80. Cumbria

This post features: Brough, Kendal, Kirkby Lonsdale, Appleby, Carlisle, Kirkby Stephen, Milnthorpe, Barrow in Furness, Workington, Whitehaven and Cockermouth

Brough

Brough is a small town in the Eden Valley, at the foot of the North Pennines, a few miles north of Kirkby Stephen. It is a twin village – the southern part, Church Brough, lies on a former Roman road and was the setting for the Norman Brough Castle (once the site of a Roman camp). The northern area, Market Brough, is sited on a medieval road. The difference in the two villages relates to the functions they once served – Church Brough’s houses stand around a market square decorated with a maypole, while Market Brough boasts a wide and long main street.

Kendal

Kendal was the largest town in the County of Westmorland before it became part of Cumbria. It was one of the country’s main manufacturing towns from the 14th century until the 19th century, with many mills on the River Kent. The town’s traditional trade was in wool, from which the town’s motto “Pannus mihi panis”, meaning “wool is my bread” was taken.

Kendal could have been a “Gem Town” were it not for the zealous attitude of the town’s councils towards moving with the times, leading to great swathes of Kendal’s architectural gems have been demolished to make way for roads, housing developments and its five shopping centres…

Kirkby Lonsdale

Kirkby Lonsdale is a small and relatively unspoilt market town situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. In Cumbria and on the borders of Lancashire and North Yorkshire the town makes a good base from which to explore the English Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the Forest of Bowland. It’s also home to, arguably, the best ice cream in the country…

Ice Cream Heaven:

The Town:

Appleby-in-Westmorland

Appleby was the county town of Westmorland. The remarkable Lady Anne Clifford devoted much of her time to restoring the neglected estates, castles and churches in the area. Appleby Castle was her home for a period of time. Both Lady Anne and her mother, Lady Margaret, are buried in St Lawrence’s Church and commemorated by splendid tombs. In her time there were many beggars, and her concern for those old women in dire need led her to build the almshouses, now called the Hospital of St Anne, near the Castle entrance.

Carlisle

The city of Carlisle is the county town and administrative centre of Cumbria. The Romans established a settlement here – primarily to serve the forts on Hadrian’s Wall. In the 12th century, King Henry I allowed the founding of a religious establishment, later making the town a diocese, and thus making the Priory into a Cathedral. The medieval castle is over nine centuries old – though it doesn’t look like it.

Because of its strategic position, Carlisle became a great 19th century railway city, with seven independent railway companies using the Carlisle Citadel Station and the extensive goods yards. The Station is an impressive building, built in 1847 by Sir William Tite. Carlisle is the northern end of the famous 72 mile Settle-Carlisle railway line.

The original southern entrance to the City, Bothergate, was replaced in the 16th Century, and then again in the 19th Century, with two new towers known as the Citadel. This was designed by Thomas Telford and Sir Robert Smirke as assize courts and a prison. The impressive Citadel stands opposite the station and looks more like a castle than the castle does…

A trip to Carlisle by train takes just over 2 hours to cover the 87 miles from Skipton but you do travel through stunning landscapes…

The Castle:

The Tullie House Museum:

The Cathedral:

St Cuthbert’s:

The City Centre:

The Citadel and the Station:

Regeneration:

Kirkby Stephen

Kirkby Stephen is a small market town lying at the head of the Eden Valley. The river Eden, the source of which is in the Mallerstang Valley to the south east, passes through the town. Kirkby Stephen was granted a market charter in 1352/3, and a lively market is still held on Mondays.

What the guide books don’t mention is the A685, which blights the town with a constant flow of heavy traffic…

Milnthorpe

Milnthorpe is a small market town 7 miles south of Kendal. Once part of the township of Heversham-with-Milnthorpe, it is an ancient village of limestone buildings, arranged in nooks and crannies and along narrow lanes. In 1334 King Edward III granted a Charter to Alexander de Wyndesore permitting a weekly market on Wednesdays and a fair on St Peter’s Day 29th June.  

Barrow in Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is a large industrial town which grew from a tiny 19th Century hamlet to the biggest iron and steel centre in the world, and a major ship-building force, in just 40 years. The railway was introduced to carry iron-ore, slate and lime-stone to the new deep water port. Its prosperity grew with the development of the steel and ship-building industries.

The monks of Furness Abbey smelted iron with wood in the 13th Century. In 1839 H.W. Schneider came as a speculator and dealer in iron. In 1850 he discovered large deposits of iron, and he erected blast furnaces at Barrow, which by 1876 formed the largest steelworks in the world.

The population grew from 300 inhabitants to over 8000 in 1864 and 47,000 in 1881. James Ramsden, superintendent of the Railway, devised a plan for the town. There were few planned towns in 19th century England. The wide tree lined streets to this day convey a sense of space and ease. Ramsden became the first Mayor of Barrow. Ramsden also conceived the idea of the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, which became Vickers in 1897 (now BAE Systems). It is the busiest shipyard in England, with the largest covered ship building hall in Europe.

In the Borough there are 249 Grade II buildings (classed as being of special interest), 15 Grade II* ones (important buildings of more than special interest) and 8 Grade I (exceptional interest)…

The Abbey:

Barrow to Carlisle

Workington

Workington became a major industrial town and port in the 18th century, with the exploitation of the local iron ore and coal pits. Coal mining ended in 1875 but steel production continued until 2006. Workington was synonymous with Henry Bessemer. In 1855, Bessemer devised his converter that blasted air into molten pig-iron, allowing the production of steel at one-fifth of the previous cost. Bessemer found West Cumbrian iron ore to be the country’s purest and most suitable for his process. Workington became famous, in particular, for the production of railway tracks…

Workington Hall:

The Helen Thompson Museum:

The Old Brewery:

The Town:

Whitehaven

A Georgian town on the west coast of Cumbria and one of the first post-renaissance planned towns in the country. Built on shipping and mining, both industries have now declined, but Whitehaven is still an attractive town, although the fabric of many of the buildings is in poor condition. It is one of the 40 Gem Towns in England and one of two in Cumbria (the other being Cockermouth).

The development of Whitehaven owes much to the Lowther family, it was Sir John Lowther, inspired by Christopher Wren’s designs for rebuilding London after the Great Fire of 1666, who laid out the original grid system of streets and specified the type of houses to be built. Many historians believe that New York’s street system is inspired by Whitehaven’s grid system.

Lowther also played a leading role in establishing the town’s connections to the transatlantic slave trade. As part of his strategy to enrich the town, Lowther rallied local merchants to take part in the ‘triangular trade’ – exchanging Whitehaven coal, salt and textiles for enslaved Africans, who would then be transported to North America and the West Indies to work on plantations. Lowther was successful in this endeavour, and Whitehaven became heavily involved in the transatlantic slave trade between 1710 and 1769. Whitehaven ships carried out sixty-nine slave voyages during this period, transporting and trading hundreds of enslaved people.

The port development was linked to the exploitation of rich local deposits of coal and iron ore. Some coal mines extended for several miles beneath the sea bed. The first undersea mine in England was constructed in Whitehaven in 1729. By 1931 it was the deepest undersea mine anywhere at the time.

Whitehaven was the last place in Britain to be attacked by American naval forces. On 23rd April 1778 during the American War of Independence, John Paul Jones arrived in Britain with the intention of setting the whole merchant fleet on fire. The alarm was raised, and he retreated forthwith. Another American link is that Mildred Warner Gale, the grandmother of the American president George Washington, came from Whitehaven. She was buried in the grounds of St Nicholas’ Church.

Whitehaven had a grant for regeneration of the harbour area for the millennium but our exit from the EU means no more funding to help restore and preserve the 250, mostly Georgian, Listed Buildings…

Churches:

The Town:

Around The Harbour:

Cockermouth

Cockermouth is a fine Georgian market town on the edge of the Lake District National Park. It is one of 40 towns in England designated as a ‘Gem’ town and is, therefore, recommended for preservation by the state as part of our national heritage. It is certainly more prosperous and better maintained than Whitehaven…

The Jennings Brewery:

Riverside:

All Saints Church:

The Castle:

The Town: