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.

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.

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.

More information
View inside the church
Arrange a visit