Camerton, Cumbria
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Camerton is a small 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
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 ...
, historically part of
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 ...
, near the
Lake District National Park 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 ...
in England. According to older maps, it was originally called "Camberton". The village is situated about north-east of Seaton, north-east of
Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...
and west 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 ...
. It's linked by road to Great Broughton and
Flimby Flimby is a coastal village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Maryport, in the Cumberland district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It was historically in Cumberland. It is included in the Maryport South county divisio ...
, and there was a small footbridge over the river to
Great Clifton Great Clifton is a village and civil parish in the Cumberland district in the English county of Cumbria. In the 2001 census, it has a population of 1,101, increasing slightly to 1,114 at the 2011 Census. Location Workington is west of the vi ...
however this was destroyed by the floods of November 2009. It has a population of 172, increasing slightly to 174 at the 2011 Census.


Governance

Camerton is part of the
parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
of
Whitehaven and Workington Whitehaven and Workington is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was contested for the first time at the 2024 general election, since w ...
. For
Local Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
purposes it is 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 ...
unitary authority area A unitary authority is a type of 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 usually performed ...
. Camerton has its own Parish Council; ''Camerton Parish Council''.


Railways

Two railway lines once served Camerton. The line and
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
in the valley bottom were built by 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 ...
(CWR) which was eventually extended eastwards to , giving national connections and even the "Lakes Express", a through train to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, though this passed straight through Camerton. The station closed in 1952 and the line in 1966. In 2013 the station master's house was still in use as a private residence. The former railway embankment could still be seen, but the supports and pier of the former bridge over the river were washed away during the
2009 Workington floods During the twenty-four hours before Friday 20 November 2009, rainfall of over was recorded in Cumbria. Flooding along the Borrowdale and Derwent Valley meant that some areas were up to deep in water. The surge of water off the fells of the La ...
, leaving no trace. A second line ran on higher ground to the north of the village, this was the
Cleator and Workington Junction Railway The Cleator and Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) was located in West Cumberland in Northern England, serving the towns of Cleator Moor and Workington and intermediate villages. It was mainly used for coal, limestone and iron ore traffic for t ...
's (C&WJR) "Northern Extension" which was part of a wider venture to connect west Cumbrian ironworks with Scotland. Camerton never had a public station on that line, the nearest being at and , though their lives as passenger stations were very short. Although this line lost its meagre passenger services past Camerton as early as 1908 and was closed and lifted north of Buckhill Colliery in the 1930s, trains still passed Camerton along it until 1992 to serve the
RNAD Broughton Moor RNAD Broughton Moor is a decommissioned Royal Naval Armaments Depot located between Great Broughton and Broughton Moor in the County of Cumbria, England. History The depot was opened in 1939 on the site of Buckhill Colliery (opened 1873, close ...
.


Collieries

Camerton once had two pits, both of which mined both coal and clay. Camerton No. 2 Colliery was north of the village next to the C&WJR line where an unadvertised workmen's halt was provided. This colliery appears to have been abandoned in 1908. Camerton No. 1 Colliery was next to the
river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
. It was connected to the CWR line. It is unclear when it was abandoned. Both pits had associated brickworks.


Etymology

'Tūn' is
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 'homestead' 'village'. The first element in the name might be a personal name (possibly 'Cāfmǣr') or else Welsh 'cym(m)er' 'confluence' that might refer to nearby stream and river, "but the phonology would offer difficulties, and the stream running into the Derwent is insignificant." So, the name means perhaps 'the village of Cāfmǣr', or 'the village by the confluence of waters'.


St Peter's church

St Peter's church is located south-east of the village on a
meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
of the River Derwent. The church building partly dates from the mid-19th century, but "parts of the structure could be medieval, for instance, the transept arch with its step and chamfer." The church contains the tomb of 'Black Tom', an old 'lord' of Camerton. According to local legend, Black Tom's ghost haunts the churchyard. ''Black Tom'' is also the name of the village pub. Legend has it that a blue pig was seen one night by someone leaving the pub.


Walking

There are walking opportunities in the area including the nearby Scaw Bank wood. Scar Bank wood.jpg, Scaw Bank Wood, Camerton


See also

* Listed buildings in Camerton, Cumbria


References

St Peters church Camerton.jpg, St Peter's Church, Camerton


External links


The village, railways, river and collieries c1908, via ''National Library of Scotland''
* ttp://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/camerton Cumbria County History Trust: Camerton(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
St Peter's churchCamerton Hall
{{Cumbria Villages in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority) Civil parishes in Cumbria