Staveley

Chapelry and township in Cartmel parish, Lonsdale hundred, Lancashire North of the Sands.

Acreage:

4,295 acres [1,738 ha], including commons, enclosed after 1796.

Population:

rising from 315 in 1801 to peak of 438 in 1871, then falling back to 329 in 1931; rising again to 428 in 2001.

Landownership:

part of endowment of Cartmel Priory; not a separate manor. Appears to have been divided into small estates in post-medieval centuries.

Economy:

largely agricultural; limestone quarrying and lime-burning in mid-19th century; charcoal burning 16th to 19th centuries; tourism increasingly important from later 20th century.

Places of worship:

chapel of ease recorded 1618; restored 1678; had become ruinous by 1779; major restoration 1793 (when church was dedicated to St Mary); restored again 1897.

Schools and other institutions:

school taught in chapel (recorded 1618 and early 18th century). Boys’ school endowed 1779; rebuilt 1847. Girls’ school built and endowed by Mary Dixon 1801; closed. National school beside church built by subscription 1875; closed mid-20th century.