Eamont Bridge is a small village immediately to the south of

Penrith, Cumbria Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers Petteril and Eamont and just north of the River ...

, England. The village is named after

the bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

over the River Eamont and straddles the boundary between the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. One of the houses in the village is called the "Welcome Inn" and was at one time the "Welcome into Cumberland

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

Features

There are two ancient sites in the village, namely the earthwork known as

King Arthur's Round Table King Arthur's Round Table is a Neolithic henge in the village of Eamont Bridge in the English county of Cumbria, around south east of Penrith. It is 400 metres from Mayburgh Henge. The site is free to visitors and is under the control of ...

and the much better preserved Mayburgh Henge which is situated between the rivers Lowther and Eamont. Mayburgh Henge was built using stones from one or both rivers. The location between the rivers was probably important when it was built 3000 or 4000 years ago, which protected it from invasion. Both sites are under the protection of

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

. There was another henge close to King Arthur's Round Table, which is now obliterated. A cup was reputed to have been found at the centre of the King Arthur's Round Table Henge. The gateway from Mayburgh Henge points in the direction of King Arthur's Round Table, which was probably a convenient meeting place for millennia. There are several more henges in the area, with at least two towards the north-east, towards Brougham, visible. There is a splendid example of vernacular architecture in the centre of the village. The southern or Westmorland half of the village lies within the civil parish of Yanwath and Eamont Bridge, and the northern part (Skirsgill Lane and Kemplay Bank) is within the civil parish of Penrith. For other local government matters, Eamont Bridge lies within the

Eden District Eden is a local government district in Cumbria, England, based at Penrith Town Hall in Penrith. It is named after the River Eden, which flows north through the district toward Carlisle. Its population of 49,777 at the 2001 census, increas ...

wards of Eamont, Penrith South and Penrith Pategill and the Cumbria

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...

electoral divisions of Penrith Rural, Penrith West and Penrith East. There are two pubs opposite each other at the southern end of the village. A nearby cave called Giant's Cave is associated with several legends. It is variously said to have been the home of a

giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

named Isir, or an evil knight named Tarquin, who imprisoned 64 men in the cave, or Uther Pendragon.

Bridge

: The village lies on the A6 road. Until the opening of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

, it was a notorious bottleneck because of the narrow bridge over the River Eamont which is still today controlled by traffic lights. The

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ire ...

bridge crosses the old county boundary between Cumberland and Westmorland and is one of the oldest bridges in the country still in daily use. It probably dates from the 15th century but was widened in the 19th and the 20th centuries.

History

On 12 July 927, Eamont Bridge was the scene of a gathering of kings from throughout

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

as recorded in the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of A ...

'' and the histories of

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...

and

John of Worcester John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is usually held to be the author of the ''Chronicon ex chronicis''. ''Chronicon ex chronicis'' The ''Chronicon ex chronicis'' is a world wi ...

. Present were Athelstan, Constantín mac Áeda, Owain ap Dyfnwal, Hywel Dda, and Ealdred I of Bernicia. This is generally seen as the date of the foundation of the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On ...

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Yanwath and Eamont Bridge
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
The History of Eamont Bridge website
{{authority control Villages in Cumbria Westmorland Cumberland Penrith, Cumbria

Features

Bridge

History

See also

References

External links