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The Parish of Kirkby Ireleth
in the County of
-- Lancashire --

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KIRKBY IRELETH, a parish in the liberty of Furness, in the west or Ulverstone division of the north of the sands portion of the hundred of Lonsdale, and the polling district and poor law union of Ulverstone, comprising 35,200 acres. The divisions are six, Low Quarter, Middle Quarter, Broughton-in-Furness or West Broughton, Woodland and Heathwaite, and Dunnerdale and Seathwaite. Kirkby Ireleth is 6 miles W. N. W. of Ulverstone. British celts have been found, and there are traces of Roman settlements. Kirkby Cross House, and Broughton Tower, are old halls. Courts baron are held for Kirkby Ireleth, Broughton, and Dunnerdale with Seathwaite. The church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, existed 1227, rebuilt about 1400, 1826, living a vicarage of peculiar jurisdiction, annual value £125, patrons Dean and Chapter of York; the arch of the doorway is ancient. – The episcopal chapels are three, Broughton-in-Furness, Woodland, date 17th century, annual value of curacy £68; and Seathwaite, existed 1730, annual value £60. – The Baptists have a chapel in Broughton. Broughton is a market town: see article Broughton-in-Furness. Slate quarrying is the principal employment. The Duddon river is navigable. 3,000 tons of slate are annually exported. In 1801 the population was 2,344; 1811, 2,394; 1821, 2,947; 1831, 3,234. There is an endowed school at Broughton: in 1833 the daily schools were 12, sunday 5. Two-thirds of the parish is pasture, moss and heath, average rent per acre 15s. Annual value of property 1815, £14,325; 1829, £14,805. There are extensive quarries of slate on Kirkby Moor, employing 400 hands, and a large peat moss. The district is very healthy.

“A Statistical Sketch of the County Palatine of Lancaster (1841)”, by Edwin Butterworth, facsimile reprint 1968, by the ‘Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society’. With grateful thanks to the Society.

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