| St. Mary and St. Michael's Church, Great Urswick 
This church is part of a group of seven parishes known as the 'Low
Furness Group of Parishes'. It has strong links with the United Reformed
Church in Urswick, sharing worship and many social events.In 1123 Stephen de Blois (later King Stephen of England 1135-1154) gave land at Tulketh near Preston to monks of the Order of Savigny. Four years later he gave land on which they built Furness Abbey. In 1148 the Order of Savigny was amalgamated with the Cistercian Order. The monks of Furness Abbey claimed patronage of the church at Urswick before 1148. Tradition has it that the church was founded 200-300 years earlier. Support for this belief is based on the discovery of a Viking cross in 1909 and in 1911 the Tunwinni Cross was found and dated by W.G. Collingwood as 9th Century. 
The original charter giving land to the monks who built Furness Abbey,
refers to an already established church of St. Mary in Urswick. Later,
reference was made to St. Mary in the Fields. The church is now known
as St Mary the Virgin and St Michael. Rushbearing takes place on the
Sunday nearest St. Michael's Day (29 September).It is thought that an early church covered the area that now forms the Nave. Outside, on the north and south walls can be seen arch holes, these probably supported light timbers which carried a reed roof. The lower part of the tower is probably pre-Norman, the upper part being added in the Tudor period. On the west walls of the tower are three niches, one of which contains a Mater Dolorosa, which is said to have come from Furness Abbey.
Scholars did not seem to be able to come up with any explanation for the two carved figures on the stones and after further investigation Steve made a detailed and painstaking analysis of the inscriptions, finding that the runes were imposed on fragments of earlier writing. He believes that he has discovered two names, which point to an historic meeting between a 7th century Irish cleric and the seventh Archbishop of Canterbury, a meeting which changed the balance of power in the early Christian church from Celtic to Roman.
FEATURE: Urswick - a Celtic monastery? FEATURE:
Urswick origins (PDF) - Urswick's Christian origins explored FEATURE: Alec Miller, guildsman and sculptor in wood (Urswick Church Commissions) (PDF)
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Urswick
Church was featured recently in an article in the Evening Mail by
Barrow born Steve Dickinson who believes that the parish church
rune stone holds the key to a 1600 year-old story that reveals the
origins of Christianity in Britain. Steve, an archeologist for more
than 20 years, was always fascinated by the rune stone which has
stood on the windowsill of the church since before he was born.
The stone was found on the site by a turn-of-the-century vicar and
was investigated on the site by the respected historian WG Collingwood,
who believed that it was a fragment of a Northumbrian cross dated
at the earliest to 850 AD.
Steve
realised that this meeting could have taken place at Great Urswick,
putting Furness at the centre of one of the most significant power
struggles of the time and demonstrating that there must have been
an early monastery at Great Urswick, literally the first monastery
of Furness. Cracks in the church wall indicate that there must have
been a much earlier church on the site, parts of which remain in
traces of earlier arches and part of an earlier gable end, now forming
a wall inside the church. Steve believes that part of the church
dates back to as early as 1600 years ago, which would make it the
earliest bit of any church in the country.