'Cumbria' (), is a
shire county in the extreme
North West of
England. Cumbria came into existence as a county in
1974 after the passage of the
Local Government Act 1972. The county consists of six
districts, and has a total
population of 498,800.
Cumbria, the
third largest county in England, is bound to the west by the
Irish Sea, to the south by
Lancashire, to the southeast by
North Yorkshire, and to the east by
County Durham and
Northumberland.
Scotland lies directly to the north.
A predominantly rural county, Cumbria is home to the
Lake District National Park, considered one of the most beautiful areas of the
United Kingdom. The area has provided inspiration for generations of British and foreign artists, writers and musicians. Much of the county is
mountainous, with the highest point of the county (and of England) being
Scafell Pike at 978 m (3210 ft). All the territory in England that is over 3,000 feet above sea level is in Cumbria.
Parts of
Hadrian's Wall can be found in the northernmost reaches of the county, in and around
Carlisle.
Boundaries and divisions
Cumbria is neighboured by
Northumberland,
County Durham,
North Yorkshire,
Lancashire, and the
Lieutenancy areas of
Dumfries and
Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale in Scotland.
The boundaries are along the
Irish Sea to
Morecambe Bay in the west, and along the
Pennines to the east. Cumbria's northern boundary stretches from the
Solway Firth along the border with
Scotland to
Northumberland.
It is made up of six
districts:
Allerdale,
Barrow-in-Furness,
Carlisle,
Copeland,
Eden and
South Lakeland. For many administrative purposes Cumbria is divided into 3 areas - East, West and South. East being the districts of Carlisle and Eden, West - Allerdale and Copeland and South Lakeland and Barrow making up South Cumbria.
In January 2007, Cumbria County Council voted in favour of an official bid to scrap the current two-tier system of county and district councils in favour of a new
unitary Cumbria Council, to be submitted for consideration to the
Department for Communities and Local Government.
[1]
The county returns 6
Members of Parliament to the
House of Commons, representing the constituencies of
Carlisle,
Penrith & The Border,
Workington,
Copeland,
Westmorland and Lonsdale and
Barrow & Furness.
History
Main articles: History of Cumbria
The county of Cumbria was created in
1974. It was a combination of the area of the
administrative counties of
Cumberland and
Westmorland, the Cumberland county borough of
Carlisle, along with the North Lonsdale or
Furness part of Lancashire (including the
county borough of
Barrow-in-Furness), and from the
West Riding of Yorkshire, the
Sedbergh Rural District. The name "Cumbria" has been used for the territory for centuries.
Following the creation of Cumbria as a non-metropolitan county, some people, particularly those born or brought up in the area, continue to refer to some parts of Cumbria as part of the
ancient county boundaries; this includes the
Furness area as a part of
Lancashire, and the
Kendal and surrounding area as a part of
Westmorland.
Local papers ''The Westmorland Gazette'' and ''Cumberland and Westmorland Herald'' are continue to be named on this pre-1974 county basis. Others, including local government, promotional material for the area, the
Lake District National Park Authority, and most visitors describe the area as being in "Cumbria". A MORI poll in the county found 79% of those polled identified "very strongly" or "strongly" to Cumbria throughout the county, but dropping to 55% and 71% in Barrow and South Lakeland districts, which incorporate part of historic Lancashire.
[2]
Culture
The culture of the area was predominantly
Celtic until fairly late after the annexation by the
Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria (see
Rheged), and the name for the area derives from its name in the
Cumbric language. It is etymologically connected to the
Welsh term ''Cymru'', meaning "
Land of brothers", which is now used as the Welsh name for
Wales itself. The Cumbric language has been extinct since about the 11th century.
In 2006, the first annual Celtic Cumbria festival was held in Grasmere.
Dialect
The
Cumbrian dialect is spoken throughout the region. There is quite a large variation in accent and words, especially between north and south and west coast.
Many of the traditional dialect words are remnants of Norse settlement, with
Norwegian settlers probably arriving in Cumbria in the 10th century via
Ireland and the
Isle of Man.
Sport
Carlisle United are the only professional football team in Cumbria. They attract support from across Cumbria. However
Barrow A.F.C., has been one of the best supported
non-league football teams in the
UK since their relegation in the
1970s. Recently
Workington Reds have also made a rapid rise up the non league ladder and now compete with Barrow in the Conference North.
Rugby league is a very popular sport in West Cumbria.
Whitehaven RLFC,
Workington Town and
Barrow Raiders all compete in the
National Leagues.
Carlisle RLFC played in the national competitions between 1981 and 1997, Carlisle today has Carlisle Centurions in the
Rugby League Conference. There are amateur
BARLA teams playing in the
National Conference, notablely Wath Brow Hornets and
Millom as as well as a
Cumberland League and
Barrow & District League.
Rugby union is very popular in the east of the county with teams such as Carlisle RUFC, Kendal RUFC, Kirkby Lonsdale RUFC, Keswick RUFC, Upper Eden RUFC and Penrith RUFC (who have recently been promoted to the National Leagues) competing in many local and national competitions.
'Wrestling''
Main articles: Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling
Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling is an ancient and well-practised tradition in the county with a strong resemblance to
Scottish Backhold.
In the 21st century Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling along with other aspects of Lakeland culture are practiced at the
Grassmere Sports and Show, an annual meeting held every year since 1852 on the August
Bank Holiday.
The origin of this form of wrestling is a matter of debate, with some describing it as having evolved from Norse wrestling brought over by Viking invaders,
[3][4] while other historians associate it with the
Cornish and
Gouren styles
[5] indicating that it may have developed out of a longer-standing Celtic tradition
[6].
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of East Cumbria at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added[7] | Agriculture[8] | Industry[9] | Services[10] |
|---|
| 1995 | '2,679' | 148 | 902 | 1,629 |
| 2000 | '2,843' | 120 | 809 | 1,914 |
| 2003 | '3,388' | 129 | 924 | 2,335 |
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of West Cumbria at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added7 | Agriculture8 | Industry9 | Services10 |
|---|
| 1995 | '2,246' | 63 | 1,294 | 888 |
| 2000 | '2,415' | 53 | 1,212 | 1,150 |
| 2003 | '2,870' | 60 | 1,420 | 1,390 |
Demographics
Main articles: List of places in Cumbria
Towns and Villages
Carlisle is the largest and only city in the county, whilst Barrow-in-Furness (the largest town) is between 2 and 3 times larger than the second largest town (Kendal).
The twelve most populated settlements in Cumbria are listed below:
| 'Rank' | 'Town' | 'Population' | 'District' | 'Percentage of Cumbria's population' |
| 1 | Carlisle | 105,200 | City of Carlisle | 21.1% |
| 2 | Barrow-in-Furness | 71,980 | Barrow-in-Furness | 14.4% |
| 3 | Kendal | 27,521 | South Lakeland | 5.5% |
| 4 | Whitehaven | 25,500 | Copeland | 5.1% |
| 5 | Workington | 25,000 | Allerdale | 5.0% |
| 6 | Penrith | 14,756 | Eden | 3.0% |
| 7 | Maryport | 11,275 | Allerdale | 2.3% |
| 8 | Ulverston | 11,210 | South Lakeland | 2.2% |
| 9 | Dalton-in-Furness | 11,000 | Barrow-in-Furness | 2.2% |
| 10 | Cockermouth | 7,787 | Allerdale | 1.6% |
| 11 | Cleator Moor | 6,963 | Copeland | 1.4% |
| 12 | Harrington | 5,000 | Copeland | 1.0% |
| 13 | Brampton | 4,001 | City of Carlisle | 0.8% |
| 14 | Grange-over-Sands | 4,000 | South Lakeland | 0.8% |
| 15 | Bowness-on-Windermere | 3,814 | South Lakeland | 0.8% |
| 16 | Egremont | 3,707 | Copeland | 0.7% |
| 17 | Sedbergh | 3,691 | South Lakeland | 0.7% |
| 18 | Silloth | 3,305 | Allerdale | 0.7% |
| 19 | Aspatria | 3,266 | Allerdale | 0.7% |
| 20 | Longtown | 3,000 | City of Carlisle | 0.6% |
Density
Cumbria as a whole is the second least densely populated county in
England with only 73 people per square kilometre. Despite it being the third largest in area (6,768 km²), about a third of the county is taken up by the
Lake District National Park. Below is a table listing each district by population density.
| District | Population Density | Population | Area |
|---|
| Barrow-in-Furness | 924 / km² | 71,980 | 77.87 km² |
| Carlisle | 101 / km² | 105,200 | 1,039.97 km² |
| Copeland | 97 / km² | 71,500 | 737.59 km² |
| Allerdale | 77 / km² | 96,300 | 1,553.39 km² |
| South Lakeland | 66 / km² | 102,900 | 1,257.79 km² |
| Eden | 24 / km² | 52,800 | 2,156.45 km² |
Ethnicity
The data below is based on the
2001 UK Census, and the recent available
2004 Estimates (Barrow-in-Furness only)
People of interest
★
Sir John Barrow
★
Helen Berry
★
Norman Birkett
★
Chris Bonington
★
Melvyn Bragg
★
British Sea Power
★
Donald Campbell
★
Fletcher Christian
★
Lady Anne Clifford
★
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
★
John Dalton
★
Thomas DeQuincey
★
Douglas Ferreira
★
Margaret Fell
★
Willie Horne
★
Francis Howgill
★
Emlyn Hughes
★
Thomas Henry Ismay
★
Joanna Kyles
★
Stan Laurel
★
Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale
★
Joss Naylor
★
Norman Nicholson
★
Catherine Parr
★
John Peel (farmer)
★
Beatrix Potter
★
Scott James Preston
★
Sir James Ramsden
★
Hardwicke Rawnsley
★
Will Ritson
★
George Romney
★
John Ruskin
★
Rory Thomas Sewell
★
Montagu Slater
★
Richard T. Slone
★
Robert Southey
★
John Sowerby
★
Gary Stevens
★
Stuart Stockdale
★
Edward Troughton
★
Keith Tyson
★
Josefina de Vasconcellos
★
Alfred Wainwright
★
Lord Soulsby
★
John Wilkinson (industrialist)
★
Dorothy Wordsworth
★
William Wordsworth
★
Carl George Dalton (Economist)
Places of interest
★
Low Mead, Hallgarth, Kendal
★
Bassenthwaite Lake
★
Bewcastle
★
Black Combe
★
Brantwood
★
Brougham Hall
★
Broughton in Furness
★
Brougham Castle
★
Buttermere
★
Cartmel Priory
★
Castlerigg Stone Circle
★
Cockermouth, "Gem" Town
★
Coniston Water
★
Crummock Water
★
Cumbria Coastal Way long distance footpath
★
Cumbria Way long distance footpath
★
Dales Way long distance footpath
★
Derwent Water
★
Eden Valley Railway —
heritage railway
★
Ennerdale Water
★
Fell Foot Park
★
Firbank Fell
★
Fisher Tarn Reservoir
★
Furness
★
Furness Abbey
★
Haig Colliery Mining Museum
★
Harrison Stickle
★
Paul Lomas (Lambs)
★
Hartley Castle
★
Haweswater
★
Hawkshead Grammar School Museum
★
Hoad Monument
★
Hodbarrow Nature Reserve
★
Holker Hall
★
Kentmere
★
Killington Reservoir
★
Kirkby Lonsdale
★
Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway —
heritage railway
★
Langwathby station and Brief Encounters Cafe
★
Windermere (the lake)
★
Lanercost Priory
★
Laurel & Hardy Museum
★
Levens Hall
★ The former site of the Beast Banks post office in
Longsleddale.
★
Millom
★
Millom Folk Museum
★
National Nature Reserves in Cumbria
★
Pennine Way long distance footpath
★
Piel Island
★
Quaker tapestry,
Kendal
★
RAF Millom Museum
★
Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway —
heritage railway
★
Rheged
★
Rydal Water
★
Seathwaite Tarn
★
Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Facility
★
Silecroft
★
Sizergh Castle & Garden
★
Staveley
★
Swarthmoor Hall
★
Thirlmere
★
Ullswater
★
Vickerstown
★
Wast Water
★
Whitehaven
★
Whinfell Forest
★
Wreay near Carlisle
See also
★
Anglo-Scottish border
★
Etymology of Cumbrian Place Names
★
Cumbrian dialect
References
1. County council votes to pursue a single council for Cumbria
2. Local Government Review in
the Cumbria County Council Area
3. Kronos; A Chronology of the Martial Arts and Combative Sports
4. Wrestling in Gaelic Culture Cinaet Scothack
5. Amateur Wrestling
6. Kronos; A Chronology of the Martial Arts and Combative Sports
7. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
8. includes hunting and forestry
9. includes energy and construction
10. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
External links
★
Official Tourist Board Website
★
Cumbria Tourist and Historical Website
★
BBC Cumbria Digital Lives Project
★
Carlisle Diocese (Church of England)
★
Rydal Hall - Carlisle Diocesan Retreat and Conference centre
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