Place:Borrowdale, Cumberland, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Borrowdale is a valley and civil parish in the English Lake District in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. Until 1974 Borrowdale was in the historic county of Cumberland, and is sometimes referred to as Cumberland Borrowdale to distinguish it from another Borrowdale in the adjacent historic county of Westmorland.

The valley rises in the central Lake District and runs north carrying the River Derwent into the lake of Derwentwater. The waters of the River have their origins over a wide area of the central massif of the Lake District north of Esk Hause and Stake Pass, and drain the northern end of Scafell including Great End, the eastern side of the Dale Head massif, the western part of the Central Fells and all the Glaramara ridge. Near Rosthwaite the side valley of Langstrath joins the main valley from Seathwaite before the combined waters negotiate the narrow gap known as the Jaws of Borrowdale. Here it is flanked by the rocky crags of Castle Crag and Grange Fell. The valley then opens out around Grange before the river empties into Derwentwater, overlooked by Catbells, Skiddaw and Walla Crag.

The civil parish of Borrowdale covers a considerable area around the valley, including the southern half of Derwentwater. It includes the settlements of Grange, Rosthwaite, Seathwaite, Seatoller, Stonethwaite and Watendlath. It lies entirely within the Lake District National Park. At the time of the 2001 UK census the parish had a population of 438 living in 137 households, reducing in the 2011 UK census to a population of 417 in 128 households.

For local government purposes the civil parish forms part of the Allerdale within the county of Cumbria.

Before 1866 Borrowdale was a chapelry in the ancient or ecclesiastical parish of [[Place:Crosthwaite, Cumberland, England. In that year the various townships of Crosthwaite were each converted into a civil parish. Even during the 19th century the settlements of Borrowdale were small and, for the most part, those that exist today, listed above. From 1894 until 1974 Borrowdale was part of [[Place:Cockermouth Rural, Cumberland, England|Cockermouth Rural District.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Borrowdale from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales:

"BORROWDALE, a chapelry and a vale in Crosthwaite parish, Cumberland. The chapelry lies 7 miles S by W of Keswick [railway] station, and 14 NW of Windermere; and contains the hamlet of Rosthwaite, which has a post office under Windermere. Real property: £2,699. Population: 422. Houses: 85. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Carlisle. Value, £90.* Patron, the Vicar of Crosthwaite.

"The church stands near Rosthwaite, and was rebuilt in 1824. Another church, of recent erection, stands at Grange, and is served by a [perpetual] curate with salary of £30, appointed by Miss Heathcote. There are dissenting chapels at Rosthwaite and Grange.

"The vale commences in three heads, Stonethwaite, Seathwaite, and Borrowdale-Haws, coming down from the mountain passes out of Langdale, Wastdale, and Buttermere; is overhung, at the convergence of these, by the massive mountain range of Glaramara; and descends thence, between lofty flanks, northward to the head of Derwent water. The low grounds or bottoms of it have much diversity of width and contour, but comprise about 2,000 acres of good land, chiefly disposed in pasture. ...The Black Lead Mine mountain, on a flank of the Seathwaite head-vale, rises to the height of about 2,000 feet, and is famous for a plumbago mine and a group of yew trees. The mine occurs about midway up its ascent; ceased recently to be worked, after having been worked for upwards of two centuries; is the only plumbago mine in England; and sent all its produce to London. ..."

Research Tips