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

, in the parish of Hesket, 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 ...

district, in the traditional and 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 ...

but now in the ceremonial county 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. It is about north of Penrith. 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 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, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...

, dedicated to

St John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on h ...

, a

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

, 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 letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

closed in 2016. During the daytimes on Mondays to Saturdays there is an hourly

Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire operates both local and regional bus services in Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, England, as well as Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, which ...

bus service to Penrith and

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 ...

which has a reduced service in the evenings and on Sundays. Plumpton railway station was opened by the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway 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, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

but after ownership by the

London & 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 LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

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 Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways 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 contrasts with priv ...

. Plumpton is within the

of Hesket but was from 1866 to 1 April 1934 a separate parish under the name of Plumpton Wall. Before that it was a chapelry or

township 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 ...

of Lazonby 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 Morris & Co. 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