AINSTABLE, a parish in LEATH ward, county of
CUMBERLAND, 4 miles (N.N.W.) from Kirk-Oswald,
containing, with the hamlet of Rushroft, 518 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Carlisle, rated in the king's
books at £8. 8. 2., and in the patronage of R. L. Ross,
Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Michael. The nave
was rebuilt in 1816, and the chancel soon afterwards.
This parish, which is bounded on the west by the river
Eden, and on the east and south by the Croglin, abounds
with most beautiful scenery, particularly in the vale of
Croglin, and in the vicinity of Nunnery, a neat residence
occupying the site of a Benedictine convent, described
in the account of ARMATHWAITE. The scenery
around Nunnery has been greatly improved by
artificial decorations; numerous cascades, fanciful
walks, &c., having been formed on both banks of the
river Eden, the waters of which, near the hamlet of
Armathwaite, are precipitated over a weir, four yards
in height, and seventy in length, and, when the river is
swollen, produce an exceedingly loud and murmuring
noise. The parish contains a considerable quantity 'of
freestone.. Here is a free school, with a small endowment;
and a school has been established by subscription,
in which about twenty children are educated. Near
the parsonage - house is a chalybeate spring. John
Leake, M.D., founder of the Westminster Lying-in
Hospital, and author of some esteemed medical works,
was born here, in 1729.