Nenthead ( ) in the county 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 ...

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 purpose-built industrial villages in Britain.

History

Nenthead was a major centre for lead and silver mining in the

North Pennines The North Pennines are the northernmost section of the Pennines, a range of hills which run north–south through northern England. They run along the border between County Durham and Northumberland in the east and Cumbria in the west, and are ...

of Britain. The first smelt mill was built at Nenthead in 1737 by George Liddle, and this was subsequently expanded by the London Lead Company. By 1882 the smelt mill was capable of smelting 8,000 bings, i.e., , of ore per annum. Nenthead village in 1861 had 2,000 people, mostly

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 ...

and employed by the Quaker-owned

London Lead Company The London Lead Company was an 18th and 19th century British lead mining company. It was incorporated by royal charter. Strictly, it was The Company for Smelting Down Lead with Pitcoal. Origins The company was chartered in 1692 to investors who ...

in the Nenthead Mines - some of the most productive in the country. The Quakers built housing, a school, a reading room, public baths and a wash-house for the miners and their families. Nenthead has accessible mines remaining, horse whims and a engine shaft in Rampghill. The mines closed in 1961 and there is a heritage centre displaying their history. The economy of the village relies on tourism. A long distance cycle route, the

C2C Trenitalia c2c, trading as c2c, is a British train operating company that operates commuter services from its London terminus at to parts of East London and south Essex along the London, Tilbury and Southend line, as part of the Essex Thame ...

, passes through Nenthead. The Grade 2 listed

Wesleyan Methodist The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement. Wesleyan Church may also refer to: * Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church Denominations * Allegheny We ...

chapel has not been used since 2002 but benefitted from a Heritage Lottery Grant of £134,500. The post office and community shop occupies the building which was once a reading room for the miners. Nenthead is around east of Alston, west of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, south east of

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 ...

, east of Penrith, and west of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

. County Council subsidies have maintained limited bus services to Alston and beyond. However, in 2014 cuts to these subsidies were being discussed, threatening the existence of bus services for the village.

Governance

Nenthead is in the

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

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 ...

. Before April 2023 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 was in the ''Alston Moor Ward'' of

Eden District Council Eden may refer to: *Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis Places and jurisdictions Canada * Eden, Ontario * Eden High School Czech Republic * Praha-Eden railway station Middle East * Eden, Lebanon, a ...

and the ''Alston and East Fellside Division'' of

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council was the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it was an elected local government body re ...

. Nenthead does not have its own parish council, instead it is part of Alston Moor Parish Council. Since 2023 it has been in the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, 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 ...

District of

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 ...

and the now purely

ceremonial county Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch's repres ...

of Cumbria.

Zinc deposits

In 2013 the Canadian mining company Minco sank deep

borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petr ...

s in an effort to discover the extent of

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

deposits beneath Nenthead. Although test drilling could go on for several years, the company believes that the village may be sited on huge deposits of the

chemical element A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its ...

. The zinc is below the surface and was previously too deep to reach by old mining techniques. The Independent
(Accessed 12 January 2014) Gives details of possible zinc deposits.

Climate

With a northernly latitude of 55° N and altitude of

Amsl Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

, Nenthead has one of the coldest and snowiest climates in England, yielding a borderline

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

('' Cfc'') and cool

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Nenthead is 6.5 °C; 1,095 mm of precipitation falls annually, chiefly in winter as heavy snowfall, and in autumn.

Flag

In 2014,

vexillologist Vexillology ( ) is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.Smith, Whitney. ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Print. A person who studi ...

and heraldicist

Philip Tibbetts Philip Tibbetts is a British officer of arms and vexillologist who currently serves as the March Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary at the Court of the Lord Lyon in Scotland. He was appointed to the office on 1 September 2021, and is also the fi ...

designed a flag for the village. The flag was officially adopted and registered with the

Flag Institute The Flag Institute is a membership organisation and UK-registered educational charity devoted to the study and promotion of flags and flag flying. It documents flags in the UK and around the world, maintains a UK Flag Registry, and offers advic ...

on 11 May 2014. The green triangle on the flag symbolises the top of the River Nent valley, from which the village gets its name. The green triangle also refers to nearby Knowbury Hill as the eastern-most point of the historic county 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 ...

with the green shade used the same as that of the

Flag of Cumberland __TOC__ The Cumberland flag is used to represent the historic county of Cumberland, England. It is a banner of arms of the coat of arms of the defunct Cumberland County Council. The arms were originally granted by the College of Arms on 19 Septe ...

. The eight-pointed star upon the triangle is the ''Star of Quakerism'' and refers to the origins of the village. The black and white vertical hoops depict the seams of

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 ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

ore that lie beneath the area and upon which the industry of the village was based.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Alston Moor
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)

Nenthead Mines
{{authority control Villages in Cumbria Westmorland and Furness