Great Salkeld Church of St Cuthbert (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Great Salkeld.
In the historic county of Cumberland.
Modern Authority of Cumbria.
1974 county of Cumbria.
Medieval County of Cumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY55173677
Latitude 54.72383° Longitude -2.69771°

Great Salkeld Church of St Cuthbert has been described as a certain Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Parish church with fortified tower. Late C11 with c.1380 tower; c.1480 and 1674 alterations; 1866 and 1879 restorations. Large blocks of red sandstone, the walls of the tower extremely thick; both tower and chancel with chamfered plinths. Graduated sandstone slate roof with coped gable, kneelers and cross finial. 3-storey square west tower; 5-bay nave with south porch; 2-bay chancel. Tower has small chamfered loops on each face at various levels, the upper west one with cusped head. Clock face on south wall and projecting angle stair turret, all under battlemented parapet with angle spouts. Nave has 1750 porch covering original heavily-carved C11 doorway of 3 orders of zigzag arches, some with carved heads. Roman altar from Old Penrith and fragments of medieval graveslabs in porch. South C19 windows. Blocked north doorway and C19 windows, but an upper C15 window. Walls of nave raised in C15. Chancel has round-headed priest's doorway, rood-light C15 window and other 2-light windows. 3-light east window looks C17. Interior of tower has vaulted basement. 2 window splays have lintels made of 3 medieval graveslabs. Iron-bound 'yett' gate complete with drawbars. Upper-floor fireplace has reused medieval graveslab to an Inglewood forester c.1290. Nave has late medieval timber roof. One window has its internal medieval splay. C19 and C20 Stained glass, one a memorial to Bishop Nicholson, who was vicar here. White marble wall plaques, one to Bishop Bowstead of Lichfield, born in Great Salkeld in 1801. Wall-mounted C17 armour. Earlier roofline can be seen in west wall. Chancel has effigy moved from nave to Thomas de Caldbec, Rector 1319. Medieval graveslab built into floor and another slate slab of 1490 to Stephen Close, Rector (brass inscription now illegible). (Listed Building Report)

The peel is in good condition and abuts the west side of the church. It measures 8.0m by 7.0m externally with walls 1.6m thick. The ground floor room is barrel vaulted with a doorway containing two bar holes. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments F1 BHP 27-JUL-72)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1100260
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 12221.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 3837.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Visit Cumbria
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog and Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
  Old Cumbria Gazetteer
  Abaroth's World
Books
- Harrison, Peter, 2004, Castles of God (Woodbridge; Boydell Press) p. 68 n1
  Brooke, C.J., 2000, Safe Sanctuaries (Edinburgh; John Donald) p. 10-11, 282, 288, 308, 310, 315-9, 331, 360-2, 367
  Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 29) p. 203 (plan)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 41
  Cope, Jean, 1991, Castles in Cumbria (Cicerone Press) p. 104-5
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 97
  Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p. 88-9
  Pevsner, N., 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth: Penguin) p. 131
  Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal: CWAAS Extra Series 13) p. 177, 326-7
  Lysons, Daniel and Samuel, 1816, 'Antiquities: Ancient church architecture' Magna Britannia Vol. 4: Cumberland p. cxci-ii and plates online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Collingwood, W.G., 1923, 'An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Cumberland' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 23 p. 224 online copy
  Cory, J.A., 1875, 'Notices of certain remarkable Fortified Churches existing in Cumberland' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol. 2 p. 46-56 online copy (reprint of 1859 article)
  Cory, J.A., 1859, 'Notices of certain remarkable fortified Churches in Cumberland' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 16 p. 318-25 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 23 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 37 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 North West (London: English Heritage) p. 34 online copy
  Kelland, C.H., 1982, Ecclesiae Incastellatae: A Documentary and Architectural Study of the Concept of 'Fortified Churches' in England and Wales (M.Phil. Thesis, 2 vols, University College, University of London) p. 196, 198

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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