The history of Cumbria as a county of England begins with the Local Government Act 1972. Its territory and constituent parts however have a long history under various other administrative and historic units of governance. Cumbria is an upland, coastal and rural area, with a history of invasions, migration and settlement, as well as battles and skirmishes between the English and the Scots.
Overview Cumbria was created as a county in 1974 from territory of the historic counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire North of the Sands and a small part of Yorkshire, but the human history of the area is ancient. It is a county of contrasts, with its mountainous central region and lakes, fertile coastal plains in the north and gently undulating hills in the south.
Cumbria now relies on farming as well as tourism as economic bases, but industry has historically also played a vital role in the area's fortunes. For much of its history Cumbria was disputed between England and nearby Scotland. Raids from Scotland were frequent until the Acts of Union 1707 and its long coastline was earlier vulnerable to Irish and Norse raids.
Cumbria has historically been fairly isolated. Until the coming of the railway, much of the region was hard to reach, and even today there are roads which make many motorists a little nervous. In bad winters, some of the central valleys are occasionally cut off from the outside world. Enclaves of Brythonic Celts remained until around the 10th century, long after much of England was essentially 'English'; and the Norse retained a distinct identity well into the Middle Ages. After that Cumbria remained something of a 'no mans' land' between Scotland and England, which meant that the traditional Cumbrian identity was neither English nor Scottish.
This article is about the area (and its inhabitants) that became the county of Cumbria in 1974, and continues to be a ceremonial county since 2023. Although the term Cumbria was in use in the 10th century AD, this was a description of an entity belonging to the small Kingdom of Strathclyde. In the 12th century, Cumberland and Westmorland came into existence as administrative counties.
Prehistoric Cumbria
'Prehistoric Cumbria' describes that part of north-west England, subsequently the county of Cumbria, prior to the coming of the Romans. Barrowclough puts the archaeological record of the county (as of 2010) at '443 stone tools, 187 metal objects and 134 pots', plus the various monuments such as henges, stone circles, and the like. The survival of these objects has been influenced by processes such as the rise in sea levels on the west coast, erosion, deposition practices, industrial and agricultural development, and the changing interests and capabilities of antiquarians and archaeologists.Barrowclough (2010), pp. 11–30
The first permanent inhabitants of the Cumbria region were based in caves during the Mesolithic era. The Neolithic saw the construction of monuments and the running of the axe 'factory' from which stone axes were carried around the country. The Bronze Age saw continuity with the Neolithic way of living and Iron Age Cumbria saw the establishment of the Celtic tribes – possibly those called the Carvetii and Setantii by the Romans.
Late Upper Palaeolithic, c. 12670–9600 BC: the earliest human inhabitants
The first evidence found for human occupation in Cumbria is that at Kirkhead Cave, in Lower Allithwaite, during the Federmesser culture period (c. 11400–10800 BC).Pettitt and White (2012), pp. 480–481. Discussing the Kirkhead Cave finds, Barrowclough quotes an earlier source who says: "Although limited, the Late Upper Paleolithic material from Cumbria is the earliest evidence of settlement in Britain this far north-west and as such is of national importance."Wymer (1981), p. 77, cited by Barrowclough (2010), pp. 59–60.Wymer (1981), p. 77. (Perhaps this should now read "settlement in England", rather than Britain, as a cave site in Scotland has since been found).Barton (2009), p. 43. Talking of the archaeological finds, he also says: "Lithic material from Kirkhead Cave near Grange ... has been dated to ... c. 11000–9500 BC"Barrowclough (2010), p. 61. (See: Lithic flake). Other lithic blades were found at Lindale Low Cave at the mouth of the River Kent, in caves at Blenkett Wood, Allithwaite, and at Bart's Shelter, Furness (including reindeer and elk bones).
During the following Younger Dryas stadial (colder period), c. 10890–9650 BC, Federmesser sites were abandoned, and Cumbria (along with the rest of Britain) was not permanently occupied until the end of the Younger Dryas period, 11,600 years ago (that is, during the Mesolithic era).
Mesolithic, c. 9600–4000 BC The Mesolithic era in Cumbria saw a warming of the climate.
It is thought that settlers made their way across Morecambe Bay and along the fertile coast. At that time the upland central region of the county was heavily forested, so humans probably kept to the coastal areas, and around estuaries in particular: "sheltered locations around estuaries, lagoons or marine inlets"Bonsall (1981), pp. 451–452, quoted by Barrowclough, p. 64. "The reason is probably due to the variety and abundance of food resources combined with fresh water and shelter that make estuaries more favoured locations than purely coastal sites".Barrowclough (2010), p. 64.
Evidence for the Early Mesolithic period in Cumbria is largely confined to finds in caves. In the 1990s, human bones were found in Kents Bank Cavern (in the north Morecambe Bay area) which were in 2013 dated to the early Mesolithic, making the find "the most northerly early Mesolithic human remains in the British Isles". Horse and elk remains, from an earlier date, were also found.Smith (2013). For the Late Mesolithic, evidence comes from pits at Monk Moors and burning of heathland in the Eden Valley floodplain.Barrowclough (2010), p. 222.
In the north Cumbrian plain, around the Carlisle area and into southern Scotland, evidence has been found for woodland clearance and deliberate fire-setting as a method of managing the landscape during the Mesolithic period.Barrowclough (2010), p. 62.
Large Mesolithic flint-chipping sites, where flints washed up from the Irish Sea were worked into tools, have been found at Eskmeals, near Ravenglass on the west coast, and at Walney in the south. At Williamson's Moss in the Eskmeals area, Bonsall discovered 34,000 pieces of worked flint (pebble flint), chert and tuff, plus wooden raft-like structures that suggest permanent or semi-permanent settlement by the wandering hunter-gatherer population. Over 30,000 artefacts were discovered at Monk Moors, also part of the Eskmeals raised shoreline area.Bonsall (1981), quoted by Barrowclough (2010), p. 64. These sites were probably used across several thousands of years, not just during the Mesolithic.Barrowclough (2010), p. 68.
Neolithic, c. 4500–2350 BC There is much more visible evidence of Neolithic activity than of any earlier period. This consists mostly of finds of axes and the presence of monuments (stone circles, cairns). However, "there are few settlement traces represented either by physical structures or surface flintwork ... pottery finds are ... very poorly represented in Cumbria".Barrowclough (2010), pp. 75, 79. This was a time of technological advances and population expansion. The change from Mesolithic to Neolithic in Cumbria was gradual and continual. The change "is marked by the appearance of ... leaf-shaped arrowheads, scrapers and polished stone axes together with pottery and ceremonial and funerary monuments".Barrowclough (2010), p. 75.
At some time, the Mesolithic coastal communities must have moved further inland, probably following rivers along valley corridors into the heart of Lakeland. But we do not know how many moved. "The small amount of early Neolithic flintwork from the coastal plain has been taken to suggest a move away from the coast inland where the monuments of the Neolithic tend to be located. An alternative view suggests that the same level of coastal settlement and exploitation that had been common in the Mesolithic continued into the Neolithic, but that in the later period there was also an expansion of activity into other parts of the landscape"Barrowclough (2010), p. 104.
The best-known Neolithic site in the West Cumbrian Plain is Ehenside Tarn near Beckermet, with roughout (unfinished) and polished axes, plain bowl pottery, cattle and deer bones. The evidence of deer bones here and at Bardsea in South Cumbria suggests a continuation of hunter-gathering alongside more settled, agricultural, means of living. Ehenside points up the use of wetland areas by Neolithic Cumbrians: The finds there were discovered when the Tarn was drained. "Wetland areas, whether open water or bog, were foci for beliefs and ritual practices alongside contemporary monuments, and it is, therefore, interesting to note there was a standing stone near Ehenside Tarn".Clare (2007), p. 22.
South Cumbria, and especially Furness and Walney, is the area where most of the axe finds have been made (67 examples – accounting for half of the total of axe finds in Cumbria). This is probably due to the area's proximity to the so-called 'Langdale Axe Factory'. Many of the axes seem to have been intentionally deposited in moss areas and in fissures in rocks.Barrowclough (2010), pp. 89, 91.
Indeed, that axe factory is perhaps the most famous and important find of Neolithic activity in Cumbria: Many thousands of axe heads were made there from the green volcanic tuff found on the Pike O'Stickle from around 6000 BCE. The axe heads were not only for local use in weapons: They have been found widely over the United Kingdom from Norfolk to Northern Ireland, and seem to have often been used for ceremonial or ritual purposes.
Also at this time, possibly reflecting economic power created by the Axe Factory, stone circles and henges began to be built across the county. Indeed, "Cumbria has one of the largest number of preserved field monuments in England".Barrowclough (2010), p. 105. The Neolithic examples include the impressive henge at Mayburgh, near Penrith, and a partly destroyed one at nearby King Arthur's Round Table (KART); as well as the Castlerigg Stone Circle above Keswick. The megalith Long Meg, along with Little Meg and a circle at Glassonby may also have been erected at this time, although they are also possibly early Bronze Age in date.
Some of the stones have designs (spirals, circles, grooves and cup-marks) on them which may have indicated the presence of other monuments or gathering-places and/or signalled the trackways and other routes through the landscape, particularly through the river valleys to sources of food, to ritual gathering places, or to sources of axes.Beckensall (2002), p. 160.Barrowclough (2010), pp. 137–138.
As well as providing focal points for the gathering of people for the purposes of trade, of ritual, and, in the Late Neolithic, for more 'tenurial' settlement and ownership of land, the stone circles probably had cosmological uses as well. For example, the Long Meg stone itself, which stands outside its accompanying circle, is aligned with the circle's centre on the point of the midwinter sunset. The use of different coloured stones here is possibly linked to observations made at the times of equinoxes and solstices.Barrowclough (2010), pp. 126–131.
Bronze Age, c. 2500–700 BC