Foulsyke is a small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

on the boundary between the

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishe ...

of Holme Abbey and Holme St. Cuthbert in

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 ...

, United Kingdom. It is located just under one mile to the east of

Pelutho Pelutho is a hamlet in the civil parish of Holme St. Cuthbert in Cumbria, historically in Cumberland, England. It is situated on the B5301 road between the towns of Aspatria and Silloth. The village of Mawbray is located to the south-west ...

, three-quarters of a mile south-east of Highlaws, and two-and-a-half miles south-east of

Abbeytown Abbeytown is the main village in the civil parish of Holme Abbey in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The parish was historically called Holme Cultram. The modern names of Abbeytown and Holme Abbey both reference Holmcultram Abbey, w ...

. Other nearby settlements include Aldoth, three-quarters of a mile to the south-east,

Tarns A tarn (or corrie loch) is a mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque (or "corrie") excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mou ...

, one-and-a-half miles to the south-west, and

Beckfoot Beckfoot is a hamlet in the civil parish of Holme St Cuthbert in Cumbria, England. It is located on the B5300 coast road, three miles south of Silloth-on-Solway and two miles north of the village of Mawbray. The county town of Carlisle is ...

, two-and-a-half miles due east as the crow flies, or four-and-a-half miles by road. Cumbria's

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

, is located twenty-one miles away to the north-east.

History and etymology

The name Foulsyke comes from 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 ...

''ful-sīc'', meaning a "dirty stream". There have been several historical variant spellings recorded, including Fowlesyke, Foalsyke, Fullsyke, and Foulsike. Foulsyke is best known for its former

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

, which today has been converted into a private dwelling. The chapel was built between 1898 and 1899 by a man named Thomas Hurst, who was 27 years old at the time construction began. The initials of three of the chapel's biggest financial backers were engraved on stones in the wall. Most of the £150 raised to build the chapel was donated by local farming families. Hurst died in 1906, and his funeral was held in the chapel he'd built. Thomas' wife, Sarah Ann Hurst, took over running the chapel when he died, and continued to do so until she retired in 1947. The chapel ran its own Sunday school, and continued to do so even when only a single pupil remained in the 1970s. The chapel's Harvest Festival was one of its congregation's favourite times of year, and it was just after the Harvest Festival in 1992 when, due to falling numbers in the congregation (down from dozens to just six regulars) that the chapel was closed. It was later converted to a private residence. In July 2014, a mill worker named Brian Rudd was killed while cutting grass in Foulsyke, near to the chapel, when his tractor overturned. A verdict of accidental death was recorded at an inquest into the accident in December 2014.

References

{{Reflist Hamlets in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority)