heritage of appleby...

Appleby Town Trail and an Historic Guide to Appleby

These informative guides to the historic features of the town are available from the Tourist Information Centre.

St Lawrence's Church

The parish church of Appleby was founded shortly after the castle. Although it was badly damaged by the Scots in 1388, the church was rebuilt and later restored by Lady Anne Clifford in the mid-17th century. When she died in 1676, her coffin was laid in a vault near to a handsome monument to the Clifford family lineage. Adjacent is a magnificent marble memorial to her mother, Margaret (Countess of Cumberland).

St Anne's Hospital almshouses

Midway up Boroughgate is a picturesque courtyard of almshouses built by Lady Anne Clifford in 1651 to house poor Appleby widows. Although the houses are still occupied, the courtyard and chapel may be visited during the day.

Bongate Mill

Although the present building dates from 1838, it is thought there has been a mill here since the 13th century, probably supplying ground corn to the castle.

St Cuthbert 

From a humble shepherd, Cuthbert rose to be the Bishop of Lindisfarne and one of England's most revered saints. Following his death in AD 687, his tomb became a shrine for pilgrims for around 200 years, but Viking raiding forays on the east coast in AD 875 prompted the monks of Lindisfarne to remove his body for safe keeping. Over the following years, the monks travelled around northern England carrying the bones of St Cuthbert to places of refuge. Wherever the monks ‘rested' with the body, a church or cross dedicated to St Cuthbert was erected. In Cumbria, 19 churches are dedicated to the saint and three are in the Appleby area (at Milburn, Cliburn and Dufton) with another at Clifton to the south of Penrith.

Lady Anne Clifford (1590¬-1676)

Was an indomitable woman who worked hard to regain her inheritance, which had been passed to a male relative on the death of her father. She eventually acquired her father's vast estates at the age of 53, and a few years later set about restoring five castles, nine churches and several medieval halls in the area.