Crosby-on-Eden is the combined name for two small villages, High Crosby and Low Crosby, within the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Stanwix Rural Stanwix Rural is a civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England, immediately to the north east of Carlisle itself – parts of the Carlisle urban area are in the parish boundaries. The parish includes the villages and hamlets of ...

near

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 ...

, in the

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 ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England. It was formerly a parish in its own right under the name Crosby upon Eden. In 1931, the parish had a population of 238. On 1 April 1934, the parish was abolished and merged with Stanwix Rural, and part also went to

Wetheral Wetheral is a village, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Cumbria, England. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census, the population of the Wetheral Wards of the United Kingdom, Ward was ...

. The villages are by the River Eden north-east of

, joined by a road that used to be the line of the

Stanegate The Stanegate (meaning "stone road" in Northumbrian dialect) was an important Roman road and early frontier built in what is now northern England. It linked many forts including two that guarded important river crossings: Corstopitum (Corbr ...

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

. It has been thought on spacing grounds that there might have been a small

Roman fort ''Castra'' () is a Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified military base.. Included is a discuss ...

in Crosby-on-Eden, as part of the so-called Stanegate frontier which preceded

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 ...

, but if such a fort exists it has not yet been found. The Stanegate ran in a deep cutting still visible next to the road running west from High Crosby, and it has been suggested that part of the reason for the cutting was to produce stone for building work. The line of Hadrian's Wall passes a mile or so to the north, and the

Hadrian's Wall Path Hadrian's Wall Path is a long-distance footpath in the north of England, which became the 15th National Trail in 2003. It runs for , from Wallsend on the east coast of England to Bowness-on-Solway on the west coast. For most of its length it ...

follows the Stanegate through the villages. In Low Crosby is the Church of St John the Evangelist, a rebuilt church by R.H. Billings in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

style. A grange was built here and named Crosby. High Crosby is a half mile east of Low Crosby, and located in the village is Crosby House, a former mansion that is now a hotel. The villages are bypassed by the

A689 road The A689 is a road in northern England that runs east from the A595, to the west of Carlisle in Cumbria, to Hartlepool in County Durham. The road begins west of Carlisle, just outside the city at the A595. The initial stretch was recently co ...

which used to be numbered as part of the B6264 and follows the route of General Wade's Military Road. Crosby-on-Eden has a

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

, Crosby-on-Eden C. of E. School, built in 1844.

RAF Crosby-on-Eden

RAF Crosby-on-Eden Royal Air Force Crosby-on-Eden, or more simply RAF Crosby-on-Eden, is a former Royal Air Force station located north east of Carlisle, Cumbria and west of Brampton, Cumbria. It is nowadays Carlisle Lake District Airport. History Civil use I ...

was a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

airfield which was home to No.59 Operational Training Unit providing day training for

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

pilots. It was replaced by No. 9 Operational Training Unit, 17 Group

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

, in August 1942 for training long-range fighter crews on

Bristol Beaufort The Bristol Beaufort (manufacturer designation Type 152) is a British twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Bristol Blenheim, Blenheim li ...

and

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufor ...

conversion squadrons, as well as air firing and night flying. In August 1944, the station came under the command of No. 109 Operational Training Unit, a transport command of Douglas Dakotas.History of Dakota KG651
The station was renamed 1383 TCU on 1 August 1945. After the Second World War,

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The ...

commenced flights to

Ronaldsway Ronaldsway () is a settlement in the parish of Malew in the south of the Isle of Man, between the village of Ballasalla and the town of Castletown. Features It is notable as the location of Isle of Man Airport and historically of RNAS Ronaldsw ...

and

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. However, the RAF station had no post-war use or need and was closed in 1947. It was reopened in 1960 as Carlisle Airport. Since 2006, the airport has been known as

Carlisle Lake District Airport Carlisle Lake District Airport is a small airport located north-east of Carlisle, England on a plain near the River Irthing. Originally opened as an RAF base in 1941, it came under government ownership in the 1960s before being sold to Haug ...

, and since 30 May 2009, the airport lease has been owned by the

Stobart Group Esken Limited (), formerly Stobart Group Limited, is a British infrastructure, aviation and energy company, with operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is registered in Guernsey but has its operational head office in London, ...

References

External links

Cumbria County History Trust: Crosby on Eden
(nb: provisional research only – see Talk page)
Entry at "The Cumbria Directory"
{{authority control Villages in Cumbria Former civil parishes in Cumbria Cumberland (unitary authority)

RAF Crosby-on-Eden

See also

References

External links