Urswick
Encyclopedia
The village
s of Great Urswick and Little Urswick, together called Urswick, are located in the Furness
peninsula in Cumbria
, England
. They are situated to the south-west of the town of Ulverston
.
Great Urswick is situated along the north and west sides of Urswick Tarn, a modest body of water (c. 1100 feet by 600), although the largest such natural body in Low Furness. The tarn is fed from the surrounding hills and feeds Gleaston Beck to the south, the water is said to have a red hue due to the iron content of the surrounding land. Little Urswick, the smaller of the two settlements, stands further south on the lower slopes of a limestone outcrop known as Bolton Heads.
The name 'Great Urswick' originated as 'Much Urswick', not because of its size but because of its association with Michael le Fleming. The village was an original part of Michael's lands, granted to him before 1111 by Henry I
, whilst Little Urswick belonged to Stephen of Blois and later Furness Abbey
. The name 'Much Urswick', meaning 'Michael's Urswick', was used to differentiate between the lands of Michael and Furness Abbey.
or further, given the wealth of ancient sites in the local area.
The history of Roman presence in the village, as with the rest of Furness
, is currently under investigation. Finds of Roman coins, including pre-invasion issues, from Furness indicate that the Romans were active in the area from the earliest days of the Roman invasion. An article published in 2007 made a claim for Roman military activity focused on what later became Dalton-in-Furness: the medieval secular capital of Furness. The author bases his argument on observations made by an 18th century AD antiquarian; unsupported by 20th and 21st century AD investigations providing evidence for Roman archaeology. Such evidence would undoubtedly include Roman finds linked to contexts discovered in the evaluation of archaeological loci where Roman activity is suspected during late 20th and early 21st century AD urban development. Despite the cutting of many service and foundation trenches in Dalton, no such evidence has been revealed. This strongly suggests that this approach remains speculative at best.
Roman finds, including coins, have been found by metal-detector users to the west of Great Urswick. Field survey by the Urswick Origins Discovery Programme (UODP) in 2003 and 2004 also located and recorded a significant quantity of worked red, (St Bees) sandstone masonry in the walls of the church of St Mary and St Michael, (see below) and in field walls to the north-west and west of the church. St Bees sandstone is not native to Urswick parish. The sandstone found by the UODP teams is considered unlikely to have belonged to a (long-demolished) medieval building or buildings; partly because the majority of it occurs in field walls and in the church and churchyard walls between the medieval villages of Great and Little Urswick. Some pieces also show distinctive tooling and other features (such as bar or cramp slots) that find comparison with tooling and features on masonry from Roman sites on Hadrian's Wall and its hinterland. Sandstones are known to have been imported and worked for specific architectural features in Roman forts elsewhere in Cumbria - for example, at Waterhead (Ambleside) and Hardknott in Eskdale. In 2004 the UODP ran an evaluation excavation project alongside a commissioned professional geophysical survey, (by UK-based GSB Prospection) of 1.08ha of two fields to the west and south-west of Great Urswick's church, (see below) to test the results from the field survey. The results of the geophysical survey were published - Life Before Barrow - Part 1: Urswick Origins Discovery Programme Interim Report 1 - 2004-5: First Light Heritage Agency, Ulverston 2005.
In 2005, following an eleven year historical research and archaeological survey, evaluation excavation and remote sensing investigation programme; excavations began on what was considered through a range of field and remote sensing evidence, (see above) to be the site of a 1st century/early 2nd century AD Roman fort, organised by First Light Heritage Agency with the aid of students from the University of Cardiff's Archaeology Department and local people. The outcomes of the 2004 and 2005 projects have received local criticism which failed to fully take into account evidence resulting from an 8-year study of the site published in 2002 (available from Oxbow Books, Oxford: see reference below.) Critics also chose to ignore evidence published in 2005 resulting from the 2003-4 field survey, evaluation excavation and geophysical survey (see above). The first interim publication of the 2004/5 archaeological interventions will appear in 2012 via a new website dedicated to the archaeology of the Lake District and Cumbria.
There has also been research to suggest that some of the fabric of the present St Mary & St Michael's Church (previously St Mary's) may date back to the sub-Roman
period. The early medieval origins of the church were first highlighted in the early 20th century AD when fragments of two early Christian stone crosses were discovered built into the church fabric - one with a significant Anglo-Saxon runic inscription and sculptural representation of two figures. A specific historical context for this Anglo-Saxon inscription and depiction has been proposed, (see references), and an archaeological and historical context for an early medieval religious site, incorporating a post-Roman, pre-Norman church forming the focus for a significant large early Christian monastic estate.
It has further been suggested that this early historic estate may be the birthplace of St Patrick: a theory which has been challenged chiefly by some Cumbrian prehistorians, industrial and commercial sector archaeologists and historic environment curators - again without full and proper reference to the historical and archaeological investigations; the first phase of which was published in 2002, (as noted above), and ongoing from 2002 to the present.
Urswick was probably recorded in the Domesday Survey
, as part of a larger estate - Hougun. The name Hougun may derive from the Old Norse
word haugr: meaning hill or mound. Houganai or island of Hougun was also the name given to the nearby island of Walney Island
.
As noted above, it has been suggested that it may be Chiluestreuic, previously thought to refer to the now lost Killerwick near Dalton-in-Furness
. The 'chil-' element, probably representing Old Irish cill, referring to a monastery or hermit's cell, certainly fits if Urswick was home to an early monastery.
In the 12th century, Great Urswick became part of the manor of Muchland
, whilst Little Urswick remained within the Liberty of Furness belonging to Stephen of Blois who later granted it to Furness Abbey
. The Abbey also claimed rights to the already ancient St Mary's Church, which led to a long running dispute with the lords of Muchland, finally settled in the Abbey's favour. In the 13th century Little Urswick was part of an exchange of land between the Abbey and Muchland and was ceded to the latter.
Nowadays, Urswick has largely become a commuter village for the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness
. However, agriculture
also remains important, with the villages surrounded by farms.
("(n.) The member of any class who most inclines a teacher
towards the view that capital punishment
should be introduced in schools.")
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
s of Great Urswick and Little Urswick, together called Urswick, are located in the Furness
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....
peninsula in 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...
, 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...
. They are situated to the south-west of the town 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....
.
Great Urswick is situated along the north and west sides of Urswick Tarn, a modest body of water (c. 1100 feet by 600), although the largest such natural body in Low Furness. The tarn is fed from the surrounding hills and feeds Gleaston Beck to the south, the water is said to have a red hue due to the iron content of the surrounding land. Little Urswick, the smaller of the two settlements, stands further south on the lower slopes of a limestone outcrop known as Bolton Heads.
Toponymy
A number of explanations have been suggested for Urswick's name. The '-wick' element is perhaps from the Old English wic meaning 'farm' or 'trading centre', an element commonly found in settlements on or near Roman roads (see below). It has been suggested that the first element may mean 'bison lake' from Old English ur + sǣ . However, an alternative explanation has been proposed which incorporates the first definite historical reference to the ancient estate that incorporated the present Urswick villages - Chiluestreuic - from the Domesday survey (see references).The name 'Great Urswick' originated as 'Much Urswick', not because of its size but because of its association with Michael le Fleming. The village was an original part of Michael's lands, granted to him before 1111 by Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, whilst Little Urswick belonged to Stephen of Blois and later Furness Abbey
Furness Abbey
Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness is a former monastery situated on the outskirts of the English town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the country, behind only Fountains Abbey in North...
. The name 'Much Urswick', meaning 'Michael's Urswick', was used to differentiate between the lands of Michael and Furness Abbey.
History
Urswick has visible remains of several prehistoric settlements, including a univallate hill fort known as Skelmore Heads, on the hills overlooking the village. There can be little doubt that the history of the village dates back to the Bronze AgeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
or further, given the wealth of ancient sites in the local area.
The history of Roman presence in the village, as with the rest of Furness
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....
, is currently under investigation. Finds of Roman coins, including pre-invasion issues, from Furness indicate that the Romans were active in the area from the earliest days of the Roman invasion. An article published in 2007 made a claim for Roman military activity focused on what later became Dalton-in-Furness: the medieval secular capital of Furness. The author bases his argument on observations made by an 18th century AD antiquarian; unsupported by 20th and 21st century AD investigations providing evidence for Roman archaeology. Such evidence would undoubtedly include Roman finds linked to contexts discovered in the evaluation of archaeological loci where Roman activity is suspected during late 20th and early 21st century AD urban development. Despite the cutting of many service and foundation trenches in Dalton, no such evidence has been revealed. This strongly suggests that this approach remains speculative at best.
Roman finds, including coins, have been found by metal-detector users to the west of Great Urswick. Field survey by the Urswick Origins Discovery Programme (UODP) in 2003 and 2004 also located and recorded a significant quantity of worked red, (St Bees) sandstone masonry in the walls of the church of St Mary and St Michael, (see below) and in field walls to the north-west and west of the church. St Bees sandstone is not native to Urswick parish. The sandstone found by the UODP teams is considered unlikely to have belonged to a (long-demolished) medieval building or buildings; partly because the majority of it occurs in field walls and in the church and churchyard walls between the medieval villages of Great and Little Urswick. Some pieces also show distinctive tooling and other features (such as bar or cramp slots) that find comparison with tooling and features on masonry from Roman sites on Hadrian's Wall and its hinterland. Sandstones are known to have been imported and worked for specific architectural features in Roman forts elsewhere in Cumbria - for example, at Waterhead (Ambleside) and Hardknott in Eskdale. In 2004 the UODP ran an evaluation excavation project alongside a commissioned professional geophysical survey, (by UK-based GSB Prospection) of 1.08ha of two fields to the west and south-west of Great Urswick's church, (see below) to test the results from the field survey. The results of the geophysical survey were published - Life Before Barrow - Part 1: Urswick Origins Discovery Programme Interim Report 1 - 2004-5: First Light Heritage Agency, Ulverston 2005.
In 2005, following an eleven year historical research and archaeological survey, evaluation excavation and remote sensing investigation programme; excavations began on what was considered through a range of field and remote sensing evidence, (see above) to be the site of a 1st century/early 2nd century AD Roman fort, organised by First Light Heritage Agency with the aid of students from the University of Cardiff's Archaeology Department and local people. The outcomes of the 2004 and 2005 projects have received local criticism which failed to fully take into account evidence resulting from an 8-year study of the site published in 2002 (available from Oxbow Books, Oxford: see reference below.) Critics also chose to ignore evidence published in 2005 resulting from the 2003-4 field survey, evaluation excavation and geophysical survey (see above). The first interim publication of the 2004/5 archaeological interventions will appear in 2012 via a new website dedicated to the archaeology of the Lake District and Cumbria.
There has also been research to suggest that some of the fabric of the present St Mary & St Michael's Church (previously St Mary's) may date back to the sub-Roman
Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
period. The early medieval origins of the church were first highlighted in the early 20th century AD when fragments of two early Christian stone crosses were discovered built into the church fabric - one with a significant Anglo-Saxon runic inscription and sculptural representation of two figures. A specific historical context for this Anglo-Saxon inscription and depiction has been proposed, (see references), and an archaeological and historical context for an early medieval religious site, incorporating a post-Roman, pre-Norman church forming the focus for a significant large early Christian monastic estate.
It has further been suggested that this early historic estate may be the birthplace of St Patrick: a theory which has been challenged chiefly by some Cumbrian prehistorians, industrial and commercial sector archaeologists and historic environment curators - again without full and proper reference to the historical and archaeological investigations; the first phase of which was published in 2002, (as noted above), and ongoing from 2002 to the present.
Urswick was probably recorded in the Domesday Survey
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, as part of a larger estate - Hougun. The name Hougun may derive 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. Houganai or island of Hougun was also the name given to the nearby island of Walney Island
Walney Island
The Isle of Walney, also known as Walney Island, is an island in the United Kingdom which lies off the west coast of England, at the northern tip of Morecambe Bay. It forms part of the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, and it is separated from the mainland at Barrow by Walney Channel, a narrow channel...
.
As noted above, it has been suggested that it may be Chiluestreuic, previously thought to refer to the now lost Killerwick near Dalton-in-Furness
Dalton-in-Furness
Dalton-in-Furness is a small town of 8,394 people, north east of Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, England.-History:Dalton is mentioned in the Domesday Book, written as "Daltune" as one of the townships forming the Manor of Hougun held by Earl Tostig. Historically, it was the capital of Furness...
. The 'chil-' element, probably representing Old Irish cill, referring to a monastery or hermit's cell, certainly fits if Urswick was home to an early monastery.
In the 12th century, Great Urswick became part of the manor of Muchland
Muchland
Muchland is a medieval manor in Low Furness in the county of Cumbria in northern England. The manor was the seat of the Lords of Aldingham, and included at its peak the villages of Bardsea, Urswick, Scales, Stainton, Sunbrick, Baycliff, Gleaston, Aldingham, Dendron, Leece and Newbiggin...
, whilst Little Urswick remained within the Liberty of Furness belonging to Stephen of Blois who later granted it to Furness Abbey
Furness Abbey
Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness is a former monastery situated on the outskirts of the English town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the country, behind only Fountains Abbey in North...
. The Abbey also claimed rights to the already ancient St Mary's Church, which led to a long running dispute with the lords of Muchland, finally settled in the Abbey's favour. In the 13th century Little Urswick was part of an exchange of land between the Abbey and Muchland and was ceded to the latter.
Nowadays, Urswick has largely become a commuter village for the towns of Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-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...
. However, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
also remains important, with the villages surrounded by farms.
In popular culture
Little Urswick has an entry in The Meaning of LiffThe Meaning of Liff
The Meaning of Liff is a humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology, written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, published in the United Kingdom in 1983, and the USA in 1984....
("(n.) The member of any class who most inclines a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
towards the view that capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
should be introduced in schools.")
See also
- Urswick Grammar SchoolUrswick Grammar SchoolUrswick Grammar School was located in Little Urswick, Cumbria, England. The school was founded in 1584 as the result of a royal charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I.For the first few years, boys were educated by the minister in the church...
Other sources
- Dickinson, S (2002); The Beacon on the Bay : the discovery of an early Christian church and monastic site at Great Urswick, Low Furness, Cumbria, and the case for its connections with St.Ninian, St.Patrick, St.Hild and St.Columba.
- British Archaeology - the Council for British Archaeology publication: issues 87 (March/April 2006), 88, (May/June 2006) and 89 (July/August 2006) for an article about the church and the 2004/5 excavations and remote sensing programme (Issue 87), a letter of critique, (Issue 88) and a rebuttal (Issue 89).