Cumbria ( ) is a

ceremonial county Ceremonial counties, formally known as ''counties for the purposes of the lieutenancies'', are areas of England to which lord-lieutenant, lord-lieutenants are appointed. A lord-lieutenant is the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarch's repres ...

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

. It borders the Scottish council areas of

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

and

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

to the north,

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

and

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

to the east,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

to the south-east,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

to the south, and the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of

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 ...

. Cumbria is predominantly rural, with an area of and a population of 500,012; this makes it the third-largest ceremonial county in England by area but the eighth-smallest by population. Carlisle is located in the north; the towns of

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

and

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

lie on the west coast,

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

on the south coast, and Penrith and

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

in the east of the county. For local government purposes the county comprises two

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

areas,

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Cumbria was created in 1974 from the historic counties of

and

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 ...

, the

Furness Furness ( ) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria, England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, Historic counties of England, historically an exclave of Lancashire. On 1 April 2023 it became part of the new unitary author ...

area of Lancashire, and a small part of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. The interior of Cumbria contains several upland areas. Together they fringe the

Vale of Eden The Vale of Eden is formed by the course of the River Eden, one of the major rivers of Northwest England. It is however of much greater extent than the actual valley of the river, lying between the Cumbrian Mountains (more usually referred to a ...

, the wide valley of the River Eden, which runs south-east to north-west across the county and broadens into the

Solway Plain The Solway Plain or Solway Basin is a coastal plain located mostly in northwest Cumbria in England, extending just over the Scottish border to the low-lying area around Gretna and Annan. It lies generally north and west of Carlisle along the Sol ...

near Carlisle. To the north-east are part of the Border Moors, and to the east part of the

North Pennines The North Pennines are the northernmost section of the Pennines, a range of hills which run north–south through northern England. They run along the border between County Durham and Northumberland in the east and Cumbria in the west, and are ...

; the latter have been designated a

national landscape An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of rural area, countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for protected area, conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 202 ...

. South of the vale are the

Orton Fells The Orton Fells is an upland area in Northern England, mostly consisting of limestone hills, plateaus and moorlands. Historically in Westmorland, the area lies within the modern county of Cumbria and is bounded by the Lake District to the west, ...

Howgill Fells The Howgill Fells are uplands in Northern England between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, lying roughly within a triangle formed by the town of Sedbergh and the villages of Ravenstonedale and Tebay.

, and part of the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

, which are all within the

Yorkshire Dales national park The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a national park in England which covers most of the Yorkshire Dales, the Howgill Fells, and the Orton Fells. The Nidderdale area of the Yorkshire Dales is not within the national park, and has instead ...

. The south-west contains the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, a large upland area which has been designated a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. It includes

Scafell Pike Scafell Pike () is a mountain in the Lake District region of Cumbria, England. It has an elevation of above sea level, making it the highest and the most prominent mountain in England. The mountain is part of the Scafell massif, an extinct v ...

, England's highest mountain,Cumbrian Mountains: ''Philips' Elementary Atlas and Geography'', edited by

John Francon Williams John Francon Williams (1854 – 4 September 1911) was a British writer, geographer, historian, journalist, cartographer, and inventor, born in Llanllechid, Caernarvonshire. His seminal work was ''The Geography of the Oceans''. Family John Fra ...

published by George Philip & Son Ltd., 1882: (2) The Cumbrian Mountains are a group in the counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and northern Lancashire, near the coast of the Irish Sea. They contain the highest elevation in England – Scaw Fell (

), 3,208 feet above the level of the sea (retrieved 2018) and

Windermere Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...

, its longest and largest lake. The county has long coast to the west which is bordered by a plain for most of its length. The north-west coast is part of the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland. The firth (a Scottish term for an inlet of the sea) divides Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) from Dumfries and Gallow ...

, a national landscape, and the south coast includes the

Cartmel Cartmel is a village in Furness (traditionally "Lancashire-over-the-Sands" (and in the ceremonial county of Cumbria), England, northwest of Grange-over-Sands close to the River Eea. The village takes its name from the Cartmel Peninsula, a ...

and

peninsulas. East of the peninsulas, the county contains part of

Arnside and Silverdale Arnside and Silverdale National Landscape (legally and previously known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or AONB) in England, is on the border between Lancashire and Cumbria, adjoining Morecambe Bay. One of the smallest National Landsca ...

, another national landscape The county contains several

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

monuments, such as

Mayburgh Henge Mayburgh Henge is a large prehistoric monument in the county of Cumbria in northern England. The henge is in the care of English Heritage and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is 400 metres from King Arthur's Round Table Henge. Location Th ...

. The region was on the border of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

, and

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

runs through the north of the county. In the Early Middle Ages parts of the region successively belonged to

Rheged Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ('Old North'), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and bardic sources, ...

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

, and

Strathclyde Strathclyde ( in Welsh language, Welsh; in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic, meaning 'strath

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...

of the River Clyde') was one of nine former Local government in Scotland, local government Regions and districts of Scotland, regions of Scotland cre ...

, and there was also a

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

presence. It became the border between England and Scotland, and was unsettled until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. During the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

mining took place on the

Cumberland coalfield The Cumberland Coalfield is a coalfield in Cumbria, north-west England. It extends from Whitehaven in the south to Maryport and Aspatria in the north. Geology The following coal seams occur within the Coal Measures Group in this coalfield.Briti ...

and Barrow-in-Furness became a shipbuilding centre, but the county was not heavily industrialised and the Lake District became valued for its sublime and

picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...

qualities, notably by the

Lake Poets The Lake Poets were a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake District of England, United Kingdom, in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a group, they followed no single "school" of thought or literary practice then known. They ...

Name

The place names ''Cumbria'' and ''Cumberland'' both mean ''"land of the Cumbrians"'' and are names derived from the term that had been used by the inhabitants of the area to describe themselves. In the period , it is likely that any group of people living in Britain who identified as 'Britons' called themselves by a name similar to 'Cum-ri' which means "fellow countrymen" (and has also survived in the Welsh name for Wales which is ''Cymru''). The first datable record of the place name as ''Cumberland'' is from an entry in the

Anglo Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

for the year AD 945. This record refers to a kingdom known to the Anglo Saxons as ''Cumberland'' (often also known as Strathclyde) which in the 10th century may have stretched from Loch Lomond to Leeds. The first king to be unequivocally described as king of the Cumbrians is Owain ap Dyfnwal, who ruled from .

History

Cumbria was created in April 1974 through an amalgamation of the

administrative counties An administrative county was a first-level administrative division in England and Wales from 1888 to 1974, and in Ireland from 1899 until 1973 in Northern Ireland, 2002 in the Republic of Ireland. They are now abolished, although most Northern ...

and

, to which parts of

(the area known as Lancashire North of the Sands) and of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

were added. During the

period the area contained an important centre of stone axe production (the so-called Langdale axe factory), products of which have been found across Great Britain. During this period,

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

s and

henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...

s were built across the county, and today, Cumbria has one of the largest number of preserved field monuments in England'. While not part of the region conquered in the Romans' initial conquest of Britain in AD 43, most of modern-day Cumbria was later conquered in response to a revolt deposing the Roman-aligned ruler of the

Brigantes The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geog ...

in AD 69. The Romans built a number of fortifications in the area during their occupation, the most famous being

which passes through northern Cumbria. At the end of the period of British history known as

() the inhabitants of Cumbria were

Cumbric Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...

-speaking native

Celtic Britons The Britons ( *''Pritanī'', , ), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons, were the Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least the British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages, at which point they diverged into the Welsh, ...

who were probably descendants of the

and

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 ...

(sometimes considered to be a sub-tribe of the Brigantes) that the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

had conquered in about AD 85. Based on inscriptional evidence from the area, the Roman ' of the Carvetii seems to have covered portions of Cumbria. The names ''Cumbria'', ' (the native

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

name for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

), ''Cambria'', and ''Cumberland'' are derived from the name these people gave themselves, *''kombroges'' in

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...

, which originally meant "compatriots". Although Cumbria was previously believed to have formed the core of the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

Brittonic kingdom of

, more recent discoveries near

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

appear to contradict this. For the rest of the first millennium, Cumbria was contested by several entities who warred over the area, including the Brythonic Celtic

Kingdom of Strathclyde Strathclyde (, "valley of the River Clyde, Clyde"), also known as Cumbria, was a Celtic Britons, Brittonic kingdom in northern Britain during the Scotland in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages. It comprised parts of what is now southern Scotland an ...

and the Anglian

kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

. Most of modern-day Cumbria was a principality in the Kingdom of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

at the time of the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

in 1066 and thus was excluded from the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

survey of 1086. In 1092 the region was invaded by William II and incorporated into England. In 1133 the diocese of Carlisle was founded, cementing Cumbria's position within the English church. Cumbria left Scottish hands for the last time in 1157. Nevertheless, the region was dominated by the many

Anglo-Scottish Wars The Anglo-Scottish Wars comprise the various battles which continued to be fought between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland from the time of the Wars of Independence in the early 14th century through to the latter years of the ...

of the latter

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

and the associated

Border Reivers Border Reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality.Hay, D. "E ...

who exploited the dynamic political situation of the region. There were at least three sieges of Carlisle fought between England and Scotland, and two further sieges during the

Jacobite risings Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, ...

. After the Jacobite Risings of the 18th century, Cumbria became a more stable place and, as in the rest of

Northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

, the

caused a large growth in urban populations. In particular, the west coast towns of

Millom Millom is a town and civil parish on the north shore of the estuary of the River Duddon in southernmost Cumberland, Cumbria, England. It is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, about north of Barrow-in-Furness ( by road) and ...

and

saw large iron and

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

s develop, with Barrow also developing a significant

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

industry.

, Keswick and Carlisle all became

mill town A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more List of types of mill#Manufacturing facilities, mills or factories, often cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe ...

s, with textiles, pencils and biscuits among the products manufactured in the region. The early 19th century saw the county gain fame when the

and other artists of the

Romantic movement Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

, such as

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

and

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

, lived among, and were inspired by, the lakes and mountains of the region. Later, the children's writer

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

also wrote in the region and became a major landowner, granting much of her property to the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

on her death. In turn, the large amount of land owned by the National Trust assisted in the formation in 1951 of the

Lake District National Park The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, which remains the largest National Park in England and has come to dominate the identity and economy of the county. Historic counties within Cumbria

The

Windscale fire The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in the United Kingdom's history, and one of the worst in the world, ranked in severity at level 5 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire was in Unit 1 of ...

of 10 October 1957 was the worst

nuclear accident A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility." Examples include radiation poisoning, lethal effect ...

in Great Britain's history. Cumbria was created in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

from the traditional counties of

and

, the Cumberland

County Borough of Carlisle Carlisle was, from 1835 to 1974, a local government district in the northwest of England, coterminate with Carlisle. In 1835, following the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, Carlisle was constituted a municipal borough of Cumberland, but was pr ...

, along with the North Lonsdale or

part of

, usually referred to as "Lancashire North of the Sands", (including the county borough of

) and, from the

, the

Sedbergh Rural District Sedbergh Rural District was a rural district in the West Riding of Yorkshire in England from 1894 to its abolition in 1974. The district consisted of the three parishes of Sedbergh, Garsdale and Dent. In 1974 the district became part of the Sou ...

. Between 1974 and 2023 it was governed by

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council was the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it was an elected local government body re ...

but in 2023 the county council was abolished and replaced by two new unitary authorities

Council and

Council, hence Cumbria only now exists as a ceremonial county. On 2 June 2010, taxi driver Derrick Bird killed 12 people and injured 11 others in a shooting spree that spanned over along the Cumbrian coastline. Local newspapers ''

The Westmorland Gazette ''The Westmorland Gazette'' is a weekly newspaper published in Kendal, England, covering "South Lakeland and surrounding areas", including Barrow and North Lancashire. Its name refers to the historic county of Westmorland. The paper is now owned ...

'' and ''Cumberland and Westmorland Herald'' continue to use the name of their historic counties. Other publications, such as local government promotional material, describe the area as "Cumbria", as does the Lake District National Park Authority.

Geography

Cumbria is the most northwesterly ceremonial county of England and is mostly mountainous, with large upland areas to the south-west and east. The south-west contains the

, a

and

UNESCO world heritage site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

which includes

, England's highest mountain at , and

, its longest and largest lake. The Border Moors and

lie along the county's eastern border. The south-east contains the

and part of the

, which are all within the

. The

, the valley of the River Eden, runs south-east to north-west between these upland areas, and broadens into the

near Carlisle. The county has long coast to the west, which is bordered by a plain for most of its length. In the north-west it borders the

, a

, and to the south are the

and

peninsulas. East of the peninsulas, the county contains part of

, also a national landscape. The

Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria (Historic counties of England, historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River ...

runs from Preston into southern Cumbria and is partly in use. The

Ulverston Canal The Ulverston Canal is a ship canal that connects the town of Ulverston, Cumbria, England with Morecambe Bay. The waterway, which is entirely straight and on a single level, is isolated from the rest of the UK canal network. It was built so th ...

which once reached to

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is an estuary in north-west England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest ga ...

is maintained although it was closed in 1945. The county contains a number of

Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

, several of which are grouped into the Lake District High Fells, which is a designated

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

Boundaries and divisions

The northernmost and southernmost points in Cumbria are just west of

Deadwater, Northumberland Deadwater is a small settlement in Northumberland, England, about north west of Kielder, Northumberland, on the English side of the border between Scotland and England. It is regarded as the source of the River North Tyne, which merges w ...

and

South Walney South Walney is one of two nature reserves on Walney Island, England. The nature reserve has an area of 130 ha leased from Holker estates. It has been managed by the Cumbria Wildlife Trust since 1963. The reserve is notable for being a colony ...

respectively.

Kirkby Stephen Kirkby Stephen () is a market town and civil parish in Cumbria, England. It lies on the A685 and is surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about from the nearest larger towns, Kendal and Penrith. The River Eden rises away in the pea ...

(close to

Tan Hill, North Yorkshire Tan Hill () is a high point on the Pennine Way in North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Keld in the civil parish of Muker, near the borders of County Durham and Westmorland, and close to the northern boundary of the Yorkshire Dales Nationa ...

) and

St Bees Head St Bees Head is a headland on the North West coast of the English county of Cumbria and is named after the nearby village of St Bees. It is the only stretch of Heritage Coast on the English coastline between the Welsh and Scottish borders, an ...

are the most easterly and westerly points of the county. The boundaries are along the

in the west, and along the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

to the east. Cumbria's northern boundary stretches from the

from the

eastward along the border with

. Cumbria is bordered by

in England, and

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

and

Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale (''Rosbrog, Eadaraig agus Srath Labhdair'' in Scottish Gaelic) is a lieutenancy area of Scotland. The lieutenancy area was created on 1 April 1996, when local government was reorganised across Scotland under the ...

in Scotland. High Cup Nick

Economy

Many large companies and organisations are based in Cumbria. The county council itself employs around 17,000 individuals, while the largest private employer in Cumbria,

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

in Barrow employs around 12,000 with further job growth associated with new contracts expected, the

Sellafield Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...

nuclear processing site, has a workforce of 10,000.

Tourism

The largest and most widespread industry is tourism, with the county attracting over 47 million visitors annually. The

alone receives some 15.8 million visitors every year. Despite this, fewer than 50,000 people reside permanently within the Lake District: mostly in

Ambleside Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...

Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Windermere and Bowness, in the Westmorland and Furness district, in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Lake Windermere and the town of Wind ...

, Coniston,

Gosforth Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, situated north of the Newcastle City Centre, City Centre. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district of Northumberland from 1895 until 1974 before of ...

, Grasmere, Keswick, and

. Over 36,000 Cumbrians are employed in the tourism industry, which adds £1.1 billion a year to the county's economy. The Lake District and the county as a whole attract visitors from across the UK, Europe, North America and the Far East (particularly Japan). The tables below show the twenty most-visited attractions in Cumbria in 2009. (Not all visitor attractions provided data to Cumbria Tourism who collated the list. Those who did not included

Furness Abbey Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the country, behi ...

, the Lakes Aquarium and

South Lakes Safari Zoo South Lakes Safari Zoo (formerly South Lakes Wild Animal Park) was a zoo established in 1994 by David Gill, and located in Cumbria, England. Its name refers to its proximity to the Lake District, though it lies entirely within the Borough of ...

, the last of which would almost certainly rank within the top five.)

Economic output

Governance

Local

Cumbria is governed by two unitary authorities, Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council. The Cumberland unitary authority area covers the north and west of Cumbria, and

the south and east; they are named after the historic counties of

and

, but have different boundaries. Cumberland has had a Labour majority administration since the 2022 Cumberland Council election, and Westmorland and Furness has had a

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

majority administration since the 2022 Westmorland and Furness Council election. Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council collaborate through
Joint Executive Committee
and th
Enterprising Cumbria
Economic Growth Body. In September 2024, the two councils submitted an expression of interest to form a

combined authority A combined authority (CA) is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. CAs are created voluntarily and allow a group of local au ...

. Plans for a mayoral combined authority were agreed by the UK government in February 2025, with the first mayor expected to be elected in May 2026. Between 1974 and 2023 Cumbria was administered by

and six district councils:

Allerdale Allerdale was a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with Borough status in England and Wales, borough status. Its council – Allerdale Borough Council – was based in Workington, and the borough had a population of 96,422 at the ...

, Copeland, Eden, and

South Lakeland South Lakeland was a local government district in Cumbria, England, from 1974 to 2023. Its council was based in Kendal. The district covered the southern part of the Lake District region, as well as northwestern parts of the Yorkshire Dales. A ...

. These were abolished on 1 April 2023, when the two unitary authorities were established. The

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is an estate of the British sovereign. The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke, the then duke of Lancast ...

, the private estate of the sovereign, exercises some rights of

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

in the County Palatine of Lancaster, which includes the Furness area of Cumbria.

National

Until the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, there were six parliamentary constituencies in Cumbria:

Barrow and Furness Barrow and Furness, formerly known as Barrow-in-Furness, is a UK Parliament constituency in Cumbria. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Michelle Scrogham of the Labour Party since 2024. Since its inception i ...

, Copeland,

Penrith and the Border Penrith and The Border was a constituency in Cumbria represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Throughout its existence it elected only members of the Conservative Party. The seat was abolished prior to the 2024 general electio ...

Westmorland and Lonsdale Westmorland and Lonsdale is a constituency in the south of Cumbria, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Tim Farron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats (2015–2017). Westmorland and Lonsdale is the Lib ...

, and

. Five were won by the Conservative Party in the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,074,800 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Un ...

, with Westmorland and Lonsdale won by the Liberal Democrats. The

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

abolished Copeland, Workington, and Penrith and the Border, replacing them with the new constituencies of

Penrith and Solway Penrith and Solway is a List of UK Parliament constituencies, constituency of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review ...

and

Whitehaven and Workington Whitehaven and Workington is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was contested for the first time at the 2024 general election, since w ...

. The three remaining constituencies underwent significant boundary changes, including some electoral wards being transferred from Westmorland and Lonsdale to

Morecambe and Lunesdale Morecambe and Lunesdale is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2024 general election by Lizzi Collinge for Labour. Constituency profile From 1979 to 2019 the constituency was a bellwether c ...

, making the latter a cross-county constituency (it had previously been exclusively in

Politics

Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are strongest in rural areas, and Labour is strongest in the industrial towns.

Education

Although secondary schooling in Cumbria has a comprehensive system almost fully, there is one state

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

in Penrith. There are 42 state secondary schools and 10 independent schools. The more rural secondary schools tend to have

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

s (although in Barrow-in-Furness district, no schools have sixth forms due to the only sixth form college in Cumbria being located in the town) and this is the same for three schools in Allerdale and South Lakeland, and one in the other districts. Chetwynde is also the only school in Barrow to educate children from nursery all the way to year 11. Colleges of further education in Cumbria include: *

Carlisle College Carlisle College is a further education college serving the post 16 education and training needs of Carlisle, Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Gallow ...

* Furness College which includes

Barrow Sixth Form College Barrow Sixth Form College, no longer considered a sixth form college, is part of Furness College, and is in the outskirts of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Barrow Sixth Form College was established in 1979 to fulfil the role of the main A ...

* Kendal College * Lakes College The

University of Cumbria The University of Cumbria is a public university in Cumbria, with its headquarters in Carlisle and other major campuses in Lancaster, Ambleside, and London. It has roots extending back to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, establi ...

is one of the UK's newest universities, having been established in 2007. It is at present the only university based in Cumbria and has campuses across the county, together with

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

and London.

Transport

Road

The M6 is the only motorway that runs through Cumbria.

and Penrith are amongst its primary destinations. Further north it becomes the A74(M) at the border with Scotland north of

. Major A roads within Cumbria include: Several bus companies run services in Cumbria serving the main towns and villages in the county, with some services running to neighbouring areas such as

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 ...

is the largest; it has depots in Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Kendal and Workington. Stagecoach's flagship X6 route connects Barrow-in-Furness and Kendal in south Cumbria.

Air

There are only two airports in the county: Carlisle Lake District and Barrow/Walney Island. Both airports formerly served scheduled passenger flights and both are proposing expansions and renovations to handle domestic and European flights in the near future. The nearest international airports to south Cumbria are

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Liverpool John Lennon and

Teesside Teesside () is an urban area around the River Tees in North East England. Straddling the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, it spans the boroughs of Borough of Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton ...

. North Cumbria is closer to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, Glasgow Prestwick and Glasgow International.

Ports

Barrow-in-Furness is one of the country's largest shipbuilding centres, but the

Port of Barrow The Royal Port of Barrow refers to the enclosed dock system within the town of Barrow-in-Furness, England. Morecambe Bay is to the east of the port and the Irish Sea surrounds it to the south and west. The port is currently owned and operated ...

is only minor, operated by

Associated British Ports Associated British Ports (ABP) owns and operates 21 ports in the United Kingdom, managing around 25 per cent of the UK's sea-borne trade. The company's activities cover transport, haulage and terminal operations, ship's agency, dredging and mari ...

alongside the Port of

Silloth Silloth, or Silloth-on-Solway, is a port town and civil parish in the Cumberland (district), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town stands on the coast of the Solway Firth, west of Carlisle. It was developed from the 1850s onwards a ...

in Allerdale. There are no ferry links from any port or harbour along the Cumbria coast.

Rail

The busiest railway stations in Cumbria are

, Penrith and

Oxenholme Lake District Oxenholme Lake District railway station serves the village of Oxenholme, near Kendal, in Cumbria, England. It is a stop on the West Coast Main Line and is the south-eastern terminus of the branch line to . The station is managed by Avanti Wes ...

. 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 ...

runs through the Cumbria countryside, adjacent to the M6 motorway. The Cumbrian Coast Line connects Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle and is a vital link in the west of the county. Other railways in Cumbria are the Windermere Branch Line, most of the

Furness Line The Furness line is a British railway between and , joining the West Coast Main Line at . A predominantly passenger line, it serves various towns along the Furness coast, including Barrow-in-Furness, Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands. It runs th ...

and much of the Settle-Carlisle Railway.

Demography

Population

Cumbria's largest settlement and only city is

, in the north of the county. The largest town,

, in the south, is slightly smaller. The county's population is largely rural: it has the second-lowest population density among English counties, and only five towns with over 20,000 people. Cumbria is one of the country's most ethnically homogeneous counties, with 95% categorised as

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the White population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49 ...

(around 471,000 of the 500,000). The larger towns have ethnic makeups closer to the national average. The 2001 census indicated Christianity was the religion with the most adherents in the county. Map of Northern England with settlements and traditional counties

Map of Northern England with settlements and traditional counties

2010 ONS estimates placed the number of foreign-born (non-United Kingdom) people living in Cumbria at around 14,000 and foreign nationals at 6,000. Population trends indicate a gradual decline in younger demographics, with an increasing proportion of elderly residents. The

2001 UK Census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

showed the following most common countries of birth for residents of Cumbria that year:

Settlements

* Alston *

Appleby-in-Westmorland Appleby-in-Westmorland is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, with a population of 3,048 at the 2011 Census. Crossed by the River Eden, Appleby is the county town of the historic county of Westmorland. ...

Arlecdon and Frizington Arlecdon and Frizington is a civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The parish includes Arlecdon, Frizington, Rowrah and Asby. History Arlecdon was an ancient parish within the historic county of Cumberland. The pari ...

Askam and Ireleth Askam and Ireleth is a civil parish close to Barrow-in-Furness in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it originally consisted of two separate coastal villages with different origins and histories which, i ...

Aspatria Aspatria is a town and civil parish in Cumberland, Cumbria, England. The town rests on the north side of the Ellen Valley, overlooking a panoramic view of the countryside, with Skiddaw to the South and the Solway Firth to the North. Its dev ...

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

Cleator Moor Cleator Moor is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The parish was historically called Cleator. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the new settlement of Cleator Moor was built on the moo ...

Cockermouth Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. The name refers to the town's position by the confluence of the River Cocker into the River Derwent. At the 2021 census, the built u ...

* Coniston *

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas i ...

Dalton-in-Furness Dalton-in-Furness is a town in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, north east of Barrow-in-Furness. Along with the rest of the Furness peninsula, it was historically part of Lancashire. It is in the parish of Dalton Town with Newton, a ...

Egremont Egremont may refer to: Places * Egremont, Cumbria, England * Egremont, Merseyside, England * Egremont, Massachusetts, United States * Egremont, Alberta, Canada Other uses * Earl of Egremont Earl of Egremont was a title in the Peerage of Gr ...

* Grasmere *

Harrington Harrington (or Harington) may refer to: People as a surname *Harrington (surname) People as a forename * Arthur Raikes (Arthur Edward Harington Raikes, 1867–1915), British army officer * Charles Harrington Elster, American writer *Edward Josep ...

Hawkshead Hawkshead is a village and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It lies within the Lake District National Park and was historically part of Lancashire. The parish includes the hamlets of Hawkshead Hill, to the north west, ...

* Keswick *

Kirkby Lonsdale Kirkby Lonsdale () is a town and civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England, on the River Lune. Historically in Westmorland, it lies south-east of Kendal on the A65. The parish recorded a population of 1,771 in ...

* Kirkoswald * Longtown *

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

Milnthorpe Milnthorpe is a village, civil parish, and former market town in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It is south of Kendal. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Westmorland and on the A6 road (England), A6, the v ...

Sedbergh Sedbergh ( or ) is a town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Cumbria. It falls within the historic boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Since April 2023, it has been administered by Westmorland and Furness local authority. Th ...

Shap Shap is a village and civil parish located among fells and isolated dales in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. The village is in the historic county of Westmorland. The parish had a population of 1,221 in 2001, increasing slightly to ...

St Bees St Bees is a coastal village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England, on the Irish Sea. Within the parish is St Bees Head which is the only Heritage Coast between Wales and Scotland and a Site of Spec ...

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...

Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is part of Barrow-in-Furness, sepa ...

Wigton Wigton is a market town in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It lies just outside the Lake District. Wigton is at the centre of the Solway Plain, between the Caldbeck Fells and the Solway coast. It is served by Wigton railway st ...

Sport

Running

Fell running Fell running, also sometimes known as hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The name arises from the origins of the English sport o ...

is a popular sport in Cumbria, with an active calendar of competitions taking place throughout the year. Cumbria is also home to several of the most active

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

clubs in the UK as well as the Lakes 5 Days competition that takes place every four years.

Football codes

is home to the

ball game This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points. Games that include balls Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, inclu ...

known as Uppies and Downies, a traditional version of football, with its origins in

medieval football Medieval football is a modern term used for a wide variety of the localised informal football games which were invented and played in Europe, England during the Middle Ages. Alternative names include folk football, mob football and Shrovetide fo ...

or an even earlier form. Players from outside Workington also take part, especially fellow West Cumbrians from

and

. Cumbria formerly had minor American football clubs, the Furness Phantoms (the club is now defunct, its last name was Morecambe Bay Storm) and the Carlisle Kestrels.

Association

Barrow and

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

are the only professional football teams in Cumbria. Carlisle United attract support from across Cumbria and beyond, with many Cumbrian "ex-pats" travelling to see their games, both home and away.

—who are always known locally as "the reds"—are a well-supported non-league team, having been relegated from the Football League in the 1970s. Workington made a rapid rise up the non league ladder and in 2007/08 competed with Barrow in the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

. Barrow were then promoted to the

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

in 2007/08. In 2020, Barrow were promoted to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

as a result of winning the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

Rugby codes

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

is popular in the county's north and east with teams such as Furness RUFC & Hawcoat Park RUFC (South Cumbria), Workington RUFC (Workington Zebras), Whitehaven RUFC, Carlisle RUFC, Creighton RUFC,

Aspatria RUFC Aspatria Rugby Union Football Club is an English rugby union club based in Aspatria, Cumbria (formerly Cumberland) in north west England, not far from the Anglo-Scottish Border, Scottish Border. They are nicknamed the "Black Reds", and have a red ...

, Wigton RUFC, Kendal RUFC, Kirkby Lonsdale RUFC, Keswick RUFC, Cockermouth RUFC, Upper Eden RUFC and

Penrith RUFC Penrith Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Penrith, 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 no ...

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

is a very popular sport in south and West Cumbria. Barrow,

and

play in the

Rugby League Championships The RFL Championships was a collective name for the second and third tiers of the British rugby league system between 2009 and 2015: *RFL Championship *RFL League 1 The Rugby Football League's League One (known as the Betfred League One) is ...

Amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

teams; Wath Brow Hornets, Askam,

Egremont Rangers Egremont Rangers is an amateur rugby league club in Egremont, Cumbria, which plays at Gillfoot Park and competes in the National Conference League Division 1. Former players • Garry Purdham • Rob Purdham Challenge Cup history Egremont ...

, Kells, Barrow Island, Hensingham and

play in the National Conference.

Bat-and-ball

Cumbria County Cricket Club Cumbria County Cricket Club (formerly Cumberland County Cricket Club) is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. The team ...

is one of the

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

clubs that constitute the National Counties in the English domestic cricket structure. The club, based in

, competes in the

National Counties Cricket Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association, National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-ca ...

and the

NCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

. The club also play some home matches in

, as well as other locations. Cumbrian

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obse ...

teams play in the

North Lancashire and Cumbria League The Cumbria Cricket League, formerly the North Lancashire and Cumbria League, is an independent club cricket league for teams in Northern Lancashire and Cumbria, England. Other club cricket leagues in the North West of England include the N ...

. Cumbria is home to the Cartmel Valley Lions, an amateur baseball team based in Cartmel.

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 practised at the Grasmere 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, while other historians associate it with the Cornish and

Gouren Gouren is a style of folk wrestling which has been established in Brittany for several centuries. It is practiced mainly in Brittany, but also in some neighboring regions, in particular through international meetings organized by the FILC (Fédér ...

styles indicating that it may have developed out of a longer-standing Celtic tradition.

Racing

Cumbria Kart Racing Club is based at the Lakeland Circuit,

Rowrah Rowrah is a village in Cumbria, England, and spans the civil parishes of Arlecdon and Frizington and Lamplugh. The majority of Rowrah is within Arlecdon and Frizington. The parish boundaries are formed from the Windergill Beck and Colliergate B ...

, between

and

br>Lakeland Circuit
The track is currently a venue for rounds of both major UK national karting championship
About Cumbria Kart Racing Club

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

world champions

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

and

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...

both raced karts at Rowrah many times in the formative stages of their motor sport careers, while other F1 drivers, past and present, to have competed there include

Johnny Herbert John Paul Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and broadcaster. He competed in Formula One from to , winning three Formula One Grands Prix over a 12-season career. In endurance racing, Herbert won the 24 Hours of Le ...

Anthony Davidson Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Davidson won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014 with Toyota. Born in Hem ...

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2013, as well as a three-time wi ...

Ralph Firman Ralph David Firman Jr. (born 20 May 1975) is a British and Irish former racing driver who last raced under an Irish licence. His father, Ralph Firman Sr., co-founded the Van Diemen racecar constructor with Ross Ambrose, father of V8 Supercars ...

Paul di Resta Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver and broadcaster from Scotland, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot. Di Resta competed in Formula One between and . Born in Uphall and raised in Bathg ...

and

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster from Scotland who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "DC", Coulthard was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' ...

, who hailed from just over the nearby Anglo-Scottish border and regarded Rowrah as his home circuit, becoming Cumbria Kart Racing Club Champion in 1985 in succession to McNish (di Resta also taking the CKRC title subsequently).

Workington Comets The Workington Comets are a British motorcycle speedway club, based in Workington, Cumbria based at the Northside Speedway track (known as the GT Tyres Arena for sponsorship purposes). The team previously operated from 1970 to 2018 and were ba ...

were a Workington-based professional

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

team, which competed in the British Speedway Championship. The

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

team

Ford World Rally Team The Ford World Rally Team, also known as the ''Ford Motor Co. Team'' prior to 2005, was Ford Motor Company's factory World Rally Championship team. It was a regular competitor in the series from the 1970s until withdrawing following the 2012 ...

were based in Cumbria until their withdrawal after the 2012 season. A successful team, they won the Championship for manufacturers three times. The

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team (formerly "M-Sport World Rally Team", "Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team", and "Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team") is the privately run World Rally Championship team of M-Sport, the firm run by Malcolm Wilson (rally d ...

succeeded this team and have since won the Championship for manufacturers in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Food

Cumbria is the UK county with the highest number of

Michelin-starred The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

restaurants, with seven in this classification in the Great Britain and Ireland Michelin Guide of 2021. Traditional Cumbrian cuisine has been influenced by the spices and molasses that were imported into

in the 18th century. The

Cumberland sausage Cumberland sausage is a pork sausage that originated in the historic county of Cumberland, England, ceremonially part of Cumbria. It is traditionally very long, up to , and sold rolled in a flat, circular coil, but within western Cumbria, it is ...

(which has a

protected geographical status Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), promote and protect na ...

) is a well-recognised result of this. Other regional specialities include Herdwick mutton and the salt-marsh raised lamb of the

Cartmel Peninsula Cartmel Peninsula is a peninsula in Cumbria in England. It juts in a southerly direction into Morecambe Bay, bordered by the estuaries of the River Leven to the west and the River Winster to the east. It is, along with the Furness Peninsula, ( ...

Dialect influences

Celtic

* Cumbria was mostly Celtic speaking until the Viking invasion, if not later (Cymry) * English spoken in parts of Cumbria; relatively sparsely populated until 12th/13th centuries * The invading Angles and Saxons forced the indigenous Celtic peoples back to the western highlands of Cumbria, Wales and Cornwall, with little linguistic consequence, apart from a residual scattering of place-names. * Northwest – possibility of direct influence from Irish Gaelic across Irish Sea via Whitehaven until 10th century * Celtic influence/kingdoms may have confirmed perception of difference between the north–south * Linguistic interaction between Celts and English underrated: effectively Celtic influence marked the beginnings of a linguistic divide between English and other West Germanic dialects. *

Lexis Lexis may refer to: *Lexis (linguistics), a term for a language's lexicon in the abstract, or a synonymous expression *Lexis (Aristotle), in philosophy *Lexis diagram, in demography Publications *LexisNexis, a database of legal and public records ...

– Celtic influence left specifically on the sound pattern of sheep-scoring numerals of Cumbrian and West Yorkshire * Loss of inflections may be explained by contact with Celtic tribes and inter-marriage.

Anglo-Saxon/Viking

* Earliest Anglo-Saxon settlements in the east of England. Took over 200 years to establish a frontier in the west where the displaced British had settled * Morphology – Old Northumbrian (little evidence) signs of loss of inflexions long before southern dialects below the Humber, precede Viking settlements and dialect contact situation

Scandinavian/Norse/Dane

* Lack of extent of Old English written evidence * Main attacks/raids on the North-East coast at Lindisfarne and Jarrow in 793/ 794 * Settlement patterns (Danes) contributed to emerging differences over time between Northumberland. Durham and Yorkshire dialects * Norwegian settlers via Ireland to Isle of Man, Mersey estuary (901) and the Cumbrian/ Lancashire coasts (900–50) – dialectal differences (Danes/ Norwegians) often lumped together in standard histories – MUST have confirmed emerging dialectal differences east and west of the Pennines * Danelaw – land of north and east of land ruled under Danish law and Danish customs (978–1016) * Scandinavian influences vocabulary – common words gradually diffused/ entered word stock (borrowings) which survive in regional use – ''fell'' ('hillside'), ''lug'' ('ear'), ''loup'' ('jump'), ''aye'' ('yes') * Influence on grammatical structure – Middle English texts reveal that present participle form ''-and'', and possible that use of ''at'' and ''as'' as relative pronouns from Cumbria to East Yorkshire * Phonetically /g/, /k/ and cluster /sk/ have a northern/ Norse pronunciation /j/, /ʧ/ and /ʃ/ which are West Saxon – hard vs. soft consonants of north–south dialects – e.g. ''give/ rigg'' ('ridge'), ''skrike'' ('shriek'), ''kist'' ('chest') and ''ik'' ('I') * 'Interdialect forms' in Danelaw area (diffuse > focussed situation) – no clear idea about what language they were speaking – mixture of Old English and Norse e.g. ''she'' (3rd person pronoun) is claimed by both languages * Bilingualism was norm in areas under Danelaw (plausible) * Norse runic inscriptions survive from 11th century in Cumbria – therefore may only been after Norman Conquest that 'Norse as a living language died out' * Norse surviving longest in closed communities

Normans

* Jewell (1994: 20) – Northumbria retained relative independence until 13th century – effective government of North by Normans 'petered-out' at Lake District and North of Tees (not recorded in Domesday Book) * Carlisle retaken by Scots in 1136

Cumbric

* Early 10th century – The grip from Northumbrian on the former territory of

was that of Britons of Strathcylde reoccupied southwest Scotland and northwest England as far south as Derwent and Penrith. which was held until Carlisle retaken by Scots in 1136 * Cumbric perhaps survived until it faded in the early 12th century throughout Cumbria. * Cumbric score – counting sheep – Welsh correspondence Welsh ("un, dau, tri") – Cumberland ("yan, tyan, tethera") – Westmorland ("yan, than, teddera") – Lancashire ("yan, taen, tedderte") – West Yorkshire ("yain, tain, eddero") – survived 7–8 centuries after the language itself had died – Brittonic origin * Not one single complete phrase in Cumbric survives, evidence to suggest strong literary tradition, probably oral, some of this early material is known in a Welsh version

Media

Two evening newspapers are published daily in Cumbria. The ''

News and Star The ''News and Star'' (formerly the ''Evening News and Star'' and ''Cumberland Evening News'') is a local tabloid newspaper in Cumbria. As of 18 October 2018, it belongs to Newsquest who produce several regional newspapers throughout the UK. ...

'' focuses largely on Carlisle and the surrounding areas of north and west Cumbria, and the ''

North-West Evening Mail ''The Mail'', known previously as the ''North-West Evening Mail'' (1987–2017), is a daily, local newspaper in the United Kingdom, printed every morning. It is based in Barrow-in-Furness. ''The Mail'' was founded as the ''North-Western Daily M ...

'' is based in Barrow-in-Furness and covers news from across Furness and the South Lakes. The ''

Cumberland and Westmorland Herald The ''Cumberland & Westmorland Herald'' (formerly known as ''The Penrith Herald'', ''The Appleby and Kirkby Stephen Herald'', and ''The Mid Cumberland and North Westmorland Herald'' over the years) is a local newspaper in Cumbria, England. Est ...

'' and ''

'' are weekly newspapers based in Penrith and

respectively. The Egremont 2Day newspaper, formerly Egremont Today when affiliated with the Labour Party, was a prominent monthly publication – founded by Peter Watson (and edited by him until his death in 2014) in 1990 until July 2018. In February 2020 The Herdwick News, run by the last editor of The Egremont 2Day, was launched and is an independent online news publication covering the county of Cumbria and the North West. Due to the size of Cumbria the county spans two television zones:

BBC North East and Cumbria BBC North East and Cumbria is one of the BBC's BBC English Regions, English regions covering Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside, City of Sunderland, County Durham, Northumberland, north and mid Cumbria and parts of N ...

and

ITV Border ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, th ...

in the north and centre, and

BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire (western Craven District, Craven), Derbyshire (western High Peak, Derbyshire, High ...

and

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

in the south.

Heart North West Heart North West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North West England. Overview Century Radio (1998–2009) The station opened as Century Radio on 8 September 1998 as the se ...

Greatest Hits Radio Cumbria & South West Scotland Greatest Hits Radio Cumbria & South West Scotland (formerly CFM) is an Independent Local Radio station based in Carlisle, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hi ...

and

Smooth Lake District Smooth Lake District is an Independent Local Radio station for the Lakes, owned and operated by Global and part of the Smooth network. Overview Originally known as Lakeland Radio, the station broadcasts from transmitters at Kendal on 100.1&nbs ...

are the most popular local radio stations throughout the county, with

BBC Radio Cumbria BBC Radio Cumbria is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cumbria. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in Carlisle. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 80,000 liste ...

being the only station that is aimed at Cumbria as a whole.

BBC Radio Lancashire BBC Radio Lancashire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lancashire. Originally launched as BBC Radio Blackburn, in 1981 it expanded to cover the whole county and was renamed BBC Radio Lancashire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB ...

can also be received in southern parts of the county. The Australian-New Zealand feature film '' The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey'' (1988) is set in Cumbria during the onset of the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

in 14th-century Europe. Cumbria is host to a number of festivals, including

Kendal Calling Kendal Calling is a music and arts festival, held annually at Lowther Deer Park in the Lake District, Cumbria in the North West of England. It has grown from a two-day, 900 capacity event in 2006 to a 40,000 capacity 4-day music festival. Kend ...

(actually held in Penrith since 2009) and

Kendal Mountain Festival The Kendal Mountain Festival is an annual event held in November in Kendal, Cumbria, on the edge of the English Lake District in the UK. It celebrates outdoor and adventure culture with a diverse programme of films, talks, workshops and other eve ...

Places of interest

Gallery

Notable people

File:Stan Laurel c1920.jpg,

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel ( ; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 sh ...

File:Potter 1912.JPG,

File:William Wordsworth at 28 by William Shuter2.jpg,

References

External links

Cumbria
at the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' {{Authority control Counties of England established in 1974 Former non-metropolitan counties North West England NUTS 2 statistical regions of the United Kingdom

Name

History

Geography

Boundaries and divisions

Economy

Tourism

Economic output

Governance

Local

National

Politics

Education

Transport

Road

Air

Ports

Rail

Demography

Population

Settlements

Sport

Running

Football codes

Association

Rugby codes

Bat-and-ball

Wrestling

Racing

Food

Dialect influences

Celtic

Anglo-Saxon/Viking

Scandinavian/Norse/Dane

Normans

Cumbric

Media

Places of interest

Gallery

Notable people

See also

References

External links