Everything about Cumberland England totally explained
Cumberland is one of the 39
historic counties of England. It formed an
administrative county from 1889 to 1974 (excluding Carlisle from 1915) and now forms part of
Cumbria.
Early history
At the time of the
Domesday Book in 1086 most of the county was part of
Scotland although some villages in the far south west were included in the
Yorkshire section with the
Furness region.
The historic county boundaries formed by the 12th Century were with
Northumberland and
County Durham to the east,
Westmorland to the south, the
Furness part of
Lancashire to the south-west,
Dumfriesshire in
Scotland to the north and
Roxburghshire in Scotland to the north-east.
Ullswater formed part of the border with Westmorland.
The highest point of the county is
Scafell Pike at 978 m (3,208 ft); it's the highest
mountain in England.
Carlisle is the historic
county town of the county.
Division into wards
The county was divided into five
wards, rather than the
hundreds found in most English counties. The wards were:
Modern history
In 1889, under the
Local Government Act 1888, a county council was created for Cumberland, taking over administrative functions from the
Quarter Sessions. The
Local Government Act 1894 further divided the county into urban districts and rural districts.
Carlisle was created a
county borough in 1915 and no longer formed part of the area under the control of the county council, or
administrative county.
In 1974, under the
Local Government Act 1972, the administrative county and county borough were abolished and their former area was combined with
Westmorland and parts of
Lancashire and the
West Riding of Yorkshire to form the new county of
Cumbria. The area from Cumberland went on to form the districts of
Carlisle,
Allerdale,
Copeland and part of
Eden.
The distribution of population in 1971 was as follows:
| District |
opulation |
| County Borough of Carlisle |
71,580 |
| Cockermouth Urban District |
6,366 |
| Keswick Urban District |
5,184 |
| Maryport Urban District |
11,612 |
| Penrith Urban District |
11,308 |
| Whitehaven Urban District |
26,721 |
| Municipal Borough of Workington |
28,431 |
| Alston with Garrigill Rural District |
1,917 |
| Border Rural District |
29,267 |
| Cockermouth Rural District |
21,520 |
| Ennerdale Rural District |
30,983 |
| Millom Rural District |
14,088 |
| Penrith Rural District |
11,380 |
| Wigton Rural District |
21,830 |
Legacy
The name continues in use as a geographical and cultural term, and survives in
Cumberland sausages,
Cumberland County Cricket Club and various organisations and companies, such as the local newspapers
The Cumberland News, and
The West Cumberland Times and Star, and the
Cumberland Building Society.
In June 1994, during the
1990s UK local government reform, the Local Government Commission published draft recommendations, suggesting as one option a North Cumbria
unitary authority (also including
Appleby, the historic county town of Westmorland). It also suggested that Cumberland could be reinstated as an independent
ceremonial county. The final recommendations, published in October 1994, didn't include such recommendations, apparently due to lack of expression of support for the proposal to the commission.
As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity
Plantlife chose the
Grass-of-Parnassus as the
county flower. Parnassus flowers had been associated with the county since
1951, when they were included in the
coat of arms granted to the Cumberland County Council. They subsequently featured in the arms granted to Cumbria County Council and
Copeland Borough Council, in both cases to represent Cumberland.
Bibliography
Cumberland Heritage by Molly Lefebure (Chapters include Camden, Briathwaite, Millbeck, Fellwalkers, Carlisle Canal, Armboth, John Peel (Farmer) and The Blencathra), with endpaper maps of old Cumberland. Further Information
Get more info on 'Cumberland England'.
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