ARMATHWAITE, a chapelry in the parish of HESKET
in the FOREST, LEATH ward, county of CUMBERLAND,
5 miles (N. W.) from Kirk-Oswald. The population
is returned with the parish. The living is a
perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry and diocese of
Carlisle, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and
£400 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Deari
and Chapter of Carlisle. The chapel was rebuilt by
Richard Skelton, Esq., in 1668, having for some time
previously been used as a shed for cattle. Armathwaite
is a neat village, beautifully situated on the western
bank of the Eden, over which is a good stone bridge
of four arches. The castle, a handsome modern edifice;
occupies a rocky elevation, at the foot of which flows
the Eden, the site of an ancient fortress; and, in the
reign of Henry VIII., was, with the estate, the property
of John Skelton, the poet-laureat. A Benedictine nunnery
was founded here by William II., the revenue of
which, at the dissolution, was £18. 18. 8.: it stood in
the parish of Ainstable, on a spot now occupied by a
modern mansion, which retains the name of "Nunnery,"
amid scenery of a variegated and pleasing description:
some trifling relics are still visible.