Cartmel Property For Sale & Rent

Cartmel vil­lage is two miles west of grange-over-sands, below the high limestone ridge of Hampsfell. The gatehouse and the church are the only two remain­ing parts of Cartmel Priory.

The gatehouse, over­looking the village market cross, is a picturesque building over the street, dating from about 1330. From 1624 to 1790 it was used as a grammar school and is now an artist's studio. It is National Trust property. The Priory Church of St Mary the Virgin, in Transitional style, was founded in 1188. Its square central tower, 15th-cent. in the upper part, is set diagonally on its base. By 1618 the roof had gone, the priory having apparently decayed since the Dissolution, although not destroyed then. George Preston of Holker carried out restoration from 1618, erecting the stall canopies and the superb Renaissance screens. Notable are the stained glass and the carved misericords on the choir stalls. The chancel arcades are round, but the central arches and those in the aisles and the triforium are pointed. The east window is Perpendicular. There are many memorials, including the 14th-cent. Har­rington monument with recumbent effigies, and brass chandeliers. Among the many treasures of the priory is a first edition of Spenser's Faerie Queen. The Church of St Andrew at Cartmel Fell, to the N., built about 1503, has roughcast walls and a low tower. It contains screened pews, a three-decker pulpit, good medieval stained glass, and a carved pre-Reformation figure of Christ, a rare specimen, although much damaged.

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