Description
Levens, a village, a township, and an ecclesiastical parish in Heversham parish, Westmorland. The township lies on the river Kent, 2 1/2 miles NNW of Milnthorpe railway station, and 5 1/4 S by W of Kendal; contains the hamlets of Beathwaite Green, Cinderbarrow, and part of Brigsteer. It has a post office under Milnthorpe; money order and telegraph office, Sedgwick. Acreage, 3376, besides 137 of water and foreshore; population, 953. The manor belonged to the Redmans, and passed to the Bellinghams and the Grahams. Levens Hall, the seat of the Bagot family, is a fine old Tudor mansion; contains much elaborate carved oaken work, and some interesting pictures, and stands amid charming grounds. The gardens were planned by Beaumont, gardener to James II., and the park is traversed by the Kent, between steep and richly-wooded banks, contains a petrifying spring called the dropping-well, and has a fine distribution of lawn and wood, while herds of deer
" Across the green sward bound, Through shade and sunny gleam; And the swans glide past them, with the sound Of Kent's rejoicing stream."
Levens Bridge takes the road from Milnthorpe to Kendal across the Kent, and Levens Force is a foaming cascade of the river, nearly a mile above the bridge. Low Levens Hall was the seat of the Leivins and the Prestons, and is now a farmhouse. A ruin at Kirkstead is supposed to occupy the site, and even to include some portions, of a Roman temple dedicated to Diana. The ecclesiastical parish is less extensive than the township, and was constituted in 1838. Population, 847. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle ; gross value, £200 with residence. The church was built in 1828, in the Early English style, with tower and spire. There is also a Wesleyan chapel, erected in 1891. It was built as a centenary memorial of the work of the Wesleyan body in the village. The old chapel is now used for meetings.
