William Bowness & Seaton’s Smithy

William BOWNESS (1798-1887), our 4th Great Grandfather, was a Blacksmith in the village of Seaton, Cumberland. William and his wife Mary ADDISON (1803-1879) raised 11 children in Low Seaton. Between 1840-1865, William’s cottage was home to 10-11 people. Even as their children departed Mary’s mother moved in and their eldest daughter, our 3rd Great Grandmother, Elizabeth ‘Betty’ BOWNESS (1826-1870), raised her children in the shared lodgings.

The neighboring Pack Horse Inn¹ (of which there were many) in the 1700s was a crucial roadside tavern designed to support the packhorse trade—a vital logistical network of the era. Before the expansion of turnpike roads and canals, long trains of pack horses transported heavy goods (like wool, coal, and limestone) along narrow, often inaccessible tracks. They featured extensive stabling, fodder, and secure yards for the horses, alongside basic food, ale, and lodging for the carters.

The Seaton Smithy was located next door to the Inn and would enjoy steady, built-in foot traffic. While travelers rested their horses, their carriages often needed repairs, and the social atmosphere of the inn meant the blacksmith had no shortage of thirsty patrons.

In 1841 there were three blacksmiths in the village according to the English Census. According the to the 1841 Tithe Maps² of Seaton, 4GG William Bowness lived overlooking the village green and rented a house, pasture, and orchard. The Tithe map does not list the Blacksmiths Shop aka Smithy but it is present on the later ordnance survey map, on Plot 516 of the Tithe map, which is listed as Timber Yard and Joiner’s Shop. I suspect the William’s Smithy was originally located behind his cottage.

Mary ADDISON was the Blacksmith’s daughter from the nearby village of Distington. Mary’s parents Hannah & Pearson ADDISON had relocated to Liverpool where blacksmiths were in high demand as the transition to steamships required experienced Shipsmiths.⁶

At least six generations of our direct ancestors in the BOWNESS family lived and worked in Cumberland, from the northerly village of Bowness on Solway down to Whitehaven on the west coast and east ward as far as Penrith.

William’s father, our 5th Great Grandfather, William BOWNESS (1770-1855), was an agricultural labourer and moved to the village of Seaton after his children left home. William and his wife Mary MANN (1773-1862) lived just around the corner from his son. His rented cottage was 1 Perch in size, approximately 34m² (368 square feet). 1 Perch is the approximate size of a hotel room in California today.

According to the standard English system (statute measure), land area was recorded in Acres, Roods/Rods, and Perches. This was the standard format used in 19th-century land surveys, particularly on tithe maps, valuation records, and estate records.

William & Mary’s cottage was so small it has since been combined with the neighboring cottage and knocked through. The photograph from Google Street View shows the brightly colored. The properties were rebuilt in 1880 on the same footprint as the original row of cottages.

Family Tree

Eight of the eleven children produced by our 4GG William BOWNESS & Mary ADDISON reached adulthood. Those eight children produced more than fifty grandchildren, the majority of whom lived out their lives in Cumberland.

Footnotes

1. Pack Horse Inn, Low Seaton, Cumbria, Photograph credit: Graham Robson, Creative Commons License ↩︎
2. Tithe Map, Wikipedia.org ↩︎
3. Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929 [database online]. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2026 ↩︎ ↩︎
4. Plot 515 & 517A, Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2026 ↩︎
5. Plot 493, Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2026  ↩︎
6. A shipsmith was a specialized blacksmith who forged ironwork specifically for maritime vessels. As Liverpool grew into one of the world’s most powerful trading ports and shipbuilding hubs during the 18th and 19th centuries, shipsmiths became vital tradesmen in the city’s bustling dockyards ↩︎
7. 24 Gales Terrace, Low Seaton, Cumberland, England, Google Street View ↩︎
8. Side by Side Historic OS Map of Low Seaton, Cumberland, National Library of Scotland ↩︎

References

• William Bowness, Seaton, Cumberland, 1790-1890, Search Results, The Genealogist
• Rod, Perch, Wikipedia
• Acre, Wikipedia