Tarns is a small farming settlement in 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 Holme St. Cuthbert 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 ...

, United Kingdom. It is located two miles north-east of the village of

Mawbray Mawbray is a village in the civil parish of Holme St Cuthbert in Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Cumberland. It is located on the Solway Plain, south west of Silloth, north of Maryport, and west of Carlisl ...

, and twenty-three miles south-west of

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

, Cumbria's county town. The B5301 road runs through the settlement, and along that road the town of

Silloth-on-Solway Silloth, or Silloth-on-Solway, is a port town and civil parish in the Cumberland (district), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town stands on the coast of the Solway Firth, west of Carlisle. It was developed from the 1850s onwards a ...

is located five-and-a-half miles to the north, and

Aspatria Aspatria is a town and civil parish in Cumberland, Cumbria, England. The town rests on the north side of the Ellen Valley, overlooking a panoramic view of the countryside, with Skiddaw to the South and the Solway Firth to the North. Its dev ...

four-and-a-half miles to the south-east. Other nearby settlements include Aikshaw,

Goodyhills Goodyhills is a hamlet in the civil parish of Holme St Cuthbert, in northern Cumbria, United Kingdom. It is located 1.5 miles east of the village of Mawbray, and 23 miles west of the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle. A quarter of a mile to ...

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

, and New Cowper.

History and etymology

The name Tarns comes from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

"tiorn", meaning a lake, and "tarn" is a word commonly used in

northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

for a lake or pond. Such a lake is present at Tarns, giving the settlement its name. In the past, the name has been spelled as Ternis, Terns, and Tarnes. Tarns is a small settlement, and, in spite of appearing on local signposts, including on the B5300 coast road, it is not named on some contemporary mapping projects like Google Maps. However, it does appear in the historical record, with records of births and deaths dating from at least the early 19th century. It is also noted on historical documents from the time of Holme Cultram Abbey's operation prior to the dissolution of the monasteries, where a farm owned by the abbey was operating at Tarns in or around 1200 AD. The tarn for which the settlement is named has a surface area of 21 acres (8.5 hectares), and a perimeter of three-quarters of a mile (1.1 km).

Local amenities

Tarns has no public transportation links, though a shuttle-bus is laid on to and from

Aspatria railway station Aspatria railway station is a railway station serving the town of Aspatria in Cumbria, England. It is on the Cumbrian Coast line, Cumbrian Coast Line, which runs between and . It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains. Histor ...

(the nearest station to the settlement) for visitors to Solfest during the August bank holiday weekend. The nearest stops on a mainline bus service are two-and-a-half miles away at either

Beckfoot Beckfoot is a hamlet in the civil parish of Holme St Cuthbert in Cumbria, England. It is located on the B5300 coast road, three miles south of Silloth-on-Solway and two miles north of the village of Mawbray. The county town of Carlisle is ...

on the B5300 road, where services run every two hours in the direction of

Silloth Silloth, or Silloth-on-Solway, is a port town and civil parish in the Cumberland (district), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town stands on the coast of the Solway Firth, west of Carlisle. It was developed from the 1850s onwards a ...

and

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

, or alternatively four miles away at

Abbeytown Abbeytown is the main village in the civil parish of Holme Abbey in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The parish was historically called Holme Cultram. The modern names of Abbeytown and Holme Abbey both reference Holmcultram Abbey, w ...

, where buses run from Silloth to

via

Wigton Wigton is a market town in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It lies just outside the Lake District. Wigton is at the centre of the Solway Plain, between the Caldbeck Fells and the Solway coast. It is served by Wigton railway st ...

. Both nearby pubs, the Lowther Arms at Mawbray and the Swan Inn at Westnewton closed in the 2010s and the nearest restaurants and pubs are in Aspatria, Abbeytown, and Silloth. There is a tea room called The Gincase near Newtown and a garden centre at Bank Mill near Beckfoot which are both accessible by road from Tarns.

Solfest

Tarnside Farm, one of the farms at Tarns, played host to an annual music festival called Solfest on the

August bank holiday The August Bank Holiday or Summer Bank Holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, part of the statutory bank holiday provision. Originally, the holiday was held on the first Monday of August across the country, but was changed in the lat ...

weekend. A

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the words "Solway" (from the

Solway Plain The Solway Plain or Solway Basin is a coastal plain located mostly in northwest Cumbria in England, extending just over the Scottish border to the low-lying area around Gretna and Annan. It lies generally north and west of Carlisle along the Sol ...

) and "festival", Solfest started in 2003 and has attracted such artists as

Badly Drawn Boy Damon Michael Gough (born 2 October 1969), known by the stage name Badly Drawn Boy, is an English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Gough chose his stage name from a character in the show '' The Magic Ball'', which he saw on TV ...

Seth Lakeman Seth Bernard Lakeman (born 26 March 1977) is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is most often associated with the fiddle and tenor guitar, but also plays the viola and banjo. Nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize ...

The Proclaimers The Proclaimers are a Scottish Rock music, rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid (born 5 March 1962). They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America (song), Letter from America", which reached No. 3 ...

, and

Kate Rusby Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, and is one of the be ...

. The 2014 edition was cancelled, but the festival resumed in 2015. The 2020 edition of the festival had to be cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2007, Solfest won an award for the "Best Family Festival". The full price for an adult ticket for Solfest 2012 was £95, with young people aged 12–16 paying £65, and children paying £35. Tickets for the final edition in 2019 were £105.19 for adults or £285.81 for a family of two adults and two children. Youth tickets, child tickets, as well day tickets were also available.

References

{{reflist Hamlets in Cumbria Holme St Cuthbert