Brough Sowerby

Brough Sowerby
Westmorland
By the Methodist Chapel in Brough Sowerby
Location
Grid reference:	NY795126
Location:	54°30’30"N, 2°19’5"W
Data
Population:	137  (2011)
Post town:	Kirkby Stephen
Postcode:	CA17
Dialling code:	01768
Local Government
Council:	Westmorland & Furness
Parliamentary constituency:	Penrith and The Border

Brough Sowerby is a village in Westmorland, south of Brough, from which it is named. It stand to the north of the River Belah, between the course of that river and the Swindale Beck (which parts Brough from Church Brough), twenty-two miles south-east of the Cumberland border town, Penrith.

According to the 2011 census, Brough Sowerby had a population of 137.

Name

The name 'Sowerby' is not uncommon in Westmorland and its neighbouring counties. The Domesday Book records in Lancashire a Sorbi and Soureb and in Yorkshire a Sorebi. Cumberland has a 'Temple Sowerby'.

The name in each case is believed to be from the Old Norse "saurr" ('mud', or 'sour ground') and byr ('farm', or 'settlement'), hence 'farm (or village) in marshy ground'. The prefix 'Brough' is from the ancient parish of Brough to which the hamlet belonged.

History

An old drovers' road ran through the parish, and gave the village the name of its pub: The Black Bull. Several inns found in the area bear the same name: it comes from the old Scottish black cattle that were driven through here and on to Kirkby Stephen.

In 1870, Wilson's Gazetteer described the village as follows:

A township in Brough parish, Westmoreland; 1½ mile S of Brough. Acres, 1,083. Real property with Kaber, £3,664. Pop., 140. Houses, 32.

Belahbridge House

Brough Sowerby was held successively by the Vetriponts, the Cliffords, and the Earls of Thanet. The Wharton family started to accumulate freehold in Sowerby in late Tudor times. In 1747, the Lowther estate bought these holdings from the trustees of the Duke of Wharton.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Brough Sowerby)