Watermillock
{{Short description|Village in Cumbria, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2019}}
{{infobox UK place
| country = England
| coordinates = {{coord|54.594|-2.859|display=inline,title}}
| official_name = Watermillock
| static_image_name = Parish Church of All Saints, Watermillock - geograph.org.uk - 101021.jpg
| static_image_caption = Parish Church of All Saints, Watermillock
| population =
| population_ref =
| civil_parish = Matterdale
| unitary_england = Westmorland and Furness
| lieutenancy_england = Cumbria
| region = North West England
| constituency_westminster = Westmorland and Lonsdale
| post_town = PENRITH
| postcode_district = CA11
| postcode_area = CA
| dial_code = 017684
| os_grid_reference = NY445224
| pushpin_map = United Kingdom Eden
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Eden, Cumbria
| label_position =
}}
Watermillock is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Matterdale, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is on the western shore of Ullswater, in the English Lake District. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 448.{{cite web|url=http://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10012259/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population Statistics Watermillock Tn/CP through time|publisher=Vision of Britain|accessdate=25 November 2018}} On 1 April 1934 the civil parish was merged into Matterdale.{{cite web|url=http://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10119649|title=Relationships and changes Watermillock Tn/CP through time|publisher=Vision of Britain|accessdate=25 November 2018}}
Etymology
The name Watermillock is first attested in the early thirteenth century, in the form weþermeloc, with wethermelok first found in 1253. The present-day form, beginning with water, is first attested in 1541, as Wattermannock, alongside a 1568 instance of Waltermannock. The meloc element derives from the Common Brittonic word that would, if it were still found in modern Welsh, be spelled {{lang|cy|moelog}}, meaning "place associated with the Mell Fells" (whose own name comes from the word that survives in modern Welsh as {{lang|cy|moel}} "bare"). The first element of the name originated as the word wether ("castrated male sheep"), though was adapted over time through folk-etymology both to the personal name Walter and to the noun water.{{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Diana |title=A dictionary of Lake District place-names |date=2006 |publisher=English Place-Name Society |isbn=978-0-904889-72-7 |series=English Place-Name Society Regional series, 1 |location=Nottingham}}.{{rp|361–62}}
Geography
The settlement is popular with tourists, with several campsites and two hotels.Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, Frommer's England 2010 (John Wiley & Sons, 19 Aug 2009), 650.Jules Brown, The Rough Guide to the Lake District (Rough Guides UK, 24 Jan 2013), 213. The village and outlying farms are widely scattered between the lake and Little Mell Fell. Much of the high ground around the village was once deer forest, popular with the local gentry for hunting. All Saints Church, Watermillock was built in 1881 of slate and red sandstone, replacing an earlier church at the site of what is now known as the Old Church Hotel. All the windows are memorials to various people, including Cecil Spring Rice and Stephen Spring Rice, who grew up in the village.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
The village is accessed by the A592 road.Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, Frommer's England 2010 (John Wiley & Sons, 19 Aug 2009), 650. The Outward Bound Trust own the village manor next to the lake. The waterfall of Aira Force is situated to the west of the village.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
See also
{{portal|Cumbria}}
References
{{commons category|Watermillock}}
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/watermillock Cumbria County History Trust: Watermillock] (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
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