Glassonby
| Glassonby | |
| Cumberland | |
|---|---|
 Glassonby | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY577388 |
| Location: | 54°44’35"N, 2°39’31"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 308 (2011) |
| Post town: | Penrith |
| Postcode: | CA10 |
| Dialling code: | 01768 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Westmorland & Furness |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Penrith and The Border |
Glassonby is a small village in the Eden Valley of Cumberland, about three miles south of Kirkoswald. A quarter of a mile to the north the lane drops down to the Hazelrigg Beck, and here is a hamlet known as Glassonbybeck.
There is a microlight flying centre in the village.
Name
'Glassonby' has been interpreted as from "Glassan's by"[1] The suffix 'by' is late Old English, from Old Norse 'býr', meaning 'hamlet' or 'village'. 'Glassan' may be an Irish personal name.
Glassonby is also called 'Grayson Lands', meaning 'grey horses', which may refer to the stone circle ('Grey stone lands') by the village.[2]
Churches
- Church of England: St Michael, just to the south of the village, though it is not the parish church of Glassonby but of Addingham. The village of Addingham lay near the River Eden but was lost centuries ago when the river changed its course. The church was rebuilt using some stones from the original and the name kept for the parish. Addingham parish was divided into a number of civil parishes in 1866.
- Methodist: Glassonby Methodist Church
About the village
Just to the north of the village, at White House Farm, is a well-preserved late 16th century bastle house.
The Rev. G. Bramwell Evens, a popular broadcaster of the 1930s known as "the Romany of the BBC" frequently stayed at Old Parks Farm in Glassonby; the village was one of his favourite places. His ashes were scattered at the farm and a memorial stands here.[3]
Glassonby stone circle
The Glassonby Stone Circle stads on private land at NY57293934. It is technically classified as a 'kerbed cairn'[4][5] and is an oval cairn surrounded by a ring of kerb stones (30 stones in all, although some have been taken away and others added from field clearance over the years). Two of the stones had markings in the form of concentric rings or spirals and semi-ovoids.[6] The stones were not set in sockets, but were supported by the cairn material.
A cist was found inside the circle, which had been robbed, as well a transparent blue glass, probably a later votive offering. Outside the circle, burnt bones and an inverted collared urn were found. The bones were the remains of a man; a second cremation, without an urn, was possibly that of a woman. There are ditch marks that suggest there was a ring ditch, the terminus of a cursus. This, and the markings suggest a link to the Long Meg complex to the south-west, and to the Old Parks circle to the north-east.
Old Parks cairn
The Old Parks cairn is no longer extant, but stood at NY56993988, just north of the Glassonby circle. It was recorded as being 4 feet high and oval in shape, with a line of five decorated stones below the cairn oriented north-south. To the west of the stones were 32 deposits of burnt bones, with accompanying beaker ware cups, fragments of urns and 12 shale beads. Other pits were found to the east. A granite monolith, 4' 7" high also stood to the west of the monument.
Two of the decorated stones, along with incense cups and flint instruments found at the site, are on display at Tullie House Museum in Carlisle.[7][8]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Glassonby) |
References
- ↑ Armstrong, A.M. & Mawer; A.; Stenton, F.M. & Dickins, B.: 'Place-Names of Cumberland , Part 1' (English Place-Names Society, 1950), page 194
- ↑ Beckensall, Stan: Prehistoric rock art: landscapes and monuments page 84 (Tempus, 2002) ISBN 9780752425269
- ↑ Romany Society
- ↑ Beckensall, 2002, pp.84-90
- ↑ Clare, Tom: 'Prehistoric monuments of the Lake District' pages 50–51 (Tempus, 2007) ISBN 9780752441054
- ↑ Beckensall, 2002, p.85
- ↑ Clare, 2007, p.51-53
- ↑ Beckensall, 2002, p.90-98