Tarns
| Tarns | |
| Cumberland | |
|---|---|
 The tarn from which the settlement derives its name | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY117478 |
| Location: | 54°49’5"N, 3°22’23"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Wigton |
| Postcode: | CA7 |
| Dialling code: | 016973 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cumberland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Workington |
Tarns is a small farming village in the parish of Holme St Cuthbert in Cumberland, and which may be found two miles north-east of the village of Mawbray, and twenty-three miles south-west of Carlisle.
The B5301 road runs through the village, and along that road the town of Silloth-on-Solway is located five and a half miles to the north, and Aspatria four and a half miles to the south-east. Other nearby settlements include Aikshaw, Goodyhills, Jericho, and New Cowper.
Name and place
The name 'Tarns' means just what it seems, being a reference to the nearby small lakes, or tarns: though the word is more commonly understood to refer to mountain lakes, in Cumberland it can refer to any small lake or pond. There is such a lake at Tarns. In the past, the name has been spelled as Ternis, Terns, and Tarnes.[1]
Tarns is a small place, appearing on local signposts but escaping attention on Ordnance Survey Landranger maps. It does appear in the historical record, with records of births and deaths dating from at least the early 19th century.[2] It is also noted on historical documents from the time of Holme Cultram Abbey before the dissolution of the monasteries: the abbey owned a farm at Tarns in or around 1200 AD.[3]
The tarn for which the settlement is named has a surface area of 21 acres and a perimeter of three-quarters of a mile.[4]
Solfest
Tarnside Farm, one of the farms at Tarns, hosts an annual music festival called Solfest on the August bank holiday weekend. Short for "SOLway music FESTival", Solfest started in 2004 and has attracted such artists as Badly Drawn Boy, Seth Lakeman, The Proclaimers, and Kate Rusby. Solfest was cancelled in 2014, after ten consecutive years, but organisers reassured festival-goers that the event would return in August 2015.[5]
In 2007, Solfest won the "Best Family Festival" award.[6]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Tarns) |
References
- ↑ 'Plain People: Bygone Times on the Solway Plain' (Holme St Cuthbert History Group, 2004)
- ↑ "Webtrees genealogy - Joseph Holliday". http://graham.dunmore.org/individual.php?pid=I5877&ged=graham. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
- ↑ "Roots Web - Plain People". http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ENG-CUL-CARLISLE/2004-11/1101440143. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
- ↑ British Lakes - Tarns Dub
- ↑ "ITV Border - Solfest 2014 cancelled". http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-10-22/annual-solfest-cancelled-for-2014/. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
- ↑ "Festival Awards - 2007 winners". http://www.festivalawards.com/2007-winners/. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
