Clifton is a small

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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.

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

part of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

, it lies south east of Penrith.

Geography

The civil parish of Clifton has its western boundary defined by the River Lowther, to the north and east lie the civil parishes of Brougham and Great Strickland, to the south is the civil parish of Lowther. The village of Clifton has a church, primary school, and a pub. Most of the hamlet of Clifton Dykes (on the C3047 road) also lies within the parish. The name of this was shown as ''Longchimney'' on the first edition

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map of 1897, and then as ''Clifton Dikes'' on the later second edition. The current spelling was settled on more recently.

History

Clifton Dykes has been suggested as the (pre-Roman conquest) centre of the

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 ...

, an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

and Roman-period 'tribe', one that possibly led a resistance against Roman forces in 69 A.D. under the leadership of

Venutius Venutius was a 1st-century king of the Brigantes in northern Britain at the time of the Roman conquest. Some have suggested he may have belonged to the Carvetii, a tribe that probably formed part of the Brigantes confederation. History firs ...

. This is based upon the evidence of a large (c.7 acre) Iron Age enclosure discovered there, plus assumptions about its strategic importance on the Eden Valley communication routeway. However, this has been disputed: the Carvetii may have always been centred on Carlisle even before the Romans set up

Luguvalium Luguvalium (or ''Luguvalium Carvetiorum'') was an ancient Roman Empire, Roman city in northern Roman Britain, Britain located within present-day Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle, Cumbria, and may have been the capital of the 4th-century Roman provinc ...

and Venutius may not have been Carvetiian.

Clifton Moor Battle

Clifton Moor was the site, in 1745, of the final battle in England (and the last battle ever on English soil) between

Bonnie Prince Charlie Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...

and the

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British royal family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom w ...

. The story of a local family, the Wybergs, whose property was forcibly sold by

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

in 1652, is told in

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's novel, '' Waverley'', which also features the battle on Clifton Moor.

St. Cuthbert's church

The local church, St Cuthbert's, contains the graves of 10 men killed in the battle of Clifton Moor. (The Scots dead are, reputedly, buried beneath a tree towards the southern end of the village). Some of the remains of

St Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...

are also said to be languishing in the church. St Cuthbert's church contains a monument to a local benefactress, Eleanor Engayne, who died about the year 1395 ; according to the ''Topography and Directory of Westmorland, 1851'', the manor of Clifton was given in the reign of

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 ...

, by Hugh de Morville, one of

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

's murderers, to Gilbert de Engayne, with whose descendants it continued till their heiress, Eleanor, in 1364, carried it in marriage to William de Wyberg.

Transport

There once were two railway stations, the 1846 Clifton station (later named Clifton and Lowther railway station) was on the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway (now part of 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 ...

WCML), it closed to passengers in 1938. Another station Clifton Moor station was on the Eden Valley Railway and opened 1863, closing in 1962. Confusingly Clifton & Lowther Station was at a hamlet known as Clifton Moor. The nearest station is now

Penrith railway station Penrith North Lakes (also shortened to Penrith) is a railway station on the West Coast Main Line, which runs between Euston railway station, London Euston and Glasgow Central station, Glasgow Central. Situated south of Carlisle, it serves the ...

. At the boundary with the civil parish of Yanwath and Eamont Bridge where the west coast mainline railway crosses the river Lowther is Hugh's Crag Viaduct (also known as ''Lowther Viaduct'', or ''Clifton Viaduct'') built in 1846.Lowther Viaduct
''www.engineering-timelines.com'' 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 ...

now also runs through the parish.

Other

The former Wetheriggs Pottery also is within the civil parish, east of the village. Clifton Hall is a 15th-century Pele tower.

References

Further information

*History, topography, and directory, of Westmorland: and Londsdale north of the sands, in Lancashire together with a descriptive and geological view of the whole of the Lake district, P. J. Mannex, 1849, "Clifton Parish" pp. 218–219, other pages
google books

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Clifton
(nb: provisional research only - see Talk page)
Clifton
The Cumbria Directory, ''www.thecumbriadirectory.com''
Clifton Standing Stones
''www.megalithic.co.uk''
Clifton - Moor - "The Battle of"
Contemporary account of the Battle of Clifton Moor by Thomas Savage, of Clifton End Farm, 1745, via ''edenlinks.rootsweb.com''
Clifton Tower Hall

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

, ''www.english-heritage.org.uk'' {{authority control Villages in Cumbria Civil parishes in Cumbria Westmorland and Furness