BLUBBERHOUSES

'Blubberhouses' is a small village located in the Washburn Valley in the borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, a county in the north of England. It is situated to the south of the Yorkshire Dales national park, and to the north of a Roman road and Fewston Reservoir.
The village is on the A59 road from Harrogate to Skipton.
The village contains a church, St. Andrew's Church, and is part of the parish of Fewston. The village has two cricket teams who play at a very scenic ground on the River Washburn.

Contents

Etymology

References

Etymology

Several suggestions have been made for the origins of the name ''Blubberhouses'':-

★ From the blueberry: Hargrove's History of Knaresbourough

★ From the Blue Boar, a former inn.

★ Early spellings include "Bluburgh", "Bluborrow", "Bluburhouse", (1172) "Bluberhusum". These may come from:-

★
★ Anglo-Saxon ''burh'' = "fort".^[1]

★
★ From "Blueberg" = "blue mountain".^[2]

★
★ Anglo-Saxon ''bluberhūs'' = "the house(s) which is/are at the bubbling stream"^[3], with a later regularized plural; the ''-um'' form came from the Anglo-Saxon dative plural case ''æt bluberhūsum'' = "at the houses which ...".

References

1. Harrogate and the Forest of Knaresborough by William Grainge, published 1871
2. The Washburn by Tom Bradley, published 1895.
3. Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names" by A.D.Mills, ISBN 0-19-280074-4