Aspatria
Aspatria | |
---|---|
St Kentigern's Church | |
Location within Cumbria | |
Population | 2,834 (2011)[1] |
OS grid reference | NY145417 |
Civil parish |
|
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | WIGTON |
Postcode district | CA7 |
Dialling code | 016973 |
Police | Cumbria |
Fire | Cumbria |
Ambulance | North West |
UK Parliament | |
Aspatria .
The population has greatly increased since the mid nineteenth century. In 1801, the village comprised 98 dwellings with a population of 321. By 1851, there were 236 family entities, comprising 1,123 residents; by 1871, the numbers had increased to 1,778; and twenty years later stood at 2,714. By the start of the 20th century, the population had risen to 2,885; twenty years later it peaked at 3,521. Although the population slumped in the 1930s to 3,189, it recovered to 3,500, in 1951; and by 1981, the population appeared stable at 2,745. It is served by Aspatria railway station. Aspatria is located on the fringe of the English Lake District.
The parish church of St Kentigern was completed in 1848. Fragments of masonry and crosses from earlier structures on the same site are preserved there.
History
Pre Norman
Aspatria is an ancient settlement and seems to have been home to a group of
The Manor
The manor of Aspatria is part of the ancient barony of Allerdale below Derwent. Awarded by Ranulph de Meschines, grantee of the whole of Cumberland from William the Conqueror, to Waltheof, son of Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar, from whom the obsolete name of Aspatrick, may have been derived. Upon the division of the estates of William Fitz Duncan, and his wife Alice de Romney, among their three daughters, the manor passed to Alice the youngest. However, Alice died without issue and the estates passed to an elder sister who had married into the Lucy family. The latter family terminated in a female heir Maud de Lucy. She married Henry Percy, the first Earl of Northumberland, who received the whole of her estates. It remained in this family through eleven generations before passing by the marriage of Lady Elizabeth, sole daughter and heiress of Josceline Percy to Charles Seymour, sixth Earl of Somerset. In recent times it again passed by a female heir to the Wyndham family, from whom it has descended to Lord Leconfield and now Lord Egremont.[5]
The village stands at the northern end of the West Cumberland Coalfield and there have been mines in the area since the 16th century. The opening of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway, in 1842, led to a rapid expansion of the industry. The Brayton Domain Collieries sank five different pits around the town at various times and there were also mines near Mealsgate, Baggrow and Fletchertown. In 1902, a new mine was sunk at Oughterside. The last pit in the town, Brayton Domain No.5, closed in 1940.[6]
In 1870, one of England's first farmers' co-operatives, the Aspatria Agricultural Cooperative Society was established here with offices in the market square, facing the Aspatria Agricultural College which flourished from 1874 until 1925.[7]
Toponymy
According to one source the origins of the name of Aspatria lie in Old Scandinavian and Celtic. It translates as "Ash-tree of St Patrick", and is composed of the elements askr (Old Scandinavian for "ash-tree") and the Celtic saint's name. The order of the elements of the name, with the ash-tree coming before the name of the saint, is particular to Celtic place-names.[9] The following forms of the name have been found in various charters:- Estpatrick in 1224, Asepatrick 1230, Aspatric 1233, Askpatrik 1291, Assepatrick 1303, Aspatrick 1357, Aspatre 1491.[10] The first entry in the parish register referring to the town as Aspatria in preference to the name Aspatrick or Aspatricke appears in 1712. It appears in the handwriting of the then vicar David Bell.[11] For the next fifty years the spelling fluctuated until eventually Aspatria became the dominant name. When Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins passed through the town in 1857 they referred to the name Spatter which is not too dissimilar to 'Speatrie' the name locals prefer.[12] William Brough, a railway porter, discharging third class passengers after their arrival at Aspatria from the Bolton Loop railway connection would cry 'Speatrie Loup Oot'. Second class passengers would detect "Speatrie change ere for Measyat", while first class passengers heard a polite invitation, "Aspatriah, change heah for Mealsgate."[13]
There is a legend that the name comes from the ash tree that grew up when St. Patrick's staff, the Bachal Isu, took root in the ground because it took so long for him to manage to convert the people from this area to Christianity.[14]
Governance
The town is in the
Prior to
An electoral ward exists with the same name. This ward stretches east to Allhallows with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 3,380.[17]
Religious worship
Prior to the opening of the Brayton Domain Collieries the people of Aspatria had two places of
Education
There are two primary schools in the town: Oughterside Primary School[19] and Richmond Hill School.[20]
Beacon Hill Community School is a secondary school in Aspatria. The school serves the town and neighbouring villages.[21]
Neighbouring parishes
The parish is bounded on the North by the parishes of
Industry
There is a small industrial area next to the railway station where:-
- Mattress manufacturer Sealy have maintained their British head office since 1974. It was announced in May 2020 that the factory will close.[22]
- First Milk creamery (formerly owned by the Milk Marketing Board), a farmers' co-operative which produces Lake District Cheese, now the third best-selling Cheddar Brand in the UK. 60 tonnes of cheese are produced daily, using 800,000 litres of milk.[23]
- Aspatria Farmers Limited, (formerly the Aspatria Agricultural Cooperative Society) is based.[24]
Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Border. Television signals are received from the Caldbeck TV transmitter. [25] Local radio stations are BBC Radio Cumbria on 94.7 FM and Greatest Hits Radio Cumbria & South West Scotland on 96.4 FM. The town is served by the local newspaper, News and Star. [26]
Sport
Aspatria Hornets are the local rugby league team. Aspatria is also home to rugby union club Aspatria RUFC, currently playing in the RFU's North Lancashire/Cumbria Division. The 'Aspatria Eagles' are the club's second team, and the 'Aspatria Sinners' are the women's team. Aspatria FC are the town's football club who compete in the Tesco Cumberland County Premier League.
Notable people
- Sheila Fell, artist, born in Aspatria
- Jenny Cowern, artist, lived at Langrigg, Aspatria
- Thomas Holliday, rugby international, had a drapery and ironmonger's business in Queen Street
- Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 2nd Baronet of Brayton, temperance campaigner and Liberal Party politician
- Henry Thompson MRCVS, veterinary surgeon, pioneer agriculturalist and author
- Greg Ridley, Rock musician
- William Thompson Casson, coach designer and manufacturer
- Rev. William Slater Calverley, antiquarian
- Thomas Farrall, author, teacher and agriculturalist
- Henry J. Webb, principal of Aspatria Agricultural College
- Roland Stobbart, Speedway rider
- Maurice Stobbart, Speedway rider
- Dr William Perry Briggs, Medical Officer of Health to Aspatria Urban District Council (1892–1928)
See also
References
- ^ "Parish population 2011". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
- ^ "Northern yet to fix Aspatria mispronunciation". BBC News. 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
- ^ P Abramson: A re-examination of a Viking Age burial at Beacon Hill, Aspatria, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Transactions 2000, p79-88;
- ^ Holme St Cuthbert History Group: Plain People, 2004
- ^ Bulmers History and Directory of Cumberland, 1901
- ^ Durham Mining Museum Index of Mines
- ^ a b J Rose & M Dunglinson: Aspatria, a Cumbrian Town (Phillimore, 1987)
- ^ Wigton Advertiser, 28 September 1918
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names, A D Mills, p. 16, 1998
- ^ Bailey page 12
- ^ Carlisle Herald and Examiner, 5 February 1887
- ^ Collins and Dickens (2011) chapter 3
- ^ West Cumberland Times 5 October 1895
- ^ "Lurgan Ancestry ~ St. Patrick - First Bishop of Armagh". Lurganancestry.com. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ "Workington parliamentary constituency - Election 2019 - BBC News". Bbc.com. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ "A vision of Britain website – general elections section". Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ^ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 16 June 2015.
- ^ Rose & Dunglinson page 95
- ^ "Home | Oughterside Foundation School". Oughtersideschool.co.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ "Home | Richmond Hill School". Richmondhillprimary.co.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ "Beacon Hill Community School". Retrieved 22 October 2021.
- ^ "Aspatria's Sealy factory closure leads to 267 job losses". BBC News. 4 May 2020.
- ^ Cumberland News, 12 August 2011
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Caldbeck (Cumbria, England) Full Freeview transmitter". May 2004.
- ^ "Times & Star". Retrieved 26 February 2024.
Bibliography
- Rev. William Slater Calverley; W. G. Collingwood M.A. (1899). Early Sculptured Crosses, Shrines and Monuments in the Present Diocese of Carlisle. Kendal: Titus Wilson.
- A. D. Mills (1998). Oxford Dictionary of Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford.
- Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens (2011). The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices. London: Hesperus Press Ltd.
- T. Bulmer (1901). History and Directory of Cumberland. Preston: T. Bulmer & Co. Hesperus Press Ltd.
- J. B. Bailey (1920). History of the Churches in the Maryport Rural Deanery. Cockermouth: Times Office.
- J. Rose; M. Dunglinson (1987). Aspatria. Chichester: Phillimore.
External links
- Cumbria County History Trust: Aspatria and Brayton (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
- Brayton Domain – pictures of Aspatria mines