As one of the earliest settled places in England, the Lake District has seen visitors come and ago for thousands of years. With plenty of stone circles dating back to 3000 BC, the rich and varied history is evident everywhere you turn in the Lake District. And that includes road signs as well. Because the Lake District has managed to retain a unique character and charm when it comes to place names and local dialect. Linguists and language buffs listen up – there’s a whole history to be found in the Lake District, just by looking at a map!
Perhaps the most well known influence on the area has been the Old Norse settlements. The Vikings left a lasting legacy across most of the north of England, with towns and cities such as Derby and Grimsby still bearing their Norse scars with pride. When it comes to Cumbria and the Lake District, these words have stood the test of time, and many local names have origins in the Vikings.
Take for example “becks” – the word for stream, which comes from the Norse ‘bekr’. The many waterfalls of the Lake District are often known as forces, which descends from the Norse ‘foss’. The mountains are known locally as fells, which comes from the Norse word for hill – ‘fjall’, and the many tarns – man made lakes – from ‘tjorn’.
And in the place names, you also see a massive influence from the Vikings. “Thwaite” comes from the word meaning ‘cleared from a forest’, which in Old Norse was ‘thveit’. These areas were often used to make large settlements for Viking families for farming and trading purposes. Hence Bassenthwaite, Dunthwaite and so on. Other key characteristics retained from the Vikings include Yan Tan Tethera – a traditional way of counting shop. Go to Cockermouth, and you’ll find little statues still marking this custom – and indeed, this way of counting is still used by some farmers, and taught in local schools.
Other important names of the area include Rheged, now a famous tourist centre bizarrely owned by a service station. The name Rheged descends from after the fall of the Roman Empire in the later parts of 4 A.D., when the area was divided up under the name of Combrogi or Cymri by the Celtic peoples of the area. Rheged was one of the kingdoms, and indeed, Cumbria itself was derived from the name Combrogi, which means ‘Fellow Countrymen’… fact.
And now that you are up on your history and etymology, what not discover how history is everywhere in the Lake District – even in the names…
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