THE Furness community of Rampside comes under the spotlight today with a look at life through the centuries.

The village was founded by Michael le Fleming under a grant of land from King Stephen. He also had Stank and Roosecote.

This land passed to Furness Abbey in 1152 in a swop giving the monks control of the harbour of Piel.

In 1292 what was described as "Rameshede" was listed as one of 11 monastic granges, or

farms, each of around 100 acres.

Rampside Hall has 12 chimneys and the imposition of the Window tax from 1696 saw all but five windows at the front bricked up until the building was restored in 1987.

The railway line to Rampside station carried its last passengers in 1936.

Another guide to travellers was the Rampside navigational aid or "leading light" near the shore which was built by the Furness Railway between 1850 and 1870. There were others at Foulney and Biggar Dyke

An earlier version of St Michael’s Church at Rampside carried 1621 on its foundation stone.

The old church was replaced in 1840 and a porch added in 1866.

It is probably on one of the earliest religious sites in Furness and may have been built on a pre-historic earth mound or barrow.

In the 1200s there would have been a simple chapel.

In the 1860s church sexton William Jackson, the sexton, found a stone axe- hammer of the Neolithic Age.

He also found what has been named ‘The Rampside Sword’, a Viking relic.

Also uncovered was a large stone slab bearing a cross and covering a skeleton.

In the 18th century Rampside was considered a clean, healthy place to indulge in sea bathing.

West’s 1805 History of Furness noted: “The small village of Rampside, at the southern extremity of Furness, is frequently a place of resort for genteel company, who repair thither to bathe, or for the advantage of the sea air.”

In 1800 the population of Barrow was 65 and Rampside was 94.

The 1825 Baines’ Lancashire Directory said: “Accommodations are good but not sumptuous and the expense nearly as moderate as in the Isle of

Man.”