Bassenthwaite, Cumberland Family History Guide

Bassenthwaite is an Ancient Parish in the county of Cumberland.

Other places in the parish include: Low-side, High-side, and Hawes.

Alternative names:

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

• Parish registers: 1574
• Bishop’s Transcripts: 1664

Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist

Adjacent Parishes

• Thornthwaite
• Skiddaw
• Isel
• Wythop
• Ireby
• Torpenhow
• Setmurthy
• Crosthwaite
• Uldale

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BASSENTHWAITE, a village, a parish, and a lake in Cockermouth district, Cumberland. The village stands on the E side of the lake, opposite Bassenthwaite L. r. station, 5 miles NNW of Keswick; and has a post office under Windermere. The parish is divided into two constablewicks, High-side around the village and Low-side or Hawes. Acres, 6,930. Real property, £4,568. Pop., 570. Houses, 120. The property is much subdivided. The surface is highly diversified and picturesque, ranging from the summit of Skiddaw to the meadows on the lake. Lead ore has been found; and a mine of antimony worked. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £150. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle. The church is old but good; and there are charities £14 and some land. The lake is in the basin of the Derwent river; commences 3 miles NW of the foot of Derwent water; extends 4½. miles north-north westward, with a mean breadth of ¾ of a mile; and has a surface elevation of 210 feet above the level of the sea. Its bosom is not gemmed with any island; its head is flat and open, but looks away to the mountains round Derwent water; its W side is flanked by a range of wooded fells, mostly rising from the water's edge; its foot is screened by vale and slope, going up at 3 miles distance to Binsey hill; and its E side is flanked by the grand skirts and shoulders of Skiddaw, crowned, at 2½ miles' distance, by that mountain's summit. Pike and perch abound in the lake; and salmon pass through it to the Upper Derwent.

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

Maps

Vision of Britain historical maps

Administration

County: Cumberland
Civil Registration District: Cockermouth
Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Carlisle (Episcopal Consistory)
Diocese: Carlisle
Rural Deanery: Allerdale
Poor Law Union: Cockermouth
Hundred: Allerdale below Derwent Ward
Province: York