Great Asby Parish, 1848

ASBY, GREAT (St. Peter), a parish, in the union and division of East ward, county of Westmorland, 4½ miles (S. by W.) from Appleby; containing, with the townships of Asby-Windewath, Asby-Coatsforth, and Little Asby, 407 inhabitants, of whom 222 are in the first, with the hamlet of Garthern; 129 in the second; and 56 in the third, with the hamlet of Asby-Overgrange. It comprises by computation 6500 acres, and is bounded on the south by the parish of Crosby-Garret and by Orton Fells; the surface is diversified with hills and valleys, and watered by numerous rivulets, near the margin of one of which, in the hollow called Asby Gill, is Plate hole, a remarkable cavern, intersected by a small stream, and which has been explored to an extent of more than 500 yards. The substratum is principally limestone, and on the common belonging to the manor has been lately discovered a very valuable fossil marble. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £23.13.4.; patron, Sir F. F. Vane; net income, £205. The church is a very ancient structure with lofty gables, and strengthened by massive buttresses: the parsonagehouse occupies the site of a nunnery, the chapel and prison of which are still partly remaining, the latter being used as a cellar. There was formerly a chapel at Little Asby, dedicated to St. Leonard. A school-house was built in 1688, by George Smith, citizen and merchanttailor of London, to which Dr. Thomas Smith, Bishop of Carlisle (who was born at Whitewall, near the village), gave £100. Near the church is St. Helen's well.

Great Asby is a large village, situated in the townships of Asby Coatsforth and Asby Winderwath, 4½ miles S. of Appleby, having a beck running through it, and forming the boundary of the two townships. The Church is a small ancient fabric, dedicated to St. Peter, and having a tower with three bells. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £23 13s. 4d. Sir F. F. Vane, Bart., is the patron, and the Rev. Hugh Atkinson the incumbent. Robert de Askeby founded a chantry in the church, in 1229, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. A little east from the church is St. Helen's Well, which has had some stone seats round it, and, in ancient times, like many other holy springs, did not want its miracles. Near it is St. Helen’s Almshouse, founded in 1811 by Wm. Fairer, who endowed it with £500, of which nearly £250 was expended in erecting the building; but in 1824 it received an additional endowment of £200, left by Joseph Fairer. The trustees afterwards borrowed money to make up the sum of £850, with which they purchased an estate worth £30 a year. The money borrowed will be re-paid by instalments, after which the whole proceeds of the estate will be divided amongst the four alms-people, who are to be aged and poor widows or widowers. Asby Free School was built in 1688 by George Smith, of London, who endowed it with 20s. a year, besides leaving the interest of £10 to the poor of the parish. Bishop Smith, a native of this parish, left to this school in 1702, the sum of £100, with which four acres of land was purchased at Asby. Land at Raisbeck has since been purchased by subscription, so that the present master, the Rev. Henry Guy, has a yearly income of upwards of £50 from the school endowment.