Lightfoot and Burne Families - U.K. to Australia

Temple Sowerby, ranks as the neatest and best built village in the county, and is pleasantly situated 6 ½ miles N.W. of Appleby, on the Penrith road, at the confluence of the river Eden and Crowrundle Beck. Four large sheep and cattle Fairs are held here annually on the last Thursdays in February, March and October, and on the second Thursday in May. They were established about 20 years ago. In the village, which consists of two spacious streets, are many good houses, several gentleman’s seats, and three good inns, and near to it is Acorn Bank, the handsome villa of John Boazman, Esq. The lord of the manor, which till lately was the seat and property of the Dalston family, who obtained a grant of it from Henry VIII. In 1545,previous to which it had been possessed by the Knights Templars, who came to England in 1135, and were dissolved in 1312, and there numerous estates, &c, given to the Knights Hospitallers, who in their turn were dissolved in 1545, though they were less remarkable for vice and degeneration than there their predecessors, who were first established by Baldwin II. King of Jerusalem, for the defence of the Holy sepulchre, and the protection of Christian pilgrims; but after the destruction of Jerusalem, they spread themselves over Europe, and acquired by their valour and their fame immense riches and numerous privileges, but afterwards gave themselves to luxury, vice and infamy, which ultimately brought upon them ruin and punishment. The lord and tenants of this manor still claim and exercise several privileges granted to the Knights Templars, the most important of which is the exemption of toll throughout England. The parochial Chapel stands in the centre of the village, and is a handsome fabric of red free-stone, with a square tower and a portico. It was formally very small, but was rebuilt and greatly enlarged by the late Sir William Dalston about the year 1770, the inhabitants being at the expense of carrying the stone from Crowdundle. The clock was given in 1807 by the lady of the manor. The curacy, of which the Earl of Thanet is patron,was augmented in 1752 in connection with that of Milburn, and of the land then purchased, the Davey-Bank estate, in Firbank is allotted to this benefice, and is now let for fifty guineas a year, the present incumbent the Rev. Robert Harrison, having lately improved it by the erection of new buildings, at the cost of £199. It was again augmented in 1762, with £400, expended in the purchase of land at Lazonby, now let for £35 per annum, including an allotment of eight acres awarded at the enclosure. The curate also has a yearly stipend of £20 from the rector of the parish. In 1813, a building in the village was converted into an Independent Chapel, now under the ministry of the Rev. William Selby. The tithes of corn, potatoes, and turnips, are paid in kind, but a modus of 10s. yearly is paid in lieu of the hay tithe. In 1692, Richard Lowes left an acre and rood of land, now let for £5 per year to the poor orphans and widows belonging to the village of Temple Sowerby.

Magna Britannica et Hibernia.Volume 6: Westmorland by Thomas Cox 45 pages, printed in 1731.

Temple Sowreby, the Lordship of Robert Lord Clifford, who being slain at the fatal Battle of Bannock-moor, 7 Edw. II. his Widow, Maud, one of the Heirs of Thomas de Clare, had a Moiety of this Lordship, and some other of his estates in Dower, which returned at her Death to Roger her Son; but she was then the Wife of Robert de Welle, a great Baron in Lincolnshire.