Kirkby Ireleth is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Westmorland and Furness Westmorland and Furness is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the Royal Port of Barrow, Royal ...

district of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. It includes the villages of Grizebeck and

Kirkby-in-Furness Kirkby-in-Furness, generally referred to simply as Kirkby locally, is a village that is the major part of the parish of Kirkby Ireleth in the Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Lancashire, ...

- which is really a collection of six different hamlets, namely: Soutergate, Wall End, Beck Side, Sand Side, Marshside and Chapels; and other outlying settlements including Bailiff Ground, Gargreave, Friars' Ground, Beanthwaite, Dove Bank, Dove Ford and

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

History

Kirkby Ireleth was an

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Lonsdale Hundred The Lonsdale Hundred is a historic hundred of Lancashire, England. Although named after the dale or valley of the River Lune, which runs through the city of Lancaster, for centuries it covered most of the north-western part of Lancashire arou ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. The parish was subdivided into three

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Broughton West Broughton West is a civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. It is based around the small town of Broughton-in-Furness, for which Broughton West was historically an alternative name. The parish also includes the ...

(also known as a

Broughton-in-Furness Broughton in Furness is a market town in the civil parish of Broughton West in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. It had a population of 529 at the 2011 Census. It is located on the south western boundary of England's Lak ...

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 t ...

, and a Kirkby Ireleth township covering the southern and eastern parts of the parish. The latter township was further subdivided into sections called Heathwaite,

Kirkby Moor Kirkby Moor is a poorly defined moorland area in southern Cumbria, England, named after the village of Kirkby-in-Furness, but stretching both sides of the A5092 road, and thus spanning the border of the Lake District National Park. The highest a ...

, Low Quarter, Middle Quarter, and

. The parish church, dedicated to St Cuthbert, was in the Low Quarter, at Beck Side. The building dates back to the 12th century. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the

poor laws The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s. E ...

, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Kirkby Ireleth, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so the three townships also became separate

es. The civil parish today retains the name Kirkby Ireleth, but it was historically also known as Kirkby-in-Furness. The latter version of the name was adopted by the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

as the name for the

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

covering the area.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Kirkby Ireleth, at

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

and

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

level: Kirkby Ireleth Parish Council and

Westmorland and Furness Council Westmorland and Furness Council is the Local government in England, local authority for Westmorland and Furness, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, b ...

. When elected parish and district councils were created under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

, Kirkby Ireleth was included in the Ulverston Rural District, which was renamed

North Lonsdale Rural District {{coord, 54.291, -3.062, display=title, region:GB_scale:200000 North Lonsdale was a rural district in the county of Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was created in 1894 as the Ulverston Rural District, and was renamed in 1960. It cove ...

in 1960. North Lonsdale Rural District was abolished in 1974, and Kirkby Ireleth became part of the

South Lakeland South Lakeland was a local government district in Cumbria, England, from 1974 to 2023. Its council was based in Kendal. The district covered the southern part of the Lake District region, as well as northwestern parts of the Yorkshire Dales. A ...

district in the new county of

. South Lakeland was abolished in 2023 when the new Westmorland and Furness Council was created, also taking over the functions of the abolished Cumbria County Council in the area.

Demography

At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 1,201. The population was 1,247 at the 2001 census.

Notable people

Denny Dennis Denny Dennis (1 November 1913 in Derby – 2 November 1993 in Barrow-in-Furness) was a British romantic vocalist during the 1930s to the 1950s, when British dance bands were at the peak of their popularity. He was a band singer, a solo recording ...

- born Ronald Dennis Pountain, (1913-1993), romantic vocalist during the 1930s to the 1950s. *

Margaret Fell Margaret Fell or Margaret Fox ( Askew, formerly Fell; 1614 – 23 April 1702) was a founder and leading member of the Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Prot ...

(1614–1702), theologian and co-founder of Quakerism * Henry 'Harry' Gifford (1884 - 1952), professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played for Barrow,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

1891 United Kingdom Census The United Kingdom Census 1891 was a census of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland carried out on Sunday 5 April 1891. A question was added to record the number of rooms in a household, in response to concerns about overcrowding in ci ...

, Administrative County of Lancaster, Civil Parish of Ulverston, Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Mary's, page 37, schedule number 212.

1901 United Kingdom Census The United Kingdom Census 1901 was the 11th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was done on 31 March 1901 "relating to the persons returned as living at midnight on Sunday, March 31st". The total pop ...

, Administrative County of Lancaster, Civil Parish of Ulverston, Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Mary's, page 26, schedule number 152.

1911 United Kingdom Census The United Kingdom Census 1911 of 2 April 1911 was the 12th nationwide census conducted in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The total population of the United Kingdom was approximately 45,221,000, with 36,070,000 recorded in England ...

, Registration District Barrow-in-Furness, schedule number 97. * Alfred Basil 'Woody' Woodhall , CzWC, LOM (1897–1968), senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

References

External links