Cartmel

Cartmel is a village in Cumbria, England, northwest of Grange-over-Sands close to the River Eea. The village takes its name from the Cartmel Peninsula, and was historically known as Kirkby in Cartmel. The village is the location of the 12th-century Cartmel Priory, around which it initially grew. Historically in Lancashire, since 1974 it has been in the administrative county of Cumbria.

Whilst its history has been in its ecclesiastical and agricultural communities, Cartmel has since the mid-twentieth century developed as a minor tourist destination, being just outside the Lake District National Park. Several attractions in the village, including Cartmel Racecourse and a Michelin-starred restaurant, cater to this tourist trade.

History

The name Cartmel means ‘sandbank by rocky ground’, from the Old Norse (rocky ground) and . The place-name is first attested in 677, when the Cartmel Peninsula was granted to St Cuthbert, whose influence may explain why by the Norman Conquest the village was known as Kirkby, a name indicating the location of a church.

Cartmel Priory was founded in the village in 1190 by William Marshal, created 1st Earl of Pembroke, intended for a community of the Augustinian Canons regular and was dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint Michael. To support the new house, William granted it the whole fief of the district of Cartmel. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, much of the local land fell into the ownership of the Preston family at nearby Holker Hall. Through marriage Holker became part of the estate of the Cavendish Family, and today is the home of Lord Cavendish. As well as the estate around Holker, the Cavendish family still owns much of the land of the Peninsula.

Agriculture was the chief industry of the area until the mid-twentieth century, dominated by the lands of the Cavendishes, and remains an important part of the village. Nearby Grange-over-Sands eclipsed Cartmel as the biggest settlement on the peninsula in the nineteenth century, growing as a Victorian seaside resort when the Furness Railway was built across the peninsula. Cartmel village was, and remains, served by a station in nearby Cark, open in 1857 and called Cark and Cartmel.

Hospitality and Tourism

Tourism has grown in the village since the middle of the twentieth century. In 1923 Cartmel Priory Gatehouse became a museum for the Priory, and was used for exhibitions and meetings, before being presented to the National Trust in 1946. By 2011 it was mainly in private residential use, although the Great Room is opened to the public on several days a year. The Priory itself is still the local parish church, but is open to visitors outside of service times.

Cartmel Racecourse dates back to at least the nineteenth century, but grew in popularity when it became a National Hunt course after the Second World War. It started to attract major professionals in the 1960s, and now hosts popular meetings two or three times a year, with its biggest meeting traditionally in Whit Week.

Writers who encouraged the growth of tourism to Cartmel include Lancashire dialect writer and BBC
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