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Paths Of The Soul

Cumbrian Corpse Ways by Julia Smith from Northern Earth 68

Some time ago, I wrote about a number of corpse roads I had read about during the course of other research (NE 60). I have now come across a number of others during research in the Cumbrian region. I have not followed any of these up, but pass them on for the benefit of any interested readers.

Under the entry for Calthwaite, in the Cumbria Village Book published by the Cumbria Federation of Women's Institutes, it states that before there was a graveyard at Hesket-in-the-Forest, corpses were carried from the Petteril valley via a path over Lazenby Fell to Kirkoswald in the Eden valley. Almost at the summit of the fell is a coffin stone where the coffin rested during the journey. The forest referred to in the placename was the Royal Forest of Inglewood. According to the King's England for the Lake Counties, Hesket-in-the-Forest consists of the villages of High Hesket and Low Hesket, on the Roman road to Carlisle. The church at High Hesket was built four hundred years ago when victims of the Black Death were brought from Carlisle for burial. A stone platform with a hole through the middle where the Court Thorn grew marked the spot where for hundreds of years the manorial court was held. When the King's England (after KE) was first published in 1937, the stone remained and though the old tree had died, a stripling was growing through it. That should be a fair-sized tree now.

The church at Kirkoswald, St Oswald's of course, has a detached belfry, a Victorian replacement for the original (again KE). Below the west window of the church is a well whose water comes from a stream below the nave. Parts of the church are Norman, but two arches are 13th century and rest on great stone heads with savage faces.

Prior to 1821, the Langdale dead were carried over the fell to be buried at Grasmere. The Wasdale dead were carried along the Corpse Road to Eskdale until 1901, for burial in the church of St Catherine. An old well dedicated to the saint is nearby. A footpath follows the route of the Corpse Road, crossing the bridge at Boot, and coming up over Burnmoor before descending to Wasdale, according to the Village Book. KE calls the path the old Funeral Road, a branch from the track that goes from Boot up the fell and across Eskdale Moor. Stone circles and other prehistoric remains are to be found round here. A tale is told of a packhorse, carrying a corpse, which took fright, reared and disappeared into the mist with the body of Thomas Porter of Wasdale still strapped to its back. We are not informed whether the body was ever recovered. Beyond Eskdale Green is the lonely valley of Miterdale, haunt of the Beckside Boggle. This sounds as though the area would stand further investigation.

Seven miles east of Carlisle is the village of Hayton, another area I think worthy of further study. Castle Hill is a man-made hill rising above the village. A corpse road, now a public footpath, crosses the fields from the hamlet of How to the church of St Mary Magdalene and is known as the Trods.

Before the chapel of St Mary was built at Rydal, the dead were carried, via Nab Scar, to Grasmere - a walk still known as the Coffin Trail.

Torver lies 3 1/2 ml. SW of Coniston, and though a chapel came with the founding in the 12th century of the priory of Conishead, it was not consecrated as a church until 1884. Before that date, the dead had to be carried the sixteen miles to Ulverston for burial.

A more hazardous journey faced those carrying the dead of Witherslack to the mother church of Beetham; they had to cross dangerous sands. St Mary's Chapel at Witherslack, five miles NE of Grange-over-Sands, was in a ruinous condition by 1664, according to the will of John Barwick. He bequeathed monies for repairs to the chapel and for a new burial ground. John Barwick, born in Witherslack, was a Royalist who became Dean of St Paul's, where he is buried. His brother was the King's physician. The outlawed Sir Thomas Broughton, who joined Lambert Simnel's rebellion against Henry VII, is buried in the nearby woods. According to legend, he hid for many months in a cave and was brought food by his tenants.

Woodland is not a village but an area, a broad valley with scattered dwellings hemmed in by Woodland Fells to the east and by the ridge of Broughton Moor to the west. Wreaks Causeway separates it from the Duddon estuary to the south; to the north, fells lead up to Torver High Common. The area is rich in prehistoric remains, including Bronze Age field systems and a mediaeval homestead. The legendary Giant's Grave is probably a Bronze Age barrow. Not far from the church (the present 1865 church stands on the site of an older one), a bridleway, the Monk's Walk, leads NE to Torver. It was along this route that the monks of Furness Abbey brought their dead in the Middle Ages. A ruin at Nether Bolton is reputedly an inn where the funeral parties rested.

Perhaps any readers planning a trip into Cumbria may be able to pursue one or more of these northern death roads. Some of the areas appear to have plenty to interest earth mysteries researchers.

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