Blubberhouses is a small village and

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

located in the

Washburn Valley The River Washburn is a river in Yorkshire, England. It originates high in the Yorkshire Dales and ends where it meets the River Wharfe. It lies within the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Name The earliest recorded form of the r ...

in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, a county in the north of England. The population as at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of

Fewston Fewston is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated north of Otley and close to Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs. The Church of St Michael and St Lawrence is the village church. The maj ...

. It is situated to the south of the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales is an upland area of the Pennines in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Yorkshire, England, most of it in the Yorkshire Dales National Park created in 1954. The Dales comprise river valleys and the hills ri ...

national park, and to the north of a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

and

Fewston Reservoir Fewston Reservoir is located in the Washburn valley north of Otley and west of Harrogate in Yorkshire, England. It was built in 1879. The capacity is about 3.5 million cubic metres. It can be found from the A59 road. The overflow from the rese ...

on the

A59 road The A59 is a major road in England which is around long and runs from Wallasey, Merseyside to York, North Yorkshire. The alignment formed part of the Trunk Roads Act 1936, being then designated as the A59. It is a key route connecting Merseysi ...

linking

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...

History

The name of the village derives from the Anglo-Saxon ''bluberhūs'' = "the house(s) which is/are at the bubbling stream", with a later regularised plural; the ''-um'' form came from the Anglo-Saxon

dative In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...

plural case ''æt bluberhūsum'' = "at the houses which ...". Later forms of the name on record include "Bluburgh", "Bluborrow", and "Bluburhouse". The Anglican village church of St Andrew's was designed by

Edward Buckton Lamb Edward Buckton Lamb (1806–1869) was a British architect who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1824. Lamb was labelled a 'Rogue Gothic Revivalist', and his designs were roundly criticised for breaking with convention, especially by ''The E ...

. It is part of the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

. The village has a cricket team who play at a ground alongside the

River Washburn The River Washburn is a river in Yorkshire, England. It originates high in the Yorkshire Dales and ends where it meets the River Wharfe. It lies within the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Name The earliest recorded form of the r ...

. In July 2014, Stage 2 of the

2014 Tour de France The 2014 Tour de France was the 101st edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The race included 21 stages, starting in Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, on 5 July and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 27 July. The race al ...

from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, passed through the village. It was also the location of the first climb of the stage, the Category 4 Côte de Blubberhouses, at the point. It was long at an average gradient of 6.1%. The single point for the King of the Mountains competition was claimed by Frenchman,

Cyril Lemoine Cyril Lemoine (born 3 March 1983) is a French professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . Career Born in Tours, Lemoine joined for the 2014 season, after his previous team – – folded at the end of the 2 ...

Cofidis Cofidis is a French company, now majority owned by Crédit Mutuel, based in Villeneuve-d'Ascq. Founded in 1982 by 3 Suisses International in cooperation with Cetelem, Cofidis specialized in the consumer credit business of the 3 Suisses Group. It ...

. Blubberhouses is used as a key setting for local composer

Andy Tillison Andy Tillison (born 21 June 1959) is a British keyboardist and singer best known for his work in the progressive rock bands Parallel or 90 Degrees and The Tangent. Biography Tillison and guitarist/vocalist Guy Manning had an early unsigned band c ...

's composition ''Le Sacre Du Travail'', a five movement electric sinfonia recorded by the progressive rock ensemble

The Tangent The Tangent is a progressive rock group formed in 2002. History Formation The band was formed in 2002 by Parallel or 90 Degrees keyboardists Andy Tillison and Sam Baine and multi-instrumentalist Guy Manning; The Flower Kings' guitarist Roin ...

. The work is, according to the CD sleeve notes, loosely based around

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

's ''

Le Sacre Du Printemps ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...

'' (''The Rite Of Spring''). One section of the second movement is named "Dawn At Blubberhouses" and the village is mentioned by name in the lyrics/libretto. A short story in the CD sleeve describes the journey of a man travelling to work through the village in the small hours of the morning. The CD album was released in 2013 by the German record label

Inside Out Music Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Med ...

References

External links

*
Landslide near Blubberhouses September 2010

British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS h ...

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire