Matterdale

---

title: "Matterdale" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["civil-parishes-in-cumbria", "westmorland-and-furness"] description: "Civil parish of Cumbria, England" topic_path: "general/civil-parishes-in-cumbria" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterdale" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Civil parish of Cumbria, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
static_image_name	Sheep on Little Mell Fell - geograph.org.uk - 1075422.jpg
static_image_caption	Sheep on Little Mell Fell
official_name	Matterdale
country	England
region	North West England
os_grid_reference	NY4322
coordinates
post_town	PENRITH
population	483
population_ref	(2011)
postcode_area	CA
postcode_district	CA11
dial_code	01768
constituency_westminster	Westmorland and Lonsdale
civil_parish	Matterdale
unitary_england	Westmorland and Furness
lieutenancy_england	Cumbria
pushpin_map	United Kingdom Eden
pushpin_map_caption	Location in Eden, Cumbria
::

| static_image_name = Sheep on Little Mell Fell - geograph.org.uk - 1075422.jpg | static_image_caption = Sheep on Little Mell Fell | official_name = Matterdale | country = England | region = North West England | os_grid_reference = NY4322 | coordinates = | post_town = PENRITH | population = 483 | population_ref = (2011) | postcode_area = CA | postcode_district = CA11 | dial_code = 01768 | constituency_westminster = Westmorland and Lonsdale | civil_parish = Matterdale | unitary_england = Westmorland and Furness | lieutenancy_england = Cumbria | pushpin_map = United Kingdom Eden | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Eden, Cumbria | label_position =

Matterdale is a civil parish in the Lake District of Cumbria, England. It lies on the northern shore of Ullswater. The parish includes the settlements of Dockray, Matterdale End, Ulcat row, Watermillock and Wreay. It had a population of 526 in 2001, reducing to 483 at the 2011 Census.

Much of the parish consists of moorland and fells, including Hart Side, Gowbarrow Fell and Little Mell Fell. The "Three Dodds" (Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd and Great Dodd) lie on the western boundary of the parish. The western part of the parish is drained by Aira Beck, which falls over Aira Force to enter Ullswater. The parish is the setting for James Rebank's 2015 autobiographical book The Shepherd's Life.

Toponymy

Matterdale "is probably 'the valley where bedstraw grows' from old Norse 'maðra' (the cognate of old English 'mæddre') and old Norse 'dalr'..."

References

References

1. "Matterdale Parish".
2. "Matterdale Parish".
3. Whaley, Diana. (2006). "A dictionary of Lake District place-names". English Place-Name Society.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::