Rusland St Paul, Cumbria

RUSLAND, a district chapelry, in the parish of Coulton, union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 8½ miles (N. N. E.) from Ulverston. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £50; patron, the Incumbent of Coulton. The chapel, dedicated to St. Paul, was consecrated in 1745.  (A Topographical Dictionary of England. 1848. Samuel Lewis, Editor.)

Of course none of this was on my mind one bright but chilly April morning.  I had eaten enough breakfast for three, including local eggs and famous Cumbrian sausages, and was feeling, not to put too fine a point on it, quite stuffed.  But I was on a mission, a personal quest.  And it was not truly a religious one but a desire to visit Rusland church and pay my respects at the grave of Arthur Ransome, author, reporter, columnist, angler, sailor, artist, and many things besides, buried there with Eugenie, his wife.

To find the church one needs a good map because as one climbs the narrow lanes above Newby Bridge and the southern tip of Windermere it becomes apparent that there are no signposts! Until the hamlet of Rusland Cross is reached and small signs direct the pilgrim further up the valley to the church.  And it is as if one enters another world, cut off from the hustle and bustle of Lakeland tourism.  WG Collingwood, a close friend of Ransome, described the valley in his 1933 work, The Lake Counties:

 At Satterthwaite the sister valley of Grizedale joins Dale Park to make the lakeless but most charming Rusland Vale – Role's Land in old documents, and perhaps once the possession of some forgotten Rolf.

St Paul’s church stands on a rocky promontory and is quite breathtaking at first sight.  Not on account of its architectural grandeur but simply the beauty of its location.  The original building of 1745 was designated a chapelry – a subdivision of an existing parish (Colton, three miles to the south) but with a degree of autonomy.  (These were common in upland, rural parts of northern England on account of the difficulties of walking to church.)  I am still trying to find original sketches of this building but even local sources are struggling.  We do have a delightful description of the first church in the form of a poem.  Eliza Anne Skelton, daughter of one Captain Jones Skelton, was a well-read author and poet, and shortly to be the wife of William Browne Ponsonby, son of the late Captain Ponsonby Royal Navy (I kid you not) and she contributed this poem to the popular Ainsworth literary magazine in 1843 (Volume 4.)

Rusland Chapel, Vale of Rusland

By Miss Skelton of Rayrigg Hall

There is a little chapel on a hill,
The mountain breezes sing around the shrine,
The wild wind sweeps the narrow aisle at will,
Through lattice panes at will the sunbeams shine.
No shrouding curtain sheds a solemn gloom –
No glowing pane is rich with varied dyes;
O’er noble rest is rear’d no marble tomb,
Where dust and kindred dust in slumber lies.
Oh, little wayside chapel! rude and lone
Thou art; yet made more glorious by the might
Of faith! whose power can raise the meanest stone
Into an altar of celestial light,
Making this humble chapel on the hill
A temple God himself will not disdain to fill.

 

Less than twenty years later St Paul's was promoted to parish status but not until after some improvements had been carried out. In 1866 the nave was completely rebuilt with stone-mullioned windows; the tower was built up another fifteen feet; was the roof was elevated and reinforced, the full length of the church was buttressed, and a new chancel was added.  This last addition was not without controversy.  To complete it meant that the church had to be extended over consecrated burial ground.  One of the local aristocratic families, the Twisadays of Thwaite Moss (try saying that with a mouthful of Kendal Mint Cake) objected because a family grave would be affected.  So the grave was untouched - spanned by an arch in the south wall of the chancel.  Ingenious, eh?  A vestry was built over graves on the north side of the chancel and as there was no objection one can only assume that these were where people of less money and influence were interred!

 

Perhaps the gem of this visit was the simple Ransome grave, but the whole church, outside and inside, is an example of the Victorians “getting it right.”  There are no great historical puzzles and no architectural surprises, but Rusland St Paul is a delightful place to sit quietly and enjoy a parish church that is immaculately kept and has a certain remote air of its own.  Of other mention: The Victorian stained glass is pleasing to the eye, and the creamy-yellow font and the foundation of the pulpit (both dating from the 1866 restoration) is Jurassic limestone from the quarries near Caen, north-west France.

A minor complaint, but understandable I suppose, is that the church has capitalized on the Arthur Ransome theme and the cardboard and paper display behind the font looks as if it has been assembled in haste.  It’s a bit tatty, and I’m sure that the meticulous man himself would not have approved.

And a final note:  It was good to spend time in a parish church that Arthur Mee had not visited and covered in his travelogue!

 

My thanks to the Reverend John Dixon, Vicar of The Benefice of Hawkshead with Low Wray and Sawrey and Rusland and Satterthwaite; also to Kevin Baverstock and Suzanne Tiplady, both St Paul’s parishioners and local historians, who all contributed to the writing of this post.

OS Grid Reference: SD3426388751