Crosthwaite Parish Church is dedicated to St Kentigern and is the Anglican parish church of the parish of Crosthwaite near Keswick

Keswick, Cumbria

Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...

, in Cumbria, UK.

It was built on an ancient site in its present form probably in 1553 at the beginning of the reign of Mary I (it incorporates 14th century arches). In 1915 nine consecration crosses were discovered outside the church and nine inside (this is the only church with such a set). Features of interest include the finely carved 14th century font and a number of 15th century effigies.

Gilbert Scott

Gilbert Scott

Gilbert Scott may refer to several of a family of British architects:* Sir George Gilbert Scott , who was principally known for his architectural designs for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and St Pancras Station...

 restored

Victorian restoration

Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...

 the church in 1844; this was part of the memorial to Robert Southey

Robert Southey

Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...

 whose remains are buried in the churchyard of the church.

Hardwicke Rawnsley

Hardwicke Rawnsley

Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley , was an English clergyman, poet, writer of hymns and conservationist, known as one of the co-founders of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty...

 was appointed Vicar of Crosthwaite, and Rural Dean

Rural Dean

In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, a Rural Dean presides over a Rural Deanery .-Origins and usage:...

, in 1883. After 34 years Rawnsley retired to Grasmere where he died. He is buried in the churchyard of his former parish, St. Kentigern's, Crosthwaite.

A list of Crosthwaite Church vicars is posted in the church with dates of appointment as follows:

Jeffry Wethamsted 1294,
Richard de Graystoke 1313,
Thomas Lune 1354,
John Hy. de Broughton 1359,
John de Welton 1360,
Peter de Morland 1361,
John Boon 1362,
Thomas de Eskhead 1363,
John Ratcliffe 1547,
John Maybraye 1567,
Peter Mayson 1585,
Robert Beck 1592,
Peter Beck 1597,
Giles Robinson 1602,
Isaac Singleton 1623,
John Winter 1643,
William Mees 1653,
Percival Ratcliffe 1654,
J. Studdert 1660,
Henry Marshall 1661,
Richard Lowrie 1667,
Thomas Tullie 1710,
Thomas Nicholson 1727,
Thomas Christian 1728,
James S. Lushington 1770,
Henry Denton 1780,
Isaac Denton 1786,
James Lynn 1820,
Henry Gipps 1855,
George G. Goodwin 1878,
Thomas K. Richmond 1878,
H. Drummond Rawnsley 1883,
W. Elliot Bradley 1917,
George K. Carpenter 1939,
G. Duffield Jackson 1949,
F. Harold Marshall 1956,
Samuel Doubtfire 1976,
Rodney T. Hughes 1982,
A. Stuart Penny 2003.

The altar of the church is draped with a banner bearing the Greek motto "εν τούτῳ νίκα", meaning "in this sign you will conquer", a motto adopted by Constantine the Great and by the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

.

Sources

• Betjeman, John (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the North. London: Collins; p. 109