{{Short description|Village in Cumbria, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Use British English|date=September 2019}} {{infobox UK place | country = England | coordinates = {{coord|54.594|-2.859|display=inline,title}} | official_name = Watermillock | static_image_name = Parish Church of All Saints, Watermillock - geograph.org.uk - 101021.jpg | static_image_caption = Parish Church of All Saints, Watermillock | population = | population_ref = | civil_parish = [[Matterdale]] | unitary_england = [[Westmorland and Furness]] | lieutenancy_england = [[Cumbria]] | region = North West England | constituency_westminster = [[Westmorland and Lonsdale (UK Parliament constituency)|Westmorland and Lonsdale]] | post_town = PENRITH | postcode_district = CA11 | postcode_area = CA | dial_code = 017684 | os_grid_reference = NY445224 | pushpin_map = United Kingdom Eden | pushpin_map_caption = Location in [[Eden District|Eden]], [[Cumbria]] | label_position = }}
'''Watermillock''' is a village and former [[civil parish]], now in the parish of [[Matterdale]], in the [[Westmorland and Furness]] district, in the ceremonial county of [[Cumbria]], England. It is on the western shore of [[Ullswater]], in the [[English Lake District]]. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 448.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10012259/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population Statistics Watermillock Tn/CP through time|publisher=Vision of Britain|accessdate=25 November 2018}}</ref> On 1 April 1934 the civil parish was merged into Matterdale.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10119649|title=Relationships and changes Watermillock Tn/CP through time|publisher=Vision of Britain|accessdate=25 November 2018}}</ref>
==Toponymy== The name ''Watermillock'' is first attested in the early thirteenth century, in the form ''weþermeloc'', with ''wethermelok'' first found in 1253. The present-day form, beginning with ''water'', is first attested in 1541, as ''Wattermannock'', alongside a 1568 instance of ''Waltermannock''. The ''meloc'' element derives from the [[Common Brittonic]] word that would, if it were still found in modern Welsh, be spelled {{lang|cy|moelog}}, meaning "place associated with the Mell Fells" (whose own name comes from the word that survives in modern Welsh as {{lang|cy|moel}} "bare"). The first element of the name originated as the word ''[[Wiktionary:wether|wether]]'' ("castrated male sheep"), though was adapted over time through [[folk-etymology]] both to the [[personal name]] ''Walter'' and to the noun ''water''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Diana |title=A dictionary of Lake District place-names |date=2006 |publisher=English Place-Name Society |isbn=978-0-904889-72-7 |series=English Place-Name Society Regional series, 1 |location=Nottingham}}.</ref>{{rp|361–62}}
==Geography== The settlement is popular with tourists, with several campsites and two hotels.<ref>Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, ''Frommer's England 2010'' (John Wiley & Sons, 19 Aug 2009), 650.</ref><ref>Jules Brown, ''The Rough Guide to the Lake District'' (Rough Guides UK, 24 Jan 2013), 213.</ref> The village and outlying farms are widely scattered between the lake and [[Little Mell Fell]]. Much of the high ground around the village was once deer forest, popular with the local [[landed gentry|gentry]] for hunting. [[All Saints Church, Watermillock]] was built in 1881 of slate and red sandstone, replacing an earlier church at the site of what is now known as the Old Church Hotel. All the windows are memorials to various people, including [[Cecil Spring Rice]] and [[Stephen Spring Rice (1856–1902)|Stephen Spring Rice]], who grew up in the village.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
The village is accessed by the [[A592 road]].<ref>Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, ''Frommer's England 2010'' (John Wiley & Sons, 19 Aug 2009), 650.</ref> The Outward Bound Trust own the village manor next to the lake. The waterfall of [[Aira Force]] is situated to the west of the village.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}
==See also== {{portal|Cumbria}} *[[Listed buildings in Matterdale]]
==References== {{commons category|Watermillock}} {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/township/watermillock Cumbria County History Trust: Watermillock] (nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
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[[Category:Villages in Cumbria]] [[Category:Former civil parishes in Cumbria]] [[Category:Westmorland and Furness]]