Oughterside and Allerby is a

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

district of

Cumbria 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, Lancash ...

, England. The main settlements in the parish are Allerby in the west and Oughterside and Prospect, in the east. The north western boundary of the parish is a short stretch of coast, then, working clockwise, the parish is bordered by Hayton and Mealo to the north,

Aspatria Aspatria is a town and civil parish in Cumberland, Cumbria, England. The town rests on the north side of the Ellen Valley, overlooking a panoramic view of the countryside, with Skiddaw to the South and the Solway Firth to the North. Its dev ...

to the north east,

Plumbland Plumbland is a village and civil parish in the Cumberland district, in the ceremonail county of Cumbria, England. Situated towards the north west corner of the county, it is two miles from the outskirts of the Lake District National Park which ...

to the south east, Gilcrux to the south and

Crosscanonby Crosscanonby (otherwise Cross Canonby) is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, historically part of Cumberland, near the Lake District National Park in England. It is situated within the Solway Coast, designated an Area of Outstandi ...

to the south west. The

A596 road The A596 is a primary route in Cumbria, in northern England, that runs between Thursby ( north-east of Wigton) and Workington. For its entirety the A596 parallels the A595, and meets the A595 at both ends. The A596 begins its course at a ro ...

from Aspatria to

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

passes through the parish, and the

B5300 road The B5300 (known locally as the Coast Road) is a B roads in Great Britain, B road which runs for approximately twelve miles between the towns of Silloth and Maryport in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, United Kingdom. From north to south, it pa ...

follows its coastline in the north west.

History

Oughterside and Allerby was historically one of four

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

within the

ancient 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Aspatria, in the historic county of

. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the

poor laws The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s. E ...

, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Aspatria, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Oughterside and Allerby became a

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Oughterside and Allerby, at

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 pries ...

and

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

level: Hayton and Mealo Parish Council and Cumberland Council. The parish council meets at the village hall in Prospect. Oughterside and Allerby is in the

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of Penrith and Solway.

Demography

At the 2021 census, the population of the parish was 631. In the 2011 census it had a population of 619.

Listed buildings

there are three

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s in the parish, all at Grade II.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Oughterside and Allerby
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page) * Civil parishes in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority) {{Cumbria-geo-stub