St Mary's Church | |
---|---|
54°25′51″N2°58′00″W / 54.430848°N 2.966588°W | |
Location | Ambleside |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Church of England |
Website | amblesidechurch.org.uk |
Architecture | |
Heritage designation | Grade II* |
Architect(s) | George Gilbert Scott |
Style | Gothic Revival |
Years built | 1850s |
Administration | |
Province | York |
Diocese | Carlisle |
Archdeaconry | Westmorland |
Clergy | |
Bishop(s) | James Newcome |
Pastor(s) | Beverley Lock |
St Mary's Church is in Ambleside, Cumbria, England. It was built in the 1850s to a design by George Gilbert Scott in Gothic Revival style (specifically Decorated Gothic). The building is Grade II* listed. [1] Notable features include its stone spire, which is a local landmark and an unusual feature in Lake District churches. [2] [3]
The building is constructed of slate, the typical building stone of the locality, and sandstone which is used for dressings and the spire.
The decision to build the church reflects the coming of the railway to Windermere in 1847 and the subsequent expansion of Ambleside because of the increased opportunities for tourism.
A north-east choir vestry was added in 1889 to the designs of Paley & Austin of Lancaster. [1]
There is a 26-foot mural on the west wall depicting the traditional ceremony of rushbearing (which still takes place on the first Saturday in July). [4] [5] The mural was created by Gordon Ransom of the Royal College of Art when the College was evacuated to Ambleside during the Second World War. [1] [6] The vicar of Ambleside, Henry Adamson Thompson, is depicted on the right hand side of the mural.
The tower contains a heavy peal of eight bells cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough in 1901. With the tenor weighing 32 and a half long cwt (1,652 kg), [7] they are the fourth heaviest ring of eight in the United Kingdom and the heaviest ring of eight outside of the West Country. The bells can be heard from across Lake Windermere and are considered to be amongst the finest rings of their kind in the UK. [8]
Burials include Mary Louisa Armitt, the founder of Ambleside's Armitt Library. [9] Her sisters Annie and Sophia are also buried there.
Cartmel Priory church serves as the parish church of Cartmel, Cumbria, England.
Ambleside is a town and former civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the head of Windermere, England's largest natural lake. In 2020 it had an estimated population of 2596.
Westmorland is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. Between 1974 and 2023 Westmorland lay within the administrative county of Cumbria. In April 2023, Cumbria County Council was abolished and replaced with two unitary authorities, one of which, Westmorland and Furness, covers all of Westmorland, thereby restoring the Westmorland name to a top-tier administrative entity. The people of Westmorland are known as Westmerians.
Windermere is a town in the Westmorland and Furness district in Cumbria, England; it is within the Lake District National Park. In the 2001 census, the civil parish of Windermere and Bowness had a population of 8,245, increasing at the 2011 census to 8,359. The town lies about half a mile (1 km) east of the lake, Windermere, from which it takes its name.
Grasmere is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England, and situated in the centre of the Lake District and named after its adjacent lake. Grasmere lies within the historic county of Westmorland. The Ambleside and Grasmere ward had an estimated population of 4,592 in 2019. William and Dorothy Wordsworth, the 'Lake Poets', lived in Grasmere for 14 years and called it "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found."
Bowness-on-Windermere is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Windermere, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east and within the Lake District National Park. The town was historically part of the county of Westmorland and is also forms an urban area with Windermere. The town had a population of 3,814 in the 2011 Census.
Staveley is a village in the South Lakeland district, in Cumbria, England. Historically part of Westmorland, it is situated 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Kendal where the River Kent is joined by its tributary the Gowan. It is also known as Staveley-in-Westmorland and Staveley-in-Kendal to distinguish it from Staveley-in-Cartmel. There are three civil parishes – Nether Staveley, Over Staveley and Hugill (part). Their total population at the 2011 Census was 1,593 but this includes those living in the hamlet of Ings in Hugill parish.
Lakes is a civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 5,127, decreasing at the 2011 census to 4,420. It covers the town of Ambleside, and the villages and hamlets of Clappersgate, Rydal, Grasmere, Troutbeck, Chapel Stile, Elterwater, Little Langdale and Waterhead.
Brough, sometimes known as Brough under Stainmore, is a village and civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness unitary authority of Cumbria, England, on the western fringe of the Pennines near Stainmore. The village is on the A66 trans-Pennine road, and the Swindale Beck, and is about 8 miles (13 km) south east of Appleby-in-Westmorland. Brough is situated 5 miles (8.0 km) north east of Kirkby Stephen and 28 miles (45 km) north east of Kendal on the A685.
The Armitt Museum, also known as the Armitt Museum and Library, is an independent museum and library, founded in Ambleside in Cumbria by Mary Louisa Armitt in 1909. It is a registered charity under English law.
Rydal is a village in Cumbria, England. It is a small cluster of houses, a hotel, and St Mary's Church, on the A591 road midway between Ambleside and Grasmere.
Rushbearing is an old English ecclesiastical festival in which rushes are collected and carried to be strewn on the floor of the parish church. The tradition dates back to the time when most buildings had earthen floors and rushes were used as a form of renewable floor covering for cleanliness and insulation. The festival was widespread in Britain from the Middle Ages and well established by the time of Shakespeare, but had fallen into decline by the beginning of the 19th century, as church floors were flagged with stone. The custom was revived later in the 19th century and is kept alive today as an annual event in a number of towns and villages in the north of England.
St Martin's Church stands in the centre of the town of Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Windermere, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. Its benefice is united with that of St Anne's Church, Ings; St Cuthbert's Church, Kentmere; St James' Church, Staveley; Jesus Church, Troutbeck and St Mary's Church, Windermere.
Moses Bowness (1833–1894) was a Victorian photographer, farmer, entrepreneur and poet.
Holy Trinity Church is in Bog Lane in the village of Brathay, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Windermere, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. The hilltop site for the church was recommended by William Wordsworth who, when describing it in a letter in 1836, said "there is no situation out of the Alps, nor among them, more beautiful than that where this building is placed".
St Oswald's Church is in the village of Grasmere, in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Windermere, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. As well as its architectural interest, the church is notable for its associations with the poet, William Wordsworth and his family, and for its annual ceremony of rushbearing.
Mary Louisa Armitt was an English polymath. She was a teacher, writer, ornithologist and philanthropist. She was the funder and founder of the Armitt Library, Ambleside.
Annie Armitt was an English novelist, poet, short story writer, and essayist. She was also one of the founders of a school in Eccles, England.
Troutbeck Bridge is a village in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. It is situated 1 mile north of Windermere on the A591 road running through the Lake District and was historically in the county of Westmorland. The main secondary school for Windermere and Ambleside, The Lakes School, is located in the village, as is the postal sorting office for the area. Troutbeck Bridge takes its name from where the road crosses the Trout Beck.
St Mary's Church is in the village of Rydal in the Lake District, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Windermere, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church, built in the Gothic revival style, is situated off the A591 road between Ambleside and Grasmere and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.