Tarns, Cumbria

Coordinates: 54°49′05″N 3°22′23″W / 54.818°N 3.373°W / 54.818; -3.373

Tarns is a small farming settlement in the civil parish of Holme St. Cuthbert in Cumbria, United Kingdom. It is located two miles north-east of the village of Mawbray, and twenty-three miles south-west of Carlisle, Cumbria's county town. The B5301 road runs through the settlement, and along that road the town of Silloth-on-Solway is located five-and-a-half miles to the north, and Aspatria four-and-a-half miles to the south-east. Other nearby settlements include Aikshaw, Goodyhills, Jericho, and New Cowper.

History and etymology

The name Tarns comes from the Old Norse "tiorn", meaning a lake, and "tarn" is a word commonly used in northern England for a lake or pond. Such a lake is present at Tarns, giving the settlement its name. In the past, the name has been spelled as Ternis, Terns, and Tarnes.

Tarns is a small settlement, and, in spite of appearing on local signposts, including on the B5300 coast road, it is not named on some contemporary mapping projects like Google Maps. However, it does appear in the historical record, with records of births and deaths dating from at least the early 19th century. It is also noted on historical documents from the time of Holme Cultram Abbey's operation prior to the dissolution of the monasteries, where a farm owned by the abbey was operating at Tarns in or around 1200 AD.

Cumbria

Cumbria (English pronunciation: /ˈkʌmbriə/ KUM-bree-ə; locally [ˈkʊmbɾiə] KUUM-bree-ə) is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle and the only other major urban area is Barrow-in-Furness on the south-western tip of the county.

The county of Cumbria consists of six districts (Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakeland), and in 2008 had a population of just under half a million. Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the United Kingdom, with 73.4 people per km² (190/sq mi).

Cumbria, the third-largest ceremonial county in England by area, is bounded to the north by the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders, to the west by the Irish Sea, to the south by Lancashire, to the southeast by North Yorkshire, and to the east by County Durham and Northumberland.

Cumbria (European Parliament constituency)

Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in Great Britain. The European Parliament constituencies used under that system were smaller than the later regional constituencies and only had one Member of the European Parliament each.

Created for the 1979 European Parliament elections in 1979, Cumbria was a single-member constituency formed from the grouping of numerous neighbouring British Parliament constituencies.

The constituency saw only one election under the chosen boundaries, with the county of Cumbria and electors in Westminster constituencies as far south as the Fylde coast electing its MEP as one constituency in 1979 only. In subsequent elections, the constituency became the expanded Cumbria and Lancashire North.

Boundaries

Cumbria League

Cumbria League is a competitive league at tier 8 in the English Rugby Union System run by the English Rugby Football Union. In the 2011/2012 season the league contains 10 teams competing for promotion in the N.Lancs/Cumbria League. It is currently the lowest competitive league for Rugby Union in Cumbria, with the Cumbria 2 North & West and Cumbria 2 South & East being run as Merit Leagues by Cumbria RFU but with potential promotion and division between these groups. As of 2011, The Cumbria League has 5 first XV teams (Hawcoat Park, Furness, Millom, Silloth, and Windermere) and 4 second XV teams (Carlisle Crusaders 2nd XV, Kendal 2nd XV, Kirkby Lonsdale 2nd XV and Penrith RFC A). Unlike the majority of other leagues, the Cumbria division includes a number of second/A teams.

Teams in the cumbria league play in both the Cumbria Plate (for the 1st XV clubs) and Cumbria Vase (for the 2nd XV clubs).

2009/2010 Season

Whitehaven were champions of the Cumbria league and were promoted to the N.Lancs/Cumbria league. Millom secured second place but failed in their play off game, losing 32-10 to Didsbury Toc H, so remained in the Cumbria League until the following season.