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Gosforth is a village three miles south-east of Seascale. Once a Viking settlement as one can see from the famous Gosforth crosses, and hogback tombstone. Worn, but very fine, it is a remarkable sandstone monolith nearly 15 feet high..the tallest ancient cross in the country..it is thought to be a relic from the Scandinavian settlement here in the generations just before the Norman Conquest. The slender tapering shaft is partly round and partly square, and is crowned by a fine four-holed head carved on the arms with the triquetra, the emblem of the Trinity. The cross head is said to be unique in the north of England for being carved with a crucifix.
The Viking influence is also to be seen in the name of the river ...the Bleng, together with the names of the surrounding fells and farms.
As to be expected in a country parish, many events centre around the church. Gosforth has the largest church in the united benefice with Nether Wasdale and Wasdale Head. The Norman church dating from the 12th century also contains the Viking 'fishing stone'..representing the Edda story of Thor, together with many monolith's of Norse mythology. The church's other claim to fame is reputed to be the country's most northerly cork tree.
The church itself has two old chairs, and a new oak lectern. There is a neat modern font with traceried panels, and there are some curious old collecting boxes in the vestry. A most unusual relic on one of the windowsills is a Chinese iron bell, perhaps the only one of its kind ever to ring in an English church. Though cracked, it is finely ornamented in Eastern fashion. It was given to Gosforth by Lady Senhouse after her husband Sir Humphrey Senhouse brought it from a fort he captured on the Canton River in 1841, and a tablet tells of his death on board HMS Blenheim after Canton was taken. By the bell are two old stone cannon balls from forts in the Dardanelles.
Part of the village hall incorporates one of the oldest buildings in Gosforth. This was built by John and Margaret Shearwen in 1628 and now houses the library and the Supper Room. In 1658 Gosforth Hall was built using local sandstone. Here still are some fine stone pillars of the gate, along with an old fireplace, a newel stair, and some splendid old beams in the roof. In a corner of the field above the Hall is the site of an ancient chapel built over the Holy Well.
The Hall was the seat originally of the Copley's, and is in fact the house where Bishop Nicholson used to go courting Barbara Copley when he was a young archdeacon. Just outside the village in a long narrow field are the remains of an early Viking homestead known locally as Danes Camp.
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