Blennerhasset and Torpenhow facts for kids
Blennerhasset and Torpenhow ( and) is a civil parish in the Allerdale district of Cumbria, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 437, reducing to 423 at the 2011 Census. It includes the villages of Blennerhasset and Torpenhow at and the smaller settlement of Kirkland Guards at . It is located just outside the Lake District National Park. Baggrow railway station was immediately north of Blennerhasset
The local pronunciation of Torpenhow is trə-PEN-ə, rather than the more intuitive tor-PEN-how. Blennerhasset is pronounced blen-RAY-sit instead of BLEN-ər-HASS-it as would be expected outside of Cumbria.
Contents
Toponymy
- Further information: Torpenhow Hill
Blennerhasset derives from the Old Norse heysætr 'hay shieling', which has been added to a British place-name containing 'blaen', 'top'. The '-er-' part in the middle " is asserted by Ekwall on the supposition that the full first element corresponded to Welsh 'blaen-dre', 'hill farm' ".
Interpretations of Torpenhow have developed over time. In Place-Names of Cumberland (1950) Torpenhow was etymologized as "Tosti's howe" (with howe deriving from Old Norse haugr 'hill, mound'), against a tradition identifying the name as an example of tautology in place-names, first proposed by Denton (1688). Denton interpreted tor, pen and how as three elements all with the base meaning "hill". Ekwall's Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names (4th ed. 1960) accepted Denton's torr+pen+howe etymology (against the 1950s "Tosti" proposal), but notes that torr+penn is not tautological. He expresses the idea of "top or breast of the hill", to which howe was added in a (single) tautology. The most recent published etymology is the '"[r]ocky summit" to which was added "hill-spur"', the three elements of Torpenhow deriving from, Old English torr 'a rock, a rocky outcrop, a rocky peak', Primitive Welsh penn 'head, end, top, height, a hill', and Old English hōh 'a heel; a sharply projecting piece of ground'.
The local pronunciation of Torpenhow Village is though the more intuitive pronunciation is also used.
Governance
Blennerhasset and Torpenhow is part of the Workington constituency of the UK parliament. The current Member of Parliament is Mark Jenkinson, a member of the Conservative Party. Prior to the 2019 General election, the Labour Party had won the seat in every general election since 1979; the Conservative Party had previously only been elected once in Workington since the Second World War: in the 1976 Workington by-election.
For Local Government purposes it is in the Boltons Ward of Allerdale Borough Council, which is represented by Cllr Malcolm Grainger (Conservative), and the Bothel and Wharrels Ward of Cumbria County Council, which is represented by Joseph (Alan) Bowness (Conservative).
It has its own Parish Council; Blennerhasset and Torpenhow Parish Council.
Blennerhasset Mill
Blennerhasset Mill (at ) is on the south bank of the River Ellen.
Roman fort
A Roman fort is situated on the old Roman Road between Old Carlisle and Papcastle
