A Lost Medieval Priory Beneath a Grand Country House, Conishead Priory

Conishead Priory today is a well visited attraction, home to Buddhist monks and an impressive and “…very important Gothic revival country house with few peers in the north west” (English Heritage). But beneath the grand manor house and its well kept lawns are the foundations of a 12th Century Augustinian Priory.

In 1160 Gamel de Pennington, a local lord living at Pennington Castle, founded a hospital here for the poor of the Ulverston area. Monks from the Order of St. Augustine ran the hospital and lived within it. They also founded a school here to help educated local children. Later, in 1188, the hospital was raised to the status of a Priory and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. A holy relic kept at the site was said to be a girdle, a type of waist tie, of Mary.

The newly appointed priory soon was given new land and rights which, in turn, brought conflict with the nearby Furness Abbey. Furness was an ever growing power house at the time and would be unhappy with a new priory taking land and tithes from areas they could potentially cultivate. Disputes between Conishead and Furness carried on until 1338 when Edward II gave a royal charter to Conishead, which confirmed all earlier grants of land and rights. This brought to an end all disputes, although one does wonder if the monks at Furness were ever completely happy with the Priories existence!

In the mid 1500’s, as part of the ‘Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries’, Conishead was dissolved. The monks were moved on and the lead from the roofs stripped, melted down and sold. The walls were dismantled as well leaving the site all but empty.

If you visit the site today it is hard to see any evidence of this early priory. No ruined walls are left to give an idea of its size or shape, nor any markings on the ground. But, thankfully, there has been some archaeological excavation at the site. This work found the priory church to be beneath the south lawn of the current manor house and to be in the typical cruciform shape with a 100 foot nave and crossing transepts. The domestic buildings of the priory are believed to be beneath the current manor house, inaccessible for research and confirmation of size and shape.

It is a shame that this religious house of old is no longer in existence or that there is no evidence of it left to see. It must have been a peaceful and beautiful place in it’s time and would have been a wonderful place to visit today if still in some form of existence.

After the priories dissolution the estate was given to a man called Lord Mounteagle who built a country house here from what was left of the Priories stone walls. The estate then went on to pass through various hands until eventually coming into the hands of the Braddylls family. They held Conishead for just under two centuries, living in the country house. In 1821 the house was to undergo a drastic change, a change brought about by Colonel Thomas Braddyll - High Sheriff of Lancashire.

The Colonel hired architect Philip Wyatt to rebuild Conishead to a brand new design. From here the current house was demolished and fifteen years later the brand new Conishead manor house was finished and was, and is, stunning. Wyatt had blended different architectural styles to produce a unique and exciting building. The houses distinctive octagonal towers, which stand at the front of the building, are truly impressive at 100 feet tall and make Conishead stand out amongst the surrounding trees and, indeed, amongst other local stately homes and country houses.

Unfortunately for Colonel Braddyll he was, in 1848, declared bankrupt and he lost his newly built Conishead. The site once again passed through various hands until eventually becoming a hydropathical hotel, soon being known as ‘The Paradise of Furness’. The hotel could hold 240 guests and provided a host of different facilities including a huge library, tennis courts, pleasure boating and salt baths.

Fifty years later and the house changed hands again, this time bought by the Durham Miners Welfare Committee. They turned the site into a convalescent home for Durham coal miners who became ill from there work. During the Second World War the site became a military hospital, the largest in the North, and looked after many thousands of patients over the war years.

Today Buddhist monks own and look after the house, which has become the Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre. The former walled garden of the country house now holds a beautifully decorative Buddhist temple and the site is a hub for spiritual activity in the area.

Visiting the site today you can get a sense of the tranquillity that the original Augustinian monks would have had being here and that the many families, hotel guests, miners and Buddhists have experienced here over the centuries. The site is well worth a visit for a cup of tea and a slice of cake in the café, a wander around the impressive garden and grounds and a look inside the temple. But while there be sure to take a look at the grand stately home and think of the humble beginning of the site as a medieval hospital turned priory.

Victorian Emergency Services Series - Ulverston

Today we take Emergency Services like hospitals, the police and the fire brigade for granted. They are engrained in our modern world, if we need them they are there and we can always rely on them. Back in the Victorian Era though things were very different. In this post we conclude our series on Victorian Emergency Services by looking at Ulverston.

Town Jails and Police Station

The Town Gaol

One of the earliest law enforcement sites in Ulverston is, and was, tucked down a side ally now known as Smithy Close, just off of King Street. This building was used as the Town Gaol (jail) where people found under the influence were placed to sober up. At the time this building was used anyone found committing a more serious crime would have been sent to Lancaster for trial.

By 1836 Ulverston had a new custom build Town Jail, often referred to as the 'Black Hole' by locals, to fulfill the need for a police station. This lock up was situated on The Gill, not that you would know today, a toilet block now sits where the jail used to be. The jail was a square building standing alone in the middle of the Gill. It held three cells, at about 6 feet by 3 feet, where wrong doers would be imprisoned. Above the cells were living space and bedrooms, this is most likely where a Police Officer would have lived. It can't have been the most pleasant place to live but needs must when you are a Victorian Policeman.

Several years later and land was bought on Neville Street to build a new, larger, Police station. The new station  opened in 1888 having been designed by local Architect James W Grundy. Grundy was also responsible for some proposed developments to the Town Jail, planning to add a new living area. The new Police Station was much bigger than anything the town had had before, standing taller and looking much grander. Inside the building, just through the main door, there was a Superintendents Office to the left with a Clerks Office to the right. Beyond this was a passage leading to 4 large cells, awaiting the detention  of criminals from Ulverston streets. As well as these rooms there was also a Constables Parade Room, where constables would be briefed before going on duty, two bedrooms upstairs with living quarters in separate buildings to the rear. This Station had everything a growing Victorian Police Force would need to carry out its work. Before this the town, much like Barrow and Dalton, was making do with small lock ups and one manned stations. As towns grew and the population of Furness rose, more stations of this size were needed to handle the rise in crime.

The Police Station is still in use by the Ulverston constabulary and is one of the only Victorian built stations in Furness that is still in use today. How much longer it will remain in use is uncertain at this time but one hopes that this building has a long life ahead of it.

Ulverston Cottage Hospital

In 1873 a brand new Cottage Hospital opened on Newton Street, near the Swan Inn. The hospital was built to mainly cater for casualty patients. It did later, in 1906, take on surgical cases and develop a maternity department. The hospital was funded by voluntary contributions, as was the norm in Victorian England, and fundraising were undertaken through annual parades that took place in the town centre. The hospital building was designed, like the later Police Station, by James W Grundy, in 1871. The building contained two wards able to hold three beds, a convalescent ward and a special ward. It also had a small surgery, nurse's room and operation room. Upstairs there was a room for children's cots, presumably to hold any sick children brought to the establishment, along with two bedrooms. Everything was tailored for the healing and care of the ill and wounded, from the purpose built wards to the large exterior garden. Of course along with healing, unfortunately, also comes death. A reminder of this stood to the rear of the hospital in a separate out-building. This building was the mortuary chamber. Here anyone who passed away in the hospital would be brought for autopsy.

Today the only evidence left of this hospital is a wall and fence on Newton Street, which the hospital would have stood behind. The hospital building itself has, sadly, been replaced by housing.

The hospital served the town until 1971 when it was demolished. A new hospital soon opened in Stanley Street with in an old workhouse building. This building was also demolished at a later date to make way for a new purpose built hospital, which still stands on the site today.

Fire Station

Sitting on The Ellers is a small building currently being used by the St. Johns ambulance, but back in 1886 this building was just opening as Ulverston's first, purpose built, Fire Station! Armed with an old manual engine the Fire Brigade would set out to tackle the fires of Ulverston town. Some years after the Brigade purchased a brand new Greenwich Gem fire engine. The engine went through several testings, one memorable one being witnessed by Councillors and locals alike. This test included the engines water jet blasting 360 gallons of water a minute at the walls of the Workhouse on Stanley Street. This must have been quite a display for the onlookers, possibly something they had never seen before. A small boiler at the rear of the machine powered the engines water jet. The Fire Station on The Ellers continued to serve the town for many many years, under going several alterations and extensions in the 1900s, until eventually closing in 1974 when a new station was built just next door.

Conclusion

The Victorian period really saw the birth of modern emergency services. The expansion of the police force and fire brigades brought to the fore well run services ready to cope with whatever was thrown at them. Criminals could be apprehended sooner, fires could be fought quicker and more efficiently. The building of hospitals to aid the public saw an advance in medical care and treatment; medicines would become more and more accessible. People injured in accidents would be treated quicker and in a safer environment, which led to less deaths and longer lives. These hospitals also paved the way for the welfare state and eventually the NHS we know today. Without the Victorian advances in emergency services Britain could be a very different place today! 

Site of the Town Jail, now a toilet block.

Victorian Emergency Services Series - Barrow-in-Furness

Today we take Emergency Services like hospitals, the police and the fire brigade for granted. They are engrained in our modern world, if we need them they are there and we can always rely on them. Back in the Victorian Era though things were very different. In Barrow at the start of the 1800s there were no hospitals, no established police station and the fire brigade was not as well organised as it is today.

In this post we will take a look at the formation of the Emergency Services in Barrow in many buildings that still stand today but may be easily missed.

Hospital

On the corner of Cross Street and Albert Street there is a typical terraced house similar to many seen on Barrow streets, but this building has a hidden past that little may know.

In 1866 the then Vicar of St. Georges, Rev. Barret, set up a hospital in this house having seen a need for one in the town. This hospital became known as St. Georges Hospital and was run by the Vicar and a ‘committee of ladies’. There is nothing to indicate that this small house (see portrait image below) once was a hospital, let alone the first real hospital in the town!

As demand for the hospital grew it had to expand. To do this it moved to a whole row of three story buildings in School Street. These buildings still stand today and have been converted to housing, but reminders of their Victorian past can still be seen high up built into the brickwork. The words ‘Barrow Hospital Supported by Voluntary Contributions’ are clearly visible just below the windows of the third floor. A much larger site than the original at Cross Street but even with this impressive expansion the hospital was found to be too small for growing need. Another expansion was needed and, as the first expansion, the hospital was set to move completely. The Furness Railway gave some land for a new site to be built just across the road from the current building. The architectural firm Paley and Austin, of Lancaster, were hired to design the new build and after many local donations the North Lonsdale Hospital was erected. The brand new hospital opened its doors for the first time in 1874 and continued to serve the town for over 110 years until Furness General Hospital was built in 1984.

The original Hospital on Cross Street (left) and the site of the North Lonsdale Hospital (right) 

Police Station 

On Rawlinson Street, between Ramsden Street and Storey Square, stands a row of, on the face of it, typical terraced houses. But look a little closer and you can see a sign that reads 'Police Station AD 1880'. This building once, in Victorian times, was one of Barrow's first Police Stations. Although the sign reads 1880 it would appear that a lease on the building was taken out in 1874 by Colonel Robert Bruce. He also took out a lease for a building in Crellin Street all "to be used, occupied and enjoyed as Police Stations".

"This Indenture made the fifteenth day of February 1874 between William Grandwell of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Lancaster, builder of one part and Colonel Robert Bruce of Preston in the said county of Lancaster, Chief Constable of the County Constabulary. To hold the premises hereinbefore expressed to be hereby demised unto the said Robert Bruce and his successors in office as aforesaid for the term of 7 years from the first day of November 1873(4) yielding and paying unto the said William Grandwell his heirs and assigners during the said term the yearly rent of £80 by two equal half yearly payments on the 1st day of May and the first day of November." - Taken from the original Draft Lease.

The whole red brick section, as pictured above, was leased by Robert Bruce for the police but only one section was actually used as the Station itself. The section of the building which has the sign upon it is the Station. The sections on either side are housing for Police Officers. As you enter the Station there would have been a hall with a Men's Room to the left, presumably for the Police Men. Then in front of you would be the main office followed by a W.C and two Cells for holding suspects on arrest. Within each cell there would have been a single bed but it is more than likely that many would be locked in the small cells.

Unfortunately the building leased on Crellin Street, number 72, has been demolished at sometime and replaced with a newer building. It is also unclear as to what this building would have been used for, Police Station or Police Housing? Either way both dwellings on Rawlinson and Crellin Street are some of the earliest Police buildings in Barrow. 

It is hard to say how long the Rawlinson Police Station remained as such but a Station did open on Cornwallis Street at some point and by 1958 the Police had moved to their present Headquarters on Market Street.

Fire Station

There is but one building left in Barrow that was once the Fire Station. This building stands on Abbey Road, next to the Custom House, and dates from 1911. Before this Station was built the Fire Brigade was operating out of a corner in the covered market, formally situated in front of the Town Hall, and two converted shops in Hindpool Road. The whereabouts of the converted shops on Hindpool Road we are unsure about, they may well not exist anymore. The Fire Service was started in Barrow from 1865 and started serving the town straight away. In 1892 they had to tackle a huge blaze at the Jute Works, where the Range and Next are today, as one of their first major incidents.

At some point a temporary Fire Station was built on Duke Street to house the ever growing need for the brigade but by 1910 the premises was in dire need of replacement. It was at this time a brand new station was built on Abbey Road. The Station was built in 1911 and opened in 1912.  The brigade had acquired a new motor fire engine in time for the Stations opening. The engine had been shown to the public in November of 1911 and, to show off, it expelled a jet of water to the top of the Town Hall tower.

The new Fire Station served the town for around 85 years until a modern Station was built in 1996 on Phoenix Road.

Unfortunately non of the buildings featured in todays blog post are open to the public as they are privately owned but you can see them easily from the road in your car or by foot. The old Fire Station on Abbey road does house a furniture store so it is possible to go inside, provided you want to look at furniture, but there may not be a lot of original features left.

These sites are a fantastic reminder of Barrow's Victorian roots as well as the beginnings of the Emergency Services in the town!