Watermillock is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Matterdale, in the

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 ...

district, in the ceremonial 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 ...

, England. It is on the western 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 ...

, in the

English Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mountains, and for its literary associati ...

. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 448. On 1 April 1934 the civil parish was merged into Matterdale.

Etymology

The name ''Watermillock'' is first attested in the early thirteenth century, in the form ''weþermeloc'', with ''wethermelok'' first found in 1253. The present-day form, beginning with ''water'', is first attested in 1541, as ''Wattermannock'', alongside a 1568 instance of ''Waltermannock''. The ''meloc'' element derives from the

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...

word that would, if it were still found in modern Welsh, be spelled , meaning "place associated with the Mell Fells" (whose own name comes from the word that survives in modern Welsh as "bare"). The first element of the name originated as the word '' wether'' ("castrated male sheep"), though was adapted over time through folk-etymology both to the

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

''Walter'' and to the noun ''water''..

Geography

The settlement is popular with tourists, with several campsites and two hotels. The village and outlying farms are widely scattered between the lake and Little Mell Fell. Much of the high ground around the village was once deer forest, popular with the local

gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

for hunting. All Saints Church, Watermillock was built in 1881 of slate and red sandstone, replacing an earlier church at the site of what is now known as the Old Church Hotel. All the windows are memorials to various people, including Cecil Spring Rice and Stephen Spring Rice, who grew up in the village. The village is accessed by the

A592 road The A592 road is a major route running north–south through the English Lake District. The road connects Penrith and junction 40 of the M6 motorway), with Staveley at the southern tip of the lake, Windermere, which is skirted by the A59 ...

.Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, ''Frommer's England 2010'' (John Wiley & Sons, 19 Aug 2009), 650. The Outward Bound Trust own the village manor next to the lake. The waterfall of

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 ...

is situated to the west of the village.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Watermillock
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page) {{authority control Villages in Cumbria Former civil parishes in Cumbria Westmorland and Furness

Etymology

Geography

See also

References

External links