The entrance to the Kent valley and under the shelter of Potters fell lies the village of Burneside. There have been settlements here since the Stone Age, and is reflected by the remains of a stone circle on Potter Fell...in a part of Cumbria once known as Strathclyde.
In the 15th century, a large variety of mills sprung up here alongside the river Sprint, to handle corn, wool, cotton, bobbins, and the original rag paper mill at Cowan Head.
In 1814 James Bateman of Tolson Hall erected Elba monument on a mound close to the Kendal to Windermere road. Mr Bateman intended to inscribe these words on the monument, but owing to the escape of Napoleon from Elba, the inscription was never engraved. The tablet should have read 'In honour of William Pitt the Pilot that weathered the storm'. In 1914 a plaque was installed by Charles Cropper of Ellergreen, but is now missing.
There are a number of listed buildings in the parish, they include Burneside Hall, built in the 14th century as a defence dwelling with a gatehouse and walled enclosure. The tower is now in ruin but the house with later additions was once the home of the de Burneshead family from which the village takes its name.
Tolson Hall was built in 1638 for Thomas Tolson (or Towson) a tobacco merchant. A small room was discovered inside one of the six foot thick walls, which was used in olden days for hiding a priest. The gateway on the south side of the house is a copy of the Castle gate at Lancaster.
Godman Hall takes its name from a family that used to live there, in a square Pele Tower probably of medieval date. The house was added late in the 17th century.
The present church was built in 1881 for the increasing inhabitants of the parish, a smaller church stood on this same site and was built in 1823..before this the church stood at the foot of the present church yard. Attached to the old church was the village school which dates from the 17th century.
The Manor of Burneside was divided up in 1750 by Thomas Shepherd who had inherited it from his father. The Hall and most of the farm land was sold to Christopher Wilson of Barbon. Cowanhead was sold to Lady Fleming of Rydal Hall, who subsequently re-sold it immediately to Thomas Ashburner who built upon it a paper mill. Burneside Hall and land was sold to Mr Roger Wakefield, who built upon the falls a cotton mill. When this trade declined it was used as a woollen mill and lastly as a paper mill. In 1845 these two mills were purchased by the James Cropper, who as a young man had recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh, who had decided whilst there not to go into the family business in Liverpool, but to take up the manufacture of paper.
James Cropper Co. Ltd, the paper manufacturer, is the main employer in the area.
Over the years the generations of Croppers have helped Burneside to prosper, they were always concerned in the day to day activities of the people. Houses were built for the workers or land was released for them to build there own. John Bryce, a Director in the company, in 1897 built the Bryce Institute and was the village focal point of social activities. The present James Cropper is the fifth generation of the family.
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