Brigham 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. 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 village is near to the town of

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. The name refers to the town's position by the confluence of the River Cocker into the River Derwent. At the 2021 census, the built u ...

and is located just outside the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Toponymy

'Brigham' is 'homestead near the bridge'. 'Brycg' is OE (

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

) for 'bridge'; 'hām' is OE for 'village', 'homestead'.

History

Brigham has existed as a settlement since

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

times and an early centre of Christianity in Cumbria. The church of St Bridget's, was originally a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

building, and is situated at the far north of the village, known as Low Brigham; it contains several fragments of pre-Norman crosses and other early carved stones. A disused quarry hosting businesses and a caravan holiday park is situated in the centre of the village, above which runs the main street (C2007) of High Brigham. The quarry is bisected by the non-pavemented road called Stang Lonning. Brigham railway station opened in 1847 on the

Cockermouth and Workington Railway The Cockermouth and Workington Railway was an English railway company, established by act of Parliament in 1845, which built and operated a railway between the Cumberland towns of Workington and Cockermouth. The railway opened for service in 1 ...

. The station closed in 1966. At one time there was also a second station serving the hamlet of Broughton Cross, 1 km west of the main village. The village gave its name to HMS Brigham, a

Ham class minesweeper The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers (IMS), known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. All of the ships in the class are named for British place na ...

. The

ship's bell A ship's bell is a bell on a ship that is used for the indication of time as well as other traditional functions. The bell itself is usually made of brass or bronze, and normally has the ship's name engraved or cast on it. Strikes Timing of shi ...

from this vessel is now in St Bridget's Church of England primary school in the village. Until a more modern

fire alarm system A fire alarm system is a building system designed to detect, alert occupants, and alert emergency forces of the presence of fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, or other fire-related emergencies. Fire alarm systems are required in most commercial buil ...

was installed, this bell was rung as the fire alarm for the school. The family of ''Bounty'' mutineer

Fletcher Christian Fletcher Christian (25 September 1764 – 20 September 1793) was an English sailor who led the mutiny on the ''Bounty'' in 1789, during which he seized command of the Royal Navy vessel from Lieutenant William Bligh. In 1787, Christian was ap ...

are buried in the graveyard at St. Bridget's. Fletcher himself, born 1764 and raised in the township of Eaglesfield within Brigham parish (at that time), and christened at St. Bridget's, is thought to be buried on Pitcairn Island, though some have claimed that he returned secretly to England.

Community

The village has its own

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

primary school; St. Bridget's, with just over 100 pupils. There is no longer a

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

in Brigham, nor a grocery shop although there is still a social club. Brigham used to have 3 local pubs all of which have been converted into houses. They were The Appletree Inn (by the War Memorial Hall and Cuddy Croft Quarry), The Limekiln and The Wheatsheaf, both on Low Road. Housing estates known as High Rigg and The Hill are at the east and west ends of the village, with newer estates St. Bridget's and Butterfields Close in the north and south respectively. The Brigham War Memorial Hall was opened on 20 November 1924 (OS grid reference: NY 08501 30274).

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Brigham, 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: Brigham Parish Council and

Cumberland Council Cumberland Council is the local authority for Cumberland, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. The ...

. The parish council meets at Brigham Methodist Church. Brigham is part of the

Penrith and Solway Penrith and Solway is a List of UK Parliament constituencies, constituency of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review ...

constituency for elections to the

UK parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

Administrative history

Brigham was an

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 ...

in the historic county of

. The parish was large, and was subdivided into thirteen

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 ...

, some of which had chapels of ease. The townships were: * Blindbothel * Brackenthwaite *Brigham *

Buttermere Buttermere is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. It has a length of approximately and a maximum width of , an area of , a maximum depth of , and a surface elevation of above sea level. Its primary outflow is Buttermere Dubs, a ...

* Eaglesfield * Embleton *

Greysouthen Greysouthen ( ) is a village and civil parish between the towns of Workington and Cockermouth, in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, North West England. It lies a couple of miles outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park. The vi ...

* Lorton * Mosser * Setmurthy *Whinfell * Wythop 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 Brigham, 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 the townships also became separate

es. When elected parish and district councils were established in 1894, Brigham was given a parish council and included in the

Cockermouth Rural District Cockermouth was a rural district in Cumberland, England, from 1894 to 1974. It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 based on Cockermouth rural sanitary district. It entirely surrounded but did not include the towns of Cockermouth and ...

. Cockermouth Rural District was abolished in 1974, becoming part of the borough of

Allerdale Allerdale was a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with Borough status in England and Wales, borough status. Its council – Allerdale Borough Council – was based in Workington, and the borough had a population of 96,422 at the ...

in the new county of Cumbria. Allerdale was in turn abolished in 2023 when the new Cumberland Council was created, also taking over the functions of the abolished Cumbria County Council in the area.

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Brigham
(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page) * {{authority control Villages in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority) Civil parishes in Cumbria