Blennerhasset and Torpenhow is a

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 437, reducing to 423 at the 2011 Census. It includes the villages of Blennerhasset and Torpenhow at and the smaller settlement of Kirkland Guards at . It is located just outside the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Baggrow railway station Baggrow railway station was in the former county of Cumberland, now Cumbria, England. It was a stop on the Bolton Loop (sometimes referred to as the "Mealsgate Loop") of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway. The station served the village and Br ...

was immediately north of Blennerhasset. The local pronunciation of Torpenhow is (), rather than the more intuitive (). Blennerhasset is pronounced () instead of () as would be expected outside of Cumbria.

St Michael's Church, Torpenhow St Michael's Church is in the civil parish of Blennerhasset and Torpenhow, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican church in the deanery of Derwent, the archdeaconry of West Cumberland, and the diocese of Carlisle. It is recorded in the Nati ...

has a Norman

chancel arch In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

with a remarkable carving of interlocking human figures, and a painted wooden ceiling.

Toponymy

The name ''Blennerhasset'' derives from the Brittonic ''blaen dre'', meaning "hill farm", with the later addition of

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''hey sætr'', "hay shieling". Similarly, ''Torpenhow'' derives from the Brittonic ''tor pen'', meaning "peak head" or "end of the high ground", to which the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

word ''hōh'' ("hill spur") has been added. Alternatively, ''Torpenhow'' may be an entirely Brittonic name incorporating a plural suffix.

Governance

Blennerhasset and Torpenhow is part of the

Penrith and Solway Penrith and Solway is a List of UK Parliament constituencies, constituency of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review ...

constituency of the

UK parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

. For

Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

purposes it is in the

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a type of local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed ...

. Its parish council is Blennerhasset and Torpenhow Parish Council.

Blennerhasset Mill

Blennerhasset Mill (at ) is on the south bank of the

River Ellen The Ellen is a river in the English county of Cumbria, flowing from Skiddaw in the Northern Fells to the Solway Firth at Maryport. It was historically in the county of Cumberland. It is approximately in length. Etymology The River Ellen ge ...

Roman fort

A Roman fort is situated on the old Roman Road between

Old Carlisle Old Carlisle is a village in the civil parish of Westward in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. It is located by the River Waver, and was originally a part of Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West En ...

and

Papcastle Papcastle is a village and civil parish in the district of Cumberland in the English county of Cumbria. The village is now effectively a northern extension of Cockermouth, which lies to the south of the River Derwent. It has its own parish cou ...

Gallery

Notes

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Blennerhasset and Kirkland
(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
Cumbria County History Trust: Torpenhow and Whitrigg
(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page) {{coord, 54, 45, 00, N, 03, 15, 18, W, region:GB_type:adm3rd, display=title Civil parishes in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority) Roman sites in Cumbria