Seathwaite is a village in the Duddon Valley in the South Lakeland district of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

in North West England. Historically in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, it lies within the Lake District National Park, and is part of the

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 authorit ...

of Dunnerdale-with-Seathwaite, which has a population of 129.Office for National Statistics : ''Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : South Lakeland''
Retrieved 20 November 2009 The nearby Seathwaite Tarn, west of the

Coniston Fells Coniston may refer to: Australia * Coniston (Northern Territory), a cattle station **Coniston massacre, 1928 *Coniston, New South Wales ** Coniston railway station, New South Wales * Coniston, Tasmania, a town in the Derwent Valley United Kingd ...

, takes its name from the village. The village is north east of Hall Dunnerdale and south west of the tarn. It lies along the old

Walna Scar Walna Scar is a hill in the English Lake District, lying just south of a pass of the same name in the Coniston Hills. Its summit at is only slightly higher than the pass. Walna Scar is the highest of Wainwright's '' The Outlying Fells of Lak ...

road, which can be reached from the

A595 The A595 is a primary route in Cumbria, in Northern England that starts in Carlisle, passes through Whitehaven and goes close to Workington, Cockermouth and Wigton. It passes Sellafield and Ravenglass before ending at the Dalton-in-Furness by ...

in the south, or from the steep Hardknott–

Wrynose pass The Wrynose Pass is a mountain pass in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England between the Duddon Valley and Little Langdale. Etymology The unusual name of the pass is taken from that of the adjacent Wrynose hill, also called W ...

road in the north, which leads off the A593 from Skelwith Bridge). The name Seathwaite derives from a combination of the

old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

words ''sef'' (

sedges The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

) and ''thveit'' (clearing) and may be taken to mean "Sedges clearing". The name, then spelled Seuthwayt, first appeared in written records dating from 1340. A local landmark is the Newfield Inn, a pub that dates from the 16th century that is reputed to have been visited by

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

on his trips around the Lake District in the early 19th century. Another prominent local building is the Church of the Holy Trinity which was originally built in the early 16th century. William Wordsworth visited the church and dedicated one of his 35 Duddon Sonnets to the place and to Robert Walker (1709–1802) who was parson at the church for 66 years. The church contains a memorial plaque to Walker, who was known as "Wonderful Walker" because of his long and exemplary ministry. Wordsworth refers to him in the sonnet as someone "whose good works formed an endless retinue". The church itself was completely rebuilt in 1874 due to its rundown state, it was reconsecrated in May 1875.''"Ordnance Survey Leisure Guide - Lake District"'', , Page 57, Gives information on Holy Trinity Church.www.achurchnearyou.com.
ives information on Holy Trinity Church.

References

{{authority control Villages in Cumbria South Lakeland District

See also

References