The small hamlet of Blawith is located on one of the many Smithy Becks in the Lakes, just to the west of the River Crake, and only a mile to the south of Coniston Water.
Another mile to the south is the equally small village of Lowick. The two villages each have their own church, but on several occasions attempts were made to merge the two parishes. The first came in 1645 when the parishioners of both places decided to merge and offered to fund a third church somewhere between the villages. This was never completed, and in 1786 the parishes were split again. A second attempt at merger in 1841 was less popular and ended after five years. Soon after the first split the parishioners of Blawith built a steeple on their church, selling some church land to pay for it. Within a century this church was abandoned and the current church was built (just to the east of the A 5084, the main road that runs down the south-western shore of Coniston).
The sale was commemorated in a local poem:
Blawith poor people,
An auld church and a new steeple,
As poor as hell,
They had to sell a bit of fell to buy a bell,
Blawith poor people