Watermillock Church

There is a record of a curate at Watermillock as early as 1218, and it is probable that the church at the time was by the lakeside, on the site where the Old church Hotel now stands. it is said the the great yew tree there is a relic of those days. It is very unlikely that any of that building now remains.

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 Location Map

 By the year 1474 the church building and burial ground had moved about half a mile from this original site to where Gowbarrow Hall now stands. Shortly after, this building was apparently destroyed by the Scots, and the "New Kirk" was built on the site of the present church. We do not know the exact date of the building, but it seems likely that it was some years before its consecration in 1558, by Bishop Oglethorpe of Carlisle.

 Oglethorpe was on his way to London after the death of Queen Mary. When no other Bishop would take the responsibility of crowning Elizabeth (Mary had been a Roman Catholic, and so of course were her Bishops, but Elizabeth was a Protestant) Oglethorpe did so. He was a sick man, and never returned to Carlisle.

 The church stood for just over 300 years. It was described in 1880 as "whitewashed within and without, and walls green with damp. It was furnished with dark oak box pews, each with its own door, narrow and inconvenient for public worship, facing north and south in a series of steps. There was a gallery, but no organ, chancel or glass." The building was demolished in 1881, and the present building erected in the same year. The present nave stands on the foundations of the older church, but the chancel is an addition. To complete the work, the tower was rebuilt in 1884.

 The present building contains little from the previous one. Most of the monuments on the walls, some of the wood panelling beneath the pews and the bell, now hung in the north west corner of the nave are all that remain. This church has no outstanding features, but is substantially built of local materials, by local craftsmen and has a simple dignity.

 The chancel was built in memory of the Reverend David Pritchard, who was rector from 1876 to 1880. The reredos was installed in 1934, in memory of Mr T.E Forster. The organ was made by Wilkinson of Kendal in 1888. The choir stalls, pulpit, pews and west end screen, all date from 1881. The communion table was made in 1970.

 there is an old parish chest of about 1560, with three locks which were compulsory in those days. One key was kept by the rector, and one by each of the two church wardens, thus ensuring the honesty of each (much as we now have company cheques signed by at least two people).

 On the north wall is a tablet in memory of the reverend Joseph Thwaites, who was Perpetual Curate of Watermillock from 1770 to 1826. The previous incumbency began in 1722, and the following one ended in 1876, so that the three men served the parish for 154 years. There is also a window to Thwaites on the south side.

 On the south wall of the nave s an old brass, which reads (spelling modified) "Pray for the souls of John Castlehow and Margaret his wife which were buried on New Year's Day and lived together as man and wife for sixty years and their son John.... at the pleasure of Almighty God.... the year of our Lord 1562."

 Although the parish registers go back to 1579 they tell us little about the history of the church apart from recording births, marriages and deaths.

 Formerly a chapelry in the parish of Greystoke, Watermillock became a separate parish in 1867. However in 1980 the parish was no longer able to remain independent and again became linked to the ancient mother church at Greystoke and in 1988 officially became part of the team ministry which includes Greystoke, Matterdale, Mungrisdale and Penruddock.

 The royal coat of arms in the base of the tower is Georgian and the painted Lord's Prayer is early nineteenth century. When the rectory was sold in 1981 permission was obtained to provide a meeting room with kitchen and toilet facilities. This involved moving the font from its original position under the west window to its present position in the south east corner of the nave.

 In the churchyard, set against the west wall, there is a stone to John clark, a churchwarden, who died in 1749. This is one of the oldest stones, although the churchyard was in use before this. Against the north wall of the chancel is a stone to three brothers, one of whom, Benjamin Taylor, was 'an eminent and successful bonesetter'. Beside a footpath on the south side is a sundial, (by Porthouse of Penrith, 1786), the pedestal of which is thought to date back to the time of Edward III.

 Flowers are a feature of the churchyard. Careful mowing over many years has ensured the survival of many traditional meadow species.

 Finally; this building is not just an interesting historical or architectural exhibit. It is a place of worship.