The name is recorded as
Bracanethuaite in the 12th century. It derives from the Old Norse
brakni 'bush' and
thveit '
assart' (cf. thwaite) like
Bregentved (
Denmark) and
Bracquetuit (
Normandy) (cf. Thuit). Brackenthwaite was historically a
township in the
ancient parish of
Brigham. The parish of Brigham was large, and its four south-eastern townships of Brackenthwaite,
Buttermere,
Lorton and
Wythop were served by a
chapel of ease at Lorton. The township of Brackenthwaite took on civil functions under the
poor laws from the 17th century onwards. As such, the township also became a
civil parish in 1866, when the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws. The parish of Brackenthwaite was included in the
Cockermouth Rural District from 1894. At the 1931 census (the last before the abolition of the parish), Brackenthwaite had a population of 89. ==See also==