Plumpton or Plumpton Wall is a small village and former

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 ...

about north of Penrith, in the Eden district, in the county 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. ...

, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 320.

The village

The village is made up of the former separate hamlets of Salkeld Gate and Brockleymoor and consists mainly of houses along a minor road connecting the A6 to the B5305 near Skelton and also a few houses and farms along the A6 itself. Close by are the settlements of Plumpton Head, Plumpton Foot and Plumpton Street. The earthwork remains of a substantial

Roman fort In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...

can be seen at Castlesteads Farm, alongside the A6 road just north of the village. The fort was known in antiquity as ''Voreda''. The A6 follows the course of the Roman road from Carlisle to Brougham. The village has an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

, (

St John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given ...

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Got ...

), a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, café and garden centre (the ''Pot Place''), however the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

closed in 2016. During the daytimes on Mondays to Saturdays there is an hourly bus service to Penrith and

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

which has a reduced service in the evenings and on Sundays.

Plumpton railway station Plumpton railway station serves the village of Plumpton in East Sussex, England. It is from via . Train services are provided by Southern. The station neighbours Plumpton Racecourse, which had its own platform at the end of the village st ...

was opened by the

Lancaster and Carlisle Railway The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway was a main line railway opened between those cities in 1846. With its Scottish counterpart, the Caledonian Railway, the Company launched the first continuous railway connection between the English railway netwo ...

on 17 December 1846. It lay on 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 ...

but after ownership by the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

and the

London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

it was closed by

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British ...

on 31 May 1948 soon after

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

. Plumpton is within the

of Hesket but was from 1866 to 1934 a separate parish under the name of Plumpton Wall. Before that it was a chapelry or

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

Lazonby Lazonby is a village and civil parish in the Lower Eden Valley of Cumbria; it is located about north north-east of Penrith and 24 miles (38 km) south of the Scottish Borders. The total population of the ward of Lazonby, which also includ ...

parish. The nearby areas of Plumpton Head, Plumpton Street and Plumpton Foot were not part of Plumpton parish but in Penrith or Hesket-in-the-Forest parishes.

Murder

Murder of PC Joseph Byrnes by the "Netherby" burglars. On October 29, 1885 PC Byrnes was shot in the head by a notorious gang, named the Netherby burglars by the memorial stone. The stone reads "Here constable Joseph Byrnes fell on the night of October 29, 1885, shot by the three Netherby burglars, whom he single handed endeavoured to arrest". The British Transport Police have
historic report
on the events.

Presbyterian chapel

The Presbyterian chapel was built around 1850 era, though the exact date is unknown. The chancel on the back was thought to have been built later, however the internal construction suggests it is of the same era. It was acquired by the Wesleyans in 1887 and opened on 17 Aug 1888. It closed its doors as a chapel in 1952. In 1966 it was purchased and converted into a private residence.

St. John the Evangelist parish church

The church is unusually modern for an older village, the sandstone date block reads 1907. It comes under the Christ Church parish in Penrith. The church is set in a square wall with surrounding graveyard. Its stained glass windows were designed by William Morris. File:St. John the Evangelist parish church gate.jpg File:St. John the Evangelist parish church Pic05.jpg File:St. John the Evangelist parish church Pic04.jpg File:St. John the Evangelist parish church Pic02.jpg File:St. John the Evangelist parish church Pic03.jpg File:St. John the Evangelist parish church Pic01.jpg

References

External links