Wythop

'Wythop' is " 'withy valley', cf. 'wīðig', 'hop' " (from the Old English).{{Cite book|last=Armstrong|first=A. M.|last2=Mawer|first2=A.|last3=Stenton|first3=F. M.|last4=Dickens|first4=B.|title=The place-names of Cumberland|volume=Part 2|series=English Place-Name Society, vol.xxi|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1950|page=457}} 'Wīðig','withy' means 'willow', 'hop' means 'a small enclosed valley'; so 'Wythop' is the 'valley of willow trees'.

Alfred Wainwright stressed the unique nature of Wythop valley, in that instead of rising to a crest it fell away to the declivity of Bassenthwaite Lake.A Wainwright, Wainwright in the Valleys of Lakeland (London 1996) p. 150 However he also made the point that "its scenery is in no way freakish. Here is a charming and secluded natural sanctuary in an idyllic setting.A Wainwright, The North-Western Fells (Kendall 1964) Sale Fell 3

The promontory of Beck Wythop was selected by Thomas West as one of his four 'stations' for viewing Bassenthwaite Lake.G Lindop, A Literary Guide to the Lake District (London 1993) p. 201

The settlement of Wythop Mill is just outside the parish boundary, forming part of the neighbouring parish of Embleton.

There are two tiers of local government covering Wythop, at parish and unitary authority level: Embleton and District Parish Council and Cumberland Council. The parish council is a grouped parish council, covering the three civil parishes of Embleton, Setmurthy, and Wythop.{{cite web |title=Embleton and District Parish Council |url=https://embleton.wordpress.com/ |access-date=20 April 2025}} The parish is wholly within the Lake District National Park, and so some functions are administered by the Lake District National Park Authority, notably planning.{{cite web |title=Planning |url=https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/planning |website=Lake District National Park |access-date=10 April 2025}}

Wythop is within the Penrith and Solway UK Parliamentary constituency.{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=20 April 2025}}

Wythop was historically a township in the ancient parish of Brigham, which formed part of the historic county of Cumberland.{{cite book |last1=Whellan |first1=William |title=The History and Topography of the Counties of Cumberland and Westmorland |date=1860 |page=295 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_History_and_Topography_of_the_Counti/ZkJCAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA295&printsec=frontcover |access-date=13 April 2025}}{{cite web |title=Wythop Township / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10159234#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=21 April 2025}}

File:St Margaret's church, Wythop - geograph.org.uk - 3379751.jpg

The parish of Brigham was large, and its four south-eastern townships of Brackenthwaite, Buttermere, Lorton, and Wythop were served by a chapel of ease at Lorton. Another chapel was subsequently built at Wythop, which was subordinate to the one at Lorton.{{cite web |title=Lorton Chapelry / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10066499#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=14 April 2025}}{{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=William |title=The History of the County of Cumberland |date=1794 |page=122 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_History_of_the_County_of_Cumberland/orb3K8N7C3MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA122&printsec=frontcover |access-date=14 April 2025}} Wythop was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1835. In 1864, a replacement Wythop church dedicated to St Margaret was built on a new site; the old church near Kelswick Farm is now in ruins.{{cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Cumberland |date=1906 |page=306 |url=https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/46242/rec/2 |access-date=21 April 2025}}

File:Wythop Chapel as a whole. - geograph.org.uk - 95440.jpg

The township of Wythop took on civil functions under the poor laws from the 17th century onwards. As such, the township also became a civil parish in 1866, when the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws.{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume II, Northern England |date=1991 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0861931270 |page=xv}}

When elected parish and district councils were established in 1894, Wythop was included in the Cockermouth Rural District. Cockermouth Rural District was abolished in 1974, becoming part of the borough of Allerdale in the new county of Cumbria.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|accessdate=3 March 2023}}{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|accessdate=3 March 2023}} Allerdale was in turn abolished in 2023 when the new Cumberland Council was created, also taking over the functions of the abolished Cumbria County Council in the area.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cumbria (Structural Changes) Order 2022|year=2022|number=331|access-date=24 January 2024}}

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• Listed buildings in Wythop

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• {{Commons category-inline|Wythop}}
• [http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/wythop Cumbria County History Trust: Wythop] (nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)

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Category:Villages in Cumbria

Category:Cumberland (unitary authority)

Category:Civil parishes in Cumbria

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