Ulverstone in 1839
Ulverstone is in Furness, 261 miles from London, or 21 from Lancaster, across the Sands. The parish contains 29,100 acres, with a population in 1831 of 7,741. There are slate-quarries in several parts of the parish, in which about 100 adult labourers are employed. The township of Ulverstone contains 2,900 acres, with a population of 4,876. The town is pleasantly situated on a declivity sloping to the south, about a mile from the sands, in the estuary of the Leven. It rose to prosperity on the dissolution of Furness Abbey.
The town consists of four principal streets, spacious and clean; the houses are chiefly built of stone. There are a theatre, assembly-room, and subscription library.
The church, a plain neat structure, has been almost entirely rebuilt in the present century ; the tower and a Norman doorway remain of the old church. There are several dissenting meeting-houses.
The market is held on Thursday, for grain and provisions, and is well supplied ; there are two large yearly cattle fairs. There are some manufactures of cotton and coarse linens. A canal from the estuary of the Leven enables large vessels to come up and discharge their cargoes in a spacious basin, almost close to the town, from which there is a considerable export of iron-ore, iron, slates and other articles. Some ship-building is carried on.
The living is a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of Richmond, diocese of Chester, of the clear yearly value of £149. There were in the township in 1833 two national schools, with 289 scholars, and eleven other day-schools (one with a small endowment), with 346 children ; one Catholic day and Sunday school, with from 50 to 100 children, and four Sunday-schools with 461 children. |