Divisions for Ecclesiastical, Legal, and Parliamentary Purposes:— Westmorland ie divided between the dioceses of Carlisle and Chester : the East and West wards, constituting the ancient barony of West morland, are in the archdeacoury and diocese of Carlisle ; Keudal and Lonadalo wards are in the aroltdcaconry of Richmond and diocese of Cheater. The number of parishes in the county is only 32 ; but as many of tho parishes, from their great extent, which averages more than 15,000 acres, or nearly 24 square miles each, and rises in some Instal:wee (Kirkby Stephen and Kirkby Lonsdale) to above 30,000 acres), and in one instance (Kendal) to near 70,000 acres, have been divided into chapelries, the number of ecclesiastical charges is much greater. By the Poor-Law Commissioners the county is divided into three Poor-Law Unions :—East Ward, Kendal, and West Ward. These unions include 110 parishes and townships, with an area of 487,567 acres, and a population in 1851 of 58,387. The county is included in the northern circuit. The assizes are held at Appleby. The quarter sessions for the county are held at Appleby, and by adjournment at ICendaL County courts are held at Ambleside, Appleby, Kendal, and Kirkby Lonsdale. A county jail and house of correction is at Appleby, and a county house of correction at Kendal. Before the passing of the Reform Act four members were returned to parliament from the county of Westmorland, namely, two for the county itself, and two for the borough of Appleby. By the Reform Act Appleby was dis franchised, and Kendal made a parliamentary borough, to return ono member.
History and Anliquilies.—In the earliest historical period this county appears to have been included in the extensive territory of the 13rigantes ; and upon the subjugation of South Britain by the Romans, it was comprehended iu the province of Maxima Ccesariensis.
A Roman road ran through the county nearly in the line of the old mail-road by Greta Bridge to Carlisle. At Brougham it crossed the Eamont into Cumberland. Between Brough and Kirkby There it is six yards wide, and on level ground is formed of three layers of steno of the aggregate thickness of a yard, the lowest layer being the largest. In other places it was sometimes made of gravel or of flint. A road called the Maiden Way branched off from this at Kirkby Thore and ran northward over the moors to Caervoran, one of the stations on the Roman Wall in Northumberland. An ancient camp, or fort, an oblong quadrangle of irregular form, stands on the line of the Roman Way (which passes through the camp) east of Staiumoor, and on tho border of Yorkshire and Westmorland, part of the camp being in each county. The fragment of Re-Cross, or liere-Cross, the ancient boundary-mark of the Scottish principality of Cumberland, and now of Westmorland and Yorkshire, stands inside the camp. A square stone fort, called Maiden Castle, defended by two ramparts, an inner one of stone with a small ditch, and an outer one of earth with a ditch, stands on the line of the road, about two miles west of the camp just noticed.
The Antonine station or town Voters° is generally fixed at Brough, and Brovanacm at Kirkby Thore, to the south-east of which village, on Speedy Moor, are the remains of a camp or fort called Whelp Castle, at the place seemingly where the Maiden Way diverged from the principal Roman road. The Brocavum of Antoninus is fixed at Brougham. Of several other stations the sites have not been definitely ascertained. A number of Roman inscriptions have been found in Westmorland, several of which are given in Horsley'a 'Britannia Romana.' There are several camps and earthen forts in different places, though it is doubtful to what period some of them are to be referred. Near the south end of Dun Fell, on Milburn Forest, is a round camp or fort surrounded with deep ditches, called Green Castle. An altar, with the inscription `DEO SILVANO,' was found hero. There are several appearances of camps and roads on the waste ground of Milburn Forest. At the end of Yanwathwood, on the west bank of the Lowther, oppo site Lowther Hall, is another round fort called Castleateads ; and at the south end of Eamont Bridge is a circular enclosure, formed by a lofty embankment with a ditch inside; it is known as Arthur's Round Table. At Sayle Bottom near Great Ashy are a number of barrows, with a deep trench and a breastwork on two sides of the ground which they occupy ; and at Sandford, between Wareop and Appleby, near the line at' the Roman road, are some more barrows, two small camps, and the ruins of a small round fort, the walls of which are of immense thickness, and built with rod atone strongly cemented with limo and sand.
There are some monuments of the prehistoric period. Near Arthur's Round Table was found in 1800, under an artificial hillock, a complete circle of stones inolosing an area nine feet in diameter, and having in the centre a slab of stone supported on blocks or pillars of the same material. Mayborough Castle, in the same neighbourhood, is a circular iuolosure of loose stones, having an entrance on the east. On the waste near Helton, between the rivers Lowther and Eamont, is a remarkable upright stone called Heltou-Copstone; and about a quarter of a mile to the north of it is a circle of stones, 10 yards in diameter, called the Druids' Cross. Another circle, 21 yards in diameter, called the Cock Stones, stands at the head of Ellerbeck, in the neighbourhood of Ulleawater ; and there is a large cairn on the descent from the moor towards Pooley, at the lower end of Ulleswater. On Lowther Scar is a circle 70 feet in diameter, formed of large stones; and near Shap are the remains of two converging lines of huge stones of unbewn granite, called Carl Lofts. In Gunnerkild Bottom, near Shap, is a circle Of stones called the Druids' Temple, but which was unquestion ably used for a burying-place.