As well as censuses of individual households, in 1851 a separate religious census was also taken. Information collected included denomination, size of congregation, and when it was first licenced or consecrated. The forms themselves can be identified and viewed via Discovery, being The National Archives catalogue - search for a place of interest in the 'Advanced Search' option, including 'HO 129' as the reference. Incumbents filled in the forms as well as they were able, and sometimes added additional notes.
In this case, the clerk has written about the Chapelry of Mungrisdale: 'In Summer & the weather fine a fair congregation, in winter only a small number; a Cold Chapel.'
Mungrisdale lay to the very north of what is now the Lake District, in the shadow of the mighty Blencathra. This telling comment by the clerk whilst filling in the forms shows how difficult some of the church congregation would have found it to make the trip to church in the winter months, when travel was hard. Parishioners could live some distance away, and making a trip to church to sit and listen to a sermon in such 'a cold chapel' was clearly not a priority throughout the winter for many.
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