Etymology
The name itself is commonly thought to derive from the Old Norse haugr meaning mound or hill. Island of Hougun (Houganai) was also the name given to nearby Walney Island at the western end of Morecambe Bay. [4] [5] [6]
The Manor of Hougun is the historic name for an area which now forms part of the county of Cumbria in North West England. Only the southern band of land in the south of Cumbria was surveyed in the Domesday Book. The westernmost entries for Cumbria, covering the Duddon and Furness Peninsulas are largely recorded as part of the Manor of Hougun. The entry in Domesday Book covering Hougun refers to the time (ca. 1060) when it was held by Tostig Godwinson (c. 1026 – 25 September 1066), Earl of Northumbria. [1]
The exact location of Hougun has been long disputed and Millom is often suggested, although High Haume near Dalton-in-Furness has also been proposed, given that it was recorded in 1336 as Howehom. It has also been suggested that the centre of the district was Furness, and that the territory included the Millom area, plus part or all of Cartmel – what would later be the Lancashire territory known as Amounderness. [2] The notion that the manor of Hougun was an administrative district and not just the chief vill of the area has been challenged. [3]
The name itself is commonly thought to derive from the Old Norse haugr meaning mound or hill. Island of Hougun (Houganai) was also the name given to nearby Walney Island at the western end of Morecambe Bay. [4] [5] [6]
The Domesday entry for Hougun is therefore significant in indicating the extent of Norman control of the north-west, probably down to 1092, when William II of England took over Carlisle and northern Cumberland. North of the Hougun district, the land was part of Strathclyde/Cumbria, under Scottish overlordship. It has been suggested that the Domesday entry offers a snapshot of the "transition between the Anglo-Norse and Norman worlds in the 11th century", and suggests a largely self-governing area with a lack of the shire and wapentake structure that prevailed further south in England. [7]
At some time before the shiring of Lancaster, Cumberland and Westmorland (which took place around 1157-1182), parts of the Hougun area had been split off. Furness Abbey was given the Furness peninsula; and St Bees Priory was granted land from the Norman lord of Millom around 1125. [8] The Hougun entry is as follows (land is measured in carucates in the north, which is roughly the amount of land assumed to provide for one household for one year):
Hougun (?High Haume/Millom), 4 c., Tosti
Ulvreston (Ulverston), 6c., Turulf
Aldingham (Aldingham), 6c., Ernulf
Cherchebi (?Cartmel), Dwan from the King
Holecher (Holker), Orm from the King
Neutun (High and Low Newton), King's land
Bretebi (Birkby), Orm from the King
Further east, in what was later to become Westmorland, several other places are mentioned but with similar brevity. Most of the places are within the low-lying areas around the Kent and Lune valleys. Most of the entries are in two groups: the first is land around Kendal belonging to the King which had belonged to a Gillemichael before the Conquest; and the second is land belonging to Roger de Poitou and held by one Ernwin the Priest under him:
King's land
Biedun (Beetham), 6c., Ernwin the Priest from Roger de Poitou
Brebrune (Barbon), King's land
Castretune (Casterton), King's land
Holme (Holme), King's land
Hotun (Hutton Roof), King's land
Cherchebi (Kirkby Lonsdale), King's land
Lupetun (Lupton), King's land
Manzserge (Mansergh), King's land
Middeltun (Middleton), King's land
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, Lancashire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Carlisle.
Tostig Godwinson was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson. After being exiled by his brother, Tostig supported the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion of England, and was killed alongside Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.
Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southernmost Cumberland, Cumbria, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about six miles north of Barrow-in-Furness and 26 mi (42 km) south of Whitehaven.
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived from, just outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park.
Furness is a peninsula and region of Cumbria, England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire. On 1 April 2023 it became part of the new unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness.
Dalton-in-Furness is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Dalton Town with Newton, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. In 2011 it had a population of 7,827. It is located 4.4 miles (7 km) north east of Barrow-in-Furness.
Roose or Roosecote is a suburb and ward of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The word 'roose' is Celtic for "moor" or "heath" and the suffix 'cote' of Roosecote means "hut" or "huts". Before the building of Roose Cottages and the arrival of the Cornish miners Roose was pronounced with a hard S, as in goose; now it is locally pronounced 'Rooze', due to the Cornish accent. Roose is served by Roose railway station, one of the few remaining stations on the Furness Line in the Barrow area.
Kirkby-in-Furness, generally referred to simply as Kirkby locally, is a village that is the major part of the parish of Kirkby Ireleth in the Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it is close to the Lake District National Park. It is about 3 miles (5 km) south of Broughton in Furness, 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Ulverston and 9 miles (14 km) north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is one of the largest villages on the peninsula's north-western coast, looking out over the Duddon estuary. To its east is the SSSI of Kirkby Moor and to its west is the SSSI of Duddon Estuary. The 2021 census showed Kirkby to have a population of 580.
Broughton in Furness is a market town in the civil parish of Broughton West in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. It had a population of 529 at the 2011 Census. It is located on the south western boundary of England's Lake District National Park, and in the Furness region, which is within the historic boundaries of Lancashire.
Bardsea is a village in the Low Furness area of Cumbria, England. It is two miles to the south-east of Ulverston on the northern coast of Morecambe Bay. It is in the historic county of Lancashire.
Bootle is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England. The parish had a population of 745 in the 2001 census, decreasing slightly to 742 at the 2011 census. Historically in Cumberland, the village is in the Lake District National Park, and is close to the Irish Sea coast. Near to Bootle is the Eskmeals Firing Range, which was a large employer but in the mid to late 1990s reduced the workforce. Also within the parish is Hycemoor, a hamlet situated 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north-west of Bootle, where Bootle railway station is located.
The Barony of Kendal is a subdivision of the English historic county of Westmorland. It is one of two ancient baronies that make up the county, the other being the Barony of Westmorland. In 1974, the entire county became part of the modern county of Cumbria and ceased to have an administrative function. At the same time, Kendal borough along with some other rural and urban districts in Westmorland was merged with the neighbouring parts of Lancashire, Furness and Cartmel, and also the Sedbergh Rural District of the West Riding of Yorkshire into the new South Lakeland district of the new county.
Gleaston is a village with a population of around 400 in the Furness area of South Cumbria, situated between the towns of Barrow-in-Furness, Dalton-in-Furness and Ulverston. Historically in Lancashire, the history of the village can be traced as far back as the mesolithic period and it was the centre of the manor of Muchland in the Middle Ages. Today it is largely a commuter village for the nearby towns, but its past is still visible in the remains of Gleaston Castle and Gleaston Water Mill, which is open as a tourist attraction.
Waberthwaite is a small, former rural civil parish on the south bank of the estuary of the River Esk, in Copeland, Cumbria, England. Since 1934 it has been part of the combined parish of Waberthwaite and Corney, which covers 10 square miles and has a population of 246. It is located opposite Muncaster Castle and the village of Ravenglass which lie on the north bank of the Esk. It is well known for its Cumberland sausages, and lists among its other assets a granite quarry that is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); the Esk estuary, which forms part of the Drigg Coast Special Area of Conservation (SAC) - a designation for areas of European importance; the 800-year-old St. John's Church, and the remains of two Anglian/Norse crosses of an earlier period. Archeological finds within 3 kilometres of Waberthwaite indicate that the area has been continuously inhabited since Mesolithic times.
Cumbrian toponymy refers to the study of place names in Cumbria, a county in North West England, and as a result of the spread of the ancient Cumbric language, further parts of northern England and the Southern Uplands of Scotland.
Newton is a village in the civil parish of Dalton Town with Newton, in the Barrow-in-Furness district, in the county of Cumbria, England. It is located on the Furness peninsula north-east of the port of Barrow-in-Furness and south of the town of Dalton-in-Furness.
Askam and Ireleth is a civil parish close to Barrow-in-Furness in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it originally consisted of two separate coastal villages with different origins and histories which, in recent times, have merged to become one continuous settlement. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 3,632, reducing at the 2011 census to 3,462.
Pennington is a small village and civil parish in Furness, a region of Cumbria, England. Pennington lies between Ulverston, Rosside and Lindal. Pennington is located just off the nearby A590, with the nearest railway link in Ulverston.
Stoke Lyne is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Bicester, Oxfordshire in southern England.
The history of medieval Cumbria has several points of interest. The region's status as a borderland coping with 400 years of warfare is one. The attitude of the English central government, at once uninterested and deeply interested, is another. As a border region, of geopolitical importance, Cumbria changed hands between the Angles, Norse, Strathclyde Brythons, Picts, Normans, Scots and English; and the emergence of the modern county is also worthy of study.
