Warcop is a village and

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the Eden district of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...

, England. The parish had a population of 491 in the 2001 census, increasing to 532 at the Census 2011. It is near the

A66 road The A66 is a major road in Northern England, which in part follows the course of the Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith. It runs from east of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire to Workington in Cumbria. Route From its easter ...

and is north of

Kirkby Stephen Kirkby Stephen () is a market town and civil parish in Cumbria, North West England. Historically part of Westmorland, it lies on the A685, surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about from the nearest larger towns: Kendal and Penri ...

and about 5 miles south of Appleby-in-Westmorland.

Name

The name Warcop means 'hill with a cairn', and was spelt Warthecopp and otherwise in the 13th century and earlier. It is a compound word that combines viking age Old Norse ''varða'' (cairn, a pile of stones) and the Old English ''copp'' (a summit or hill top). The lords of the manor of Warthecopp / Warcop over time changed their surname from Warthecopp to Warcop.

History

The local Church of England parish is St Columba's Church, Warcop, which is a Norman church and is built on the site of a Roman marching camp. It holds an annual "Rushbearing Festival" each year in late June. Warcop boasts the oldest usable bridge over the river Eden, which dates from the 14th century or earlier. The village has houses that date from at least the 15th century - Warcop Tower c. 1400 or before and Warcop Hall c. 1500, other houses date from the 17th or 18th century to the present day. It was historically part of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

until 1974. Warcop had its own railway station,

Warcop railway station Warcop railway station was situated on the Eden Valley Railway between Penrith railway station, Penrith and Kirkby Stephen East railway station, Kirkby Stephen East. It served the village of Warcop. The station opened to passenger traffic on 9 J ...

from 1862, which closed in 1962. The station yard (the station house is a private residence) has now reopened as part of the Eden Valley Railway. The Ministry of Defence operates the

Warcop Training Area The Warcop Training Area (WTA) is a UK Ministry of Defence military training area near the village of Warcop in Cumbria. Part of the Defence Training Estate, the area consists of approximately of MoD freehold land.

in the country and fell to the North West of Warcop, providing tank and infantry training.

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches north to Murton with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 1,352.

References

Location grid

External links