IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Dacre, PENRITH, CA11 0HJ

Originally 12C, thought to be built on the site of a monastery. The arcades are 13C as are the aisles, although in Perpendicular style with battlements. The west tower is Norman, but was rebuilt in 1810, retaining the plain arch into the nave. The chancel is late 12C, with a doorway with thin shafts, and long round-arched windows. The chancel arch, vestry and east windows are 19C, with stained glass by Clayton & Bell. There are two parts of cross-shafts in the church, an Anglian one (9C) with naturalistic detail and a human-faced quadruped, and a Viking one of the 10C. The four corners of the original churchyard are marked by four bears (see photo of churchyard).

The four corners of the original churchyard (smaller than the present one) are marked by four medieval stone bears. They were studied by Chancellor Furguson in 1890, and he believed that they depict a legendary tale, which can be summarised by: bear sleeping, bear attacked by wild cat, bear shakes off cat, bear eats cat. The bear in this photo is the second in the sequence, but the cat has been worn away and we just see the bear looking over its shoulder.

This attractive village is on a south-facing slope above Dacre Beck.

The inscription above the door reads:"Dacre School Builded 1749" See Image for its appearance in 2006.

This Grade II house is partly of 1689 and partly of 1773. The old part is at the rear, and is dated and inscribed over the side entrance "T & AW 1689". The inscription over the front doorway is: "T.H. 1773".

Dacre has a tiny village green, and on it is this stone, fitted with ironwork. The caption of a photograph in the Cumbria magazine describes it as a gate stoop, but it looks to me like a very uncomfortable version of the stocks, with three curves in the iron bar to hold someone's wrists and/or ankles.