BRIDEKIRK, a parish in ALLERDALE ward below
Derwent, county of CUMBERLAND, comprising the townships
of Bridekirk, Great Broughton, Little Broughton,
Dovenby, Papcastle with Goat, Ribton, and Tallentire,
and containing 1694 inhabitants, of which number, 144
are in the township of .Bridekirk, 2 miles (N. by W.) from
Cockermouth. The living is a discharged vicarage, in
the archdeaconry and diocese of Carlisle, rated in the
king's books at £10. 13. 4., endowed with £600 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of J.D.B. Dykes,
Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Bridget, from whom
the parish takes its name, is an ancient edifice, principally
in the Norman style, containing a singular
font, which, according to Camden, was brought from
the Roman station at Papcastle: it exhibits in rude
relief various designs symbolical of the serpent and
the forbidden fruit, the expulsion of Adam and Eve
from Paradise, the baptism of Christ, &c.; likewise a
Runic inscription which has been variously interpreted
by different antiquaries. There are quarries of limestone
and white freestone within the parish. Sir Joseph
Williamson, secretary of state in the reign of
Charles II.; and Thomas Tickell, the;poet and essayist,
born in 1686, were natives of this place, each during
the incumbency of his father.