Loweswater, 1848

LOWESWATER, a parochial chapelry, in the union of Cockermouth, Allerdale ward above Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 7 miles (S. by E.) from Cockermouth; containing, with the hamlet of Mockerkin with Sosgill, 436 inhabitants. It comprises by computation 2,480 acres of fair land, of which about 250 are woodland; there are, besides, 3,000 acres of common or waste. The river Cocker runs along the deep and extensive vale here, which is bounded by lofty mountains, and contains the picturesque lake of Loweswater, part of Crummock Lake, and Scale Force; the last, the most stupendous cataract in this celebrated region, falls 156 feet into a great chasm surrounded by rocks overhung with trees. A lead-mine was lately opened. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £49; patron, the Earl of Lonsdale. The chapel was erected by subscription, in 1827, on the site of an ancient edifice founded by a prior of St. Bees, to which parish this was formerly a chapelry.