Joseph Thompson Headstone is a Grade II listed building in the Cumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 December 1985. Monument.
Joseph Thompson Headstone
- WRENN ID
- hollow-rubblework-bracken
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Cumberland
- Constituency
- Whitehaven and Workington MP: Josh MacAlister (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 13 December 1985
- Type
- Monument
- Address
- Joseph Thompson Headstone, Headstone Lane, Workington
- OS grid reference
- NY 009 259
- Coordinates
- 54.61853, -3.53509
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Joseph Thompson Headstone is a roadside memorial made of calciferous sandstone, featuring a rounded top. It is inscribed with the words "JOSEPH THOMPSON MAY HERE BE FOUND, WHO WOULD NOT LY IN CONSECRATED GROUND, DIED MAY YE 31 1745, AGED 63 WHEN HE WAS ALIVE." This headstone commemorates Joseph Thompson, who, after a dispute with the Vicar of Harrington Church, vowed never to enter the church again. On his deathbed, he requested to be buried at midnight in the middle of Scaw Moor. When the land was later enclosed and the headstone became an obstruction, it was relocated to its current position by the roadside. This information is referenced in William Whellan's "History of Cumberland & Westmorland," published in 1860.
Local climate
Joseph Thompson Headstone sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,540 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 21 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Thompson Monument 3 Metres South of Church of St Brandon
- 2 Thompson Headstone 16 Metres South of South Aisle of Church of the Holy Trinity
- 3 Thompson Headstone 25 Metres South of Church of St Mary
- 4 Thompson Headstone Approximately 10 Metres South of South Door of South Aisle of Old Church of St Mary
- 5 Thorne Memorial Approximately 26 Metres to South of Chancel of Church of All Saints
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