Howtown
Encyclopedia
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...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, situated at a small harbour on the east shore of Ullswater
Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being approximately nine miles long and 0.75 miles wide with a maximum depth of slightly more than ....
in the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
.
Howtown is about three and a half miles from Pooley Bridge
Pooley Bridge
Pooley Bridge is a village in the Eden District of the northwestern English county of Cumbria, within the traditional borders of Westmorland....
and is best reached by water. The Ullswater steamers regularly stop there on their way from Glenridding
Glenridding
Glenridding is a village located at the southern end of Ullswater, in the English Lake District. The village is popular with mountain walkers who can scale England's third highest mountain, Helvellyn, and many other challenging peaks from here. The village has ample accommodation including two...
at the southern end of Ullswater to Pooley Bridge at the northern end of the lake.
The name Howtown means "farmstead on the hill". The place name is from the Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
word haugr, meaning "hill" or "mound", and the Old English word tün, meaning "town".