Cumbria ( ) is a
ceremonial
A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion.
The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''.
Church and civil (secular ...
and
non-metropolitan county
A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...
in
North West England, bordering
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. The county and
Cumbria County Council, its
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...
, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the
Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's
county town is
Carlisle, in the north of the county. Other major settlements include
Barrow-in-Furness,
Kendal,
Whitehaven and
Workington.
The administrative county of Cumbria consists of six
districts (
Allerdale,
Barrow-in-Furness,
Carlisle,
Copeland,
Eden and
South Lakeland) and, in 2019, had a population of 500,012. Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in England, with 73.4 people per km
2 (190/sq mi). On 1 April 2023, the administrative county of Cumbria will be abolished and replaced with two new unitary authorities:
Westmorland and Furness
Westmorland and Furness is a future unitary authority area in north-west England, which will come into being on 1 April 2023 on the abolition of Cumbria County Council, together with Cumberland. The council will cover the areas currently served ...
(
Barrow-in-Furness,
Eden,
South Lakeland) and
Cumberland (
Allerdale,
Carlisle,
Copeland).
Cumbria is the third largest ceremonial county in England by area. It is bounded to the north-east by
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
, the east by
County Durham,
the south-east by
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, the south by
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, the west by the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
, and the north by the
Scottish council areas of
Dumfries and Galloway and
Scottish Borders.
Cumbria is predominantly rural and contains the
Lake District National Park, a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
considered one of England's finest areas of natural beauty, serving as inspiration for visual artists, writers and musicians. A large area of the south-east of the county is within the
Yorkshire Dales National Park, while the east of the county fringes the
North Pennines
The North Pennines is the northernmost section of the Pennine range of hills which runs north–south through northern England. It lies between Carlisle to the west and Darlington to the east. It is bounded to the north by the Tyne Valley and ...
AONB. Much of Cumbria is mountainous and it contains every peak in England over above sea level, with the top of
Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell P ...
at being the highest point in England. An upland, coastal and rural area, Cumbria's history is characterised by invasions, migration and settlement, as well as battles and skirmishes between the English and the Scots. Notable historic sites in Cumbria include
Carlisle Castle,
Furness Abbey,
Hardknott Roman Fort
Hardknott Roman Fort is an archeological site, the remains of the castra, Roman fort ''Mediobogdum'', located on the western side of the Hardknott Pass in the England, English county of Cumbria. The fort was built between 120 and 138 on a rocky s ...
,
Brough Castle
Brough Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Brough, Cumbria, England. The castle was built by William Rufus around 1092 within the old Roman fort of ''Verterae'' to protect a key route through the Pennine Mountains. The initial mott ...
and
Hadrian's Wall (also a
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
).
Name
The place names ''Cumbria'' and ''Cumberland'' both mean ''"land of the Cumbrians"'' and are names derived from the term that had been used by the inhabitants of the area to describe themselves. In the period c.400 to c.1100, it is likely that any group of people living in Britain who identified as ‘Britons’ called themselves by a name similar to ‘Cum-ri’ which means "fellow countrymen" (and has also survived in the Welsh name for Wales which is ''Cymru''). The first datable record of the place name as ''Cumberland'' is from an entry in the
Anglo Saxon Chronicle for the year AD 945. This record refers to a kingdom known to the Anglo Saxons as ''Cumberland'' (often also known as Strathclyde) which in the 10th Century may have stretched from Loch Lomond to Leeds. The first king to be unequivocally described as king of the Cumbrians is
Owain ap Dyfnwal who ruled from c.915 to c.937.
History
The county of Cumbria was created in April 1974 through an amalgamation of the
administrative counties
An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until either 1973 (in Northern Ireland) or 2002 (in the Republic of Ireland). They are now abolished, although mos ...
of
Cumberland and
Westmorland, to which parts of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
(the area known as
Lancashire North of the Sands) and of the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
were added.
During the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
period the area contained an important centre of stone axe production (the so-called
Langdale axe factory), products of which have been found across Great Britain. During this period
stone circles
A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The b ...
and
henges
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...
were built across the county and today 'Cumbria has one of the largest number of preserved field monuments in
England'.
While not part of the region conquered in the
Romans' initial conquest of Britain in AD 43, most of modern-day Cumbria was later conquered in response to a revolt deposing the Roman-aligned ruler of the
Brigantes in AD 69. The Romans built a number of fortifications in the area during their occupation, the most famous being
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
Hadrian's Wall which passes through northern Cumbria.
At the end of the period of British history known as
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...
() the inhabitants of Cumbria were
Cumbric-speaking native
Romano-Britons who were probably descendants of the
Brigantes and
Carvetii
The Carvetii (Common Brittonic: *''Carwetī'') were a Brittonic Celtic tribe living in what is now Cumbria, in North-West England during the Iron Age, and were subsequently identified as a ''civitas'' (canton) of Roman Britain.
Etymology
The ...
(sometimes considered to be a sub-tribe of the Brigantes) that the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
had conquered in about AD 85. Based on inscriptional evidence from the area, the Roman ' of the Carvetii seems to have covered portions of Cumbria. The names ''Cumbria'', ' (the native
Welsh name for
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
), ''Cambria'', and ''Cumberland'' are derived from the name these people gave themselves, *''kombroges'' in
Common Brittonic, which originally meant "compatriots".
Although Cumbria was previously believed to have formed the core of the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
Brittonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
kingdom of
Rheged, more recent discoveries near
Galloway appear to contradict this. For the rest of the first millennium, Cumbria was contested by several entities who warred over the area, including the Brythonic Celtic
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde (lit. " Strath of the River Clyde", and Strað-Clota in Old English), was a Brittonic successor state of the Roman Empire and one of the early medieval kingdoms of the Britons, located in the region the Welsh tribes referred to as ...
and the
Anglian kingdom of Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
. Most of modern-day Cumbria was a principality in the Kingdom of
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
at the time of the
Norman conquest of England in 1066 and thus was excluded from the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
survey of 1086. In 1092 the region was invaded by
William II and incorporated into England. Nevertheless, the region was dominated by the many
Anglo-Scottish Wars
The Anglo-Scottish Wars comprise the various battles which continued to be fought between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland from the time of the Wars of Independence in the early 14th century through to the latter years of the ...
of the latter
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and
early modern period and the associated
Border Reivers who exploited the dynamic political situation of the region. There were at least three
sieges of Carlisle fought between England and Scotland, and two further sieges during the
Jacobite risings.
After the Jacobite Risings of the 18th century, Cumbria became a more stable place and, as in the rest of
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
, the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
caused a large growth in urban populations. In particular, the west coast towns of
Workington,
Millom and
Barrow-in-Furness saw large iron and
steel mills develop, with Barrow also developing a significant
shipbuilding industry.
Kendal,
Keswick and Carlisle all became
mill towns, with textiles, pencils and biscuits among the products manufactured in the region. The early 19th century saw the county gain fame when the
Lake Poets and other artists of the
Romantic movement, such as
William Wordsworth and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, lived among, and were inspired by, the lakes and mountains of the region. Later, the children's writer
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...
also wrote in the region and became a major landowner, granting much of her property to the
National Trust on her death. In turn, the large amount of land owned by the National Trust assisted in the formation in 1951 of the
Lake District National Park, which remains the largest National Park in England and has come to dominate the identity and economy of the county.
The
Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst
nuclear accident in Great Britain's history.
The county of Cumbria was created in
1974 from the traditional counties of
Cumberland and
Westmorland, the Cumberland
County Borough of Carlisle
Carlisle was, from 1835 to 1974, a local government district in the northwest of England, coterminate with Carlisle. In 1835, following the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, Carlisle was constituted a municipal borough of Cumberland, but was prom ...
, along with the North Lonsdale or
Furness
Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire.
The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...
part of
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, usually referred to as "Lancashire North of the Sands", (including the
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...
of
Barrow-in-Furness) and, from the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, the
Sedbergh Rural District.
It is governed by
Cumbria County Council.
On 2 June 2010, taxi driver Derrick Bird killed 12 people and injured 11 others in
a shooting spree that spanned over along the Cumbrian coastline.
Local newspapers ''
The Westmorland Gazette'' and ''Cumberland and Westmorland Herald'' continue to use the name of their historic counties. Other publications, such as local government promotional material, describe the area as "Cumbria", as does the Lake District National Park Authority.
Geography
Cumbria is the most northwesterly county of England. The northernmost and southernmost points in Cumbria are just west of
Deadwater, Northumberland and
South Walney respectively.
Kirkby Stephen (close to
Tan Hill, North Yorkshire) and
St Bees Head are the most easterly and westerly points of the county. Most of Cumbria is mountainous, with the majority of the county being situated in the Lake District while the
Pennines, consisting of the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines, lie at the eastern and south-east areas of the county. At
Scafell Pike
Scafell Pike () is the highest and the most prominent mountain in England, at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Lake District National Park, in Cumbria, and is part of the Southern Fells and the Scafell massif.
Scafell P ...
is the highest point in Cumbria and in England.
Windermere is the largest natural lake in England.
The
Lancaster Canal runs from Preston into South Cumbria and is partly in use. The
Ulverston Canal which once reached to
Morecambe Bay is maintained although it was closed in 1945. The
Solway Coast
The Solway Coast is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in northern Cumbria, United Kingdom. It incorporates two areas of coastline along the Solway Firth, the first running from just north of the city of Carlisle, at the estuary ...
and
Arnside and Silverdale AONB's lie in the lowland areas of the county, to the north and south respectively.
Boundaries and divisions
Cumbria is bordered by the English counties of
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
,
County Durham,
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, and the
Scottish council areas of
Dumfries and Galloway and
Scottish Borders.
The boundaries are along the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
to
Morecambe Bay in the west, and along the
Pennines to the east. Cumbria's northern boundary stretches from the
Solway Firth from the
Solway Plain
The Solway Plain or Solway Basin is a coastal plain located mostly in northwest Cumbria in England, extending just over the Scottish border to the low-lying area around Gretna and Annan. It lies generally north and west of Carlisle along the Sol ...
eastward along the border with
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
to
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
.
It is made up of six
districts: Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness,
Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakeland. For many administrative purposes Cumbria is divided into three areas — East, West and South. East consists of the districts of Carlisle and Eden, West consists of Allerdale and Copeland, and South consists of Lakeland and Barrow.
In July 2021, the UK government announced proposals for the county and district councils to be
abolished and replaced by two new
unitary authorities
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...
, one for the east (Barrow-in-Furness, Eden, and South Lakeland), to be called Westmorland and Furness and one for the west (Allerdale, Carlisle, and Copeland), to be called Cumberland.
The county returns six Members of Parliament to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
, representing the constituencies of
Carlisle,
Penrith & The Border,
Workington,
Copeland,
Westmorland and Lonsdale and
Barrow & Furness.
Economy
Many large companies and organisations are based in Cumbria. The county council itself employs around 17,000 individuals, while the largest private employer in Cumbria, the
Sellafield nuclear processing site, has a workforce of 10,000.
Below is a list of some of the county's largest companies and employers (excluding services such as
Cumbria Constabulary,
Cumbria Fire and Rescue and the
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
in Cumbria), categorised by district.
East
Barrow-in-Furness
*
Barrow's shipyard is one of the UK's largest.
BAE Systems is the current owner and employs around 5,000.
* Associated British Ports Holdings own and operate the
port of Barrow
The Port of Barrow refers to the enclosed dock system within the town of Barrow-in-Furness, England. Morecambe Bay is to the east of the port and the Irish Sea surrounds it to the south and west. The port is currently owned and operated by ...
.
* The only
Kimberly-Clark mill in the North of England is located in Barrow.
*
James Fisher & Sons, a large provider of marine engineering services, is based in Barrow.
* One of the largest single-site furniture stores in the UK,
Stollers, is located in Barrow.
Eden
*
Center Parcs owns a large resort in
Whinfell Forest
Whinfell Forest is a small area of woodland in the parish of Brougham, Cumbria, south east of Penrith in Cumbria and just off the A66 road leading to Appleby-in-Westmorland. The forest is a short distance from the Lake District national park an ...
near Penrith.
* Logistics company
Eddie Stobart Logistics, own a large transport depot at
Penrith.
* National sawdust, animal bedding, bark suppliers and road hauliers A W Jenkinson are headquartered at Clifton, Penrith.
South Lakeland
* Pharmaceutical company
GlaxoSmithKline operates a large factory in
Ulverston.
* International kitchenware retailer
Lakeland has its headquarters and flagship store in
Windermere.
* Farley Health Products, a subsidiary of the
Heinz Company, runs a factory in
Kendal.
West
Allerdale
*
Associated British Ports Holdings own and operate the port of
Silloth
Silloth (sometimes known as Silloth-on-Solway) is a port town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Cumberland, the town is an example of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of Engl ...
.
* Plastic film maker
Innovia Films has its headquarters and only UK factory in
Wigton
Wigton is a market town in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies just outside the Lake District in the borough of Allerdale. Wigton is at the centre of the Solway Plain, between the Caldbeck Fells an ...
, which employs almost 1,000 people and is Wigton's biggest employer.
* Sealy Beds UK (which is part of the Silentnight Group) own a factory at
Aspatria, which employs around 300 people.
* Carr's Group plc, which is based in
Carlisle, owned a large factory at
Silloth
Silloth (sometimes known as Silloth-on-Solway) is a port town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Cumberland, the town is an example of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of Engl ...
which makes the 'Carr's Breadmaker' range and at one time Carr's farm feeds. This has been sold to
Whitworths.
* Window maker West Port Windows owns a large factory at
Maryport
Maryport is a town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England, historically in Cumberland.
The town is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, at the northern end of the former Cumberland Coalfield.
Location ...
, which makes UPVC windows and doors.
*
Jennings Brewery Plc (now owned by
Marston's Plc), a
real ale
Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
brewery, based in
Cockermouth
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...
.
* World rally company
M-Sport
M-Sport is an auto racing team and motorsport engineering company headquartered at Dovenby Hall near Cockermouth, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom. Formed in 1979 by the World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson, and originally known as ...
has its headquarters at
Dovenby Hall
Dovenby Hall is a country house in of land at Dovenby, about north-west of Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. It is a Grade II listed building.
History
The oldest part of the estate is a 13th-century peel tower. The main house was built for Sir ...
,
Dovenby, near
Cockermouth
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...
.
* Swedish paper maker
Iggesund Paperboard has its only UK factory at
Siddick, near
Workington.
* U.S.-based
Eastman Chemical Company
Eastman Chemical Company is an American company primarily involved in the chemical industry. Once a subsidiary of Kodak, today it is an independent global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of advanced materials, chemicals and ...
had a factory at Siddick, near
Workington. It made plastic bottle pellets and products for the smoking industry and employed 100 people. This has been subsequently demolished and production transferred overseas.
* Steel company
Tata Steel owns a cast products plant at
Workington, which employs 300 people.
*
Eddie Stobart Logistics owns a large warehouse at
Workington, which was once owned by truck and bus maker
Leyland.
* Packaging company
Amcor
Amcor plc is a global packaging company. It develops and produces flexible packaging, rigid containers, specialty cartons, closures and services for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical-device, home and personal-care, and other products.
The ...
owns the former
Alcan
Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...
packaging plant at
Salterbeck,
Workington.
* James Walker Ltd, an international high-performance sealing manufacturer, has a large factory at
Cockermouth
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...
.
Carlisle
* Close to 1,000 people work in one of only two
Pirelli tyre plants in the UK.
*
Carr's
Carr's is a British biscuit and cracker manufacturer, currently owned by Pladis Global through its subsidiary United Biscuits. The company was founded in 1831 by Jonathan Dodgson Carr and is marketed in the United States by Kellogg's.
History
...
is a successful foodstuff and agricultural brand that was established in 1831 in Carlisle.
*
Stobart Group
Esken Limited (), formerly Stobart Group Limited, is a British infrastructure, aviation and energy company, with operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is registered in Guernsey but has its operational head office in Lond ...
owns the
Carlisle Lake District Airport and its rail maintenance business is based in Carlisle.
*
Eddie Stobart, which is one of the UK's largest logistics companies, used to be headquartered in Carlisle.
*
Nestlé operates a factory on the outskirts of Carlisle.
*
Cavaghan & Gray (owned by the by
2 Sisters Food Group) is a food manufacturing business based in Carlisle and a significant employer in the city.
*
Crown Holdings owns two factories in Carlisle, locally known as 'Metal Box'. Both factories make products for the beverage industry.
*
Edinburgh Woollen Mill announced plans to move their HQ from
Langholm,
Scottish Borders to
Carlisle.
Copeland
*
Sellafield is the largest private employer in the county; many West Cumbrians have links to the site.
Tourism
The largest and most widespread industry in Cumbria is tourism. The
Lake District National Park alone receives some 15.8 million visitors every year.
Despite this, fewer than 50,000 people reside permanently within the Lake District: mostly in
Ambleside,
Bowness-on-Windermere,
Coniston,
Keswick,
Gosforth,
Grasmere and
Windermere.
[ Over 36,000 Cumbrians are employed in the tourism industry which adds £1.1 billion a year to the county's economy. The Lake District and county as a whole attract visitors from across the UK,][ Europe, North America and the Far East (particularly Japan).][ The tables below show the twenty most-visited attractions in Cumbria in 2009. (Not all visitor attractions provided data to Cumbria Tourism who collated the list. Notable examples are Furness Abbey, the Lakes Aquarium and South Lakes Safari Zoo, the last of which would almost certainly rank within the top five).]
Economic output
This is a chart of the trend of regional gross value added
In economics, gross value added (GVA) is the measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy. "Gross value added is the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumption; it is a measure o ...
(GVA) of East and West Cumbria at current basic price
published
(pp. 240–253) by the ''Office for National Statistics''
Politics
Local
Until April 2023 Cumbria will be administered by Cumbria County Council and six district councils: Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden, and South Lakeland.
In July 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local government i ...
announced that, on 1 April 2023, the administrative county will be reorganised into two unitary authorities
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...
: one to be known as Cumberland, and the other as Westmorland and Furness. Cumbria County Council and the six districts are to be abolished and their functions transferred to the new authorities. The two new unitary authorities will continue to constitute a ceremonial county named "Cumbria" for the purpose of lieutenancy and shrievalties, being presided over by a Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria and a High Sheriff of Cumbria
The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred e ...
.
Cumberland
The new northern/western authority, to be known as Cumberland, will cover the current districts of Allerdale, Carlisle, and Copeland. The territory constitutes most of the former county of Cumberland. Its largest settlement will be Carlisle.
Westmorland and Furness
The new southern/eastern authority, to be known as Westmorland and Furness
Westmorland and Furness is a future unitary authority area in north-west England, which will come into being on 1 April 2023 on the abolition of Cumbria County Council, together with Cumberland. The council will cover the areas currently served ...
, will cover the current districts of Barrow-in-Furness, Eden, and South Lakeland. The territory includes the former county of Westmorland and neighbouring areas. Its largest settlement will be Barrow-in-Furness.
National
At the 2019 general election, no Labour Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MPs) were elected, the first time since 1910.
Education
Although Cumbria has a comprehensive system almost fully, there is one state grammar school in Penrith. There are 42 state secondary schools and 10 independent schools. The more rural secondary schools tend to have sixth forms (although in Barrow-in-Furness district, no schools have sixth forms due to the only sixth college in Cumbria being located in the town) and this is the same for three schools in Allerdale and South Lakeland, and one in the other districts. Chetwynde is also the only school in Barrow to educate children from nursery all the way to year 11.
Colleges of further education in Cumbria include:
* Carlisle College
* Furness College which includes Barrow Sixth Form College
* Kendal College
Kendal College is a further education college situated in Kendal on the edge of the Lake District National Park. The college provides a range of training and education programmes, including Further Education, Higher Education and training cour ...
* Lakes College West Cumbria
The University of Cumbria
The University of Cumbria is a public university in Cumbria, with its headquarters in Carlisle and other major campuses in Lancaster, Ambleside, and London. It has roots extending back to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, establis ...
is one of the UK's newest universities, having been established in 2007. It is at present the only university in Cumbria and has campuses across the county, together with Lancaster and London.
Transport
Road
The M6 is the only motorway that runs through Cumbria. Kendal and Penrith are amongst its primary destinations. Further north it becomes the A74(M) at the border with Scotland north of Carlisle. Major A roads within Cumbria include:
Several bus companies run services in Cumbria serving the main towns and villages in the county, with some services running to neighbouring areas such as Lancaster. Stagecoach North West is the largest; it has depots in Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Kendal and Workington. Stagecoach's flagship X6 route connects Barrow-in-Furness and Kendal in south Cumbria.
Ports
There are only two airports in the county: Carlisle Lake District and Barrow/Walney Island. Both airports formerly served scheduled passenger flights and both are proposing expansions and renovations to handle domestic and European flights in the near future. The nearest international airports to south Cumbria are Blackpool, Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, Liverpool John Lennon and Teesside
Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
Historically a hub for heavy manu ...
. North Cumbria is closer to Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, Glasgow Prestwick and Glasgow International.
Barrow-in-Furness is one of the country's largest shipbuilding centres, but the Port of Barrow
The Port of Barrow refers to the enclosed dock system within the town of Barrow-in-Furness, England. Morecambe Bay is to the east of the port and the Irish Sea surrounds it to the south and west. The port is currently owned and operated by ...
is only minor, operated by Associated British Ports alongside the Port of Silloth
Silloth (sometimes known as Silloth-on-Solway) is a port town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. Historically in the county of Cumberland, the town is an example of a Victorian seaside resort in the North of Engl ...
in Allerdale. There are no ferry links from any port or harbour along the Cumbria coast.
Rail
The busiest railway stations in Cumbria are Carlisle, Barrow-in-Furness, Penrith and Oxenholme Lake District. The West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
runs through the Cumbria countryside, adjacent to the M6 motorway. The Cumbrian Coast Line connects Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle and is a vital link in the west of the county. Other railways in Cumbria are the Windermere Branch Line, most of the Furness Line
The Furness line is a British railway between and , joining the West Coast Main Line at . A predominantly passenger line, it serves various towns along the Furness coast, including Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands. It runs th ...
and much of the Settle-Carlisle Railway.
Demography
Cumbria's largest settlement and only city is Carlisle, in the north of the county. The largest town, Barrow-in-Furness, in the south, is slightly smaller. The county's population is largely rural: it has the second-lowest population density among English counties, and has only five towns with a population of over 20,000. Cumbria is also one of the country's most ethnically homogeneous counties, with 95.1% of the population categorised as White British (around 470,900 of the 495,000 Cumbrians). However, the larger towns have ethnic makeups that are closer to the national average. The 2001 census indicated that Christianity was the religion with the most adherents in the county.
2010 ONS estimates placed the number of foreign-born (non-United Kingdom) people living in Cumbria at around 14,000 and foreign nationals at 6,000. The 2001 UK Census
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.
The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
showed the following most common countries of birth for residents of Cumbria that year:
Settlements
Largest parishes by district
Twinnings
Symbols and emblems
The arms of Cumbria County Council were granted by the College of Arms on 10 October 1974. The arms represent the areas from which the new county council's area was put together; the shield's green border has Parnassus flowers representing Cumberland interspersed with roses; red for Lancashire (the Furness district) on white for Yorkshire (Sedbergh is from the West Riding
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
). The crest is a ram's head crest, found in the arms of both Westmorland County Council and Barrow County Borough, with Cumberland's Parnassus flowers again. The supporters are the legendary Dacre Bull (Cumberland) and a red dragon, redolent of Cumbria's Brittonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
origin.( Appleby in Westmorland). They stand on a base compartment representing Hadrian's Wall (in Cumberland), crossed with two red bars (from the Westmorland arms).[''Cumbria County Council'']
(Civic Heraldry) accessed 24 January 2010
The county council motto "''Ad Montes Oculos Levavi''" is Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, from Psalm 121; ("I shall lift up mine eyes unto the hills").[
The county flag of Cumbria is a banner of arms of Cumbria County Council.
]
Sport
Running
Fell running is a popular sport in Cumbria, with an active calendar of competitions taking place throughout the year.
Cumbria is also home to several of the most active orienteering clubs in the UK as well as the Lakes 5 Days competition that takes place every four years.
Football
Association
Barrow and Carlisle United are the only professional football teams in Cumbria and both currently play in EFL League Two. Carlisle United attract support from across Cumbria and beyond, with many Cumbrian "ex-pats" travelling to see their games, both home and away.
Workington—who are always known locally as "the reds"—are a well-supported non-league team, having been relegated from the Football League in the 1970s. Workington made a rapid rise up the non league ladder and in 2007/08 competed with Barrow in the Conference North
The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...
. Barrow were then promoted to the Conference Premier in 2007/08. In 2020, Barrow were promoted to the Football League as a result of winning the National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
.
Rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
is a very popular sport in South and West Cumbria. Barrow, Whitehaven and Workington play in the Rugby League Championships
The Rugby League Championships (known as the National Leagues between 2003-2008) are the two professional divisions below the Super League, consisting of 12 teams in the Championship and 14 teams in League 1. Promotion and relegation is in use ...
.
Amateur teams; Wath Brow Hornets, Askam, Egremont Rangers
Egremont Rangers is an amateur rugby league club in Egremont, Cumbria, which plays at Gillfoot Park and competes in the National Conference League Division 1.
Former players
• Garry Purdham
• Rob Purdham Challenge Cup history
Egremont ...
, Kells, Barrow Island, Hensingham and Millom play in the National Conference.
Rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
is popular in the east of the county with teams such as Furness RUFC & Hawcoat Park RUFC (South Cumbria), Workington RUFC (Workington Zebras), Whitehaven RUFC, Carlisle RUFC, Creighton RUFC, Aspatria RUFC, Wigton RUFC, Kendal RUFC, Kirkby Lonsdale RUFC, Keswick RUFC, Cockermouth RUFC, Upper Eden RUFC and Penrith RUFC
Penrith Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Penrith, Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local go ...
.
Uppies and Downies
Workington is home to the ball game known as Uppies and Downies, a traditional version of football, with its origins in medieval football
Mob football is a modern term used for a wide variety of the localised informal football games which were invented and played in England during the Middle Ages. Alternative names include folk football, medieval football and Shrovetide football ...
or an even earlier form. Players from outside Workington also take part, especially fellow West Cumbrians from Whitehaven and Maryport
Maryport is a town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England, historically in Cumberland.
The town is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, at the northern end of the former Cumberland Coalfield.
Location ...
.
American
Cumbria is home to the Furness Phantoms, and the Carlisle Kestrels.
Cricket
Cumbria County Cricket Club is one of the cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
clubs that constitute the National Counties in the English domestic cricket structure. The club, based in Carlisle, competes in the National Counties Cricket Championship and the NCCA Knockout Trophy. The club also play some home matches in Workington, as well as other locations.
Cumbrian club cricket teams play in the North Lancashire and Cumbria League.
Wrestling
Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling is an ancient and well-practised tradition in the county with a strong resemblance to Scottish Backhold
Scottish Backhold is a style of folk wrestling originating in Scotland. The wrestlers grip each other around the waist at the back, with the right hand under the opponent's left arm and the chin resting on the opposite right shoulder. When the re ...
.
In the 21st century Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling along with other aspects of Lakeland culture are practised at the Grasmere Sports and Show, an annual meeting held every year since 1852 on the August Bank Holiday.
The origin of this form of wrestling is a matter of debate, with some describing it as having evolved from Norse wrestling brought over by Viking invaders, while other historians associate it with the Cornish and Gouren styles indicating that it may have developed out of a longer-standing Celtic tradition.
Motor
Karting
Cumbria Kart Racing Club is based at the Lakeland Circuit, Rowrah, between Cockermouth
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...
and Egremontbr>Lakeland Circuit
The track is currently a venue for rounds of both major UK national karting championship
About Cumbria Kart Racing Club
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
world champions Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
and Jenson Button both raced karts at Rowrah many times in the formative stages of their motor sport careers, while other F1 drivers, past and present, to have competed there include Johnny Herbert
John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in ...
, Anthony Davidson
Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, as part of the commentary team for WEC TV, as colour commentator for the F1 series of vide ...
, Allan McNish
Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...
, Ralph Firman, Paul di Resta
Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver from Scotland, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport in their LMH entry. He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver ...
and David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...
, who hailed from just over the nearby Anglo-Scottish border and regarded Rowrah as his home circuit, becoming Cumbria Kart Racing Club Champion in 1985 in succession to McNish (di Resta also taking the CKRC title subsequently).
Baseball
Cumbria is home to the Cartmel Valley Lions, an amateur baseball team based in Cartmel.
Speedway
Workington Comets
The Workington Comets are a British speedway club, based in Workington, Cumbria, racing out of the Northside Training Track. The team previously operated from 1970 to 2018 and were based at Derwent Park Stadium which they shared with Workingt ...
were a Workington-based professional speedway
Speedway may refer to:
Racing Race tracks
*Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta
*Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana
Types of races and race cours ...
team, which competed in the British Speedway Championship.
Food
Cumbria is the UK county with the highest number of Michelin-starred restaurants, with seven in this classification in the Great Britain and Ireland Michelin Guide of 2021. Traditional Cumbrian cuisine has been influenced by the spices and molasses that were imported into Whitehaven in the 18th century. The Cumberland sausage (which has a protected geographical status
Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect nam ...
) is a well-recognised result of this. Other regional specialities include Herdwick mutton and the salt-marsh raised lamb of the Cartmel peninsula.
Dialect influences
Celtic
* Cumbria was Celtic speaking until the Viking invasion, if not later (Cymry)
* Little English spoken in Cumbria; relatively sparsely populated until 12th/13th centuries
* The invading Angles and Saxons forced the indigenous Celtic peoples back to the western highlands of Cumbria, Wales and Cornwall, with little linguistic consequence, apart from a residual scattering of place-names.
* Northwest – possibility of direct influence from Irish Gaelic across Irish Sea via Whitehaven until 10th century
* Celtic influence/kingdoms may have confirmed perception of difference between the north–south
* Linguistic interaction between Celts and English underrated: effectively Celtic influence marked the beginnings of a linguistic divide between English and other West Germanic dialects.
* Lexis – Celtic influence left specifically on the sound pattern of sheep-scoring numerals of Cumbrian and West Yorkshire
* Loss of inflections may be explained by contact with Celtic tribes and inter-marriage.
Anglo-Saxon/Viking
* Earliest Anglo-Saxon settlements in the east of England. Took over 200 years to establish a frontier in the west where the displaced British had settled
* Morphology – Old Northumbrian (little evidence) signs of loss of inflexions long before southern dialects below the Humber, precede Viking settlements and dialect contact situation
Scandinavian/Norse/Dane
* Lack of extent of Old English written evidence
* Main attacks/raids on the North-East coast at Lindisfarne and Jarrow in 793/ 794
* Settlement patterns (Danes) contributed to emerging differences over time between Northumberland. Durham and Yorkshire dialects
* Norwegian settlers via Ireland to Isle of Man, Mersey estuary (901) and the Cumbrian/ Lancashire coasts (900-50) – dialectal differences (Danes/ Norwegians) often lumped together in standard histories – MUST have confirmed emerging dialectal differences east and west of the Pennines
* Danelaw – land of north and east of land ruled under Danish law and Danish customs (978-1016)
* Scandinavian influences vocabulary – common words gradually diffused/ entered word stock (borrowings) which survive in regional use – ''‘fell’'' hillside, ‘''lug''’ ear, ‘l''oup’'' jump, ‘''aye''’ yes
* Influence on grammatical structure - Middle English texts reveal that present participle form ‘''-and''’, and possible that use of ‘''at''’ and ‘''as''’ as relative pronouns from Cumbria to East Yorkshire
* phonetically /g/, /k/ and cluster /sk/ have a northern/ Norse pronunciation /j/, /ʧ/ and /ʃ/ which are West Saxon – hard vs. soft consonants of north–south dialects – e.g. ‘''give/ rigg’'' ridge, ‘''skrike''’ shriek, ''‘kist’'' chest and ''‘ik’''
* ‘Interdialect forms’ in Danelaw area (diffuse > focussed situation) - no clear idea about what language they were speaking – mixture of Old English and Norse e.g. ‘''she’ (3rd person pronoun)'' is claimed by both languages
* ‘Bilingualism was norm in areas under Danelaw (plausible)
* Norse runic inscriptions survive from 11th century in Cumbria – therefore may only been after Norman Conquest that ‘Norse as a living language died out’
* Norse surviving longest in closed communities, as in the Lake District
Normans
* Jewell (1994: 20) - Northumbria retained relative independence until 13th century – effective government of North by Normans ‘petered-out’ at Lake District and North of Tees (not recorded in Domesday Book)
* Carlisle retaken by Scots in 1136
Cumbric
* Early 10th century – all of the northwest of England occupied by a mixture of newcomers from Ireland of mixed Viking and Gaelic ancestry. The grip from Northumbrian on the former territory of Rheged was that of Britons of Strathcylde reoccupied southwest Scotland and northwest England as far south as Derwent and Penrith. which was held until Carlisle retaken by Scots in 1136
* Cumbric perhaps survived until it faded in the early 12th century throughout Cumbria.
* Cumbric score – counting sheep – Welsh correspondence Welsh (un, dau, tri) – Cumberland (yan, tyan, tethera) – Westmorland (yan, than, teddera) – Lancashire (yan, taen, tedderte) – West Yorkshire (yain, tain, eddero) – survived 7-8 centuries after the language itself had died – Brittonic origin
* Not one single complete phrase in Cumbric survives, evidence to suggest strong literary tradition, probably oral, some of this early material is known in a Welsh version
Media
Two evening newspapers are published daily in Cumbria. The '' News and Star'' focuses largely on Carlisle and the surrounding areas of north and west Cumbria, and the '' North-West Evening Mail'' is based in Barrow-in-Furness and covers news from across Furness and the South Lakes. The '' Cumberland and Westmorland Herald'' and '' The Westmorland Gazette'' are weekly newspapers based in Penrith and Kendal respectively. The Egremont 2Day newspaper, formerly Egremont Today when affiliated with the Labour Party, was a prominent monthly publication - founded by Peter Watson (and edited by him until his death in 2014) in 1990 until July 2018. In February 2020 The Herdwick News, run by the last editor of The Egremont 2Day, was launched and is an independent online news publication covering the county of Cumbria and the North West.
Due to the size of Cumbria the county spans two television zones: BBC North East and Cumbria
BBC North East and Cumbria is one of BBC's English Regions covering Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside, City of Sunderland, County Durham, Northumberland, most parts of North Yorkshire & Cumbria. The region provides u ...
and ITV Tyne Tees & Border
ITV Tyne Tees & Border is the producer of regional programming for the ITV Tyne Tees and ITV Border franchises. Between 2009 and 2013, the two regions were merged into a single region (although still with two franchises). Since 2013, each region r ...
in the north and BBC North West
BBC North West is the BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire (western Craven), West Yorkshire (western Calderdale), Derbyshire (western High Peak), Cumbria (Barrow-in-Furness ...
and ITV Granada in the south. Heart North West
Heart North West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North West England from studios in the Spinningfields area of Manchester city centre.
Overview
Century Radio (1998–2009) ...
, CFM Radio
CFM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Carlisle, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Cumbria and South West Scotland.
As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of ...
and Smooth Lake District are the most popular local radio stations throughout the county, with BBC Radio Cumbria
BBC Radio Cumbria is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cumbria. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in Carlisle.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 71,000 listener ...
being the only station that is aimed at Cumbria as a whole.
The Australian-New Zealand feature film '' The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey'' (1988) is set in Cumbria during the onset of the Black Death in 14th-century Europe.
Cumbria is host to a number of festivals, including Kendal Calling
Kendal Calling is a music & arts festival, held annually at Lowther Deer Park in the Lake District, Cumbria in the North West of England. It has grown from a two-day, 900 capacity event in 2006 to a 25,000 capacity 4-day music festival. Kendal C ...
(actually held in Penrith since 2009) and Kendal Mountain Festival.
Places of interest
* Abbot Hall Art Gallery
*Appleby Castle
Appleby Castle is in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland overlooking the River Eden (). It consists of a 12th-century castle keep which is known as Caesar's Tower, and a mansion house. These, together with their associated buildings, are set ...
* Appleby Horse Fair ( Gypsy fair)
* Armitt Museum and Library, Ambleside
*Bassenthwaite Lake
Bassenthwaite Lake is one of the largest water bodies in the English Lake District. It is long and narrow, approximately long and wide, but is also extremely shallow, with a maximum depth of about .
It is the only body of water in the Lake ...
* Bewcastle
* Black Combe
* Blackwell
* Brantwood
*Brough Castle
Brough Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Brough, Cumbria, England. The castle was built by William Rufus around 1092 within the old Roman fort of ''Verterae'' to protect a key route through the Pennine Mountains. The initial mott ...
*Brougham Castle
Brougham Castle (pronounced ) is a medieval building about south-east of Penrith, Cumbria, England. The castle was founded by Robert I de Vieuxpont in the early 13th century. The site, near the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther, ha ...
* Brougham Hall
* Broughton in Furness
*Brougham Castle
Brougham Castle (pronounced ) is a medieval building about south-east of Penrith, Cumbria, England. The castle was founded by Robert I de Vieuxpont in the early 13th century. The site, near the confluence of the rivers Eamont and Lowther, ha ...
*Buttermere
Buttermere is a lake in the Lake District in North West England. The adjacent village of Buttermere takes its name from the lake. Historically in Cumberland, the lake is now within the county of Cumbria. Owned by the National Trust, it forms pa ...
*Cartmel Priory
Cartmel Priory church serves as the parish church of Cartmel, Cumbria, England (formerly in Lancashire).
Priory
The priory was founded in 1190 by William Marshal, created 1st Earl of Pembroke, intended for a community of the Augustinian Canon ...
* Carlisle Castle
*Carlisle Cathedral
Carlisle Cathedral is a grade-I listed Anglican cathedral in the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, England. It was founded as an Augustinian priory and became a cathedral in 1133. It is also the seat of the Bishop of Carlisle.Tim Tatton-Brown and John ...
* Castlerigg Stone Circle
* Church of St Olaf, Wasdale
*Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk
*Cockermouth
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...
, "Gem" Town
* Coniston Water
*Crummock Water
Crummock Water is a lake in the Lake District in Cumbria, North West England situated between Buttermere to the south and Loweswater to the north. Crummock Water is long, wide and deep. The River Cocker is considered to start at the north of ...
*Cumbria Coastal Way
The Cumbria Coastal Way (CCW) is a long-distance footpath in Cumbria in northern England, following the coast from Silverdale, just over the Lancashire border, to just north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is now part of the England Coast P ...
long distance footpath
* Cumbria Way long distance footpath
*Dales Way
The Dales Way is an long-distance footpath in Northern England, from (south-east to north-west) Ilkley, West Yorkshire, to Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria. This walk was initially devised by the West Riding Ramblers' Association with the 'lead ...
long distance footpath
* Dalton Castle
* Derwent Water
*Dock Museum
The Dock Museum is situated in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Most of its exhibits concern the history of the town, focusing on the shipbuilding industry at VSEL (now BAE Systems), the steelworks industry — of which Barrow once had th ...
*Dove Cottage
Dove Cottage is a house on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District of England. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth from December 1799 to May 1808, where they spent over eight years of ...
* Egremont Castle
* Eden Valley Railway
* Ennerdale Water
* Eskdale
* Fell Foot Park
* Firbank Fell
*Fisher Tarn Reservoir
*Furness
Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria in northwestern England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire.
The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of vill ...
* Furness Abbey
*Grange-Over-Sands
Grange-over-Sands is a town and civil parish located on the north side of Morecambe Bay in Cumbria, England, a few miles south of the Lake District National Park. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 4,042, increasing at the 2011 ...
* Haig Colliery Mining Museum
*Harrison Stickle
Harrison Stickle is a fell in the central part of the English Lake District, situated above Great Langdale. The fell is one of the three (although the number is debated) fells which make up the picturesque Langdale Pikes, the others being Pike ...
* Hadrian's Wall
* Hartley Castle
* Haweswater
* Hawkshead Grammar School Museum
* Hill Top
* Hoad Monument
* Hodbarrow Nature Reserve
*Holker Hall
Holker Hall (pronounced Hooker by some) is a privately owned country house located about 2 km to the southwest of the village of Cartmel in the ceremonial county of Cumbria and historic county of Lancashire, England. It is "the grandest ...
* Kendal Castle
*Kentmere
Kentmere is a valley, village and civil parish in the Lake District National Park, a few miles from Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. Historically in Westmorland, at the 2011 census Kentmere had a population of 1 ...
* Killington Reservoir
*Kirkby Lonsdale
Kirkby Lonsdale () is a town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, on the River Lune. Historically in Westmorland, it lies south-east of Kendal on the A65. The parish recorded a population of 1,771 in the 2001 ...
* Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway
* Langwathby railway station
* Windermere
* Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
* Lanercost Priory
*Laurel & Hardy Museum
* Levens Hall
* Millom
*Millom Folk Museum
Millom Heritage and Arts Centre, formerly known as the Millom Folk Museum and Millom Discovery Centre, is located in Millom, Cumbria, England. The museum has a full-scale drift mine exhibit and also houses information about the local poet Norman ...
*Muncaster Castle
Muncaster Castle is a privately owned castle overlooking the River Esk, about a mile east of the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed ...
*Museum of Lakeland Life
*National Nature Reserves in Cumbria
National nature reserves in England were established by English Nature, now Natural England, which manages them either directly or through non-governmental organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds or the National Trust ...
*Pennine Way
The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...
long distance footpath
* Penrith Castle
*Piel Island
Piel Island lies in Morecambe Bay , around off the southern tip of the Furness peninsula in the administrative county of Cumbria, England. It is one of the Islands of Furness, three of which sit near to Piel at the mouth of Walney Channel. Th ...
* Quaker tapestry
* Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway – heritage railway
* Rey Cross
* Rheged
*Rydal Water
Rydal Water is a small body of water in the central part of the English Lake District, in the county of Cumbria. It is located near the hamlet of Rydal, between Grasmere and Ambleside in the Rothay Valley.Parker, 2004, page 35
The lake is 1, ...
* Sea to Sea Cycle Route
* Seathwaite Tarn
* Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Facility
* Silecroft
* Silloth on Solway
* Sizergh Castle & Garden
*Skelton Transmitting Station
The Skelton Transmitting Station is a radio transmitter site at near Skelton, Cumbria, England, about north-west of Penrith, run by Babcock International and owned by the Ministry of Defence. Since the Belmont Mast in Lincolnshire was shor ...
(U.Ks. tallest structure)
* South Lakes Safari Zoo
* St Bees
*St Bees Priory
St Bees Priory is the parish church of St Bees, Cumbria, England. There is evidence for a pre-Norman religious site, and on this a Benedictine priory was founded by the first Norman Lord of Egremont William Meschin, and was dedicated by Archb ...
* St Bees Head
* Staveley
*Stott Park Bobbin Mill
Stott Park Bobbin Mill is a 19th-century bobbin mill and now a working museum located near Newby Bridge, Cumbria, England. Built in 1835 the mill was one of over 65 such buildings in the Lake District, which provided wooden bobbins to the weavi ...
*Swarthmoor Hall
Swarthmoor Hall is a mansion at Swarthmoor, in the Furness area of Cumbria, North West England. Furness was formerly part of Lancashire. The Hall was home to Thomas and Margaret Fell, the latter an important player in the founding of the Religiou ...
*Thirlmere
Thirlmere is a reservoir in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria and the English Lake District. The Helvellyn ridge lies to the east of Thirlmere. To the west of Thirlmere are a number of fells; for instance, Armboth Fell and Raven Crag both ...
*Ullswater
Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age.
Geography
It is a typical Lake District "ribbon lake", ...
* Ulverston
*Vickerstown
Vickerstown is an area of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, covered by the wards of Walney North and Walney South. It is an example of a model village built for workers by a company needing to expand, having been constructed in the early 20 ...
*Wasdale Head
Wasdale Head is a scattered agricultural hamlet in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Wasdale Head claims to be home of the highest mountain (Scafell Pike), deepest lake ( Wastwater), smallest church and biggest liar in E ...
* Wast Water
* Whitehaven
*Whinfell Forest
Whinfell Forest is a small area of woodland in the parish of Brougham, Cumbria, south east of Penrith in Cumbria and just off the A66 road leading to Appleby-in-Westmorland. The forest is a short distance from the Lake District national park an ...
* Windermere Steamboat Museum
Notable people
File:Stan Laurel c1920.jpg, Stan Laurel
File:Potter 1912.JPG, Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...
File:William Wordsworth at 28 by William Shuter2.jpg, William Wordsworth
See also
*Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to as "the Borderlands".
The ...
*Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner
The Cumbria Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is the police, fire and crime commissioner, an elected official tasked with setting out the way crime is tackled by Cumbria Police in the England, English ceremonial county of Cumbria. The post was ...
* Cumbria shootings
*Cumbrian dialect
The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a ...
** Barrovian
* Cumbrian toponymy
*Cumbric language
Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...
* Etymology of Cumbrian place names
*Healthcare in Cumbria
Healthcare in Cumbria was the responsibility of Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group until July 2022. On 1 April 2017 32 GP practices left the CCG and merged with Lancashire North CCG to form Morecambe Bay CCG.
History
From 1947 to 1974 NHS serv ...
* List of Cumbria-related topics
* List of High Sheriffs of Cumbria
* List of Lord Lieutenants of Cumbria
*'' Outline of England''
* Rose Castle
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Non-metropolitan counties
North West England
NUTS 2 statistical regions of the United Kingdom
Counties of England established in 1974