Mungrisdale Church

The following text is taken from the booklet which can be bought in the church.

Part of the Benefice of the Good Shepherd Team Ministry in the Diocese of Carlisle

Map and Gallery:

 Area Map

 The Good Shepherd Team Ministry embraces the parishes of Greystoke, Matterdale, Mungrisdale, Patterdale and Watermillock

 Early Days.
Christianity first came to Cumbria with the Romans whose multitudinal Legions brought an easy-going blend of the new religion and the old gods. The soldiers, who marched from Brovacum (Brougham) and Voreda (old Penrith) to the camps at Lofshaw and then proceeded westwards to Keswick and northwards to Caermote, had little influence upon the few inhabitants. Even towards the end of the occupation, when integration with the native population was established in areas further south, the Lake district remained isolated and sparsely populated.

 From the beginning of the fifth century came the Celtic saints who brought a religion that had originated in the middle east and then spread through Europe to Ireland and northumbria. such men were Martin, Ninian, Columba, Patrick, Cuthbert and our own dedicatee, Kentigern. For the first time, sites of churches were founded and the Celtic church took root. this persisted long after the Synod of Whitby in 664 and certainly until the coming of the Vikings in the Tenth Century.

 These Vikings were not the plunderers who had ravished from the east in the previous century but those who had already settled in Ireland and the Western Isles. they came therefore with convenient adaptation of Christianity suited to old gods. Only after the Norman conquest did the church really become established and then later than most places because of geographical isolation and border strife.

 St Kentigern
No contemporary records of Kentigern exist, nor was he mentioned by Bede through his life, as chronicled by Jocelyn of Furness in the twelfth century, is surely based upon more than legend. It has to be admitted however that the story of his birth and boyhood seems closer to fiction than fact. His mother, Princess Thanew or Thanet having been banished from her kingdom was, after other misadventures, cast adrift in a small boat on the Firth of Forth. Eventually, washed ashore upon the coast of Fife in time to give birth to her child, she was sheltered and tended by local shepherds. Servanus, a holy man who lived nearby, christened the boy Kentigern, also giving him the name Mungo, meaning "my dear one", and provided an education which not only enabled him to begin preaching in Glasgow but was responsible for his being elected Bishop there at the age of twenty-five. He made a journey to Wales to visit St David and it was during his travels southwards that he passed through Cumbria in about the year 550 preaching and establishing crosses. Is is assumed that the eight churches dedicated to Kentigern (at Irthington, Grinsdale, Bromfield, Aspatria, Caldbeck, Castle Sowerby and Crosthwaite, as well as at Mungrisdale) were founded upon the sites of such crosses. He doubtless traveled elsewhere, probably even to Rome, but finally returned to Glasgow and stayed there as Bishop until he died in the first years of the seventh century.

 Kentigern, or Mungo as he is more generally known north of the border, is Glasgow's patron saint and the city's coat of arms bears the symbols traditionally associated with him: a robin, a ring, a fish and a tree. these refer to stories of "miracles" popular in the Middle Ages with local variations - the dead bird brought back to life, the lost ring found in a fish and fresh fruit found in a tree in midwinter.

 Mungrisdale
Grisedale, from the Norse "Grisdair", means "Valley of the pigs" and is a common name on the Lake District. Mungrisdale then is Mungo's Grisedale though it is not certain when the full name came into general use. The church's silver chalice is inscribed "Mounge Grieesdell 1600" and can be seen on display in the Treasury at Carlisle Cathedral. The earliest references to Mungrisdale (rather than Grisdale) appear in Greystoke Parish registers at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The first Christening with the name Mungo was in 1611 and this started a fashion, as it became the most popular boy's name locally for many years thereafter. it would be too easy to assume that this sudden interest in the new name at the turn of the century was the result of a dedication ceremony, perhaps commemorated by the chalice, but it is not known when the church was actually named. In his "Survey of the Lakes", Clarke wrote in 1789 that the chapel was not consecrated. Whenever the dedication took place, it was for Kentigern and not for Mungo.

 The Church
Superbly situated at the foot of Blencathera and its attendant fells, the present church was built in 1756. Nothing is known of earlier buildings though the usual progression from wattle-and-daub to stonework is assumed and the previous one would doubtless have been similar in shape and size. A distant view of the district published in 1747 shows Grisedale Chapel, small and diagrammatic, as a rectangular edifice surrounded by a churchyard wall, much as it appears today.

 It is a typical barn-like Dale church built of thick rubble stone walls and covered with a slated roof carried on king-post trusses. The round-headed Georgian windows give the only external indication of its period and the three-light east window may seen unusually sophisticated for the type of building. it represents part of the great interest in Georgian church building throughout Cumberland in the eighteenth century and was probably directly influenced by the fine local exemplar, St Andrew's in Penrith, which was completed in 1722. it is interesting to compare the Venetian-type east windows of Penrith and Mungrisdale with that at St Mary's Threlkeld, which came in 1777.

 The pews and choir stalls must have been re-used, coming from either the earlier building or from another church, as the disposition of their elegant numerals defies arrangement. The three-decker pulpit, another surprising element of sophistication in such a simple interior, is seen to be another instance of re-use of earlier furnishings, mostly from the late seventeenth century.

 There are three brass wall plaques. One, on the north wall, is in memory of Raisley Calvert, Steward to Duke of Norfolk at Greystoke and father of Raisley Calvert who was a friend of Wordsworth during their student days. Out of gratitude to the poet for looking after him during a long and eventually fatal illness, the younger Calvert bequeathed the sum of £900 to the impecunious Wordsworth, thus ensuring a comfortable start to his literary career. Adjacent is a plaque in memory of Lt col the Reverend AH MacGuffie MBE. vicar from 1956 to 1973 and the last occupant of the vicarage opposite before it was sold as a private house. the third plaque, on the south wall, commemorates restoration work done to the church "in pious memory" of three local ladies.

 In a copy of the Bible which was printed in 1617, there are several hand written entries by William Forrest, curate and Schoolmaster, confirming that it was "Grisdall Tennants bible booke" purchased in 1630 for forty-four shillings, a third of which cost was borne by the tenants of Murray and Mouskell (Murrahand Bowscale). Among other inscriptions is one by john Story. curate in 1633, confirming this. the book was repaired and rebound in 1924 as noted by the Reverend WH Cormack. there is also a Prayer book of 1788 that contains services for the commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot, the beheading of Charles I and the restoration of Charles II.

 Also to be noted are the carpenter's marks at the joints of each four roof trusses and the simple font. the banner, stools and chair cushion which all incorporate St Kentigern's tree, robin, fish and ring were designed and made by Eller Kidd. new-kneelers, hand-worked by ladies of the parish, replaced old ones around 1900.

The bellcote contains a single bell, dated 1481, supposed to have come from Greystoke, at one time the mother church. The churchyard, recently leveled and tidied, is surrounded by a typical local stone field wall. the gates and notice board were made in 1980 and were the gift of Mungrisdale Parish Council to commemorate the Queen's Silver jubilee.

The former butching house on the other side of the road, in past times also a clog maker's shop and an agricultural store, has been refurbished as a meeting place for parish activities and was dedicated to this purpose in 1988 as "St Mungo's House". WJK 1984 (revised 1999)