Holme St Cuthbert

Holme St Cuthbert is a small village and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The village is located 23 miles (37 km) south-west of Carlisle. The parish covers a largely rural area containing a number of small hamlets; the largest village is Mawbray. The parish had a population of 413 at the 2021 census.

The name is derived from Old Norse, where the Norse word "holmr" meant "islet". Hence, "Holme St Cuthbert" means "St Cuthbert's islet".

Saint Cuthbert was an early Anglo-Saxon saint, known for his association with the Lindisfarne Gospels. It is unlikely he visited the parish, but he definitely visited Carlisle. This area was historically known as the St Cuthbert's quarter of the parish of Holme Cultram. Holme St Cuthbert took its name from a chapel of ease dedicated to St Cuthbert, which was known to have existed by at least 1538. That chapel did not endure and its exact location is unknown, although it was said to be near the sea. When a new chapel was built to serve the area in 1845, it was also dedicated to St Cuthbert.

The parish of Holme St Cuthbert is a rural area, and includes the village of Mawbray and the hamlets of Aikshaw, Beckfoot, Cowgate, Dubmill, Edderside, Goodyhills, Hailforth, Jericho, New Cowper, Newtown, Pelutho, Plasketlands, Salta, and Tarns.

It is bordered to the north by the civil parish of Holme Low, to the east by Holme Abbey, to the south by Allonby along the Black Dub beck, and to the south-east by Westnewton. On its western side, the parish meets the Solway Firth, and has approximately four miles of coastline. An area known as Skinburness Marsh, east of Silloth, does not border the rest of the parish, but is common to the parishes of Holme St Cuthbert, Holme Abbey, and Holme Low.

Mawbray, being the largest village in the parish, is the hub of the community. Mawbray's village hall is frequently used for a wide range of activities, and the Lowther Arms in Mawbray has been a popular spot for food and drink with residents of the parish since it re-opened in 2014 after two periods of closure in the 2000s and early 2010s.

Extremes of weather are uncommon in the parish, but one serious danger is from the sea. With over four miles of coastline in the parish, and a major road (the B5300) running very close to the shore, storms and even very high tides are a threat. In 2014 the sea wall at Dubmill Point, near Salta, was breached in several places, and a £130,000 repair scheme was commissioned by Cumbria County Council.

Between November and December 2018 a public consultation called the Cumbria Coastal Strategy was held to evaluate and manage the risks related to coastal flooding and erosion along the Cumbrian coastline. Holme St Cuthbert civil parish has approximately four miles of coastline, and this was assessed as part of the consultation. The well-defended area of coastline around Dubmill was mostly determined to have between five and twenty years worth of life left, but concerns were raised about failed rock-based sea defences to the south and north of Dubmill point. The consultation also set out to determine the impact coastal erosion would have on the village of Mawbray, with the potential to change tactics if there was to be significant impact. The sand dunes at Mawbray Bank were estimated to erode anywhere from 4 to 8 metres in the next 20 years, rising to as much as 40 m of erosion in the next century if left unchecked. At Beckfoot, it was noted that much of the erosion that has taken place and is predicted to take place in the future is as a result of individual storms rather than continuous, slow erosion. Over the next century, the coast at Beckfoot is estimated to endure no more than 6.6 m of erosion.