Newlands Valley

The Newlands Valley is in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. It is regarded as one of the most picturesque and quiet valleys in the national park, even though it is situated very close to the popular tourist town of Keswick and the busy A66 road.

The valley forms part of the civil parish of Above Derwent, within the Borough of Allerdale.

The earliest signs of human settlement in the valley have been found at Ullock, where evidence of a Bronze Age burial site has been found. The remains of a Celtic workshop were also found at Portinscale. Viking herdsmen arrived in Cumbria after 800 AD. Many of the present day place names in the Newlands valley have their origins from these early Norse settlers. The valley area was originally called Rogersat or Rogersyde which was derived from the Old Norse “Roger-Saetr”, which translates as Summer pasture belonging to Roger. The present day Newlands valley settlements of Keskadale, Skelgill, Birk Rigg, High Snab and Uzzicar all have their name origins from the early Viking settlers.

The name “Newlands” did not come into being until after the 13th century when it was used to describe the usable new land which had been created at the foot of the valley between Portinscale and Braithwaite by the draining of a large swampy and marshy area. At the start of the 14th century the rents paid by the tenant farmers in the valley started to rise steadily as the cultivated areas were extended and the population increased. Some of the families in the valley have lived in the area for hundreds of years, with the Fischers, Tickells, Thwaites, Graves and Maysons all mentioned in the manorial records from the 15th century and still living in the valley in the 20th century.

The valley has a minor motor road that traverses its entire length; it starts at the village of Braithwaite on the A66 and continues over Newlands Hause to Buttermere. Another road starts at the hamlet of Portinscale (also on the A66) and joins the route from Braithwaite near the village of Stair. The valley is thinly populated, consisting mainly of farms and tourist accommodation. Stair is the main settlement in the valley and is the location of the Newlands Adventure Centre and the Swinside Inn, which is the only pub in the valley and is situated one kilometre to the north of Stair. Demolition began in 2006 of Rigg Beck, the well-known "purple house" on the main Braithwaite–Buttermere road; this large Victorian house was for many years a source of cheap accommodation for visitors (including Ted Hughes, Tenzing Norgay, Doug Scott, Tom Courtenay and Bob Hoskins). The building was destroyed by fire on 30 June 2008,. In its place now stands a new house built from grey stone.

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