Blennerhasset and Torpenhow is a civil parish in Cumbria, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 437, reducing to 423 at the 2011 Census.[1] It includes the villages of Blennerhasset and Torpenhow at and the smaller settlement of Kirkland Guards at . It is located just outside the Lake District National Park. Baggrow railway station was immediately north of Blennerhasset.[2]
The local pronunciation of Torpenhow is, rather than the more intuitive .[3] [4] Blennerhasset is pronounced instead of as would be expected outside of Cumbria.
St Michael's Church, Torpenhow has a Norman chancel arch with a remarkable carving of interlocking human figures, and a painted wooden ceiling.
The name Blennerhasset derives from the Brittonic blaen dre, meaning "hill farm", with the later addition of Old Norse hey sætr, "hay shieling". Similarly, Torpenhow derives from the Brittonic tor pen, meaning "peak head" or "end of the high ground", to which the Old English word hōh ("hill spur") has been added.[5] [6] Alternatively, Torpenhow may be an entirely Brittonic name incorporating a plural suffix.[7]
Blennerhasset and Torpenhow is part of the Workington constituency of the UK parliament. The current Member of Parliament is Mark Jenkinson, a member of the Conservative Party. Prior to the 2019 general election, the Labour Party had won the seat in every general election since 1979; the Conservative Party had previously only been elected once in Workington since the Second World War: in the 1976 Workington by-election.[8]
For Local Government purposes it is in the Cumberland unitary authority area.
Its parish council is Blennerhasset and Torpenhow Parish Council.[9]
Blennerhasset Mill (at) is on the south bank of the River Ellen.[10]