The war memorials of Castle Carrock, Cumbria
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1. St Peter’s parish church, Castle Carrock
(Where the parish war memorials are located)
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2. Castle Carrock’s war memorials
(Left): The WW1 parish memorial
(Right): The WW2 parish memorial
[Located outside the main church entrance]
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3. Castle Carrock’s “Rolls of Honour”
(Left): The 1914 – 1915 “Roll of Honour”
(Right): The 1939 – 1945 “Roll of Honour”
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4. Headstone of Marine Donald P. Armstrong
(Located in Castle Carrock churchyard)
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For additional information click on ‘Comments’ below.
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posted by ritsonvaljos at 10:44 pm
5 Comments:
Introduction
Castle Carrock is an ancient civil and ecclesiastical parish in the north-east of the county of Cumbria (previously Cumberland) centred on a village of the same name. It is close to the northern Pennines and the Cumbria / Northumberland county border.
The district is largely rural although while the main village is also a dormitory settlement for workers who commute each day to nearby cities and larger towns such as Carlisle, Brampton and Haltwhistle. According to the ten-yearly census records Castle Carrock’s population has been comparatively stable for two hundred years, generally at about 300 – 350.
Despite its name, there is no surviving castle in modern-day Castle Carrock. The Church of England parish church, dedicated to St Peter, is built on a piece of higher ground within the village on the mediaeval site of a previous church building and a castle. This present church building was rebuilt in 1828 and extensively restored in 1888 [seen in photograph No. 1]. In 1909 a reservoir to supply water for the Carlisle area was built which remains an important source for Carlisle’s water.
There is a village primary school which takes in children from the village and surrounding area. A village hall, known as the Watson Institute, is a Grade II historic building and was built in 1897. It is the venue for many of the village activities throughout the year. In the centre of the village is the local ‘pub’, the well patronised ‘Duke of Cumberland’, a “Free House” (i.e. not tied to any particular brewery). In fact, Castle Carrock is so typical of what an English country village should be, in 1987 it was chosen for a BBC Radio 4 documentary series, “The Village”, reflecting the daily life of an English village.
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Castle Carrock’s war memorials
Yet, serene, calm and beautiful as Castle Carrock has always been, the two World Wars had an impact on the village. Many of its young people went away to fight and some never returned alive. In the churchyard are the war memorials commemorating the locals who lost their lives in these wars [Photograph No. 2]. Inside the church are ‘Rolls of Honour’ remembering the volunteers of 1914 – 1915 and the locals who served in the 1939 – 1945 war [Photograph No. 3]. One young man who went away from the village in the Second World War, Marine Donald Armstrong, died on active service but was brought back home and laid to rest in the local churchyard [Photograph No. 4].
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(a) The WW1 war memorial
The WW1 war memorial is in the form of a Latin cross mounted on a tapered plinth and is situated in the churchyard near the main church entrance [Photograph No. 2 (left)]. This is a transcription of the memorial:
In grateful memory of
Cyril C.D. Bradberry
Robert Ellwood
John W. Simpson
John Johnstone
Edwin Dargue
John Minshull
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(b) The WW2 war memorial
The Castle Carrock WW2 memorial is also near the church entrance, on the opposite side of the path to the WW1 memorial [Photograph No. 2 (right)]. It is in the form of a stone slab with a cross and the names engraved on it. The wording on the memorial is as follows:
In grateful memory of
James C. Hetherington
And
Donald B. Armstrong
Who gave their lives
For their country
1939 – 1945
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(c) The WW1 ‘Roll of Honour’
Inside the church is Castle Carrock’s WW1 ‘Roll of Honour’. Initially it appears to have been made for the volunteers of 1914 – 1915 with those who enlisted or were conscripted later in the war being added afterwards. This is a transcription of the scroll:
ROLL OF HONOUR FOR KING AND COUNTRY
Castle Carrock 1914-1915
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Names:
Cyril C D Bradberry , 24th Battn Royal Fusiliers (Killed in action)
William Watson, 16th Battn Northumberland Fusiliers
Robert Ellwood, Gordon Highlanders (died of wounds)
Thomas Mitchinson, 1st Canadians
Arthur Mitchinson, 2nd Canadians
William Bird, Northumberland Fusiliers
Joseph Bird, Northumberland Fusiliers
Robert Bird, Indian Garrison
John Bird, Durham Light Infantry
Joseph W Ruddick, 2/9 Middlesex
John Ruddick, Army Service Corps
Wm L Carruthers, Army Service Corps
John Wm Scrumpton, 7th Battn Border Regt (died of wounds)
Robert Railton, 2nd Canadians
Harry Mitchinson, 2nd Canadians
George Brown, Royal Engineers
John T Christie, 5th Battn KOSB
John Johnstone, 1/7th Northumberland Fus (Killed in action)
Edwin Dargue, Loyal North Lancs (died of wounds Oct 26th 1917)
Joseph Mitchinson, 2nd Canadians
John H Sanders 47 RFA
Ernest Hodgson, ASC
A E Redvers Hodgson, 5th Cheshire
Wm J Thompson, 3rd Border
Robert Dixon, Trained Reserve
Stanley Murray,
Thomas Ellwood, Kings Liverpool
James Brown, 3rd East Lancs, Joseph Henderson. 22 Durham LI
Frank Dawson, Tank Corps
N.B.: John William Scrumpton, 7th Battalion The Border Regiment, listed as having been killed on this document, is not listed on the memorial cross in the churchyard.
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(d) The WW2 ‘Roll of Honour’
Castle Carrock’s WW2 ‘Roll of Honour’, listing those who served in the war, is also found inside St Peter’s church. It reads as follows:
1939 - 1945 ROLL OF HONOUR
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Names:
John E. Russell
Edward C. Wannop
George R. Sessford
John T. Armstrong
Thomas H. Nichol
William F. Thompson
James T. Brown
Joseph B. Brown
Mortimer Fairish
Thomas J. Rushton
Sidney Donaldson
Robert Nichol
Edgar Brown
Cyril Gibson
Kenneth H. Hilton
John Banks
William Thompson
Robert Kirkpatrick
Arthur Thompson
George Armstrong
Philip T. Hogg
John Glaister
Donald P. Armstrong +
Alexander Watson
John A. Robson
William Bell
James C. Hetherington +
W.T. Surtees
N.B.: Marine Donald P. Armstrong, R.M., is interred in Castle Carrock churchyard [Photograph No. 4].
Two WW2 casualties from the Castle Carrock area, who were a mother and son, are not listed on either the ‘Roll of Honour’ or the war memorial, They were:
Ensign Marjorie Stewart Butler (American Ambulance Corps volunteer), died of wounds caused by enemy bombing on 11 May 1941, aged 41.
Flying Officer Leonard Maurice Stewart Butler, RAFVR, 241 Squadron, who died on 21 March 1944, aged 21.
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Dedication
This article is dedicated to the young people from the Castle Carrock district who lost their lives in the World Wars.
May they rest in peace!
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Further reading
The official website for Castle Carrock has additional information about the village including a short history, further details about the war memorial, biographical information about Marine Donald Armstrong and Castle Carrock Home Guard in WW2. To access this website click on the following link:
Castle Carrock website
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