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History

History of

Burton in Lonsdale

History

Potteries

Burton was once home to thirteen potteries and it is said that the village became known as 'Black Burton' due to smoke from the kilns, although this could have equally been because of the black nature of the clay. The first potteries appeared in the late 1600's early 1700's and reached a peak of 13 working within a mile of the village centre in the 1800's

1600 - 1800

15 potters posing outside a stone house. Circa 1880

History

Castle

1092 -1369

It is uncertain exactly when the castle was constructed. After the death of Tostig, the Earl of Northumbria, William the Conqueror confiscated the estates. In 1092, his son William II marched north and defeated Dolfin of Carlisle, a powerful Anglo-Saxon magnate. William built Carlisle Castle and began to settle the area with followers from southern England, creating an uncertain, fluid frontier region, contested by the kings of Scotland and local lords.

Burton in Lonsdale Castle was built to help control the southern part of that territory – the settlement lay on a crossing point over the River Greta. Burton was probably granted at this time to Nigel de Abigni, a Norman lord who had risen to become the royal steward to William II, and held lands across Lincolnshire and Norfolk. He may well have been responsible for the construction of the castle itself, which initially took the form of a ringwork defence, protected by two further baileys

Anglo Saxon Ringwork defence

HISTORY

Anglo-Saxon Settlement

The earliest documentary reference to Burton-in-Lonsdale is in the Liber de Wintonia or as it was later known, the Domesday book. This is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William the Conqueror. This text tells us that the Anglo-Saxon settlement was in the holding of Tostig, Earl of Northumberland, and was a subsidiary village of Whittington in the Lune valley. Tostig died in 1066.

1086

Domesday
Book

Doomsday Book
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