Eaglesfield is a village in the parish of Dean in

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 ...

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. It is near the A5086 road, 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of Cockermouth 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 ...

Etymology

Eaglesfield lay in the early Middle Ages within the British kingdom of

Rheged Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ('Old North'), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and bardic sources, ...

, and the first element of the name is perhaps derived from the Brythonic 'eccles' "church" (cognate with Welsh 'eglwys' 'church'). The meaning would be 'open land near a British church' - something that the Anglian settlers would have seen as they "arrived and settled some two miles away down below at Brigham." (The second element, 'Feld', 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 'open country'). Alternatively, it means 'Ecgel's open land' ('Ecgel's feld'). 'Ecgel' is a personal name and possibly "a normal diminutive of compound names such as 'Ecglaf', or Ecgwulf' ".

Governance

Eaglesfield forms part of the

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 ...

of Dean, which also covers Dean, Deanscales, Branthwaite, Pardshaw and Ullock. There are two tiers of local government covering Dean, at parish 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: Dean Parish Council and Cumberland Council. The parish forms 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.

Administrative history

Eaglesfield was historically a

township 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 ...

in the

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 ...

of Brigham, which formed part of the historic county of

. The township of Eaglesfield took on 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 ...

from the 17th century onwards. As such, the township also became a

in 1866, when the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws. An

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 pries ...

called Mosser was created in 1883, covering four townships from the old Brigham parish, including Eaglesfield. An old

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

at Mosser initially served as the parish church. In 1891, a new church dedicated to St Philip was built in the Eaglesfield township, a short distance east of the village. The church is called St Philip, Mosser, by reference to the ecclesiastical parish it serves, despite not being in the old Mosser township. In 1934, the civil parish of Eaglesfield was abolished and its area added to the neighbouring parish of Dean. At the 1931 census (the last before the abolition of the parish), Eaglesfield had a population of 233.

Notable people

Eaglesfield was the birthplace of

John Dalton John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He introduced the atomic theory into chemistry. He also researched Color blindness, colour blindness; as a result, the umbrella term ...

(1766–1844), acclaimed chemist, meteorologist and physicist. He was the father of the modern atomic theory. Eaglesfield was the probable birthplace of Robert de Eglesfield (c.1295–1349), founder of

the Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. His father, John of Eglesfield, held lands in and near there. Moorland Close, Eaglesfield, was the birthplace of Fletcher Christian, master's mate aboard . He led the mutiny against the captain,

William Bligh William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was a Vice-admiral (Royal Navy), Royal Navy vice-admiral and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1806 to 1808. He is best known for his role in the Muti ...

, during their voyage to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

. File:Inscription above the door, birthplace of John Dalton, Eaglesfield (geograph 4245532).jpg, Historical plaque marking birthplace of John Dalton File:Plaque marking the birthplace of John Dalton, Eaglesfield (geograph 4245539).jpg, Modern plaque marking birthplace of John Dalton

References

External links