Morland 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 authority ...

in the rolling hills of the Eden Valley in the Eden 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. Cumb ...

, England. It lies within the historic county of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of Town Head and Morland Moor, and had a population of 380 in 2001, reducing marginally to 374 at the 2011 Census.

Location

Morland is centrally located in the Eden Valley, a scenic, rural area lying a few miles from the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

to the west, the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

to the east and 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 ...

to the south. The area is characterised by rolling hills and farmland.

History

Morland is believed to have been settled for at least 1500 years, perhaps because of the Powdonnet Spring that rises by the side of the road leaving the village towards Cliburn. A

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

sword was found buried in the churchyard in the 19th century, which might suggest some Viking influence in the area. Morland's church, Church of St Lawrence (alt. Laurence), is unique in

, as it has a

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

tower. In the early Middle Ages the area was contested by

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government et ...

and

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

, and later

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Morland was not included in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086, as it was then under the control of Scotland. The area was conquered in 1092 by

William Rufus William II ( xno, Williame; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third so ...

and brought under English control. Morland House, the Grade II listed former vicarage, dates back to the mid 16th century. It has been owned by the Markham family since 1828. Morland Hall, on the outskirts of the village, was built in 1861 as a private residence for Francis Atkinson.

Village Features

Morland is built on Morland

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

, which flows through the bottom of the village, and on the hills around it. It is surrounded primarily by farmland, as well as some woodland. Houses in the area are typically built of limestone from nearby quarries. The village has a pub, the Crown Inn, and the Mill Yard Café, as well as a community shop. It has a primary school, the Morland Area Church of England Primary School, with approximately 60-70 pupils. The villages of Morland and Newby have a shared village hall, in which many activities take place. The Eden Valley is a popular destination for holidaymakers, and Morland has a significant amount of accommodation for visitors.

Governance

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 ...

includes the townships (villages) of King's Meaburn, Newby and Sleagill. An

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to Cliburn with a total population of 1,300.

Location grid

References

External links

Visit Cumbria: Morland

Church of St Lawrence, Morland

Morland Area C.of E. Primary School Cumbria County History Trust: Morland
(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page) {{authority control Villages in Cumbria Civil parishes in Cumbria Eden District