Blencogo
Blencogo is a small farming village in Cumbria, England, UK, near Wigton on the Solway Plain, in the Allerdale Borough Council area, off the B3502 Wigton to Silloth road. The village is a centre for the growing of osier willow for basketmaking and related crafts.
Etymology
Armstrong, et al. cite Ekwall, [1] who "derives this name from Welsh 'blaen' 'top'...and 'cog' 'cuckoo' to which was later added ON 'haugr' 'hill' ". However, they say that it is more probable that the final element "is the British plural inflexion (Welsh '-au', Cornish '-ow', Breton '-ou')." [2] So, ' hill of the cuckoo or cuckoos'.('ON' is Old Norse; 'British' is Common Brittonic).
History
Blencogo first appears in literature around 1100 CE when the Lord Waltheof of Allerdale gives the barony of Blencogo to Odard de Logis.[3] Numerous land transfers are made to Holme Cultram Abbey in over the next 150 years.[4] Land transfers and grants for Blencogo also appear in the patent and charter rolls for Edward III (1342), Richard II (1388), Henry IV (1399), Henry VI (1426), Edward IV (1474), and Henry VII (1543).
Famous Residents
- Jonathan Boucher (1738-1804), born here
See also
References
- ↑ Ekwall, Eilert (1922). The place-names of Lancashire. Manchester: Chetham Society.
- ↑ Armstrong, A. M.; Mawer, A.; Stenton, F. M.; Dickens, B. (1950). The place-names of Cumberland. English Place-Name Society, vol.xx. Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 122.
- ↑ Ritson, Joseph. Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots; and of Strathclyde, Cumberland, Galloway, and Murray, Volume the Second. Edinburgh: Ballantyne and Company, 1828. 235.
- ↑ Grainger, Francis & William Gershom Collingwood. The Register and Records of Holm Cultram. London: T. Wilson & Sons, 1929.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blencogo. |
- Cumbria County History Trust: Blencogo (nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
- Blencogo Village website
- Willow growers' website