1851 Place transcribed as WHAM WHATER ??

[FredRogers]

I wonder if anyone would know of a place that could have been transcribed as WHAM WHATER . My 4Th Great Grandmother Eleanor Henderson (nee Knight/McKnight)
It is in the 1851 census this name shows up
In 1851 census she is :
Age: abt 69
Leadgate Cottages Medomsley, Durham, England

As far as i know these are the other locations she lived..

 
Marriage to John Henderson
1808
27 Jun
Crosscanonby and Maryport, Cumberland, England


1819

Dearham Cumberland
Moorside at time of birth of daughters Jane & Eleanor

1824
Dearham Cumberland
Unerigg,Dearham at the time of daughter Marys birth
1825
Age: 42
Ellenborough and Ewanrigg, Cumberland, England
At time of birth of son Richard

1841
Age: 58
Ryton, Durham, England


I can not find a birth for her for sure ..One of her youngest sons Jacob has the middle name McKnight and I have found a birth in Distington in 1781 for a Ellenor Mcknight father Samuel but as she didnt name any of her children Samuel  this makes me unsure .I really am trying to establish where the birth place on the 1851 census may be to help locate a birth
I would be grateful if anyone has any clues ,Thanks !

[mrsruz]

nearest I can think of is Wastwater which is in the West of Cumberland.

[FredRogers]

nearest I can think of is Wastwater which is in the West of Cumberland.

   Thanks ... the writing is so hard to make out on the census the second word looks more clearly to be Whater but its hard to make out the first .

[jan57]

Distington  is  only  about  3 miles  or so  away  from Whitehaven ,.............. the 1851 birth place  could  be  an abbreviation  of  Whitehaven ie WHaven, , ?    Wast Water  is a  lake, 17  miles away  from Whitehaven   

[FredRogers]

Distington  is  only  about  3 miles  or so  away  from Whitehaven ,.............. the 1851 birth place  could  be  an abbreviation  of  Whitehaven ie WHaven, , ?    Wast Water  is a  lake, 17  miles away  from Whitehaven   

Thanks for the information.

[alpinecottage]

I wonder if it's supposed to be Winscales, a small township of about 100 houses (in 1870) and part of the parish of Workington, not far from Distington.

You can't take the Durham enumerator's account as gospel because he wouldn't have been familiar with Cumberland place names; also what we see on the census forms was copied from the householders' form by the enumerator and he had to contend with their dodgy spelling and handwriting.  Also if the householder couldn't write, they had to seek help from someone who could, so plenty of scope for errors to creep in.

[mrsruz]

Wastwater is indeed a lake.
I suggested it as I have several ancestors in Cockermouth & St Bees who are recorded as being from Loweswater, which is also a lake.
People tended to travel considerable distances for work or marriage as the possibilities were very few in the isolated parts of Cumberland. Many of the small hamlets were no more than 2 or 3 houses, or a farm & didnīt have names.

[Geoff-E]

Unlike Loweswater - a village and a lake - Wastwater is just a lake.

Another  place I thought of ... but it's not a village either is Whinlatter. 

[FredRogers]

Another  place I thought of ... but it's not a village either is Whinlatter. 
[/quote]

Thanks everyone with your ideas ...Whinlatter is within reasonable distance to some of the areas she resided ...was it somewhere that would have been habitated much higher up ? .The writing on the census is so hard to make out .