already appeared in the columns of the _Westmorland Gazette_. We had long ago arranged that I should help in seeing her work through the press; and with her usual thoroughness and care, she had got the present volume so far ready that my task has been but a superficial one, accompanied throughout by the "one pure image of regret" that she did not live to see, herself, the fruits of her long labour. W. F. RAWNSLEY. THE CHURCH OF GRASMERE. ERRATA. Page 6, _for_ Galway _read_ Galloway. " 19, _note_ 25 this pavement is not really old. " 130, _for_ Lough _read_ Luff. " 141, _Copia Pax Sapientia_. No Latin words are on this bell. " 182, _note_ 182 _for_ Fox _read_ Cox. " 191, _for_ Tremenhere _read_ Tremenheere, _and for_ Philipps _read_ Phillipps. " 199, _for_ Swathmoor _read_ Swarthmoor. " 208, _for_ customery _read_ customary, _and in note_, _for_ Brown _read_ Browne. [Illustration: ST. OSWALD'S CHURCH, GRASMERE. _Photo. by Green, by permission of G. P. Abraham, Keswick._ TO FACE PART I.] PART I PREFACE INTRODUCTORY THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH THE SITE [Illustration: Inscription on the Alms Box] PREFACE Grasmere draws many pilgrims in these latter days. It has become the Shrine of Nature and Poetry, for within its graveyard lies buried nature's austerest and most sincere interpreter. The natural beauty of the spot, combined with its associations, has given rise to a copious literature; and its praises have been rehearsed in poetry and prose of a high order. But by the historian Grasmere has been neglected. Its geographical position has tended to its eclipse. In ancient times locked up from the world in the farthest chamber of the mountains, and still the remotest parish of Westmorland (itself a neglected county), it has missed the attention of the careful chronicler, and no serious attempt has been made to penetrate its past. James Torre (1649-1699) indeed in his MS. collections for a history of the Archdeaconry of Richmondshire, compiled a list of five rectors who had served the parish of Grasmere before the Reformation; but no searcher has followed up his efforts. Nor has the excellent, though necessarily limited, information given in the pages of Nicolson and Burn (1770) been since filled up or supplemented. The following historical sketch makes no pretensions to completeness, which would be beyond both the writer's powers and opportunities. It began as a small thing, a chapter merely in the yet unfinished "Chronicles of Rydal." But there seemed a need for the publication of such facts as had been gathered together; and in response to an expressed desire, the sketch that had been laid by was overhauled, expanded and prepared for press. It contains (there is little doubt) some unsuspected errors and oversights, for which the reader's leniency is asked.