Coniston Church was built in 1586 by William Fleming, the "gentleman of great pomp and expence." It was consecrated and made parochial by Bishop Chaderton; the original dedication is not known. In 1650 the Parliamentary enquiry shows that there was no maintenance but the £1 19s. 10d. which the people raised for their "reader," Sir Richard Roule--"Sir" meaning "Rev." in those days. With liberal squires at the Hall, no doubt the "priest," as they called him, was not badly off, though Colonel Fleming, writing to his brother (November 27th, 1688), says:--"Tell the constable the same hearth man (hearth-tax collector) is coming again. Tell him to be as kind as his conscience will permit to his neighbours, and play the fool no more. The priest and he doth not know how happy they are." The income was eked out by the old custom of "whittlegate," right to have his meals at various houses in turn; and it is said that the Priest Stile opposite Mount Cottage was so called because he was so often seen crossing it on the way to his accustomed seat at the squire's table. Until the end of the eighteenth century the curate was also schoolmaster, and as late as 1761 was nominated to the dual office by the six men or sidesmen representing the inhabitants. The patronage was afterwards in the hands of the Braddylls of Conishead Priory; eventually it passed into the possession of the Rev. A. Peache, and the living is now in the gift of the Peache trustees. Its net value is £220. The original church, for we do not know that it was rebuilt between 1586 and 1818, was a small oblong structure with lattice windows and a western belfry tower. In the Coniston Museum there is a mutilated document (found by Mr. Herbert Bownass among some old deeds) which not only shows the quaint arrangement of seats in the church separating the sexes, but also gives what is practically a directory of the parish in the time of Charles II. Coniston A Devision of men's and women's fforms made by the Church. Minister, six men & churchwardens in the year of our Lord 1684. Imp^s Seats in the Quier: In the seat with the Minister, one for Silverbank & one for ffarr end. 2 The next seat above: One for Silverbank for Robert Vickers, for Robert Dixon Bridge End & Jno. Atkinson de Catbank & for Holywarth. 3 The second fform above: Edward Tyson, Rich. Hodgson, John Holms, Wm. Hobson de Huthw^t, Wm. Atkinson de Gateside. The third fform above: Wm. ffleming jun^r de Littlearrow, Jam. Robinson, Tho. Cowerd, Park Yeat. The fourth fform above: Tho. Dixon de Littlearrow, Mich. Atkinson, Huthw^t, Geo. Towers, Hows bank. The fform next the wall or the highest fform: David Tyson de Tilb^rthw^t, Wm. ffleming de Catbank, one for ffar end.