LANERCOST-ABBEY, a parish in ESKDALE ward,
county of CUMBERLAND, 2 miles (N.E.) from Brampton,
comprising the townships of Askerton, Banks,
Burtholme, Kingwater, and Waterhead, and containing
1512 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy,
in the archdeaconry and diocese of Carlisle, endowed
with £200 royal bounty, and £1400 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Earl of Carlisle.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is part
of the ancient abbey, and is principally in the early
style of English architecture, with portions in the
Norman. In this parish, which was crossed by the
great Roman wall of Julius Agricola, was the station
of the Cohors Prima JElia Dacorum, called Amboglana,
the site of which is an extensive plain terminating in
a precipitous descent to the river Irthing; the dimensions
of the castrum are one hundred and twenty
yards north and south, by eighty east and west; some
altars have been found here, dedicated to Jupiter
Optimus Maximus, as also dedications to Mars and
Cocis, with various monumental and other inscriptions,
though almost effaced by time: a fragment of the ancient
wall, ten feet in height, and five yards in length, is yet
standing at Harehill. On the north bank of the river
Irthing are the very interesting ruins of an Augustine
priory, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, founded in
1169, by Robert de Vallibus, lord of Gilsland, and endowed
by himself and others with a revenue valued at
the dissolution at £79 19: it was frequently visited by
Edward I., and partly destroyed by conflagration in
1296; in 1311, Robert Bruce, with his army, lay here
for three days. The ruins comprise vestiges of the
conventual church, cloisters, refectory, and other buildings;
the nave has been fitted up as the parish church;
the dilapidated walls, which exhibit numerous specimens
of architecture in the early style, are covered with
ivy, ash, and other plants; the western gateway consists
of a circular arch, richly decorated and supported by
pilasters, and is surmounted by a statue of Mary Magdalene,
the tutelar saint of the abbey. In a part of the ancient
cemetery which has been converted into gardens,
several stone coffins and monuments lie among the trees.
Within this parish, and about seven miles from Lanercost
is Gilsland spa, the waters of which are sulphuretted
chalybeate; the scenery is beautiful and romantic,
and there is every requisite accommodation for visitors,
with billiard-tables, music-rooms, libraries, &c. The
spring, anciently called Holy Well, acquired its present
name about the year 1770.