Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

a small doorway in the south east corner ‘a specimen of the flat headed corbel arch so
common in the time of Edward 1 st ’. 177 It is clear from her comments and the terminology
she uses that Losh had read enough of the many publications on Gothic to feel confident
in making such judgements. Having analysed the dates of the various parts of the fabric
and noticed interventions, such as the blocking up of an original west door and the
replacement of the stone surrounding it with brick, she summed up:
Discrepancies in the style of the building, added to the apparent great age of its timber, (which had plainly
been worked over & differently disposed at some remote period) suggest the probability that the late chapel
had been built at a time comparatively recent, from the remains of the original edifice, of which the western
doorway & part of the gable may have been left standing, but marred and spoilt by unskilful hands. 178
Moving on to the site chosen for the new church she discovered, as foundations
were dug, a set of flagstones, the base of an older building on a considerable scale, from
which she was prepared to extrapolate further, drawing on the evidence of local history
and place names, a popular resource for antiquarian investigations.
It is probable that a square tower may have anciently occupied this place, adjoining to which is a field still
denominated the guards. Some sort of defence must have been required at a manufacturing village, as
Wreay formerly was, especially exposed to aggression by its proximity to Englewood forest, the noted
retreat of desperate outlaws. There was indeed a tower or constable house, till recently standing at Wreay
Hall, where it would afford protection to the Potteries on the banks of the Petteril, but there is no reason
from hence to infer that no other tower subsisted in the vicinity, & it was not unlikely that such should be
placed at Wreay, as the intermediate station betwixt Carlisle & Melguards, as this latter was the middle post
betwixt Carlisle & Penrith. Some persons may conjecture that the foundation in question had been that of
some cell or other edifice connected with the chapel, but of such there is no record, on the contrary it is an
established fact that a monthly service was performed there by one of the monks of St Mary’s Abbey which
owned the tythes of the chapelry it served prior to its consecration by Bishop Fleming for a school also. 179
Losh was clearly well-versed in the history and geography of the border country
where her family had lived for generations. Her grandfather, John Losh, known as The
177
Document in the Jackson Collection, Carlisle Library.
178
Document in the Jackson Collection, Carlisle Library.
179
Document in the Jackson Collection, Carlisle Library.
85