Greysouthen ( ) is a 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 authorit ...

between the towns of

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

and

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...

, in

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 ...

, North West England, historically part of Cumberland, near the Lake District National Park. The village has an historic association with coal mining.

History

John Marius Wilson's 1870 ''Imperial Gazetteer'' described Greysouthen as a settlement of 136 houses, an agricultural implement factory, a

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

' chapel, a Wesleyan chapel and a flex mill. In 1901 Greysouthen civil parish had an area of 1,558 acres ONVERT?ref name="fletchers">

Governance

Greysouthen, is part of the

constituency of the

UK parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. The current Member of Parliament is Sue Hayman, a member of the Labour Party. The Labour Party has won the seat in every general election since 1979; the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

has only been elected once in Workington since

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

: in the

1976 Workington by-election The 1976 Workington by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in England for the House of Commons constituency of Workington in Cumbria on 4 November 1976. It was won by the Conservative Party candidate Richard Page, who became the fir ...

. Before

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

residents in Greysouthen voted to elect MEP's for the North West England constituency. For Local Government purposes it is in the ''Dalton

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

'' of

Allerdale Borough Council Allerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 96,422 at the 2011 Census. The Boro ...

and the ''Cockermouth South Division'' of

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it is an elected local government body respon ...

. Greysouthen has its own Parish Council; ''Greysouthen Parish Council''.

Mining

Evidence of settlers digging for coal across west Cumbria can be dated back to the 13th century. Evidence of mining for coal within the Greysouthen area can be seen from the late 16th century. The largest portion of Greysouthen's Coal lease was sold to William Walker & Company in 1787. The business continued to remain profitable for the next 80 years. In 1800 another firm took claim to a portion of the Greysouthen

coal extraction Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

industry. Wilson & Company invested in another

Colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

within Greysouthen. The two colliery's distributed coal tokens which represented the success of the mines. Between these two mines a feud broke out over mine space. Wilson & Co was fined £16,000 damages over illegally mining William Walker & Company's land. By the start of the 19th century Greysouthen's thriving mining industry had become the sole employer. To house miners, small rows of cottages were built within the town. In 1823 Joseph Birbeck and J.W. Flecter began mining in Greysouthen. A tax value of £20 was introduced for the annual lease of 400

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s of coal. For every ton mined over this, an additional tax of 1 shilling was applied. The Melgramfitz pit was closed in 1886, which led to the end of the Greysouthen as a coal mining community. Greysouthen's 19th century miners were known for their ale consumption, which magistrates felt was their prime concern.

Community

Greysouthen is surrounded by

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...

through which two streams run. The village is divided into two by the local residents – "up the went" and "down the went". The 'went' is a hill at the centre of Greysouthen. St Josephs

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

is approximately from the centre of the village. Greysouthen has one large playing field with an adventure playground, football pitch, and a garden commemorating the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Greysouthen no longer receives a bus service about ten times daily, with connections to

and

. The service was subsidised by the

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...

and operated by minor bus companies. It ended in 2015. The village is in the catchment area for Paddle Primary School in the neighbouring village of Eaglesfield, the nearest secondary school is at Cockermouth School. The parish council has been supporting

n rural communities over the introduction of

superfast broadband Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...

and mobile coverage. Superfast broadband was activated in the village in January 2015.

Ecology

There are 7

beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

within of Greysouthen,

Siddick Siddick is a village in Cumbria, England, historically part of Cumberland. It is situated on the A596 road, approximately north from the town of Workington. It lies within Workington civil parish. As a coastal settlement on the Solway Firth (w ...

is the closest at about ; the second closest is

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England, historically in Cumberland. The town is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, at the northern end of the former Cumberland Coalfield. Location ...

then

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 Outstanding ...

, Allonby, Parton and

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...

. The Greysouthen area supports a variety of bird species including northern lapwings,

common snipe The common snipe (''Gallinago gallinago'') is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution limit extends from Iceland ov ...

Eurasian curlew The Eurasian curlew or common curlew (''Numenius arquata'') is a very large wader in the family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia. In Europe, this species is often referred ...

common woodpigeon The common wood pigeon or common woodpigeon (''Columba palumbus''), also known as simply wood pigeon, wood-pigeon or woodpigeon, is a large species in the dove and pigeon Family (biology), family (Columbidae), native to the western Palearctic re ...

buzzard Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Eastern ...

Eurasian oystercatcher The Eurasian oystercatcher (''Haematopus ostralegus'') also known as the common pied oystercatcher, or palaearctic oystercatcher, or (in Europe) just oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae. It is the most widesp ...

s, common pheasants, Eurasian sparrowhawks, and

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

. Red squirrels are also found. Orange tips, red admirals, and

painted lady ''Vanessa cardui'' is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan. Description File:Vanessa cardui MHNT CUT 2013 3 14 Pontfaverger-Moronvilliers Dos. ...

butterflies occur within the area. Locally growing west

n wild plants include the

greater butterfly orchid ''Platanthera chlorantha'', commonly known as greater butterfly-orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus '' Platanthera''. It can be found throughout Europe and Morocco. The name ''Platanthera'' is derived from Greek, meaning "broad anthers" ...

early purple orchid ''Orchis mascula'', the early-purple orchid, early spring orchis, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Description ''Orchis mascula'' is a perennial herbaceous plant with stems up to high, green at the base and ...

and

yellow rattle ''Rhinanthus minor'', known as yellow rattle, is a herbaceous wildflower in the genus '' Rhinanthus'' in the family Orobanchaceae (the broomrapes). It has circumpolar distribution in Europe, Russia, western Asia, and northern North America. An a ...

Population

The population of Greysouthen between 1880 and 1900 fell by about 210 people in a 20-year period, this a period after the closure of the local mines.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Greysouthen
(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page) {{authority control Villages in Cumbria Allerdale Civil parishes in Cumbria