Hesket (also Hesket-in-the-Forest) is a large

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Westmorland and Furness Westmorland and Furness is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The economy is mainly focused on tourism around both the Lake District and Cumbria Coast, shipbuilding and the Royal Port of Barrow, Royal ...

unitary district of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England, on the main A6 between

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

and Penrith. Hesket is part of the historic royal hunting ground of

Inglewood Forest Inglewood Forest is a large tract of mainly arable and dairy farm land with a few small woodland areas between Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle and Penrith, Cumbria, Penrith in the England, English non-metropolitan county of Cumbria or ancient county ...

. Settlement in the parish dates back to the Roman occupation.

Extent

The parish is located between the city of

and the market town of Penrith, along nine miles of the A6. The parish encompasses the villages of Armathwaite, Calthwaite, High Hesket, Low Hesket, Plumpton and Southwaite, as well as the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Aiketgate, Morton, Old Town, Thiefside, Petteril Green and Plumpton Foot. It also includes parts of the villages of Ivegill and Wreay, with these villages also part of the parishes of Skelton and

St Cuthbert Without St Cuthbert Without, is a civil parish within the Cumberland unitary authority area in Cumbria, England. The parish lies immediately to the south of Carlisle itself and includes the settlements of Blackwell, Durdar, Carleton, Brisco and Wrea ...

respectively. The

River Petteril The River Petteril is a river running through the English county of Cumbria. The source of the Petteril is near Penruddock and Motherby, from where the young river runs southeast through Greystoke, Blencow and Newton Reigny, before passing ...

runs north through the parish on its way to Carlisle. The River Eden forms part of its eastern boundary near Armathwaite.

History

At Castlesteads or Old Penrith just north of Plumpton village are the remains of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

known as Voreda. Just north of the site, aerial evidence has located two Roman camps, with limited excavation work in 1977 revealing pottery dating from AD 120. The structures are located near to the main Roman Road connecting the

Vale of York The Vale of York is an area of flat land in the northeast of England. The vale is a major agricultural area and serves as the main north–south transport corridor for Northern England. The Vale of York is a broad area of flat land in northe ...

to Carlisle, which now forms part of the modern-day A6. Many of the villages in the parish have names with Norse origins, several with the common suffix of 'thwaite', from the Norse clearing or meadow. The name Hesket itself derives from the old Norse for horse ('hestr') and road or race course ('skeid'). In 1822, a Viking cairn was discovered in the parish, along the route of the A6, near the modern location of Court Thorn GP Surgery, during operations to widen the road. The objects uncovered were placed in the collection at Tuille House Museum in Carlisle. The parish is part of the Royal hunting ground known as

, established by

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

and extended by

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

. In 1885, Police Constable Joseph Byrnes was shot and killed by three assailants in Plumpton. The trio were wanted in connection with a burglary at Netherby Hall. The men were later caught and sentenced to death by hanging. A memorial to Constable Byrnes was erected in the village and is now Grade II listed.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Hesket, at

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

and

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

level: Hesket Parish Council and

Westmorland and Furness Council Westmorland and Furness Council is the Local government in England, local authority for Westmorland and Furness, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, b ...

. The parish is divided into three wards, Armathwaite, Calthwaite and Southwaite, each electing five parish councillors. Hesket is in the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Penrith and Solway.

Administrative history

Hesket in the Forest was an

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

within the historic county of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. The parish was subdivided into six

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

: Calthwaite, Iton Field, Nether and Upper Hesket, Petterill Crooks, Plumpton Street, and part of Middlesceugh and Braithwaite (the rest of the latter township was in the parish of Carlisle St Mary). The parish church of St Mary was at High Hesket in the Nether and Upper Hesket township; the church was rebuilt in the early 18th century, but retains some fragments of the medieval building. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the

poor laws The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s. E ...

, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, the civil functions were exercised by subdivisions of the parish rather than the parish as a whole. The township of Middlesceugh and Braithwaite took on its own poor law functions, and the other five townships were administered together. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so Middlesceugh and Braithwaite became a separate

from Hesket in the Forest. The parish was given a parish council under the

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

. In 1934, the parish was enlarged to take in the area of the abolished civil parish of Plumpton Wall (which had historically been a township in the parish of Lazonby). As part of the 1934 expansion, the name of the parish was changed from 'Hesket in the Forest' to just 'Hesket'. In 1974, the parish became part of the

Eden District Eden was a local government district in Cumbria, England, based at Penrith Town Hall in Penrith. It was named after the River Eden, which flowed north through the district toward Carlisle. Its population of 49,777 at the 2001 census, increa ...

in the new county of Cumbria. Eden was in turn abolished in 2023 when the new Westmorland and Furness Council was created, also taking over the functions of the abolished Cumbria County Council in the area.

Demography

The population of the parish was 2,796 at the 2021 census. At the 2001 census the population was 2,363, increasing to 2,588 at the 2011 census.

Transport

The Settle-Carlisle Railway, which opened in 1876, runs through the parish with a station at Armathwaite. Next to it is a

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

signal box maintained by local volunteers and open for viewing. 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, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

also runs through the parish. At one time there were stations on the line at Plumpton, which closed in 1948, and Southwaite and Calthwaite, both of which closed in 1952. The

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

and the

A6 road This is a list of roads designated A6. * A006 road (Argentina), a road connecting Las Cuevas with the Christ the Redeemer monument in the border between Argentina and Chile * ''A6 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A6 (Sydney), a road conn ...

run parallel to each other through the parish with a motorway service area at Southwaite. The 104 bus service also runs through the villages of Plumpton, Low Hesket and High Hesket, operated by

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

between

and Penrith. There is a community bus service, Fellrunner, which provides return journeys to Carlisle and Penrith from various stops in the parish. The service was established in 1979, spearheaded by a local clergyman, the Reverend Phillip Canham, and is run entirely by volunteers.

Amenities

The parish has five primary schools, in the villages of Armathwaite, Calthwaite, High Hesket, Ivegill and Plumpton. There are three village halls, in the villages of Low Hesket, Ivegill and Armathwaite, run by volunteers, and a community centre housed in a former

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel between the villages of Calthwaite and Plumpton. The villages of Armathwaite, Calthwaite, High Hesket, Ivegill and Plumpton all have parish churches. Armathwaite village has a village shop and post office, two public houses and a children's play area. Calthwaite has a public house, a children's play area and a youth football club. Low Hesket also has a public house. The primary school playground in Plumpton doubles as a children's play area out of school hours. The village has a garden centre and cafe at the former station yard.

Places of interest

The parish contains sixty-six listed buildings, including three Grade II* listed: Armathwaite Castle, now a private residence, the Church of St Mary's in High Hesket, dating from the 18th century but incorporating parts of the medieval church building, and the 16th-century Southwaite Hall Copper House and barns. It also contains the Grade II listed Katharine Well at Mellguards, just outside the village of Southwaite, built as a memorial to the sister of the local architect and philanthropist Sara Losh.

Gallery

image:The Old School, Armathwaite - geograph.org.uk - 1158646.jpg, The Old School Hall, Armathwaite, now a village hall image:All Saints Church, Calthwaite, In the Parish of Hesket-in-the-Forest - geograph.org.uk - 187728.jpg, All Saints Church, Calthwaite image:School, High Hesket - geograph.org.uk - 993187.jpg, High Hesket Church of England Primary School image:Armathwaite Castle - geograph.org.uk - 2708747.jpg, Grade II* listed Armathwaite Castle, now a private residence image:Crook's Bridge - geograph.org.uk - 195875.jpg, Crook's Bridge, over the River Petteril image:Memorial to Plumpton Police Constable - geograph.org.uk - 172463.jpg, Byrnes Monument, Plumpton image:Armathwaite Station Building 05.07.2015.jpg, Waiting room on the southbound side at Armathwaite Station image:The_road_to_the_former_Plumpton_Station,_Hesket_Civil_Parish_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1168905.jpg, Cottages, Plumpton Village image:Railway bridge, Southwaite - geograph.org.uk - 187703.jpg, Railway Bridge, Southwaite image:Bull's Head Farmhouse, Plumpton.jpg, Bull's Head Farmhouse, Grade II listed building near Plumpton Foot. image:Armathwaite_Bridge_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1158659.jpg, Armathwaite Bridge, which spans the River Eden image:Cottages,_High_Hesket_-_geograph.org.uk_-_996744.jpg, Cottages, High Hesket Village image:Signpost, Armathwaite - geograph.org.uk - 946795.jpg, Traditional Cumberland signpost in Armathwaite village image:Hesket House.jpg, Hesket House, Grade II listed building in High Hesket village image:Plumpton Church. - geograph.org.uk - 146573.jpg, St John the Evangelist Church, Plumpton image:Drybeck Viaduct.jpg, Drybeck Viaduct, part of the Settle-Carlisle Railway image:Roman_remains_next_to_Castlesteads_farm_on_the_A6._-_geograph.org.uk_-_146575.jpg , Remains of Voreda, a Roman Fort at Castelsteads, Plumpton