Wythburn Church
In the shadow of Helvellyn, Wythburn’s lonely position attracted the attention of the Romantic Poets. Hartley Coleridge described this little church as Wythburn’s ‘humble house of prayer’, Wordsworth described it as ‘Wythburn’s modest house of prayer’. It was formerly the spiritual centre of a small farming community, destroyed with the creation in 1894 of Thirlmere reservoir.
The church was built in 1640 and restored in 1872. In the apse one of the stained glass windows is by Henry Holiday. At the west end are two simple but good windows depicting Celtic saints – St Cuthbert, and St Herbert, who both lived in the 7th Century. St Herbert was the Lakeland saint who brought Christianity to the region, and lived on an island on Derwentwater.
There is some bronze work by the Keswick School of Industrial Arts. Outside is a stone erected by Canon Rawnsley commemorating two walks which inspired poems by Matthew Arnold.
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