What's in a name?

There's been a bit of a kerfuffle around here over the past week or so on account of the fact that two of our local radio stations have been swallowed up by a big corporation and have consequently changed their names.  The Bay is now Heart and Lakeland Radio is now Smooth.  I'm pretty sad about it to be honest as they just don't feel local anymore.  When I was driving home up the M6 I used to get excited around about Preston as I jabbed at the radio dial trying to find The Bay to welcome me home - I can listen to Heart anywhere these days but I could only listen to The Bay at home.  It got me thinking about names and how important they are to us, so here are a few stories behind the names of local landmarks which we've discovered as we've researched our books.

Scafell Pike

Heading out to Scafell Pike

It's more the pronunciation of this which causes the problem with most folks either in the Scawfell or Scarfell camps, though there are plenty of Scaffel fans too.  The original name comes from ancient Norse and translates as "Bald Summit" and for our 50 Gems of Cumbria book we tracked down a couple of experts in ancient Norse to hear how it should be pronounced - but if you want to know what
they had to say then you'll have to read the book!  What I can tell you is that up until the 1800's the term "Scawfell" (as it was then written) referred to a collection of 4 peaks in the general area, including what is now known as Scafell Pike - although that name didn't really begin to catch on until the early 1900's.

Jenny Brown's Point

This is a popular spot near Silverdale with an equally popular story surrounding its name.  Local folklore tells us that it is named after a nanny who rescued the children in her charge from drowning at that spot.  Chances are this isn't the case and there's no evidence to back up the story,  What we do know is that in the 1600's a woman named Jenny Brown was named as a beneficiary in a will and lived in a house in the area, but it's still not clear why the point is named after her.  There's also a lot of debate as to what purpose the chimney served; Morecambe Bay Partnership are doing a lot of archaeological work to get to the bottom of that one and you can follow their updates here.

Borrowdale

Bat Cave?

There are at least three Borrowdale's in Cumbria and probably more - the name means "valley with fort" so if you find a Borrowdale you'll most likely find the remains of a fort somewhere nearby.  We've written many times about "the other Borrowdale" just north of Kendal (Kendal = Kent Dale) which has the remains of a Roman fort buried under a field at the far end of the valley.  It is a beautifully deserted place to walk just about any time of the year although I have my suspicions that the Bat Cave may be nearby...

Haggs Wood

The "Kirk" in Kirkby Lonsdale

There are a lot of Haggs in Cumbria, and I'm not being rude.  A "hagg" or "hag" was the name given to a bunch of fodder, typically holly, which was fed to sheep over the winter.  Apparently if you take the branches higher up they're not so prickly and the sheep don't mind them.  The word "holly" often evolved into "Hollins" and explains the number of "Hollins Farms" in the region.

Kirkby

Not surprising that there's loads of these too as it means "village with a church" - Kirkby Lonsdale, Kirkby Stephen and Kirkby-in-Furness (Furness means "rump shaped headland" so now you know!)  Kirk is the "church" part and Kirkstone Pass got its name from a large stone towards the top which looks like a church steeple are you approach - you'll probably need to drive over 2 or 3 times before you spot the stone but once you spot it, it's easy to see how it got its name.

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Fact or Folklore?

Cast your mind back to when you were a child - most of us remember long hot summer days and idyllic snow filled winters - we delete the miserable rainy days spent indoors driving our parents up the wall.  It's sort of the same with history - having written 5 books which explore the hidden histories of the region I can report that trying to separate out fact from folklore was one of the most challenging aspects.  I'm not suggesting I've now got it 100% correct, but I have managed to disprove a few popular local myths.  (I was considering calling this blog "Snopes for the Slopes", but felt that was perhaps a step too far...)

Anyway, here are 5 of my favourite busted myths.

The Bishop of Barf marks the spot where a bishop died and Keswick MR paint it

Possibly, and no.  The story behind this is that the distinctive white stones on the hillside mark the spot where the bishop of Derry (now Londonderry) died in 1783 whilst trying to win a drunken bet that he could ride his horse up and over the hill.  Turns out he couldn't.  To commemorate this the patrons of the Swan Inn at the foot of this hill where he'd been drinking, painted the rocks white and continued to do so in his memory.  When the Swan changed hands and became holiday apartments this practice stopped - someone still paints the rocks, but I can't figure out who.  Wikipedia tells me it's Keswick Mountain Rescue - but they swear it's not them.  As I say in our 50 Gems book: "The reality is it's a 7m high lump of rock in a rather inaccessible spot and painting it would require a good degree of expertise (not to mention paint!) so, if you notice anyone in the area with an abseiling kit and a couple of large bags from B&Q, do let us know."  NOTE:  Please do NOT try and walk to the Bishop - there has been a spate of strandings this year.

Rannerdale Bluebells grow from the blood of fallen Norman soldiers

No, they don't.  I particularly like this one as it can be traced to someone with credibility embroidering a story to generate pubic interest.  The story comes from a book called The Secret Valley published in 1930 by Nicholas Size.  Nicholas, a keen historian, bought the Victoria Hotel (now the Bridge Hotel) and, in an effort to drum up a little trade, published his colourful version of the valley's history involving immense and bloody battles.  His efforts were successful though he was less than popular with the local farmers who quickly got fed up of visitors tramping across their fields.

King Dunmail is buried under the pile of stones at the top of Dunmail Raise

No, he isn't.  Folklore states that King Dunmail (King of Cumberland) was killed her during an epic battle and his soldiers buried him under a huge pile of stones. Depending on which account you read eyes may or may not have been gouged out his crown hurled into Grisedale Tarn.  The truth is that there was a big battle in the 5th century between Dunmail and Edmund (King of England) and although no-one quite knows for sure where it happened Dunmail Raise has been ruled out as no graves or other evidence have ever been found there.

Jenny Brown's Point is named after a nanny who saved her charges from drowning.

No, it isn't - or at least we're pretty sure it isn't. The story goes that sometime during the 18th Century a nanny by the name of Jenny Brown heroically saved the two children in her care from the treacherous tides of Morecambe Bay.  There's a fabulous local history group called the Mourholme Society who are continually researching and discovering new things about the region.  They can't find any evidence to support the nanny story, but they have identified that a local woman named Jenny Brown was named as a beneficiary in a will in 1671 - although we still don't really know why the point was named after her, but it could just have been because she lived there.  (And if you're interested in more history on that particular area check out Andy Denwood's fabulous re-edited version of John Lucas classic book on the region.)

Devil's Bridge in Kirkby Lonsdale is named after the devil himself

Unlikely.  Unless you happen to believe in the devil appearing and making wagers with people.  It’s said that an old woman who lived on the banks of the river lost one of her cows when it wandered across to the other side and refused to come back. The Devil appeared and offered to build a bridge in exchange for the first soul to cross the bridge, assuming it would be the old woman’s. When the bridge was built the old woman tossed a bun across the bridge which was chased after by her little dog thwarting and incensing the devil. This is an ancient crossing point of the River Lune and what's more likely is that the story was created to explain the presence of the large rocks (which apparently burst from the Devil's purse) back in the days before we understood all about glaciation and geology.

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