From Mannex's directory of Furness and Cartmel, 1882.
Form a woody and picturesque township, three miles east from Broughton. The largest owner of the soil is John Dodson de Skelton, Esq., J.P., of Woodland Hall, a pleasantly-situated mansion surrounded by beautiful scenery. Mrs. Dixon and a few others have also estates in the township.
The Chapel at Woodland, which was first erected in 1568, and rebuilt by the landowners in 1822, has been superseded by a neat Church, erected on the site of the old edifice. It was consecrated on the 15th of September, 1865, and is a substantial structure, in the Gothic style of the fourteenth century, containing 150 sittings, all of which are free. Its cost was about £1,000, raised by subscriptions, donations, and grants from the Diocesan and Church Building Societies. The church registers date back from 1748, and are continuous from that time. In 1763 we find an entry for "washing surplices and ringing church hell for 5 years, 10 shillings." In the chancel end is a pretty stained glass window divided into three compartments, in which are depicted the Birth, Crucifixion, and Ascension of our Lord. It was put in by the late incumbent, the Rev. R. P. Manclarke, M.A., to the memory of his mother and sister. The living is a rectory, worth about £140 a year, the value of the benefice having been increased by the purchase of the rectorial tithes in 1876. The rectory is a neat, substantial stone building, erected in 1869 at a cost of £1,300, including the site. The patronage of the living is vested in certain landowners, whose estates are subject to an annual rent-charge of two guineas, payable to the incumbent, who is at present the Rev. Edwin Charles Shawfield, M.A.
The districts of Woodland and Heathwaite were formerly included in the jurisdiction of the Church of Kirkby Ireleth, and the chapels of Woodland, Seathwaite, and Broughton were subject to the vicar of that church. They were under the ecclesiastical authority of the Dean and Chapter of York, but since the abolition of this vestige of monasticism they have been placed under the control of the Bishop of Carlisle.
Grizebeck is partly in this township. There are two schools in the village, one of which was built half a century ago by a few benevolent individuals of the neighbourhood. The Kirkby Ireleth District Board School was built in 1878, and is attended by 42 children. The village contains a malt kiln, a comfortable inn, and a few other trades. The railway from Broughton to Coniston passes through Woodland, at which place there is a station. The line was opened in 1859, and is a great accommodation to the locality.
Several relics of prehistoric times are to be seen in this township, and are supposed to indicate the burial places of British chiefs. They consist of stones heaped together, but differ in form and size. Some are round, some oval, and others long-the latter having large upright stones standing at each end, and are locally termed Giants' Graves. On Heathwaite Fell a large space of moor land is enclosed, in the shape of a parallelogram, by thick walls without mortar. It is supposed to be the remains of a British settlement, and is marked as such on the Ordnance usaps. The cairns already alluded to may have a connection with these remains.
Post Office at A. Fox's, Grizebeck. Letters via messenger, from Broughton-in-Furness, arrive about 8 a.m., and are despatched at 4 p.m. winter, and 5 p.m. summer.
Post Office at Woodland Station. Letters via Broughton-in-Furness arrive, by messenger, at 8-30 a.m., and are despatched at 4-55 p.m. winter, and 6-15 p.m. summer.
