Eaglesfield, Cumbria

Eaglesfield
Eaglesfield
 Eaglesfield shown within Cumbria
OS grid referenceNY0928
DistrictAllerdale
Shire countyCumbria
RegionNorth West
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Police Cumbria
Fire Cumbria
Ambulance North West
EU Parliament North West England
List of places
UK
England
Cumbria

Coordinates: 54°38′N 3°25′W / 54.63°N 03.41°W

Eaglesfield is a small settlement in the county of Cumbria, in England. It is near the A5086 road and is 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of the town of Cockermouth.

Etymology

Eaglesfield lay in the early Middle Ages within the British kingdom of Rheged, and the first element of the name is perhaps derived from the Brythonic 'eccles' "church" (cognate with Welsh 'eglwys' 'church'. The meaning would be 'open land near a British church' - something that the Anglian settlers would have seen as they "arrived and settled some two miles away down below at Brigham." [1] (The second element, 'Feld', is Old English for 'open country').

Alternatively, it means 'Ecgel's open land' ('Ecgel's feld'). 'Ecgel' is a personal name and possibly "a normal diminuative of compound names such as 'Ecglaf', or Ecgwulf' ". [2]

Notable people

Eaglesfield was the birthplace of John Dalton (1766–1844), acclaimed chemist, meteorologist and physicist.

Eaglesfield was the probable birthplace of Robert de Eglesfield (c.1295-1349), founder of The Queen's College, Oxford. His father, John of Eglesfield, held lands in and near there.

Eaglesfield was the birthplace of Fletcher Christian, master's mate aboard the Bounty. He led the mutiny against the captain, William Bligh, during their voyage to Tahiti.

References

  1. ↑ Wilson, P. A. (1978). "Eaglesfield". Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. 2. LXXVIII: pp47–54, p.47–48.
  2. ↑ Armstrong, A. M.; Mawer, A.; Stenton, F. M.; Dickens, B. (1950). The place-names of Cumberland. English Place-Name Society, vol.xxi. Part 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 378.

External links