Seathwaite, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Seathwaite was an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1738 from chapelry in Kirkby_Ireleth,_Lancashire Ancient Parish.

The name Seathwaite derives from a combination of the old Norse words sef (sedges) and thveit (clearing) and may be taken to mean "Sedges clearing". The name, then spelled Seuthwayt, first appeared in written records dating from 1340.

Seathwaite is a village in the Duddon Valley and since 1974 in the South Lakeland District of Cumbria. It lies within the Lake District National Park, and is part of the civil parish of Dunnerdale with Seathwaite,. The nearby Seathwaite Tarn (west of the Coniston Fells) takes its name from the village. The village is northeast of Hall Dunnerdale and southwest of the Tarn.

The Church of the Holy Trinity was originally built in the early 16th century. William Wordsworth visited the church and dedicated one of his 35 Duddon Sonnets to the place and to the Reverend Robert Walker (1709–1802) who was parson at the church for 66 years. The church contains a memorial plaque to Walker, who was known as "Wonderful Walker" because of his long and exemplary ministry. Wordsworth refers to him in the sonnet as someone "whose good works formed an endless retinue". The church itself was completely rebuilt in 1874 due to its rundown state, it was reconsecrated in May 1875. The modern parish is in the Diocese of Carlisle.

SEATHWAITE, a chapelry, in the township of Dunnerdale and Seathwaite, parish of Kirkby Ireleth, union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 17 miles (N. by W.) from Ulverston; containing 202 inhabitants. The chapelry comprises about 2000 acres of good land, of which 500 are arable and meadow in nearly equal portions, 35 wood, and the remainder pasture. There is also a considerable portion of waste land. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £60; patrons, the family of Millers. The tithes have been commuted for £40 payable to the Dean and Chapter of York, and £1 payable to the incumbent of the chapelry; there is a glebe of about three-quarters of an acre. Robert Walker, who was born in the valley here in 1709, became incumbent in his 26th year, and continued to hold the benefice to the day of his death, when he had attained the age of 93: his wife died in the same year at the same age.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 36-40. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51261 Date accessed: 21 July 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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