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Ulverston

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a market town in the North Lonsdale parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, in the Furness district, q a m. N.E. from Barrow-in-Furness and 256 m. N.W. by N. from London, on the Furness railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 10,064. The church of St Mary, founded in 1111, retains the south door of the original building in the Transition style, but the greater portion of the structure is Perpendicular, of the time of Henry VIII. It contains an altar-tomb with recumbent figure of Walter Sandys of Conishead, dated 1588. After the destruction of Furness Abbey, Ulverston succeeded Dalton as the most important town in Furness, but the rapid rise of Barrow surpassed it in modern times. A monument on Hoad Hill commemorates Sir John Barrow, secretary of the admiralty and a native of the town. Conishead Priory, 2 m. south-east, a mansion on the site of a priory founded in the reign of Henry II., is used as a hydropathic establishment. Formerly Ulverston had a considerable trade in linens, checks and ginghams, but it is now dependent on large iron and steel works, chemical works, breweries, tan-yards, and hardware, paper, and wooden hoop manufactories. Through its connexion with Morecambe Bay by a ship canal of I m. in length, owned by the Furness railway, it has a shipping trade in iron and slates.

Ulverston, otherwise Vlureston, Olvestonum, occurs in Domesday Book, where Vlurestun is named as a manor in possession of Turulf, who was probably the original Saxon owner. Early in the 12th century the manor passed to Stephen, count of Boulogne, and was given by him to Furness Abbey. In 1196 the abbot granted the vill of Ulverstone with the inhabitants to Gilbert Fitz-Reinfred, who granted it a charter by which he raised it to the rank of a free borough. The lord s hip became divided, and one-half passed to the Harringtons and finally to Henry Grey, duke of Suffolk, on whose attainder in 1553 it was forfeited to the Crown. The other moiety returned to the abbey about the end of the 4th century, and at the dissolution was surrenc'ered to the Crown. Early in the 17th century the Crown alienated the manor, which is now in the, family of Buccleuch. The yearly court-leet and court-baron are still held in October. In 1280 Roger de Lancaster obtained a charter from Edward I. for a weekly market on Thursday and an annual fair of three days beginning on the eve of the nativity (Sept. 7).