Kirby Lonsdale
With promise of a wet day, we thought ` let`s visit a town` - so just down the road from Ingleton is Kirby Lonsdale and that is where we headed. Despite the forecast, we did not get very wet and were able to wander around and look at a few interesting things. We also had a great dinner in a restaurant in the high street.
While the rolling hills around Kirkby Lonsdale provide picturesque views, the town itself is quite magnificent. Its Georgian market square is extremely elegant, while its stone buildings have changed little in almost 300 years. Unfortunately I didn`t take many images in the town centre amongst all the traffic!
Kirkby Lonsdale has been an important settlement since the Neolithic era with the remains of Celtic towns being unearthed close by. It was also inhabited by the Romans, with a milestone and the remains of a road being found close to the River Lune in 1836.
It is believed that the road was part of a route that run along the side of the Lune and connected forts at Over Burrow and Low Burrow Bridge.
A much loved sight to the south of the town is Devil’s Bridge. Believed to have been built in either the 12th or the 13th century, this arched structure crosses the River Lune and is one of the few surviving bridges of its type in England. It has been made a Scheduled Ancient Monument by English Heritage and is a popular meeting place for bikers.
So where did its name come from? At the apex of the bridge, there’s a deep impression in the stone – often referred to as the devil’s handprint. The folk tale surrounding the handprint tells of an old woman who lived on the banks of the Lune with a few animals. One night her cow strayed across the river and would not be tempted back, no matter how much she coaxed and implored. The devil appeared to her, offering to build a bridge in exchange for the soul of the first body to cross it. The devil constructed the bridge with his own hands, leaving a print in the wet stone. The next day the woman met the devil at the bridge and agreed to fulfil her part of the bargain. She took a bun from her bag and threw it across the bridge, whereupon her small dog raced across to retrieve it. The devil, in a fit of rage at being outwitted, howled in anger and vanished in a cloud of brimstone.
Another structure of historical interest in the town is the Church of St Mary on Queen’s Square. This Grade I listed building dates back to the years shortly after the Norman conquest of 1066 and has superb stained-glass windows (not that my pictures were worth keeping!) and a Perpendicular tower that was added during the 18th century. Odd place for the clock I thought.
The monument on the right of the above image, was erected in memory of five maids killed when fire tore through a local inn. The blaze took hold at the Rose and Crown in Kirkby Lonsdale, in the early hours of 6 December 1820. The victims, who had been sleeping in the attic, were aged 17 to 31. Agnes Nicholson, Hannah Armstrong, Bella Cornthwaite and Agnes Waller all worked at the inn, while their friend, Alice Clarke, had been visiting after previously working there in the same role.
One of the north aisles three magnificent Norman columns, similar to ones in Durham Cathedral, with a diamond pattern on the stone. These represent an era of extensive church building and rebuilding, in contrast to the remaining less ornate columns. The first pillar has a carving of ‘The Green Man’, with foliage emerging from the mouth. (Below)
‘The Green Man’
Perhaps more famous than the church itself though, is the sight you receive when looking out of its yard over the Lune to the west. It has been named Ruskin’s View after the Victorian art critic and Philanthropist John Ruskin who described it as one of the best views over the countryside in England. However I don`t think I was in the right place, as access was denied at one point due to subsidence. However, it was very picturesque.
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