Church Of St Bridget

The Church of St Bridget is a parish church located on the site of a Roman fort, having replaced a mid-12th century church. It was built in 1822 by G. Crawford, with a chancel added in 1885 by J. Bintley from Kendal, designed in a similar style. The church features ashlar stone on a moulded plinth, corner pilasters, an eaves band, and a cornice, along with a sill band at the chancel. The graduated slate roofs are topped with stone copings and kneelers, and the tower has a parapet with obelisk finials at the corners.

The structure includes a 4-bay nave with an integral 3-stage west tower and a 2-bay chancel. The symmetrical west front has a central plank door with a semicircular fanlight on the ground floor of the tower, a vestry to the left, and a baptistry to the right. There are two rows of round-headed windows in the nave, while the chancel features two tall windows on either side and a Venetian window at the east end. Decorative dragons adorn the rainwater heads, and there are decorative down-pipes.

Inside, the porch has stairs leading up to an 1885 western gallery supported by cast-iron columns with Gothic traceried spandrels. The semicircular chancel arch is carried on Ionic responds, with text boards on either side. The lower windows contain late 19th and early 20th century stained glass by Heaton, Butler, & Bayne from London. A panelled reredos from 1902 is present, along with an 1885 square wooden pulpit by Simpson & Rich, which is decoratively carved and features painted panels. The baptistry contains a late 19th century octagonal marble font, while a medieval stone font with an octagonal bowl is located outside the vestry. Additionally, there is a pedimented marble memorial slab in the baptistry, dated 1843, commemorating Mary Ann Steward, which displays a profile.