Garrigill,

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 ...

is a small village in the North Pennine region of the UK, situated on the banks and close to the source of the River South Tyne. Historically part of

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 ...

, today it is within the Garrigill ward of the

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 ...

Alston Moor Alston Moor, formerly known as Alston with Garrigill, is a civil parish and electoral ward in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England, based around the small town of Alston. It is set in the moorlan ...

within

Westmorland and Furness Westmorland and Furness is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the Royal Port of Barrow, Royal ...

. In 1870-72 the

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

had a population of 1447. The village's name should not be confused with the hamlet of Galligill in the Nent valley, also within Alston Moor. The village's former name is Garrigill-Gate and it was earlier known as Gerard's Gill. (Gill is a Norse word for a steep-sided valley). At its peak Garrigill was home to 1,000 people, mainly employed in the

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

industry; now its population numbers less than 200. While villagers were at one time mainly employed in local livestock farming, these days the population is fairly evenly divided between those in local employment, the self-employed and retirees. Garrigill Post Office is a traditional village store which has not changed substantially since the 1950s and is an attraction to many visitors, although at one time the village had four shops including a

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

store.

For many years there has been one

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

in the village, the 'George & Dragon', but this was closed from September 2009 to December 2010 and again from November 2013 to 3 April 2015. It subsequently closed again and re-opened on 25 August 2017. Before the mid-20th century there was a second pub, The Old Fox, next to the church. The centre of the village is the

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

which the

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and George & Dragon overlook with the church and

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

nearby, but at either end of the village proper are the areas of Gatefoot and Gatehead, whilst on the village's outskirts are the settlements of Beldy, Crossgill, Loaning (pronounced Lonnin') Head and Ashgillside. There are two water pumps in the village, one on the green and one (which still works) by the bridge. Ashgill Force - geograph

At Ashgillside and Beldy there are waterfalls namely Ashgill Force and Thortergill Force. Thortergill Force (formerly known to locals as Lady's Walk) was previously able to be accessed by the public, but access has now been closed by the current landowners. The closest town is Alston, four miles away to the north. The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of St John was for centuries a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

to St Augustine's at Alston but was promoted to full parish status in the 1980s. It is served by a team

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

based at Alston who also serves the churches at

Nenthead Nenthead ( ) in the county of Cumbria is one of England's highest villages, at around . It was not built until the middle of the 18th century and was one of the earliest Model village, purpose-built industrial villages in Britain. History Nent ...

, Knarsdale, Kirkhaugh and Lambley. There used to be several non-conformist chapels at or just outside Garrigill as well. Unlike most of the rest of Cumbria the parishes of Alston, Nenthead and Garrigill are within the

Diocese of Newcastle The Diocese of Newcastle is a Church of England diocese based in Newcastle upon Tyne, covering the historic county of Northumberland (and therefore including the part of Tyne and Wear north of the River Tyne), as well as the area of Alston Moo ...

not the

Diocese of Carlisle In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. At nearby Tynehead, now only a single house but once a thriving mining community, there was until the 1930s a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

which was the highest school there has ever been in England. Garrigill's own school, located at Gatefoot on the Leadgate road, closed in the 1960s.

Sport

Both the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

, the oldest of the UK's

National Trails National Trails are long distance footpaths and bridleways in England and Wales. They are administered by Natural England, an agency of the UK government, and Natural Resources Wales, a Welsh government-sponsored body. National Trails are ma ...

, and the

Sea to Sea Cycle Route The Coast to Coast or Sea to Sea Cycle Route (C2C) is a cycle route opened in 1994. Combining sections of National Cycle Route 7, 14, 71 and 72; it runs from Whitehaven or Workington on the west coast of Cumbria, and then crosses the Lak ...

(C2C)

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

's most popular long-distance cycle route, pass through the village. The London-Edinburgh-London cycle event passes through the village. The Spine Race passes through the village.

Residents

Garrigill was the home of Westgarth Forster (1772–1835),

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and

mining engineer Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer m ...

. He published ''A Treatise on a Section of the Strata from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the Mountain of Cross Fell in Cumberland''. Descendants of the Forster family still reside in Garrigill to this day, and there is a memorial to him in the churchyard. Garrigill is home to landscape artist Lionel Playford, whose works have been featured in various galleries across the country, to artist and illustrator Akasha Raven, known for her surreal and imaginative paintings and drawings, and to Coxhoe-born artist Gillie Cawthorne, many of whose dramatic watercolour paintings are inspired by the moody North Pennine landscape.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Alston Moor
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)

on The Cumbria Directory.
Garrigill Village Hall
{{authority control Villages in Cumbria Westmorland and Furness

Sport

Residents

See also

References

External links