Allonby Cumberland Family History Guide

Allonby is an Ecclesiastical Parish and a market town in the county of Cumberland, created in 1746 from chapelry in Bromfield Ancient Parish.

Alternative names: West Newton and Allonby

Other places in the parish include: West Newton.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1776
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1774

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational and Society of Friends/Quaker.

Adjacent Parishes

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

ALLONBY, a seaport village, a chapelry, and a township, in Bromfield parish, Cumberland. The village stands on a wide open bay of its own name opposite Rigg light-vessel, 2½ miles N of Bull Gill r. station, and 6 NNE of Maryport. It has a post office under Maryport; and it carries on a fishing trade, and is a summer resort for sea-bathing. It was the birthplace of the distinguished hydrographer, Huddart, who died in 1816. The chapelry includes the village. Pop. in 1851, 749. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £94. Patron, the Vicar of Bromfield. There are a Quaker’s meeting-house and a slightly endowed school.-The township includes West Newton, and bears the name of West Newton and Allonby. Acres, 1,794; of Which 573 are water. Real property, £5,627, of which £2,423 are in West Newton. Pop., 1,002. Houses, 252.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

ALLONBY, a chapelry, in the parish of Bromfield, union of Wigton, Allerdale ward below Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 9 miles (N. N. W.) from Cockermouth; containing 811 inhabitants. The village, comprising about 200 houses, is situated on the coast of Allonby bay, which opens to the Solway Firth and the Irish Sea; and is much frequented as a bathing-place, the sands being extremely smooth and firm. It was noted for a herring-fishery, but this has greatly declined, owing to the herrings having almost totally deserted the neighbouring sea; a few of the inhabitants are, however, still occupied in fishing. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £94; patron, the Vicar of Bromfield. The chapel, dedicated to Christ, was built at the expense of Dr. Thomlinson and some relatives, in 1744; and a school was endowed in 1755, by Mrs. Thomlinson, his relict, with £100, since laid out in land producing £8 per annum. There is a place of worship for the Society of Friends. Captain Joseph Huddart, F.R.S., an eminent naval engineer and hydrographer, was born here in 1741, and in the chapel is a handsome monument erected to his memory, at a cost of £500.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848