Matterdale 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 ...
in 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 ...
of
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. It lies on the northern shore of
Ullswater
Ullswater is a glacial lake in Cumbria, England and part of the Lake District National Park. It is the second largest lake in the region by both area and volume, after Windermere. The lake is about long, wide, and has a maximum depth of . I ...
. The parish includes the settlements of Dockray, Matterdale End,
Ulcat row,
Watermillock
Watermillock is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Matterdale, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is on the western shore of Ullswater, in the English Lake District. I ...
and Wreay. It had a population of 526 in 2001, reducing to 483 at the 2011 Census.
Much of the parish consists of moorland and fells, including
Hart Side,
Gowbarrow Fell and
Little Mell Fell
Little Mell Fell (''Bare hill'', with the later additions of both "Fell" and "Little") is a small fell in the English Lake District. It is an outlier of the Eastern Fells, standing to the north of Ullswater near the village of Watermillock, and ...
. The "Three Dodds" (
Stybarrow Dodd
Stybarrow Dodd (''the hill of the steep path'') is a mountain or fell in the England, English Lake District. It stands immediately north of Sticks Pass on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, which is situated between the ...
,
Watson's Dodd
Watson's Dodd is a fell in the English Lake District, a minor rise on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range in the Eastern Fells, but a prominent shoulder on the west side of that range.
At its foot is the imposing crag of Castle Rock, on whic ...
and
Great Dodd
Great Dodd (meaning: ''big round hill'') is a mountain or fell in the England, English Lake District. It stands on the main ridge of the Helvellyn range, a line of mountains which runs in a north–south direction between the lakes of Thirlmere ...
) lie on the western boundary of the parish. The western part of the parish is drained by Aira Beck, which falls over
Aira Force
Aira Force is a waterfall in the English Lake District, in the civil parish of Matterdale and the county of Cumbria. The site of the waterfall is owned by the National Trust.
Description
The stream flowing over the waterfall is Aira Beck, which ...
to enter Ullswater. The parish is the setting for James Rebank's 2015 autobiographical book ''
The Shepherd's Life
''The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District'' is an autobiographical book by James Rebanks, a sheep farmer from Matterdale, Cumbria, England, published by Allen Lane in 2015.
Rebanks writes that he was moved and inspired by another book ...
''.
Etymology
Matterdale "is probably 'the valley where bedstraw grows' from ON 'maðra' (the cognate of OE 'mæddre') and ON 'dalr'..."
(ON=
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 ...
; OE=
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 ...
).
See also
*
Listed buildings in Matterdale
Matterdale is a civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It contains 33 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, three are listed at Grade ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Cumbria County History Trust: Matterdale(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
Matterdale Community Association(local community online resource)
Civil parishes in Cumbria
Westmorland and Furness