County Dossier
Cumberland
A border county of mountains and warriors.
Cumberland is a maritime county in north-west England. Its south and east are dominated by the Lake District, with dramatic fells and shimmering lakes.
At a glance
Cumberland at a glance
A border county of mountains and warriors.
- Land of the Cymry
- Scottish rule pre-12thC
- Frontier v Scots/Norse
- Area: 1,525 sq miles / 3,950 km²
- Population: 306,241
- County top: Scafell Pike 3,209 ft / 978 m
County Geography
Cumberland meets Dumfriesshire and Roxburghshire to the north, Northumberland and Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, and Lancashire to the south.
The Solway Firth and Irish Sea shape the north-west and west, the Pennine watershed and Alston uplands define much of the east, the Eamont and Ullswater line marks the south-east, and the Duddon estuary closes the south-west.
Cumberland works through the relationship between Carlisle and the Eden gateway, the Solway plain, the western coast, and the fell country inland. Routes along the coast, through the Eden corridor, and across the passes gave the county a workable internal structure.
Later administrative changes did not alter that geography. Solway, coast, border plain, western fells, and Pennine edge still describe the same county.
Map Reference
View Cumberland on the map
Cumberland is the county. The map also shows lieutenancies and council areas that use the county name.
The county.
The lieutenancy.
Council areas.
Places and routes
Carlisle, Cockermouth, Workington, Whitehaven, Keswick, and Penrith belong to the county’s story, alongside the Solway plain, the Eden valley, the western Lake District, and the coasts facing Solway and the Irish Sea.
Connections
Movement through Cumberland followed the Eden approach to Carlisle, the coastal line from Solway to St Bees and Duddon, and the passes between lowland settlements and the fell country. Those corridors linked border, coast, and interior as one county system.
Names
- Cumberland
- County of Cumberland
County of Cumberland is the formal historical style used alongside Cumberland. The county name preserves the older Cumbrian identity of the border region.
Formed in the twelfth century around Carlisle and the northern borderlands, Cumberland retained its identity as a single geographic county, with coast, plain, valley, and fell country still holding together clearly.