ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



lated, and its boundaries, which lay at the very roots of northern history and were in existence 

 before the formation of the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, were uprooted and 

 changed. The name of the deanery of Coupland, which had a separate history dating at least 

 from the early years of the fourteenth century * as an outlying portion of the great and famous 

 archdeaconry of Richmond, was expunged from local nomenclature. The three archdeacon- 

 ries, into which the present diocese of Carlisle is divided, have neither ecclesiastical associ- 

 ations nor historical significance. 



Each of the archdeacons of the diocese holds what he calls ' a general chapter and ordinary 

 visitation ' in various centres of his archdeaconry in the years when the bishop does not visit, 

 to which he summons ' all rectors, vicars, and curates as also churchwardens and chapelwardens, 

 both old and new, the old to make true presentments of all defaults and offences of ecclesiastical 

 cognizance, with the names and places of abode of the several delinquents, and those newly 

 elected or re-elected, to be admitted to their office.' 



APPENDIX III 



THE RURAL DEANERIES 



THE division of the diocese of Carlisle into four districts a had undergone no modification 

 while rural deaneries remained an effective part of church organization, the deaneries of 

 the twelfth being of the same extent as those of the sixteenth century. When we find 

 the deans describing themselves in early documents, say from 1160 to 1190, their decanal areas 

 were set out in the four divisions of Carlisle, Cumberland, Allerdale, and Westmorland, 3 the 

 identical divisions which were in use till the office became extinct. It is true that deans some- 

 times changed their territorial titles, but it is certain that the decanal divisions underwent 

 no alteration to justify the practice. On comparing the parishes comprised within each of 

 the four divisions in 1292, the date of the valuation of Pope Nicholas IV., with the divisions 

 recognized at various periods up to 1560, when the office was in a state of decay, we find no 

 shifting of decanal boundaries. In the meantime, of course, new parishes had been formed 

 and old parishes had been absorbed into other parishes, but the territorial extent of each of 

 the four deaneries had remained stationary. As the deanery of Westmorland lay without 

 the limits of Cumberland as we now know it, we are not concerned with its place in the dio- 

 cesan scheme. The remaining portion of the county, not included in the old diocese, was 

 constituted into the deanery of Coupland, a partition of the archdeaconry of Richmond and 

 diocese of York. It was conterminous with the barony of Egremont, the great fief granted 

 by Henry I. to William Meschin, and often went by that name. This deanery was included 

 in the diocese of Chester, created in 1541, and remained under the jurisdiction of the bishop 

 of that see till 1856, when the diocese of Carlisle was enlarged to its present dimensions. The 

 historic division of the county into four deaneries may be thus tabulated : (i) Deanery of 

 Carlisle, comprising thirty-five parishes, namely, St. Cuthbert's and St. Mary's, Carlisle, 

 Bowness, Aikton, Cumwhitton, Irthington, Wetheral, Warwick, Farlam, Burgh by Sands, 

 Stanwix, Crosby on Eden, Beaumont, Kirkandrews on Eden, Dalston, Carlaton, Thursby, 

 Brampton, Stapilton, Eston, Cambok, Athuret, Kirklinton, Bewcastle, Castle Carrock, Orton, 

 Kirkbampton, Rocliffe, Cumrew, Hayton, Scaleby, Grinsdale, Nether Denton, Walton, and 

 Sebergham. (2) Deanery of Allerdale, eighteen parishes : Aspatria, Wigton, Kirkbride, 

 Bromfield, Bolton, Ireby, Uldale, Crosthwaite, Caldbeck, Isell, Bassenthwaite (Beghokirk), 

 Torpenhow, Plumbland, Gilcrux, Bridekirk, Crosscanonby, Dearham and Camerton. (3) 

 Deanery of Cumberland, seventeen parishes : Greystoke, Castlesowerby, Skelton, Dacre, 

 Hutton, Penrith, Edenhall, Great Salkeld, Lazonby, Kirkland, Ousby, Melmerby, Kirkoswald, 



Gale, Reg. Honor, de Richmond, App. pp. 63-4, 76. 



1 For the antiquity of rural deaneries in England and their formation on the basis of the civil divi- 

 sions, see the arguments and the authorities quoted by Gibson, Codex luris Eccl. Ang. (ed. 1713), ii. 1010- 

 2; Kennett, Parochial Antiquities (ed. 1818), ii. 337-45; Dansey, Hone Decan. Rurales (ed. 1844), 

 ii. 22-1 10. 



3 It is stated by Bartholomew de Cotton that the bishopric of Carlisle had four deaneries : ' I. Cum- 

 berland, 2. Westmerland, 3. Karlesle, 4. .Airedale ' (Hist. Anglicana [Rolls Ser.], p. 417). 



II 121 16 



