DACRE, a township and a parish in Penrith district, Cumberland. The township lies on the rivulet Dacre, 4½ miles SW by W of Penrith r. station; has a post office under Penrith; and gives the title of Baron to the family of Brand. Real property, £2, 177. Pop., 151. Houses, 37. The parish contains also the townships of Stainton, Soulby, Newbiggin, and Great Blencow. Acres, 8, 205. Real property, £9, 124. Pop., 967. Houses, 191. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to the Brands of Dacre, and passed to the Hassells of Dalemain. Dacre Castle, the seat of the Branda, was converted into a farm-house, and is represented now by four square embattled towers, with connecting walls. The Brands got their title of Dacre, originally D'Acre, from the exploits of one of them at the siege of Acre in Palestine, under Cœur de Lion; and Sir Walter Scott describes their bill-men as

With kirtles white and crosses red
Array'd beneath the banner tall
That stream'd o'er Acre's conquered wall.

An ancient monastery stood here; and Athelstane, in 930, after achieving a victory in the neighbourhood, received in the monastery the homage of the Cumbrian and the Scottish kings. His victory was sung in a Saxon ode which is still extant. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £150.* Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is a neat edifice; and contains monuments of the Brands and the Hassells. A curious monumental structure, consisting of four stone bears clasping a rude pillar, is in the churchyard. Two schools have £9 and £191 from endowment; and other charities have £35.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))