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. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 448.[1] On 1 April 1934 the civil parish was merged into Matterdale.[2]
| Watermillock | |
|---|---|
 Parish Church of All Saints, Watermillock | |
| OS grid reference | NY445224 |
| Civil parish | |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PENRITH |
| Postcode district | CA11 |
| Dialling code | 017684 |
| Police | Cumbria |
| Fire | Cumbria |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
Etymology
editThe 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 word that would, if it were still found in modern Welsh, be spelled moelog, meaning "place associated with the Mell Fells" (whose own name comes from the word that survives in modern Welsh as moel "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 Walter and to the noun water.[3]: 361–62
Geography
editThe settlement is popular with tourists, with several campsites and two hotels.[4][5] 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 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.[citation needed]
The village is accessed by the A592 road.[6] The Outward Bound Trust own the village manor next to the lake. The waterfall of Aira Force is situated to the west of the village.[citation needed]
See also
edit
References
edit
- ^ "Population Statistics Watermillock Tn/CP through time". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
- ^ "Relationships and changes Watermillock Tn/CP through time". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
- ^ Whaley, Diana (2006). A dictionary of Lake District place-names. English Place-Name Society Regional series, 1. Nottingham: English Place-Name Society. ISBN 978-0-904889-72-7..
- ^ Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, Frommer's England 2010 (John Wiley & Sons, 19 Aug 2009), 650.
- ^ Jules Brown, The Rough Guide to the Lake District (Rough Guides UK, 24 Jan 2013), 213.
- ^ Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, Frommer's England 2010 (John Wiley & Sons, 19 Aug 2009), 650.
External links
edit- Cumbria County History Trust: Watermillock (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)