History of Cumbria Like Wordsworth, he took a paternalistic view of the "lower-classes" saying that "I don't want to let them see Helvellyn while they are drunk." However, the project that really made the Lake District into national news was Manchester Corporation Water Works's scheme to dam Thirlmere to provide water to the city, first proposed in 1876 and finally "on tap" in 1894. Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, the future co-founder of the National Trust was undecided : he was a strong advocate of the Lake District's ability to provide recreation, rest and fresh-air, as well as aesthetic pleasure, but also knew just how
Raithby by Spilsby renewed by Hodgson Fowler in 1895. The lychgate is Grade II listed and dates from 1907. It was dedicated to the memory of Sophy Janet Rawnsley, of Raithby Hall. In the grounds of the churchyard is a stone cross, mostly dating from 1903 but using part of an earlier shaft. The old base is not used and lies away. The red-brick Raithby Hall was the seat of the Brackenbury and Rawnsley families, built around 1760 for Robert Carr Brackenbury and extended in 1848 and 1873 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. It is now an old peoples home, and is Grade