Greenodd
Encyclopedia
Greenodd is a village in the Furness
area of the county
of Cumbria
but within the historical county of Lancashire
. For local government purposes the village is also within the area of South Lakeland District
. It is located 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Ulverston
at the junction of the A590
trunk road
and the A5092 trunk road. The village is just outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park
at 54°14′N 3°3′W (OS
grid ref. SD 315825). Greenodd is within the Crake Valley area of South Lakeland District. The 2001 UK census
gives a population of 1823 for the Crake Valley. Greenodd and adjacent Penny Bridge are the main districts in the Crake Valley. The River Crake
flows into the estuary of the River Leven at Greenodd.
n origin, the odd meaning ness (headland) in this case (the name translates literally as 'The Green Promontory'). Swedish toponymist Eilert Ekwall
speculated that the name was not an old one, as 'odd' remained part of the Lancashire dialect until at least the early 20th century. In the late-18th and early-19th centuries Greenodd was a significant port; a creek-port of Lancaster. Exports included copper
ore from Coniston
, locally-quarried limestone
, and gunpowder
from the nearby settlement of Backbarrow
. Sugar
, raw cotton
and coal
are listed in historical documents as some of the imports. Greenodd was also a shipbuilding
centre with vessels up to 200 tons being constructed. On the darker side it is likely that Greenodd was involved in the North American
slave trade. Today there are no signs of the former commercial activities. The Ship Inn, previously a warehouse on the quayside, is one of the few reminders of Greenodd's illustrious past.
to Levens
Bridge. Traffic volumes were a major problem for the small village. These problems were alleviated by the building of a bypass to take the traffic over a new bridge across the River Crake. The village is now effectively a cul-de-sac. Greenodd station was served by the Lakeside
branch of the Furness Railway
from 1869 until its closure in 1965. Today there is no trace of the railway, the station having been demolished to make way for a dual-carriageway road. Greenodd is now also on the W2W
Cycle Route between Walney and Wearmouth.
In 2008, Greenodd was involved in a battle to save its post office
. The government announced in late 2006 that it would shutting 2,500 post offices nationwide, citing the rising losses and fewer number of people using them as the primary reasons. The inhabitants of Greenodd protested at the move, and even gained the support of the MP from the neighbouring constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale
, Tim Farron
. Farron put his name to a petition which gained 6,800 signatures, but it was to no avail.
Furness
Furness is a peninsula in south Cumbria, England. At its widest extent, it is considered to cover the whole of North Lonsdale, that part of the Lonsdale hundred that is an exclave of the historic county of Lancashire, lying to the north of Morecambe Bay....
area of the county
County
A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
of Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
but within the historical county of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
. For local government purposes the village is also within the area of South Lakeland District
South Lakeland
South Lakeland is a local government district in Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Kendal. It includes much of the Lake District.The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972...
. It is located 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Ulverston
Ulverston
Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria in north-west England. Historically part of Lancashire, the town is located in the Furness area, close to the Lake District, and just north of Morecambe Bay....
at the junction of the A590
A590 road
The A590 is a trunk road in southern Cumbria, in the north-west of England. It runs north-east to south-west from M6 junction 36, through the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness to terminate at Vickerstown on Walney Island. The road is a mixture of dual carriageway and single carriageway,...
trunk road
Trunk road
A trunk road, trunk highway, or strategic road is a major road—usually connecting two or more cities, ports, airports, and other things.—which is the recommended route for long-distance and freight traffic...
and the A5092 trunk road. The village is just outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park
Lake District National Park
The Lake District National Park is located in the north-west of England and is the largest of the English National Parks and the second largest in the United Kingdom. It is in the central and most-visited part of the Lake District....
at 54°14′N 3°3′W (OS
British national grid reference system
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using latitude and longitude....
grid ref. SD 315825). Greenodd is within the Crake Valley area of South Lakeland District. The 2001 UK census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
gives a population of 1823 for the Crake Valley. Greenodd and adjacent Penny Bridge are the main districts in the Crake Valley. The River Crake
River Crake
The River Crake is a short river in the English Lake District. The name probably derives from the Celtic language and means rocky stream. The river drains Coniston Water from its southernmost point and flows for about 6 miles in a southerly direction before joining the upper estuary of the River...
flows into the estuary of the River Leven at Greenodd.
History
The name Greenodd is of ScandinaviaScandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n origin, the odd meaning ness (headland) in this case (the name translates literally as 'The Green Promontory'). Swedish toponymist Eilert Ekwall
Eilert Ekwall
Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall , known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Lund University, Sweden, from 1909 to 1942, and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language of the first half of the 20th century...
speculated that the name was not an old one, as 'odd' remained part of the Lancashire dialect until at least the early 20th century. In the late-18th and early-19th centuries Greenodd was a significant port; a creek-port of Lancaster. Exports included copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
ore from Coniston
Coniston
-Relating to Coniston, Cumbria, England:*Coniston, Cumbria, a village*Coniston Fells, a chain of hills and mountains in the Furness Fells, in the Lake District**Coniston Old Man , the highest peak in the Coniston Fells....
, locally-quarried limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, and gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
from the nearby settlement of Backbarrow
Backbarrow
Backbarrow is a village in the Lake District National Park in England. It lies on the River Leven about 5 miles northeast of Ulverston in the Furness, traditionally and historically part of Lancashire and still part of Lancashire County Palatine, now also in the region of the county of...
. Sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, raw cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
are listed in historical documents as some of the imports. Greenodd was also a shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
centre with vessels up to 200 tons being constructed. On the darker side it is likely that Greenodd was involved in the North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
slave trade. Today there are no signs of the former commercial activities. The Ship Inn, previously a warehouse on the quayside, is one of the few reminders of Greenodd's illustrious past.
Greenodd today
Until the 1980s Greenodd was on the A590 trunk road from BarrowBarrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
to Levens
Levens, Cumbria
Levens is a village and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It has a population of 1,007. The village lies south of Kendal off the A6 and A590 roads. Levens Hall is within the parish.- External links :**...
Bridge. Traffic volumes were a major problem for the small village. These problems were alleviated by the building of a bypass to take the traffic over a new bridge across the River Crake. The village is now effectively a cul-de-sac. Greenodd station was served by the Lakeside
Lakeside, Cumbria
Lakeside is a small settlement at the south end of Windermere, England. Now in the English county of Cumbria, before county reorganisation of 1974 it was in Lancashire, as part of the region known as Furness...
branch of the Furness Railway
Furness Railway
The Furness Railway was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England.-History:The company was established on May 23, 1844 when the Furness Railway Act was passed by Parliament...
from 1869 until its closure in 1965. Today there is no trace of the railway, the station having been demolished to make way for a dual-carriageway road. Greenodd is now also on the W2W
W2W
The W2W is the name of a cross-country cycle route in Northern England, regional route 20. It runs from Walney Island in Cumbria to Sunderland on the River Wear .-History:...
Cycle Route between Walney and Wearmouth.
In 2008, Greenodd was involved in a battle to save its post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
. The government announced in late 2006 that it would shutting 2,500 post offices nationwide, citing the rising losses and fewer number of people using them as the primary reasons. The inhabitants of Greenodd protested at the move, and even gained the support of the MP from the neighbouring constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale
Westmorland and Lonsdale (UK Parliament constituency)
Westmorland and Lonsdale is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
, Tim Farron
Tim Farron
Timothy James Farron is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He is currently Member of Parliament for the constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale...
. Farron put his name to a petition which gained 6,800 signatures, but it was to no avail.
Notable people
- Christine McVieChristine McVieChristine McVie is an English rock singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary fame came as a member of the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac, though she has also released three solo albums...
of Fleetwood MacFleetwood MacFleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
was born in the nearby village of BouthBouthBouth is a village in Cumbria, England. It is the birth place of Christine McVie , rock singer, keyboardist and songwriter of Fleetwood Mac fame.The village's pub, the White Hart, was shown in the short-lived ITV sitcom Not with a Bang....
.