# Portinscale

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**Portinscale** is a village in [Cumbria](/source/Cumbria), England, close to the western shore of [Derwentwater](/source/Derwentwater) in the [Lake District National Park](/source/Lake_District_National_Park) 1+1⁄2 miles (2.5 kilometres) from [Keswick](/source/Keswick,_Cumbria).

For administrative purposes, Portinscale lies within the [civil parish](/source/Civil_parish) of [Above Derwent](/source/Above_Derwent), the [unitary authority](/source/Unitary_authorities_of_England) of [Cumberland](/source/Cumberland_(unitary_authority)), and the [ceremonial county](/source/Ceremonial_counties_of_England) of [Cumbria](/source/Cumbria). It is within the [Penrith and Solway constituency](/source/Penrith_and_Solway_(UK_Parliament_constituency)) of the [United Kingdom Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom).[1] The village covers approximately 100 acres (40 hectares). At the 2011 census the population was 560.[2]

The name of the village means "the harlot's hut", deriving from the Old English "portcwene" (harlot) and Old Norse "skáli" (hut).[3][n 1] The scholar [Eilert Ekwall](/source/Eilert_Ekwall) cites an undated early spelling of the name as "Portquenscale".[4]

## History

The antiquary [W. G. Collingwood](/source/W._G._Collingwood), commenting on an archaeological find at Portinscale, wrote that it showed that "Stone Age man was fairly at home in the Lake District".[5] The remains of the workshop of a prehistoric tool-maker were discovered in 1901 by workmen digging out a fish-pond near the village, about 150 yards (140 metres) from the north-west shore of [Derwentwater](/source/Derwentwater).[6] A later find was a mould dating from about 1400, used to make crucifixes for the use of religious pilgrims. [Hardwicke Rawnsley](/source/Hardwicke_Rawnsley), co-founder of the [National Trust](/source/National_Trust_for_Places_of_Historic_Interest_or_Natural_Beauty) and vicar of Portinscale's parish church, [Crosthwaite](/source/Crosthwaite_Parish_Church), theorised that the mouldings were sold to people *en route* to [St Herbert's Island](/source/St_Herbert's_Island) from Nichol End, Portinscale's embarkation point on Derwentwater.[7] From medieval times until the twentieth century, according to records at [Carlisle Castle](/source/Carlisle_Castle), a [Court leet](/source/Court_leet) met periodically and appointed constables for Portinscale.[8] In the seventeenth century the village was a centre of [Quakerism](/source/Quakers), and for preaching without a licence several local Quakers suffered the prescribed penalty, "ye Spoiling of their goods and imprisonment of their bodys."[9] During the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) the British army's infantry driving and maintenance school was based in Portinscale.[10]

The main road from Keswick to [Cockermouth](/source/Cockermouth) ran through Portinscale until a bypass was built in the 1960s. In 1911 there was controversy about the county council's proposal to demolish the medieval bridge carrying the road across the [River Derwent](/source/River_Derwent,_Cumbria) and replace it with a modern structure. There had been a stone bridge on the site since c. 1210–16, although the date of the structure under threat in 1911 is unknown.[11] The bridge, properly called "the Long Bridge", was unusual in having two arches; on the great coach road from [Kendal](/source/Kendal) to [Cockermouth](/source/Cockermouth) all but two of the other bridges crossed their rivers in a single span.[11][n 2] Rawnsley and [Sir Robert Hunter](/source/Robert_Hunter_(National_Trust)) of the National Trust led the opposition to the council's proposal. They were supported by *[The Times](/source/The_Times)*, *[The Manchester Guardian](/source/The_Manchester_Guardian)* and the [Royal Automobile Club](/source/Royal_Automobile_Club),[12] and the proposal was dropped. The old bridge survived for another 43 years, until it was damaged beyond repair by floods in December 1954.[13] A temporary metal girder [Callender-Hamilton](/source/Callender-Hamilton_bridge) bridge was placed across the river,[14] to carry alternating one-way traffic, and a new permanent bridge was built 400 yards (370 m) downstream, allowing the diversion of the main road to by-pass the village. After the new road bridge was opened, the temporary metal structure was replaced by a new pedestrian bridge on the old site, allowing foot traffic between Portinscale and Keswick on the path across the fields known as the Howrahs.[11][n 3]

## Features and attractions

The village hall was opened on 10 October 1925.[15] The village has one pub, the Farmer's Arms;[16] a restaurant, the Chalet;[17] a café, the Dandelion;[18] the Derwent Water Marina;[19] numerous bed-and-breakfast establishments;[20] and a substantial and long-established hotel, the Derwentwater, originally called the Black Dog, and then from about 1815 the Marshal Blücher.[21] In 1847 the authors of a guide to Cumberland wrote, "The Blücher hotel occupies a delightful situation in the village … attached to it are neat public gardens, or pleasure grounds, and there is an interesting aviary, in which, amongst several other valuable birds are two golden eagles, – perhaps the only birds of the kind in the north of England."[22]

Next to the hotel is Derwent Hill Outdoor Education and Training Centre. It has been owned by Sunderland City Council since 1962, and is a residential centre offering courses for children and young people, leadership and management training, conference facilities and group accommodation.[23]

On the edge of Portinscale is Derwent Bank, a large house built as "Finkle Street House" in 1785; since 1937 it has been a centre for walking holidays.[24] Just outside the village are two large [country houses](/source/Country_house) designed by [Alfred Waterhouse](/source/Alfred_Waterhouse): [Fawe Park](/source/James_Spencer-Bell#Fawe_Park), built in 1858, and [Lingholm](/source/Lingholm), built in the 1870s.[25][26] The former is close to the Nichol End stop of the Keswick Launch Company's Derwentwater ferry service.[25][27]

## Notes and references

**Notes**

1. In the centre of the village is an old lane officially called "Finkle Street": some authorities connect the word "Finkle" with prostitution, although others suggest it means "with a bend", which Portinscale's Finkle Street, seen above, has.[28]

1. The other two were [Troutbeck](/source/Troutbeck,_South_Lakeland) Bridge and [Greta](/source/River_Greta,_Cumbria) Bridge in Keswick; all three have been demolished, although the replacement Greta Bridge (1926) is again a two-arch structure.[11]

1. The name dates back to the 18th century; the historian J W Kaye links it to the landowner, [Edward Stephenson](/source/Edward_Stephenson_(colonial_administrator)), who retired to his native Keswick having been an important figure in the [East India Company](/source/East_India_Company). Stephenson was based in [Calcutta](/source/Calcutta) of which [Howrah](/source/Howrah) was a suburb.[29]

**References**

1. ["Election Maps"](http://www.election-maps.co.uk/electmaps.jsf). Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 26 April 2014.

1. ["Portinscale (Cumbria)"](http://www.citypopulation.de/php/uk-england-northwestengland.php?cityid=E34003638) City Population. Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. Fellows-Jensen, pp. 124–125

1. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, New Series, 1866ff, *quoted* in Ekwall (1960), p. 371

1. Collingwood, p. 6

1. Rawnsley, H D. "Prehistoric Man in the Lake District", *The Times*, 7 December 1901, p. 11

1. Bott, p. 5

1. Morris and Hodgson, p. 27

1. Bott, p. 130

1. Wood, p. 187

1. Thompson, pp. 347–348.

1. "The Care of Old Bridges", *The Times*, 30 October 1911, p. 9; and "Portinscale Bridge", *The Manchester Guardian*, 1 November 1911, p. 8

1. Bott, pp. 177–178

1. Bott, p. 178

1. ["Welcome to Portinscale Village Hall"](http://www.abovederwent.org.uk/index.php/village-halls/portinscale-village-hall). Above Derwent. Retrieved 7 February 2014.

1. ["The Farmer's Arms"](http://www.marstonspubs.co.uk/thefarmersarms/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20140419012157/http://www.marstonspubs.co.uk/thefarmersarms/) 19 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine; Marstons Pubs. Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. ["Home"](http://thechaletportinscale.co.uk/), The Chalet, Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. ["Home"](http://dandelioncafe.co.uk/our-menus/derwentwater/) [Archived](https://archive.today/20140417192426/http://dandelioncafe.co.uk/our-menus/derwentwater/) 17 April 2014 at archive.today, Dandelion café, Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. ["Welcome"](http://www.derwentwatermarina.co.uk/) Derwent Water Marina, Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. ["Portinscale"](http://www.keswick.org/explore/explore-our-towns-villages/portinscale-keswick/), Keswick, The Lake District. Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. Bott, p. 44

1. Mannix and Whellan, p. 560

1. ["Derwent Hill – Outdoor education in the Lake District"](http://www.derwenthill.co.uk/). *Derwent Hill*. Retrieved 2016-08-25.

1. Bott, p. 54

1. Bott, p. 63

1. ["Alfred Waterhouse in Cumbria"](http://www.visitcumbria.com/alfred-waterhouse/), Visit Cumbria. Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. ["Map of Derwentwater"](http://www.keswick-launch.co.uk/map_derwentwater.htm), Keswick Launch. Retrieved 18 April 2014

1. Ekwall (1959), pp. 49–51

1. Kaye, p. 345

## Sources

- Bott, George (1960). *Keswick*. Carlisle: Cumbria County Library. ISBN 0905404513.
- Collingwood, W G (1925). [*Lake District History*](https://archive.org/details/cu31924103707794). Kendal: T Wilson & Son. [OCLC 2185332](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2185332)
- Ekwall, Eilert (1959). *Etymological notes on English place-names*. Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press. [OCLC 2634560](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2634560)
- Ekwall, Eilert (1960). *Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names*. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198691033.
- Fellows-Jensen, Gillian (2001). *Denmark and Scotland: The Cultural and Environmental Resources of Small Nations*. Copenhagen: Munksgaard. ISBN 8778762294.
- Kaye, J W (1966). "Governor's House, Keswick". *Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society,*New Series, Volume 66'**. Kendal: CWAAS. [doi:10.5284/1062244](https://doi.org/10.5284/1062244). [OCLC 784560247](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/784560247)**
- Mannix, J & William Whellan (1974 [1847]). *History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Cumberland*. Cumberland: Michael Moon. ISBN 0904131033.
- Morris, Marjorie & Edna Hodgson (1994). *Cumbria Within Living Memory*. Newbury: Countryside Books. ISBN 1853063010.
- Thompson, Bruce L (1969). "Portinscale Bridge". *Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society,*New Series, Volume 69'**. Kendal: CWAAS. [doi:10.5284/1062166](https://doi.org/10.5284/1062166)**
- Wood, Lucy (2014). [*The Grimsby Book of Days*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1bsZBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT187). History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-5743-4.

## External links

- [Cumbria County History Trust: Above Derwent](http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/above-derwent) (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Portinscale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portinscale) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portinscale?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.