Ivy Tree Farm, Blawith, Cumbria: House History

The nearest settlement of any size the vicinity of Ivy Tree is Blawith, which is first recorded in 1276, although the name is Norse considered to mean ‘the black wood’. The manor of Blawith was a woodland district within the barony of Ulverston and, although only a small settlement, had its own chapel by at least 1577. Blawith was originally split between properties belonging to the De Lancasters, Barons of Kendal, Furness Abbey, and Conishead Priory, in a keenly contested part of the Furness Fells, and this remained the case until the Dissolution in the 1530s.

The origins of Ivy Tree Farm are less certain, although it was certainly in existence by the beginning of the 18th century. While the meaning of the name might seem self-evident early forms are Ivin or Iven Tree, which is simply a dialect word for ivy although it could perhaps derive from the Norse word ‘hvin’, meaning whin or gorse.