Only the name of the church & hall, remains.
Kirklinton parish - The Ghost Town.
Home to the Robin Hood Inn, about ten miles North of Carlisle - its a parish, telephone exchange and postal area, the WI and Young Farmers are named after it, but if your following road signs, you will never find a place - it is a 'ghost town'.
Parish of KIRK-LINTON, or Kirk-Levington, is in Longtown district, Cumberland; on the River Lyne, 4 miles ESE of Longtown.
Population.
1851: 1869
Dedicated in 1374 and tradition holds that there could have been a Christian place of worship on the site in earlier times, which was one of the resting places of St Cuthbert's body during the wanderings of the monks of Lindisfarne.
The present Church of St Cuthbert at Kirklinton was built in 1845, replacing an earlier Church on the site. The earliest record of a dedication to St Cuthbert is 1374. The Church incorporates the original Norman chancel arch at the West end, and Norman pillars. Medieval gravestones are built into the tower.
A Church and Castle were built here during the 12th Century by Sir Richard de Boyville, who was granted the barony of Levington by Ranolph de Meschines. Nothing remains of the castle now, or the ‘town’ of Levington.
There are various memorials to the Appleby family of nearby Kirklinton Hall, now in ruins. The east window depicts Christ in majesty and the four evangelists. The other stained glass windows in the chancel show coats of arms of the Dacre family from Lanercost, who married into the Appleby family.
A Quaker meeting house was built at Sikeside in 1688 when Kirklinton became a centre for dissenting Quakers after the Civil War. It closed in 1931 and has been converted into a house. There was a burial ground at Meg's Hill with a building, which is now an implement shed. When the roof fell in it was discovered that no nails were used, only sheep bones to hold the stones in place.
The original school 'Cobble Rose' was situated in the field opposite the Robin Hood. Fir Ends school was built at the end of the 19th century at the sole expense of Joseph Dacre of Kirklinton Hall, who also gave the site. It is a good mile from the village and in 1968 the present school was opened.
Today, as in the past, those working in the area are mostly farmers or self employed. The school, pub, garage and post office employ a few villagers and others commute to work. In the 1980s the population of Smithfield doubled when Ryehill Park was built
NB
The village information above is taken from the The Cumbria Village Book, written by members of the Cumbria Federations of Women's Institutes and published by Countryside Books.
The Grade II-listed Kirklinton Hall, originally built in 1660 by the Appleby family, and further extended in 1875, was once an impressive country house, an RAF base, a school, a hotel, and a nightclub, casino and gangsters’ gambling den before gambling law changes forced its closure.
he hall fell victim to a fire, leaving its interior badly scarred. The roof was also taken off and the inside walls demolished.
There are 12 acres of Garden and Grounds consisting of formal terraces planted in the style of 1680s, a walled working kitchen garden, tilt yard and Pell-Mell ground, and the Faerie Glen – a romantic woodland walk populated by fairies.
It is also the official home of SlowFood Cumbria, in partnership with the Mallsgate Hall Estate
It was put up for sale in 2002, and bought by the Boyle family in June 2012, who have been working hard to restore the house and gardens to their former glory.
Take a trip around the parish with our local picture gallery:
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