Kirby Lonsdale, Cumbria

 

Kirkby Lonsdale (/ˈkɜːrbi ˈlɒnzdeɪl/) is a town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, on the River Lune. Historically in Westmorland, it lies 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Kendal on the A65. The parish recorded a population of 1,771 in the 2001 census, increasing to 1,843 at the 2011 Census. Notable buildings include St Mary's Church, a Norman building with fine carved columns. The view of the River Lune from the churchyard is known as Ruskin's View after John Ruskin, who called it one of the loveliest in England. It was painted by J. M. W. Turner.

The town is noted for the Devil's Bridge (54.199°N 2.590°W), which at one time carried the Skipton to Kendal road over the River Lune. It dates from around 1370 and is built of fine gritstone ashlar. Of its three spans, the western two measure 54.75 feet (16.69 m) each and the eastern one 29 feet (8.8 m), or 45 feet (14 m) from river to parapet. The piers are hexagonal, 60 feet (18 m) round and extending upwards to provide pedestrian refuges. At the eastern end is a sundial in the form of a square block on an octagonal column.[10] The bridge was probably built by monks of St Mary's Abbey, York.

Like many bridges of the same name, it features a legend that the Devil appeared to an old woman, promising to build a bridge in exchange for the first soul to cross over it. When the bridge was finished, the woman threw bread over the bridge and her dog chased after it, thereby outwitting the Devil. Several large stones in the surrounding area, including the Great Stone of Fourstones, are ascribed to the Devil's purse strings bursting open as he ferried masonry to build it. It was repaired in 1705 and repointed in 1829 using Roman-style cement. The eastern arch was repaired in about 1869.

The roadway on the bridge is only 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, insufficient for modern traffic. As numbers increased the bridge was closed to vehicles in 1932. Traffic instead crosses the river by the Stanley Bridge, 490 feet (150 m) to the south, which was built in the 1930s. Devil's Bridge is a grade I listed structure and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The river beneath Devil's Bridge is popular with scuba divers for its relatively easy access and egress, deep rock pools (about 16 ft in a low swell) and good visibility. The bridge also witnesses illegal "tombstoning" (bridge diving), which has caused at least one death, of a 22-year-old man in 2012.

Kirkby Lonsdale. (2022, July 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkby_Lonsdale