CUMBERLAND. The north-westernmost county of Eng land, bounded north by Scotland, with the boundary deflected north of the Esk-Liddell streams so as to include Solway Moss in England, east by Durham and Northumberland leaving the pass between Pennines and the Cheviots in the latter county, south-east by Westmorland giving the upper Eden to that county, south by Lancashire, which possesses the southward-opening Coniston and Windermere areas of the English Lake District, and west by the Irish Sea. It thus consists essentially of the Carlisle plain and those portions of the Lake District which focus upon it or upon the west coastal strip.
Physical and Geological Features.—The great physical and geological feature is the famous mountain dome with its radial lakes and this will be described briefly here though it extends into Westmorland eastwards and Lancashire southwards. The geological history has analogies with that of North Wales. Ordo vician deposits were overlaid by lava and ashes and these in turn were covered by Silurian rocks. The area was folded in a north north-west direction during the Caledonian mountain-building pe riod, was reduced and acquired a girdle and probably a cover of Carboniferous rocks, was depressed again, acquired a girdle of New Red Sandstone, and, Marr suggests, a covering of Chalk period deposits. Later, probably during the Alpine mountain building period, the present dome was uplifted with a drainage scheme first developed on a now vanished cover. The Saddleback (2,847 ft.), Skiddaw (3,o53 ft.), Bassenthwaite, Crummock Water, and the West Ennerdale area shows the smoothed surface of Ordovician rocks typically pressed into slates. To the south of a great fault the volcanic rocks or Borrowdale series give rugged features; they lagged behind the slates in the northward Caledonian folding. Sca Fell Pike (3,210 ft.) and Helvellyn (3,118 ft.) are the most outstanding masses. The two sections are separated broadly by the Penrith-Keswick road and a line continuing this westward. There are some volcanic rocks (Carrock Fell) north-east of Skiddaw. The vol canic series gives place southward to Silurian rocks along a line from the lower Duddon across the upper part of Winder mere to the vicinity of Shap in Westmorland. The scenery to the south becomes smoother and the transition is, in the west, not far from the county boundary. The volcanic series con tains intrusive igneous rocks in the west, and at Shap. The dome has been radially eroded and fault lines have added com plexities as also have the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age. The Derwent, Caldew, Eamont, Lowther, Kent, Leven, Crake, Dud don, Esk, Irt and Ehen spread like the spokes of a wheel, mostly from the central volcanic zone and their valleys contain the many long lakes, usually with morainic dams, that name the district. Derwentwater, Bassenthwaite, Buttermere, Crummock Water, Ennerdale and Wastwater are the largest in Cumberland, with Ullswater on the Westmorland border. As in North Wales there are also high tarns at the heads of valleys.
A fault running east-north-east from Maryport cuts off the dome from the Carlisle plain which has many faults around it and possesses a floor of Permian, Triassic and Liassic rocks. The Pennine fault runs along the east side of the Eden valley and throws up Carboniferous Limestone and other rocks of that period to form the high ground on the north and north-east of the county. Cross Fell (2,93o ft.) is outstanding and the volcanic intrusion of the Whinsill may be traced northward from it.
The west coast strip exposes Carboniferous Limestone, with remnants of scarps facing towards the dome, followed by coal measures some of which are worked under the sea. Ironstone also occurs. To the south-west Triassic sandstones form the frame of the dome. The present dips of these rocks are sufficient to carry them on over the whole dome and Marr thinks they once covered it. Like North-West Wales, Cumberland was af fected in the Pleistocene Ice Age not only by local ice sheets but also by ice-sheets spreading down the Irish Sea from Scot land. A moraine with south Scottish rocks can be traced at S. Bee's Head, in the Isle of Man, and in North Ireland.
Early Settlement.—The great circles of unhewn stone are a feature of Cumberland. That at Swineside, near Millom, still has 22 stones standing, its diameter is about 25 yards. Another 1 m. from Keswick on the old Penrith road retains 38 stones and is about 38 yards in diameter; it encloses a group of io stones one of which is 7 ft. high. Long Meg and her Daughters, near Addingham Church, has 67 stones and a diameter of more than zoo yards. Near the enclosure is a stone 18 ft. high. Tumuli have been found on many of the lower hills, notably near Hesk fell (south), Penrith, and Bewcastle Fells (north). A number of bronze-age finds have been made.
The district was conquered by Agricola in A.D. 8o and be built a wall from Solway to Tyne. This was superseded by the great wall of Hadrian built A.D. 121 from Wallsend in Northumberland to Bownes-on-Solway in Cumberland, a distance of 734 m. In post-Roman times the county shared in the activities of Celtic Christianity which had its centre in the north-western islands. Crosses with Celtic and Scandinavian characteristics occur at Gosforth, Bewcastle and elsewhere. The battle of Ardderyd (5 73 ) resulted in the consolidation of Cumberland with the kingdom of Strathclyde. About 67o-68o the Angles of Northumbria conquered the district between the Solway and the Mersey and kept it until the Danish invasion of the 9th century. In 875 the kingdom of the Cumbri is referred to, but without any indication of its extent, and the first mention of Cumberland to denote a geographi cal area occurs in 945, when it was ceded by Edmund to Malcolm of Scotland. At this date it included the territory north and south of the Solway from the Firth of Forth to the Duddon. In moo it was once more a stronghold of the Danes, whose influence is clearly traceable in place names, the Scandinavian names being mostly on the higher ground and the Saxon names in the lowlands. At the time of the Norman invasion Cumberland was a dependency of the earldom of Northumbria, but its history at this period is very obscure, and no notice of it occurs in Domesday; Kirksanton, Bootle and Whicham, however, are entered under the possessions of the earl of Northumbria in the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1092 William Rufus captured Carlisle, repaired the city, built the castle, sent Englishmen to till the land and placed the district under the lordship of Ranulf Meschines. The fief of Ranulf was called the Power or Honour of Carlisle. The district was again captured by the Scots in the reign of Stephen, and on its recovery in 1157 was made to include the great barony of Coupland. At this date the district was described as the county of Carlisle, and the designation county of Cumberland is not adopted in the sheriff's accounts until 1177. The administrative divisions were known as bailiwicks, in 1278.
Border warfare was a feature of Cumbrian life until, and even after, the union of England and Scotland. Families like the Tilliols, the Lucies, the Greystokes, and the Dacres were famous on the English side. Many of the parish churches have towers for defence, as the church at Burgh-on-the-Sands near Carlisle. Carlisle was the headquarters of the English army under Edward I. In the Wars of the Roses the prevailing sympathy was with the Lancastrian cause. In 1542 the Scots suffered a disastrous defeat at Solway Moss. After the union of the crowns of England and Scotland in 1603, the countries hitherto known as "the Borders" were called "the Middle Shires." On the outbreak of the Civil War of the 17th century the northern counties rose for the king. In 1645 Carlisle was captured by the parliamentary forces, but in April 1648 it was retaken and did not finally surrender until the autumn of 1648. Cumberland was one of the first counties to welcome Charles II.; in 1715 it was associated with the rising, and Carlisle was the chief seat of operations in 1745. With the Romantic Revival in English poetry at the close of the i8th cen tury, the Lake district with its magnificent scenery became a centre of literary interest gathering around the names of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Ruskin and others.
Industries and Occupations.—The climate is generally tem perate, but colder in the higher parts. The Solway plain has a smaller rainfall than Lakeland mountains which have the heaviest rainfall recorded for the British Isles. Somewhat less than three fifths of the total area of the county is under cultivation. Around and below the volcanic crags is rough sheep pasture, around this is good hill pasture with some oats and in the plain of Carlisle with good red soils there is over 25% of arable land with oats, rootcrops and potatoes for the most part. On the Lias area the arable rises to 5o%. Stockfarming, especially for sheep, is the main rural occupation. Rough Fell sheep are becoming the chief type in the hills and they are crossed with larger ones in the low lands. Long after the Norman Conquest Cumberland remained one of the most densely forested regions of England, and much of the low-lying land is still well wooded, the Lake District in particular displaying beautiful contrasts between bare mountain and tree-clad valley. The oak, ash and birch are the principal natural trees, while sycamores have been planted for shelter round many farmsteads. Plantations of larch are also numerous.
Much land was formerly held by "statesmen" i.e., "estatesmen" a class of sturdy small-holders.
The principal industries of Cumberland have been from earliest times connected with its fisheries and mineral wealth. The mines of Alston and the iron mines about Egremont were worked in the 12th century. The Keswick copper mines were worked in the reign of Henry III., and the black-lead mine in the i8th century. Coal-mining is referred to in the 15th century and, after the revival of the mining industries in the 16th century, rose to great im portance. The saltpans about the estuaries of the Esk and the Eden were a source of revenue in the 12th century. At present the mining industry is most important, coal being raised in the district about Whitehaven, Workington and Maryport. Much iron ore has been raised, and there has been a large output of pig-iron, and ore is also found in the south, in the neighbourhood of Mil lom. There are ship-building yards at Whitehaven, and pencil mills at Keswick. Gypsum, zinc, cobalt, antimony, manganese and some lead are mined. Copper was formerly worked near Keswick, and there was a rich deposit of black lead at the head of Borrow dale. Granite and limestone are extensively quarried. Stone is very largely used for house-building, a fine green slate being often employed. Shap and other granites are worked for building and roadstones.
The chief ports are Whitehaven, Workington and Maryport. The L.M.S.R. enters the county near Penrith and terminates at Carlisle. This is the western route to Scotland. There are branch lines with connections to Maryport, Cockermouth, Keswick, Egremont, Chester and Workington. The L.N.E.R. connects Car lisle with Newcastle. Motor-bus traffic has facilitated movement especially in areas where the railways do not penetrate.
In 685 Carlisle and district was annexed by Egfrith of North umbria to the diocese of Lindisfarne, to which it continued sub ject, until the Danish invasion of the 9th century. In 1133 Henry I. created Carlisle (q.v.) a bishopric. The diocese included the whole of modern Cumberland (except the barony of Coupland and the parishes of Alston, Over-Denton and Kirkandrews), and also the barony of Appleby in Westmorland. Coupland was in the diocese of York until 1541, when it was annexed to the newly created diocese of Chester. In 1856 the area of the diocese of Carlisle was extended, so as to include the whole of Cumberland except the parish of Alston, the whole of Westmorland and the Furness district of Lancashire.
J. Nicolson and R. Burn, History and Antiq uities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland (London, 1777) ; W. Hutchinson, History of Cumberland (Carlisle, 1794) S. Jefferson, History and Antiquities of Cumberland (Carlisle, 1840 42) ; S. Gilpin, Songs and Ballads of Cumberland (London, 1866) ; W. Dickinson, Glossary of Words and Phrases of Cumberland (London, English Dialect Society, 1878, with a supplement, 1881) ; Sir G. F. Duckett, Early Sheriffs of Cumberland (Kendal, 1879) ; J. Denton, "Account of Estates and Families in the County of Cumberland, Io66-1603," in Antiquarian Society's Transactions (1887) ; R. S. Ferguson, History of Cumberland (London, 189o) ; "Archaeological Survey of Cumberland," in Archaeologia, vol. liii. (London, 1893) ; W. Jackson, Papers and Pedigrees relating to Cumberland (2 vols., London, 1892) ; T. Ellwood, The Landnama Book of Iceland as it illustrates the Dialect and Antiquities of Cumberland (Kendal, 1894) ; J. E. Marr, The Geology of the Lake District, Cambridge, 1916; Victoria County History, Cumberland; and Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.