The Ravenstonedale Parish Registers contain records of many Adamthwaites who were baptised, married and buried in Ravenstonedale between the years of 1572 and 1812 – varying amounts of information are given about these people, but there are occasional mentions of their place of abode: Adamthwaite, Artelgarth, Hill, Malastang, Town, Lowcomb Head, Fell-end, Newbiggin, Murthwaite, Steps Beck, Streetside (all these places are within a short distance of Ravenstonedale. The names of Ministers and other officials are also recorded: in 1742 it was noted that Wm Adamthwaite was a Church Warden.

The Registers contain some fascinating notes: there were plagues recorded in 1579, 1588, 1623 and 1730. A notice concerning 24 burials which took place between 1678 and 1679 (including two Adamthwaites) states:

‘Affidavits were lawfully made and brought to ye Curate of Ravenstondale Parish that ye persons whose burials are hereunder registered were wound up and buryed in nothing but wt was made of sheepswool only according to an Act of Parliament for that purpose enacted’.

It was recorded that following the 'Bare Bones' Act of Parliament, no weddings took place in the parish between 1653 and 1659 - they all took place in either Appleby or Kendal. There were also some exceeding judgmental statements made about some of the events recorded ... one poor young woman who took her child to be christened suffered the embarrassment of having the following written about her innocent little child "gotten in fornication by a pedler", and there were other references to children being "the supposed daughter to ...[name of father] ... in adultery".

Our search for Adamthwaite records from the late 17th and early 18th centuries has been somewhat hampered by the fact that a number of families were known to be dissenters. The Curate at St Oswalds in Ravenstonedale was sympathetic to the Dissenters and an arrangement was made whereby a bell was rung following the Nicene Creed so that the Dissenters could then enter the church and listen to the sermon and hear the notices. A number of records of christenings and weddings that took place at local Meeting Houses have also been included in the parish registers. We have been able to find some Adamthwaite records amongst the Quaker records of the period, but we know from Wills and other documents that there are still several individuals (and possibly whole families) whose christenings, marriages and burials we have not yet been able to identify.

You can get the full flavour of life in old Ravenstondale from Rev W Nicholls' 'History and Traditions of Ravenstonedale, Westmorland'. Volume II of this book is very hard to find (though I did manage to buy a copy on ebay and hope to produce a write up of some of the many mentions of Adamthwaite, the place, and mentions of Adamthwaite individuals at some point.)  However, you can now access an on-line version of Volume I of the book at Archive.org  - or you can purchase your very own reprinted copy from The Book House in Brough.

Another book available online at Archive.org is 'Westmorland Agriculture 1800 - 1900' written in 1912 by Frank W Garnet, which includes some wonderful descriptions of life in the dales.