Garrigill

Garrigill
Garrigill Village Green
Garrigill  Garrigill shown within Cumbria
OS grid reference	NY745415
Civil parish	Alston Moor (Garrigill Ward)
District	Eden
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ALSTON
Postcode district	CA9
Dialling code	01434
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Penrith and The Border
List of places: UK • England • Cumbria

Garrigill, Cumbria is a small village in the North Pennine region of the UK situated on the banks and close to the source of the River South Tyne. It is within the Garrigill ward of the civil parish of Alston Moor within the district of Eden.

The village's name should not be confused with the hamlet of Galligill in the Nent valley also within Alston Moor.

The village's former name is Garrigill-Gate and was earlier known as Gerard's Gill. (Gill is a Norse word for a steep sided valley).

At its peak Garrigill was home to 1,000 people mainly employed in the lead mining industry; now its population numbers less than 200. Those who live and work in the village are mainly employed in agriculture. Garrigill Post Office is a traditional village store which has not changed substantially since the 1950s and is an attraction to many visitors although at one time the village had four shops including a Co-op store. Both the Pennine Way, the oldest of the UK's National Trails, and the Sea to Sea Cycle Route (C2C) England's most popular long distance cycle route, pass through the village.

For many years there has been one pub in the village, the George & Dragon but this was closed from September 2009 to December 2010, the George & Dragon has re-opened under new management. Before the mid-20th century there was a second pub, The Old Fox next to the church.

The centre of the village is the green which the post office and George & Dragon overlook with the church and village hall nearby but at either end of the village proper are the areas of Gatefoot and Gatehead whilst on the village's outskirts are the settlements of Beldy, Crossgill, Loaning (pronounced Lonnin') Head and Ashgillside. There are two water pumps in the village, one on the green and one (which still works) by the bridge.

Ashgill Force

At Ashgillside and Beldy there are waterfalls namely Ashgill Force and Thortergill Force. Thortergill Force (formerly known to locals as Lady's Walk) was able to be accessed by the public, but access has now been closed by the current landowners.

The closest town is Alston, four miles away.

The parish church of St. John was for centuries a chapel of ease to St. Augustines at Alston but was promoted to full parish status in the 1980s but is served by a team vicar based at Alston who also serves the churches at Nenthead, Knarsdale, Kirkhaugh and Lambley. There used to be at least 3 non-comformist or Methodist chapels at Garrigill as well. Unlike the rest of Cumbria the parishes of Alston, Nenthead and Garrigill are within the Diocese of Newcastle not the Diocese of Carlisle.

At nearby Tynehead, now only a single house but once a thriving mining community, there was until the 1930s a primary school which was the highest school there has ever been in England. Garrigill's own school located at Gatefoot on the Leadgate road closed in the 1960s.

Garrigill was the home of Westgarth Forster (1772–1835), geologist and mining engineer. He published A Treatise on a Section of the Strata from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the Mountain of Cross Fell in Cumberland. Descendants of the Forster family still reside in Garrigill to this day and there is a memorial to him in the churchyard.

External links

• [1] on The Cumbria Directory.
• George & Dragon Online petition to try and save the George & Dragon
• Garrigill Village Hall