Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for BEETHAM

BEETHAM, a township and a parish in Kendal district, Westmoreland. The township lies on the river Beetha, 1½ mile S of Milnthorpe. Acres, 7,101; of which 1,885 are water. Real property, with Tarleton, £6,095. Pop., 776. Houses, 160. The parish extends down both sides of the river Kent to Morecambe bay; includes the townships of Tarleton, Haverbrack, Witherslack, and Methop-with-Ulpha; is traversed by the Lancaster and Carlisle and the Lancaster and Ulverston railways; and contains the village of Arnside, with a station on the latter railway and a post office under Milnthorpe. Acres, 17,449; of which 4,177 are water. Real property, £11,449. Pop;, 1,510. Houses, 289. The property is much subdivided. The surface is diversified, hilly, and picturesque. Slate and limestone occur; and paper-making is carried on. Beetham Hall, formerly the seat of the Betham family, now the property of the Earl of Derby, was a fine castellated mansion, but is now in ruins. Cappleside House also was a great mansion, with 117 feet of frontage; but is likewise in ruins. The towers of Arnside and Helslack, supposed to have been erected to guard the bay of Morecambe, make a conspicuous figure, but are also in ruins. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value £159.* Patron, the Duchy of Lancaster. The church is a neat edifice; and contains monuments of the Betham and Wilson families, and a manuscript history of the parish, written by the vicar Hutton. The p. curacy of Witherslack is a separate benefice. A grammar school, founded by Dean Barwick, has an endowed income of about £40; and other charities have about £472.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a township and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Beetham AP/CP       Kendal RegD/PLU       Westmorland AncC
Place: Beetham

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