Lonsdale Ward - A description

It is the smallest of the four Wards of Westmorland, for though it is 14 miles in length, one half of its extent does not average more than one mile and a half in width, and its greatest breadth at the south end is only about eight miles. It is an angular district, terminating at the north in a spiral point, and watered throughout its whole length by the river Lune, which not only gives name to it, but also to one of the Hundreds in Lancashire, which bounds this Ward on the south, as Yorkshire does on the east, and Kendal Ward on the west. It contains the parish of Kirkby-Lonsdale, the greater part of Burton-in-Kendal parish, and the township of Dillicar. The soil is generally a rich light hazelly mould, which produces great crops of corn, grass, and roots. This Ward forms ecclesiastically part of the DEANERY OF LONSDALE, in the Archdeaconry of Richmond, and Diocese of Chester, and supports the following nineteen BRIDGES, viz. Kirkby-Lonsdale, Casterton, Barbon, Hodge, Blindbeck, Middleton hall, Low and High Stockdale, New Bridge in Middleton, Old Bridge in Killington, Lincoln’s Inn, Crook-o-Lune, Tarn Close, Beckfoot at Dillicar Smithy, Spittal, Lupton Mill, Tosca, Keartswick-New, and Bleasbeck.