Eaglesfield, Cumbria

See also: Eaglesfield, Dumfriesshire

Eaglesfield
240px Village green, Eaglesfield
Eaglesfield  Eaglesfield shown within Cumbria
OS grid reference	NY094281
Civil parish	Dean
District	Allerdale
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	COCKERMOUTH
Postcode district	CA13
Dialling code	01900
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Copeland
List of places UK England Cumbria

Eaglesfield is a small settlement in the county of Cumbria, in England. It is near the A5086 road and is 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of the town of Cockermouth.

Etymology

Eaglesfield lay in the early Middle Ages within the British kingdom of Rheged, and the first element of the name is perhaps derived from the Brythonic 'eccles' "church" (cognate with Welsh 'eglwys' 'church'. The meaning would be 'open land near a British church' - something that the Anglian settlers would have seen as they "arrived and settled some two miles away down below at Brigham." (The second element, 'Feld', is Old English for 'open country').

Alternatively, it means 'Ecgel's open land' ('Ecgel's feld'). 'Ecgel' is a personal name and possibly "a normal diminutive of compound names such as 'Ecglaf', or Ecgwulf' ".

Notable people

Eaglesfield was the birthplace of John Dalton (1766–1844), acclaimed chemist, meteorologist and physicist.

Eaglesfield was the probable birthplace of Robert de Eglesfield (c.1295–1349), founder of The Queen's College, Oxford. His father, John of Eglesfield, held lands in and near there.

Eaglesfield was the birthplace of Fletcher Christian, master's mate aboard the HMS Bounty. He led the mutiny against the captain, William Bligh, during their voyage to Tahiti.

See also

• Listed buildings in Dean, Cumbria

External links

• Cumbria County History Trust: Eaglesfield (nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
• Eaglesfield at Streetmap.co.uk