MINISTER OF KIRKBY LONSDALE, KIRKBY KENDAL.—LUNE BRIDGE.
To the Editor.
Sir,—The Tenth Part of your interesting publication, the Table Book, has been lent to me by one of your constant readers; who, aware of the interest which I take in every thing connected with Westmoreland, pointed out the Notes of T. Q. M. on a Pedestrian Tour from Skipton to Keswick.[368]
It is not my intention to review those notes, or to point out the whole of his inaccuracies; but I shall select one, which, in my humble judgment, is quite inexcusable. After stating that the Rev. Mr. Hunt was once the curate of Kirkby (not Kirby, as your correspondent spells it) Lonsdale, he adds, “I believe the well-known Carus Wilson is the officiating minister at present.” What your narrator means by the appellation “well known,” he alone can determine—and to which of the family he would affix the term, I cannot possibly imagine. The eldest son is rector of Whittington, an adjoining parish; the second son of the same family is vicar of Preston, in Lancashire; the third is the curate of Tunstal, in the same county. These are all the gentlemen of that family who are, or ever were, “officiating ministers:” and I can safely assure your correspondent, that not one of them ever was the officiating minister of Kirkby Lonsdale. The vicar is the Rev. Mr. Sharp; who the curate is I forget, but an inquirer could have easily ascertained it; and an inquiry would have furnished him with some very curious details respecting the actual incumbent.
By the way, let me mention the curious fact of this town retaining its ancient name, while Kendal, a neighbouring town, has lost, in common parlance, a moiety of its name. In all legal documents Kendal is described as Kirkby Kendal, as the former is Kirkby Lons-dale; and the orthography is important, as it shows at once the derivation of these names. Kirk-by-Lon’s-dale, and Kirk-by-Ken or Kent-dale, evidently show, that the prominent object, the churches of those towns on the banks of their respective river, the Lune, Loyne, or Lon, as it is variously written, and the Kent or Ken, and their dales, or vallies, furnished the cognomen.
I should be much obliged to T. Q. M. if he would point out the house where my friend Barnabee
———————— viewed
An hall, which like a taverne shewed
Neate gates, white walls, nought was sparing,
Pots brimful, no thought of caring.
If a very curious tradition respecting the very fine and remarkable bridge over the river Lune, together with a painting of it done for me by a cobbler at Lancaster, would be at all interesting to you, I shall be happy to send them to your publishers. The picture is very creditable to the artist; and after seeing it, I am sure you will say, that however (if ever) just, in former days, the moderns furnish exceptions to the well-known maxim—
Ne sutor ultra crepidam.
I am, sir,
your obedient servant,
Bob Short.