Eaglesfield is a village and former
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
, now in the parish of
Dean, in
Allerdale
Allerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 96,422 at the 2011 Census.
The Bor ...
district, in the county of
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...
, in England.
Historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
part of
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...
, it is near the
A5086 road, 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of
Cockermouth and is located just outside the
Lake District National Park
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
. In 1931 the parish had a population of 233.
Etymology
Eaglesfield lay in the early Middle Ages within the British kingdom of
Rheged
Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ''Hen Ogledd'' ("Old North"), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and b ...
, and the first element of the name is perhaps derived from the
Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
'eccles' "church" (cognate with Welsh 'eglwys' 'church'). The meaning would be 'open land near a British church' - something that the Anglian settlers would have seen as they "arrived and settled some two miles away down below at
Brigham." (The second element, 'Feld', is
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
for 'open country').
Alternatively, it means 'Ecgel's open land' ('Ecgel's feld'). 'Ecgel' is a personal name and possibly "a normal diminutive of compound names such as 'Ecglaf', or Ecgwulf' ".
Governance
Eaglesfield is in the
parliamentary constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
of
Copeland,
Trudy Harrison
Trudy Lynne Harrison (born 19 April 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland since the February 2017 by-election. It was the first time Copeland had elected a Conservative MP sin ...
is the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
.
Before
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
, it was in the
North West England European Parliamentary Constituency.
For
Local Government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...
purposes it is in the ''Dalton
Ward'' of
Allerdale Borough Council and part of the ''Cockermouth South'' Ward of
Cumbria County Council
Cumbria County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it is an elected local government body respo ...
.
Eaglesfield does not have its own
parish council, instead it is part of Dean Parish Council, which also covers villages of
Dean,
Deanscales,
Branthwaite
Branthwaite is a hamlet in the borough of Allerdale, Cumbria, England. The hamlet is approximately from Workington and from Cockermouth. It is located just outside the Lake District National Park. In 1870-72 the township had a population of 2 ...
, Pardshaw and
Ullock
Ullock is a village in Cumbria, England, located at National Grid reference NY076239, approximately south west of Cockermouth and south east of Workington. The River Marron flows through the village. It is located just outside the Lake Distr ...
.
Eaglesfield was a
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...
in
Brigham parish. From 1866 Eaglesfield was a civil parish in its own right until it was merged with Dean on 1 April 1934.
Notable people
Eaglesfield was the birthplace of
John Dalton (1766–1844), acclaimed chemist, meteorologist and physicist. He was the father of the modern atomic theory.
Eaglesfield was the probable birthplace of
Robert de Eglesfield
Robert de Eglesfield (), 1341 founder of The Queen's College, Oxford, and a chaplain of Queen Philippa of Hainault in whose honour he named the college.
Robert was the third son of John of Eglesfield and Beatrix. John was himself third son of Th ...
(c.1295–1349), founder of
the Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
. His father, John of Eglesfield, held lands in and near there.
Moorland Close, Eaglesfield, was the birthplace of
Fletcher Christian, master's mate aboard . He led the mutiny against the captain,
William Bligh, during their voyage to
Tahiti.
File:Inscription above the door, birthplace of John Dalton, Eaglesfield (geograph 4245532).jpg, Historical plaque marking birthplace of John Dalton
File:Plaque marking the birthplace of John Dalton, Eaglesfield (geograph 4245539).jpg, Modern plaque marking birthplace of John Dalton
See also
*
Listed buildings in Dean, Cumbria
Dean is a civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It contains 37 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, two are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, t ...
References
External links
Cumbria County History Trust: Eaglesfield(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
{{authority control
Villages in Cumbria
Former civil parishes in Cumbria
Dean, Cumbria