Holy Trinity Church, Seathwaite

Holy Trinity Church is in the village of Seathwaite, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Furness, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its benefice is united with those of four other local parishes. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

1. History

The church was built in 1874 to a design by the Lancaster partnership of Paley and Austin. Holy Trinity was built on the site of an earlier church. For 67 years the curate of that church had been Robert Walker, who was made famous by the poet William Wordsworth. Wordsworth called him "Wonderful Walker", and made reference to him in his Duddon Sonnets and in the poem The Excursion. It was paid for mainly by the industrialist H. W. Schneider.

1. Architecture


1. = Exterior =

Holy Trinity is constructed in coursed slate rubble and has a slate roof. Its plan consists of a nave and chancel in one range, with an organ loft and vestry to the north, and a south porch. At the west end is a gabled bellcote. All the windows are lancets. There are wide buttresses externally between the nave and the chancel. A stone is attached to the porch incorporating a sundial; this had formerly been the shearing stool of Walker.

1. = Interior =

Inside the church is a stoup with a trefoil arcade. Painted on the wall of the chancel are the Ten Commandments. Also in the church is a brass. This had formerly been on a gravestone; it is to the memory of Walker, who died in 1802, and his wife, Anne, who had died two years previously. The stained glass, dating from 1897, is by Kempe. The two-manual organ was built in 1902 by Young.

1. See also

List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin Listed buildings in Dunnerdale-with-Seathwaite

1. References


1. External links

Cumbrian Churches Visit Cumbria (Note: Both websites show photographs of the church.)

Nearby Places View Menu

Dunnerdale-with-Seathwaite

Dunnerdale-with-Seathwaite is a civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. It includes the village of Seathwaite and the hamlets of Cockley Beck, Hall Dunnerdale and Hoses. Dunnerdale is an alternative name for the Duddon Valley, and the parish covers the part of the valley east of the River Duddon. The parish is located 6.2 miles (10.0 km) north of Broughton in Furness, 34.0 miles (54.7 km) west of Kendal and 57.3 miles (92.2 km) south of Carlisle.

Landmark National Park

Seathwaite, Westmorland and Furness

Seathwaite is a village in the Dunnerdale-with-Seathwaite civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria in North West England. It is in the Lake District and part of historic Lancashire. The parish has a population of 129. The village's name comes from old Norse words sef (sedges) and thveit (clearing) and may be taken to mean "Sedges clearing"; written records from 1340 spell the village as Seuthwayt. Nearby Seathwaite Tarn takes its name from the village, the tarn is west of the Coniston Fells and the village is further south west of the tarn. The village is north east of Hall Dunnerdale. It around the old Walna Scar road, which can be reached from the A595 in the south, or the A593 from Skelwith Bridge through the steep Hardknott–Wrynose pass road heading north. A local landmark is the Newfield Inn, a pub that dates from the 16th century that is reputed to have been visited by William Wordsworth on his trips around the Lake District in the early 19th century. Another prominent local building is the Church of the Holy Trinity which 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 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.

Church Landmark

Wallowbarrow Crag

Wallowbarrow Crag is a hill of 292 metres (958 ft) in the Lake District, England. It is on the west of the Duddon Valley, across the valley from the village of Seathwaite. Wallowbarrow Crag is a Fellranger, being included in Mark Richards' The Old Man of Coniston, Swirl How, Wetherlam and the South as one of the 18 (now 21) of his 227 (230 with the extension of the national park) summits which are not in Alfred Wainwright's list of 214. It is also classified as a Tump. It is a recognised site for rock climbing.

Hiking National Park

1.4 km

Walna Scar

Walna Scar is a hill in the English Lake District, lying just south of a pass of the same name in the Coniston Hills. Its summit at 2,035 feet (620 m) is only slightly higher than the pass. Walna Scar is the highest of Wainwright's The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. He describes an ascent from Coniston, continuing past the main summit to a second summit at White Maiden before returning to the south. Walna Scar can be climbed from Coniston or from the Duddon Valley. Both routes meet at the top pass of the Walna Scar Road, a restricted byway, and then head south to the summit. Walna Scar road was an old packhorse route, termed by Wainwright "the ancient highway over Walna Scar", and formed an important medieval conduit from Furness Abbey to Coniston for the wooltrade, (as well perhaps as having been used in the Bronze Age). Geologically, Walna Scar contains a rich seam of distinctively striped slate which was quarried until the early 20th century. This was widely used for flooring in the North of England. The quarry can still be seen today on the slopes overlooking the Duddon Valley.