The village of Gamblesby and the hamlet of Unthank are situated some ten miles east of Penrith in the Eden Valley under, Fiends, Fins , or Finch Fell, a summit of the Pennines...an area which is generally known as East fellside.
Today Unthank is not located where its first squatters settled...for in 1597/98 the inhabitants succumbed to the Black Death, and a new hamlet was built some short distance away.
It was not uncommon for the area to fall victim to Scottish raiders, consequently Gamblesby developed its area by keeping farm buildings within the perimeter of its village, and the stock would have been kept on the village green.
In 1772, John Wesley, the Methodist preacher, first arrived in Gamblesby from Newcastle. In 1784 he erected a chapel on the green and today this area is still much revered by all Methoodists.
The stocks to be seen prominently on the village green were made by one William Toppon towards the end of the 18th century. Apparently they were last used to punish someone who had stolen a turnip.
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