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 Martins
Bank has some of the smallest and quaintest sub-branches
you could wish to see, tucked away all over the country. None smaller or more quaint then, than
the Bank’s office at Cartmel Institute. The Bank of Liverpool opened this
sub-Branch in 1899. This photograph
of the Branch was kindly donated to Martins Bank Magazine in 1960 by Mrs
Mabel Hollett, whose husband, the late Mr F M Hollett, was the
photographer. Mr Hollett was with
Rockliff Bros for many years, and well known to some of the Bank’s staff at
Cartmel. Cartmel is originally a Sub Branch to Ulverston. In 1948, David Haire, retired Manager of Martins
Bank’s Sunderland Branch visits the Old Gatehouse at Cartmel and writes an
article for martins Bank Magazine, about the unusual history of Cartmel
Priory…
 About two
miles from Grange-over-Sands in a quiet and pleasant vale which lies
between Newby Bridge and Allithwaite, on the northern shores of
Morecambe Bay, there nestles around
the hoary old Priory the peaceful village of Cartmel with its few hundred
souls. In its centre is an old
gatehouse which is the sole survival of the monastic buildings which once
encircled the Priory and covered 22 acres. This ancient structure may be of
interest to readers as the adjacent building with the shadowed gable was
once the home of the local office of the Bank, which next year attains its
Jubilee. The gatehouse formed the north-west corner of the lofty boundary
wall of the conventual area. It is a dark fabric resting upon a deep
archway.
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In Service: 1899 until
24 November 1970
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  The roof was
originally covered with lead, with battlemented parapets which were removed
at the time it was slated.It is known that a school was held in the room
above the archway from 1624 for very many years. Subsequently it was let as
a dwelling for poor families, afterwards used as a Methodist Chapel and
then converted into a warehouse. It is believed to have been the Court
House of the Manor of Cartmel which now forms part of the Duchy of
Lancaster.
The story of Cartmel itself (a cathedral
city in miniature) has a legendary beginning. It is said that some monks,
looking for a site on which to establish their Order, came here and
prepared to build their church on a hill. As they began, however, a voice
was heard saying :—
“Not here, but in a valley between two rivers, one running north and the
other south”.
They
then searched all the North of England but eventually returned to the hill
where the voice had been heard, and in crossing the valley they found a
stream running north and about 100 yards further on, another running south.
There between them they built their church.
It is related that the
British settled here in 677 some 200 years after the arrival of the Saxons
and that Egfnd, King of Northumbria, gave the land of Cartmell " with
all the Britons in it” to the
saintly Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, who probably raised a church to
propagate the faith. That such a church existed before the present Priory
is known from documentary evidence of conveyance of abbey lands attested by
ecclesiastics of Cartmel.
 Following
a complete gap of five centuries, the first clear historical records state
that the present Priory was founded in 1188 by William Marshall, Earl of
Pembroke and Baron of Cartmel, Regent for the boy King Henry III. The Earl
also obtained a arant of land from Kins John for its permanent endowment.
The original style of architecture was transitional Norman and early
English, but in 1410 the nave was rebuilt and perpendicular windows
inserted in the choir and other parts. To provide a Bell Tower a short
addition was made to the original Tower but the new section was built
diagonally to the base of the old. thus resulting in a unique architectural
effect. At the Dissolution this religious house contained 10 Augustinian
Canons and 38 servants. Its original charter provided that it should never
be elevated to the dignity of an abbey, but have an independent existence.
Thus the Parishioners were able to claim it as their Parish Church. and so
saved it from destruction. It was the only monastic church in Lancashire
which escaped.
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