Cartmel

The name Cartmel means "sandbank by rocky ground", from the Old Norse {{lang|non|kartr}} ("rocky ground") and {{lang|non|melr}}.{{cite book |first=Eilert |last=Ekwall |author-link=Eilert Ekwall |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names |page=89}} The place-name is first attested in 677, when the Cartmel Peninsula was granted to St Cuthbert, whose influence may explain why by the Norman Conquest the village was known as Kirkby, a name indicating the location of a church.{{cite book |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8 |title=A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8 |publisher=Victoria County History |year=1914 |editor-last=Farrer |editor-first=William |location=London |pages=254–265 |chapter=The parish of Cartmell |editor-last2=Brownbill |editor-first2=J. |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol8/pp254-265}}

Cartmel Priory was founded in the village in 1190 by William Marshal, created 1st Earl of Pembroke, intended for a community of the Augustinian Canons regular and was dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint Michael. To support the new house, William granted it the whole fief of the district of Cartmel.{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38352 |title=British History Online: The Priory of Cartmel |access-date=13 March 2014}} Following the dissolution of the monasteries, much of the local land fell into the ownership of the Preston family at nearby Holker Hall. Through marriage Holker became part of the estate of the Cavendish family, and today is the home of Lord Cavendish. As well as the estate around Holker, the Cavendish family still owns much of the land of the peninsula.{{cite web|title=Holker Estate|url=http://www.holker.co.uk/holker-estate/introduction/|publisher=Holker Hall|accessdate=31 January 2018|archive-date=31 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131051456/http://www.holker.co.uk/holker-estate/introduction/|url-status=dead}}

Agriculture was the chief industry of the area until the mid-20th century, dominated by the lands of the Cavendishes, and remains an important part of the village. Nearby Grange-over-Sands eclipsed Cartmel as the biggest settlement on the peninsula in the 19th century, growing as a Victorian seaside resort[http://www.edgeguide.co.uk/cumbria/grange.html Grange over Sands – the Cartmel Peninsula] Edge Guide; Accessed 17/03/08 when the Furness Railway was built across the peninsula. Cartmel village is still served by a station in nearby Cark, opened in 1857 and called Cark and Cartmel.

Tourism has grown in the village since the middle of the 20th century. In 1923 Cartmel Priory Gatehouse became a museum for the Priory, and was used for exhibitions and meetings, before being presented to the National Trust in 1946. By 2011 it was mainly in private residential use, although the Great Room is opened to the public on several days a year.[http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-cartmelpriorygatehouse National trust web page] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515014748/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-cartmelpriorygatehouse |date=May 15, 2011 }} The Priory itself is still the local parish church, but is open to visitors outside of service times.{{cite web |url=http://cartmelpriory.org.uk |website=Cartmel Priory |title=Cartmel Priory |access-date=24 February 2022}}

Cartmel Racecourse dates back to at least the 19th century, but grew in popularity when it became a National Hunt course after the Second World War. It started to attract major professionals in the 1960s, and now hosts nine meetings a year between May and August, the biggest traditionally in Whit Week.{{cite web |date=25 January 2020 |title=Cartmel Racecourse |url=https://www.britishracecourses.org/cartmel/ |access-date=24 February 2022 |publisher=British Racecourses}}

Writers who encouraged the growth of tourism to Cartmel include Lancashire dialect writer and BBC broadcaster Thomas Thompson, who wrote sixteen books on Lancashire people and their communities and was fond of Cartmel. The frontispiece in his 1937 book Lancashire Brew is 'Cartmel from an etching by Joseph Knight', the founder of the Manchester School of Painters. Later Alfred Wainwright dedicated a chapter to Cartmel Fell, about {{convert|7|mi|km}} north of Cartmel, in his 1974 book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland.{{cite book |last1=Wainwright |first1=Alfred |title=The Outlying Fells of Lakeland |date=1974 |publisher=Westmorland Gazette}}

More recently Cartmel has emerged as a foodie destination. Cartmel sticky toffee pudding was first sold at the village shop in 1984{{cite web |last1=MacEacheran |first1=Mike |title=The contentious origins of England's famous pudding |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210715-the-contentious-origins-of-englands-famous-pudding |publisher=BBC}} and grew in popularity: it is now sold in supermarkets around the UK. The Cartmel Sticky Toffee Company, who make it, moved to a larger factory in nearby Flookburgh in the 2000s but still operate{{clarify|date=March 2022}} and sell from the village shop in Cartmel.{{cite web |last1=Mayoh |first1=Emma |title=Cartmel sticky toffee pudding celebrate 25 years |date=7 October 2015 |url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/food-and-drink/cartmel-sticky-toffee-pudding-celebrate-25-years-6975278 |publisher=Lancashire Life |access-date=24 February 2022}} In 2002, chef Simon Rogan opened L'Enclume restaurant in the village. The restaurant quickly became one of the UK's most popular, and held top spot as the UK's best restaurant in The Good Food Guide from 2014–2017, returning to the top in 2020.{{cite web |last1=Lake |first1=Emma |title=Simon Rogan's L'Enclume returns to top spot in Good Food Guide 2020 |date=10 September 2019 |url=https://www.thecaterer.com/news/good-food-guide-2020-simon-rogan-lenclume |publisher=The Caterer |access-date=24 February 2022}} In 2022 it became the first restaurant in the UK outside London and the South-East to gain 3 Michelin stars.{{cite web |title=How L'Enclume's Michelin win is taking Cumbria to the top of the foodie table |url=https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/feb/18/how-lenclumes-michelin-win-is-taking-cumbria-to-the-top-of-the-foodie-table |work=The Guardian |date=18 February 2022 |access-date=24 February 2022}} Rogan makes use of the agricultural hinterland of Cartmel and most of the produce supplied to the restaurant is grown on the peninsula, including Rogan's nearby {{convert|12|acre|adj=on}} farm.{{cite web|last1=Shinger|first1=Tom|title=Simon Rogan's Farm at L'Enclume – Great British Chefs|url=http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/features/simon-rogan-farm-lenclume|website=greatbritishchefs.com|accessdate=31 January 2017}} Rogan's second restaurant in Cartmel, Rogan & Co, is also Michelin-starred,{{cite web |title=Simon Rogan, L'enclume, sticky toffee pudding and Cartmel Cheeses – how a small Cumbria village became foodie heaven |url=https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/16440072.simon-rogan-lenclume-sticky-toffee-pudding-and-cartmel-cheeses-how-a-small-cumbria-village-became-foodie-heaven/ |publisher=North West Evening Mail |access-date=24 February 2022}} and the village also hosts Unsworth's Yard, a collection of artisan-food retailers who use local produce.

Cartmel is {{convert|2+1/4|mi|km|round=0.5}} from the nearest town, Grange-over-Sands, and about {{convert|2+3/4|mi|km|round=0.5}} from the A590 road, which connects it to the M6 Motorway. Cark and Cartmel railway station has a roughly hourly service between Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster, with some services continuing north to Carlisle and others south to Manchester.

Cartmel Church of England Primary School is the village primary school. Cartmel Priory School takes pupils aged between 11 and 16 from around the Cartmel Peninsula.

Cartmel is part of the Westmorland and Lonsdale parliamentary constituency, of which Tim Farron is the current Member of parliament representing the Liberal Democrats.{{cite web |url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/tim_farron/westmorland_and_lonsdale |title=Tim Farron |work=theyworkforyou.com |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601182051/http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/tim_farron/westmorland_and_lonsdale|archivedate=1 June 2013 |df=dmy-all}}

For local government purposes it is in the Grange and Cartmel Ward of Westmorland and Furness Council.

The village also has its own parish council, Lower Allithwaite Parish Council.{{cite web|url=http://www.allithwaiteandcartmel.co.uk/|title= Lower Allithwaite Parish}}

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{{Commons category|Cartmel}}

• [http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/allithwaite-lower Cumbria County History Trust: Allithwaite, Lower] (nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
• [http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/upper-holker Cumbria County History Trust: Upper Holker] (nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
• [http://www.cartmelvillage.com/ Cartmel Village Website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130816041621/http://www.wainwright-wanderings.co.uk/ Walks in South Cumbria]

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Category:Villages in Cumbria

Category:Westmorland and Furness