2. Cumberland
This area correlates to the final
stages of the English advance
westwards. Located to the west, it
includes Cumberland and
Westmorland, west Lancashire, the
Welsh border counties and south-
west England as far as the Tamar.
The proportion of river names in this
area is high and Celtic etymologies
are more certain. There are more
woods and hill names than in areas
to the east and even stream names
are of Celtic origin.
3. Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of
North West England that had an
administrative function from the 12th
century until 1974.
It was bordered by Northumberland
to the east, County Durham to the
southeast, Westmorland and
Lancashire to the south, and
Dumfriesshire in Scotland to the
north.
It formed an administrative county
from 1889 to 1974 (excluding
Carlisle from 1914) and now forms
part of Cumbria.
4. Boundaries and
subdivisionThe boundaries formed in the
12th century did not change
substantially over the
county's existence. It
bordered four English
counties and two Scottish
counties. These were
Northumberland and County
Durham to the east;
Westmorland to the south,
the Furness part of
Lancashire to the southwest;
Dumfriesshire to the north
and Roxburghshire to the
northeast
5. Early history
The first record of the term
"Cumberland" appears in
945, when the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle recorded
that the area was ceded to
Malcolm I of Scotland by
King Edmund of England.
At the time of the c Book in
1086 most of the future
county remained part of
Scotland.
6. Scafell Pike
The highest
point of the
county was
Scafell Pike,
at 3,208 feet
(978 m) the
highest
mountain in
England.
Carlisle was
the county
town.
7. Division into wards
The ward of Cumberland
was one of the ancient
divisions of the historic
county of Cumberland,
England. In most other
counties these divisions
were called hundreds or
Wapentakes.
Each ward was composed
of a number of parishes,
areas originally formed for
ecclesiastical
administration.
