Ulpha – St John’s Church
Location Ulpha / Broughton-in-Furness
Grid Ref SD 198932
The Church of St John the Baptist at Ulpha is built on the site of a chapel of ease to the Church of Millom. There is no record of when it was built, but it is known that a Church existed in the 13th Century. The Church is a typical dales Church, constructed from rough local stone, with clear glass windows, and a bell turret containing two bells at the West end. You enter through a wooden lych gate with a slate roof.
The white painted walls have fragments of 18th Century decoration. One fragment is of the Lord’s Prayer. Once it was the custom to paint the Creed, Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments on the chancel walls. There are also two drawings – one bears the name of the Churchwardens in 1793, and the other (below) bears the name of S. Danson who gave the lych gate and the original wooden porch.
The ancient octagonal font is Pre-reformation, and shows sign of once having been locked to prevent the holy water being stolen. There are two recesses in the North and East walls, where holy books were kept.
The chuchyard is divided by the road, the new ground being consecrated in 1916. To the East and South of the original churchyard flows the River Duddon.
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