DALSTON, a parish in the ward and county of
CUMBERLAND, comprising the chapelry of Ivegill, and
the townships of Buckhowbank, Cumdevock, Dalston,
Hawkesdale, and Raughton with Gatesgill, and containing
2617 inhabitants, of "which number, 955 are
in the township of Dalston, 4 miles (S. S. W.) from
Carlisle. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Carlisle, rated in the king's books at
£ 8. 18. 1., and in the patronage of the Bishop of
Carlisle. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, was
rebuilt about eighty years ago. There are several cotton
and other mills; also an iron and plating forge, where
spades and other implements of husbandry are manufactured
to a considerable extent. A small customary
market is held on Friday. At the eastern end of the
village is an ancient cross, raised on a flight of steps, and
bearing various coats of arms. There is a commodious
school-room, rebuilt by subscription in 1815, and endowed
from various sources with about £33 per annum, in
which seventy children are instructed: in 1814, Mary
Strong bequeathed £100 for the instruction of girls.
From some extensive quarries of free-stone here it is supposed
a great part of the stone used for building the
Roman wall from Carlisle to Bowness was extracted,
and the discovery, about the middle of the last century, of
a Roman inscription on the face of a rock, serves to
confirm this supposition. Vestiges of three Roman
encampments likewise exist in the neighbourhood; and
a circle of stones, about thirty yards in circumference,
is thought to mark the site of a Druidical place of
worship. The old castellated mansion of Dalston has
been converted into a farm-house. Rose castle, in this
parish, is situated in a beautiful valley, through which
winds the river Caldew, and is supposed to have been
the principal residence of the bishops of Carlisle from
the year 1228. In 1322, it was burned by Robert
Bruce, and, about 1366, it was twice attacked and ravaged
by the Scots. Before the civil war in the seventeenth
century, the building formed a complete quadrangle,
had five towers, and was surrounded by a
turreted wall; in 1648, being then held for the king,
it was attacked by General Lambert, and taken by
storm; shortly afterwards, the Duke of Hamilton's
army was here reinforced by that under Sir Marmaduke
Langdale, and the castle, after having been used as a
prison for the royalists, was burnt down by order of
Major Cholmley. Since the Restoration it has been
rebuilt and improved by successive prelates. The celebrated
Dr. Paley was vicar of Dalston from 1774 to
1793.