterwards united, and the advowson having continued attached to the barony of Burgh, is now vested in the Earl of Lonsdale.
There is a school at Aikton endowed with the interest of 30l. bequeathed by Joseph Watson, of the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, in 1764; and another at Wiggonby, built and endowed with 40l. per annum, by Margaret Hodgson, about the year 1794. This school is free for all children of the name of Hodgson, and for the children of the parishes of Aikton, Burgh on Sands, and Beaumont, whose parents are not possessed of property to the amount of 20l. per annum. There is a fund also for providing books, and for clothing some of the more indigent.
Source: Magna Britannia Volume 4, Cumberland. Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons published by T Cadell and W Davies, London, 1816
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Cumberland
- Civil Registration District: Wigton
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Carlisle (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Carlisle
- Rural Deanery: Carlisle
- Poor Law Union: Wigton
- Hundred: Cumberland Ward
- Province: York