Eden Valley in Cumberland
The broad vale of the River Eden, with the Lakeland fells to its west and Pennines to its east, has long been an important focal point for route-ways since ancient times. For Romans, raiders, traders, travellers and prehistoric peoples, it linked so many parts of the north together. Here we focus on the most northerly part of the vale that was historically in Cumberland, stretching from Culgaith and Langwathby in the south to the outskirts of Carlisle. The southern parts of the vale including Brough, Kirkby Stephen and Appleby are covered by our Eden valley in Westmorland page.
In Westmorland, the Eden Vale is bordered by several valley passes linking it to Stainmore, Teesdale, Wensleydale, Swaledale, Lunedale, Kendal and the southern Lakes. In Cumberland, the valley’s important natural role in linking so many lands and landscapes together, continues.
Here we may head north-east to Hadrian’s Wall, following the Eden tributary of the River Irthing upstream and onward through the Tyne Gap. Alternatively we can head directly north into Scotland via Eskdale and Annandale. We may even continue to follow the River Eden itself through the remaining course of its vale into Carlisle and onward to its ultimate end in the Solway Firth. However, we are rewarded with much beauty, history and many places of interest if we stay within this valley to explore.
Within the Eden valley, the county of Cumberland historically begins on the north side of the Crowdundle Beck, a tributary of the River Eden on its eastern bank. This beck formed the old boundary with Westmorland. To the south of the beck, close to where it joins the River Eden, is the village of Temple Sowerby and nearby is Acorn Bank, both of which historically belong to Westmorland.
Crowdundle Beck begins in the watershed of the south-western slopes of Cross Fell where it commences its journey within a matter of metres from the source of the River Tees. The Tees itself forms another historic county boundary further to the east, between Durham and Yorkshire.
This emphasises Cross Fell’s central role in defining the northern counties. Its looming ancient presence, was once topped by a cross that would have been visible for miles around. A cross was erected here – reputedly by St Augustine – to banish evil spirits.
At 2,930 feet above sea level, Cross Fell is the highest point in all of the Pennines and overlooks the vale of the Eden to its west. Hidden somewhere in its midst and beyond its regular mists, to the north, is the uppermost part of South Tynedale that plays host to the Cumberland town of Alston, a place somewhat cut off from the rest of the historic county of Cumberland.
Back in the vale of the Eden, close to where Crowdundle Beck joins the Eden we find the village of Culgaith to the north of the beck over on the Cumberland side but after the Crowdundle confluence, the Eden itself forms the Cumberland-Westmorland border for about two miles all the way up to its junction with another tributary, the River Eamont, that formed the historic county boundary west to the town of Penrith, itself historically in Cumberland. The old county border then continued all the way to Ullswater with the lake itself forming much of the border that continues onward on a wayward course through the fells beyond; heading towards Ambleside and Windermere.
To avoid any confusion, before we continue we must briefly mention something about recent county boundary changes. In 1974 Cumberland and Westmorland, along with the Furness region of Lancashire, were combined to form a new administrative county called ‘Cumbria’. This county was abolished in 2023 (except for ceremonial purposes) and replaced by two new administrative counties, one ‘called ‘Cumberland’ and the other called ‘Westmorland and Furness’.
Despite their old sounding names these two new administrative counties are not quite what they seem. The new county of ‘Westmorland and Furness’ in fact includes places such as Penrith and Alston that were historically in Cumberland. So, when we talk about boundaries such as the Crowdundle Beck and River Eamont we are referring to ancient historic boundaries that were in existence for centuries, rather than new, relatively short-lived boundaries created by bureacrats of recent times.
Cumberland, part of an ancient region called Cumbria (see Carlisle) was once the land of the Cumbric or Welsh speaking ‘Britons’ of ancient times. It plays host to the River Eden northward from Culgaith (itself a Cumbric name).
Westmorland to the south-east, historically seems to have had strong links to regions east of the Pennines, most notably the Dales of Yorkshire and Vale of York beyond, as well as being close to northern parts of Lancashire to the west of the Pennines. There is of course much overlapping and the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland have much shared history and geography and are closely linked in a similar way to Durham and Northumberland to the east.
Just as in Westmorland, many pretty villages are found along the Eden within this Cumberland course of the valley, including places like Langwathby, Skirwith, Ousby, Melmerby, Glassonby and Gamblesby. We can continue onward, making a mention of Little Salkeld, with the mysterious ancient neighbouring stones of ‘Long Meg and Her Daughters’ then keep going, beyond, northward along the Eden to Lazonby and the beautiful red stone village of Kirkoswald.
Further north beyond Armathwaite and onward to the old priory village of Wetheral, the Eden approaches the border country of Carlisle and Brampton. It is joined by the River Irthing east of Carlisle in the vicinity of Hadrian’s Wall, before heading west through Carlisle itself on its way to ultimately join the Solway Firth, destined for the Irish Sea.
Culgaith
Following the River Eden north from Temple Sowerby we cross the Crowdundle Beck, passing from historic Westmorland into Cumberland on the east bank of the Eden. Nearby is Crowdundle Farm, the first building we encounter in historic Cumberland as we follow the B6412 road along the Eden Valley from Temple Sowerby.
The first actual village we encounter, a little further along the road to the north, is Culgaith, a place with a Cumbric (Welsh or ‘Brittonic’) name meaning something along the lines of ‘narrow corner-retreat woodland’. It probably has the same meaning as Culcheth near Manchester. One of these two places was the location where King David I of Scotland issued charters to Shrewsbury Abbey regarding the lands they held in what is north west England but which then lay within south west Scotland.
In the reign of Henry I, the manor of Culgaith had been granted to Adam, son of Swein. After a short period in which it was part of Scotland (see Carlisle) Culgaith had passed to the Moresbys by the fourteenth century and then the Crackanthorpes of Newbiggin in the sixteenth century. The village church of All Saints was consecrated in 1758 but is mostly Victorian. In earlier times there had been a chapel of All Saints on the site, recorded in 1456.
There are some good views of Cross Fell, the highest hill in the Pennines, from Culgaith. Cross Fell, which hosts the source of the rivers South Tyne and Tees is also the source of the Crowdundle Beck.
A couple of miles north of Culgaith are the villages of Skirwith, Kirkland and Blencarn. Skirwith on the Skirwith Beck is the most northerly and was recorded under the names ‘Skryhouth’ and ‘Scyraut’ in the fourteenth century. It seemingly means ‘bright headland’. It is home to a church, dedicated to St John the Evangelist, of the 1850s and a Victorian house called ‘The Abbey’ possibly named from some earlier link to the Knights Templar.
Kirkland on the Kirkland Beck, a little east of Skirwith, is very close to Cross Fell and home to the church of St Lawrence. This church is thought to be late thirteenth or of fourteenth century origin and contains the effigy of a thirteenth century knight. Just south-east of the village are long green mounds or terraces near the edge of Cross Fell called the ‘Hanging Walls of Mark Anthony’ but for reasons unknown. They seem to be ancient cultivation terraces.
On the west side of Kirkland, not far from the church, is the course of a Roman road called ‘The Maiden Way’. It heads north from the Roman fort at Kirkby Thore (Bravoniacum) towards the Roman fort of Epiacum at Whitley Castle in South Tynedale.
Blencarn on the Blencarn Beck to the south of Kirkland, a little north of Crowdundle Beck, has a Cumbric name incorporating the Welsh word ‘blaen’ meaning ‘summit’. The second part ‘carn’ means ‘rock or rock pile’ (cairn). Blencarn Lake, nearby, is a modern creation. Skirwith, Kirkland and Blencarn Becks are tributaries of the Briggle Beck, which joins the Eden near Little Salkeld, north of Langwathby.
For about a mile the Eden on the west side of Culgaith forms the old border with Westmorland up to the point where it is joined from the west by the River Eamont. A little upstream along the Eamont to the west is Brougham Castle on what was historically the Westmorland side of the Eamont, with the town of Penrith across the river to the north on the Cumberland side. Both are now within the modern administrative county called ‘Westmorland and Furness’.
Langwathby, Hunsonby and Winskill
Following the River Eden north from the point at which it is joined by the Eamont, the next places we encounter are Edenhall on the west side of the Eden and Langwathby, a little to the north on the east bank. Edenhall was historically the site of a mansion connected to the Musgrave family and is home to the part-Norman church of St Cuthbert. Nearby is a site called St Cuthbert’s Well.
Langwathby has a Viking name that means ‘long-ford-village’ but is now located on a bridge across the Eden presumably close to a point where the river was forded by a ‘wath’. At the centre of the village is a large green and near its north end a red sandstone church dedicated to St Peter of 1718. Langwathby is home to a station on the Settle to Carlisle Railway.
North of Langwathby, the Eden is joined on its east side by the Briggle Beck and then by another stream called Robberby Water near Little Salkeld. To the east of the Eden, between these two streams, is a little village called Winskill. Its name derives from ‘wind-scale’, meaning ‘shelters from strong winds’. It has the same meaning as Winscales near Workington on the Cumberland coast.
Just north of Winskill, across the Robbery Water is the village of Hunsonby. Its Viking name derives from ‘hunda-sveinn village’. Hunda-sveinn means ‘hound keeper’ (hound-swain). A little further along the Robberby Water are farms called Robberby (from which the stream is named) and Farmanby.
The name Robberby combines the personal name Robert (introduced to England by the Norman French) with the typical Viking ‘by’ suffix for a farm or village. There are several villages near Carlisle, to the north such as Rickerby (Richard-by) where this kind of French and Viking combination occurs.
The name of the stream, Robberby Water, designated as a ‘Water’ rather than as a ‘beck’ or ‘river’ is unusual. This is more typical of small river-names found in the Scottish Borders, such as Jed Water, although there are examples in the border country of Northumberland, such as Wooler Water and Devils Water and the Eden valley itself also hosts the Croglin Water. Farmanby further along the valley to the east, derives from either the Old Danish personal name Farman or Old Norse personal name Farmann.
Melmerby and Hartside Summit
A mile and a half east of Robberby Farm on the Melmerby Beck (a tributary of Robberby Water) is the village of Melmerby which is clustered around a green near the edge of the Pennines. It is thought to be the village belonging to an Irish Viking (Norse-Gael) possibly called Maelmuire whose name means ‘Servant of Mary’. This has the same meaning as the Melmerby in Coverdale (part of Wensleydale) in Yorkshire but not the same meaning as a Melmerby near Ripon.
Melmerby church, dedicated to St John the Baptist has medieval origins but much of what we see today is Victorian. Melmerby Hall in the village has two seventeenth century wings and a front block of the eighteenth century.
To the north and north east of Melmerby, the A686 road ascends into the Pennines hills via the Hartside Pass, where on clear days, the summit offers some breathtaking views of the Lake District fells along with the vale of the Eden; Solway Firth and Scotland beyond.
Hartside summit itself at 1,903 feet above sea level, is reached after the road takes a sharp hairpin bend to make the gradient manageable. It includes a large car park from which the view may be admired. The route takes us eastward to Alston in South Tynedale and we may continue further east along the Nent valley onward into Weardale in County Durham.
A little over a mile south of Melmerby, towards Skirwith, is the village of Ousby (it means ‘Ulf’s farm’), a collection of farming hamlets somewhat inflated by the neighbouring Cross Fell caravan park. A similar distance north of Melmerby and also situated near the edge of the Pennines is the village of Gamblesby with its typical Eden valley red stone houses. Gamblesb’s Viking name means ‘Gamall’s farm or village’. It is not to be confused with Glassonby just under two miles to the west nearer to the River Eden.
North of Gamblesby is the little village of Unthank. It is one of several places of this name throughout the north, with other examples in Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire. There’s a debate about whether they refer to the thankless task of farming or to an old word meaning ‘without leave’ suggesting they were once the site of a squatter’s farm.
Great and Little Salkeld
We now return to the course of the River Eden itself and the village of Little Salkeld where Robberby Water joins the river. Little Salkeld, on the east bank of the Eden, includes a farm that incorporates a hall of about 1790. On the south side of the village, alongside the Robberby Water, is a tearoom situated in an old flour mill.
The village of Great Salkeld lies across the River Eden just to the north west of Little Salkeld but there is no direct link between the two villages. The quickest route between the two is by crossing the bridge at Langwathby to the south.
The church at Great Salkeld is Norman and dedicated to St Cuthbert, but its heavily fortified tower, thought to have offered protection against Scottish raids, dates from the fourteenth century. Nunwick Hall, to the south of the village, dates from 1892.
The twin place-name Salkeld, both Great and Little, derives from the Old English ‘salh-hylte’ and they were once owned by Ranulf de Meschines, who later became Earl of Chester (see Eden in Westmorland). Little Salkeld seems to have been the older of the two settlements, as it was sometimes known as ‘Old Salkeld’. The surname Salkled derives from this place and the family of that name certainly resided here.
Long Meg and Her Daughters
A little over half a mile north of Little Salkeld and about the same distance to the east of the River Eden is the enigmatic stone circle, called Long Meg and Her Daughters that is sometimes described as a ‘Druid’s Circle’ on local signposts.
This mysterious Neolithic monument is the second widest stone circle in England after Avebury in Wiltshire. Long Meg herself or perhaps himself if it supposed to represent a human form, is the outermost stone and cut from the red sandstone typical of the Eden valley. The circle is situated on a sandstone terrace overlooking the Eden Valley about two miles to its west.
Meg is decorated with circular marks and cup and rings on its eastern side. The position of one of these marks gives the appearance of an eye when coupled with an apparent nose and a downturned mouth-like feature on the adjoining face. This gives Meg a grumpy sort of appearance. However, any human resemblance is likely unintentional and from most angles the stone has no apparent human form.
Meg lies outside the circle and marks the circle’s entrance. It is thought that she may have acted as a marker to help locate the circle for prehistoric visitors, as it is visible from further away than the other stones of the circle.
Sixty-eight ‘daughter’ stones have been identified in the circle itself and are of a different kind of rock, probably from further west in the Lake District. It is thought they were deposited in the Eden valley by a glacier and then identified by ancient man as suitable for the construction of the stone circle.
Long Meg and Her Daughters date from around 3,000 BC but archaeological researchers have found traces of a huge ditch of a slightly earlier enclosure on its north side, which is no longer visible. It is estimated that a community of 250 to 400 persons were involved in the construction of the monument.
The Cumberland and Westmorland areas seem to have been an important focal point for prehistoric communities, perhaps associated with the Lake District’s famed prehistoric ‘axe factories’. Prehistoric axes from the Langdale area of the Lake District have been found throughout Britain, demonstrating the importance of the Lake District in ancient times.
As with all Stone circles the nature of the rituals and purpose is unknown, however on the winter solstice, the setting sun casts a shadow of Long Meg across the centre of the stone circle, at the exact time of year when the days slowly but surely begin to get longer.
Legend, of course offers its own explanation for the origin of Meg and the associated stone circle. It is said that this collection of stones was once a coven of witches turned to stone by a Scottish wizard called Michael Scott. He certainly seems to have been a talented wizard. Michael’s other achievements included splitting the famous Eildon Hill near Melrose into its familiar three parts.
According to legend the enchantment placed upon the witches may be broken by anyone who can count the number of stones both clockwise and anticlockwise and arrive at the same number. The resulting effect from a successful count is that the stones will be turned back into witches but upon failure, the unwitting counter will find themselves turned to stone. It is further said that should ever Meg herself be broken, the stone will run with blood.
There are several other stone circles in the Cumberland and Westmorland region including, nearby, to the north east towards Glassonby, a tiny stone circle called ‘Little Meg’, first discovered in the nineteenth century. There are contradictory descriptions over whether Little Meg consisted of eleven or eight stones. One stone at Little Meg is decorated with spirals and circles. Little Meg’s stone circle is very tiny, being only eighteen feet in diameter. It may in fact be a cairn of some kind rather than a stone circle.
Other stone circles in the Eden valley area to note are Glassonby stone circle, slightly to the north; the Gunnerkeld Stone circle (19 outer stones and 13 inner stones) by the M6 motorway, near Strickland; Gamelands stone circle between Raisbeck and Great Asby Scar; Oddendale stone circle near Shap and Cockpit stone circle near Pooley Bridge, Ullswater. The last of these is so-named because it was later used for cock fighting. Further west in the Lake District near Keswick is the stunning Castlerigg Stone circle, surrounded by the Lake District fells.
Glassonby
In a red sandstone cliff overlooking the Eden, a mile north of Little Salkeld and over half a mile north-west of Long Meg are the Lacy Caves named from their apparent eighteenth century creator, Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Lacy of Salkeld Hall. They consist of five specially made chambers of uncertain purpose, though Lacy is known to have entertained guests here.
Further north and about half a mile east of the Eden is the village of Glassonby. Its name means ‘village belonging to Glassan’, an Old Irish personal name. It is probably associated with a Hiberno-Norse or Norse-Gael settler.
These settlers represented an ethnic fusion of Viking (Norse and Danish) and Gaelic (Irish and Scots) people who had a significant presence in Dublin; the Isle of Man and the Western Isles of Scotland as well as in the Merseyside area (particularly the Wirral) along with Cumberland and Westmorland.
Just north-west of Glassonby is Glassonby stone circle, consisting of thirty-two small stones and to its north is Glassonby Beck, which joins the River Eden here, forming a valley called Dale Raven.
Historic owners of Glassonby (along with Gamblesby to the east), included Hildred of Carlisle in the twelfth century and Sir Christopher Seton, later in that century. His lands were confiscated following his execution in 1306. Later owners, from the early eighteenth century, were the Dacres and then the Musgraves of Edenhall.
An historic church, just south of Glassonby and dedicated to St Michael is situated close to a farm called Maughonby. It is the parish church of a village called Addingham, within which parish the village of Glassonby was once situated.
However, the village of Addingham, which has an Old English or ‘Anglo-Saxon’ name, is nowhere to be seen. Addingham village was abandoned between the fourteenth and sixteenth century and its original church, dedicated to St Michael, was washed away along with its churchyard by a change of course in the River Eden.
The present church was built in the sixteenth century and restored in 1786 and again in 1898. Relics and features from the original church were recovered from the river bed including an eleventh century cross shaft and a Viking ‘hogback’ tomb. Glassonby village itself is home to a former Wesleyan Methodist chapel. Like many Eden valley villages, Glassonby is dominated by buildings of red sandstone.
Lazonby
From Dale Raven, the River Eden bends slightly towards the north-west where we find our next village, Lazonby, situated on the western bank of the River Eden.
The Viking name Lazonby means ‘farm of the freedman’ and has the same meaning as Lazenby near Redcar in the Cleveland area of north east Yorkshire. There is a slight possibility Lazonby may be derived from a personal name Leising, which was a common name in Cumberland during the twelfth century but the ‘freedman’ explanation is most likely.
Historically, Lazonby was held by the Stuteville family in the twelfth century and then belonged to the Dacres until 1570. Later owners from 1716 included the Musgraves of Edenhall.
Lazonby church, dedicated to St Nicholas, dates from 1863 and was built from the local red sandstone of the Eden valley. The stone quarried in the area is known as Lazonby Sandstone. St Nicholas’ church looks medieval and is built on the site of an earlier medieval parish church.
Lazonby village is home to a railway station on the Settle-Carlisle railway. This railway, when it opened in 1876, was an important boost to the village’s agricultural trade. A helpful information map near Lazonby Bridge notes that the line brought about the establishment of an auction mart that made Lazonby renowned nationally for the sale of grey-faced lambs.
Along the Eden to the north of Lazonby and less than half way towards Kirkoswald is the pretty red stone Lazonby Bridge. It is dated 1762 on its central parapet but repairs were undertaken in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Kirkoswald
The village of Kirkoswald is on the east side of the Eden just over half a mile north of Lazonby. Situated on a little tributary of the Eden Raven Beck Kirkoswald this is a particularly attractive place and one of the highlights of the Cumberland stretch of the Eden Valley.
Kirkoswald Castle, of which only a small standing tower remains, is situated on a hill just south east of the village and can trace its origins back to 1201 when the manor house of Hugh De Morville was fortified with permission to crenellate coming from King John. Like many places in the Eden Valley it was destroyed by the Scots under Robert the Bruce in 1314 and then restored and strengthened with the addition of a moat. Its later owners were the Dacres.
Kirkoswald village has the feel of a small market town, which indeed it once was, receiving a charter for a market and fair in 1201. The market ceased in the mid nineteenth century and the opening of the Settle-Carlisle railway resulted in the establishment of a new agricultural market near to Lazonby railway station, although there is still a ‘market place’ in Kirkoswald.
Historic early recorded owners of Kirkoswald included Adam, son of Sweyn; Robert Trivers the Lord of Burgh (by Sands); the Morville family and the De Moultons of Gilsland. Like Lazonby, Kirkoswald belonged to the Musgrave family from 1716. There was a fulling mill making textiles at Kirkoswald from at least the late fourteenth century and a paper-making mill in the eighteenth century.
The medieval church of St Oswald, from which Kirkoswald is named is dedicated to the Northumbrian king and saint, Oswald (AD 634-642). It is said that the body of St Oswald was brought here following his death. Oswald was killed fighting at the Battle of Masserfleth, against King Penda of Mercia.
The location of the battle is often identified as Oswestry in Shropshire though an alternative suggestion is that it took place in Mackerfield in the Wigan and Ashton area of Lancashire. This would have been closer to the Northumbria-Mercia borderlands around the River Mersey than Oswestry. Oswald’s head is buried at Durham Cathedral.
Another interesting connection linking Kirkoswald to the Kingdom of Northumbria is the ‘Kirkoswald Hoard’ which was discovered beneath the roots of a blown-down tree in 1808. It consisted of between 542 and 700 coins from the Kingdom of Northumbria that were issued during the reigns of four different Northumbrian kings (Eanred, Ethelred II, Redwulf and Osbert) and three different Archbishops of York.
The placing of the hoard has been dated to the 860s AD but other than it being found somewhere within the vast historic Parish of Kirkoswald, the exact location of the discovery is not known. Sadly, the collection was distributed to private collectors during the nineteenth century, so the whereabouts of the bulk of the hoard is unknown. However, six coins from the hoard were given to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle in 1814. A beautiful silver decorated trefoil ornament that was found along with the coin hoard was purchased by the British Museum.
Kirkoswald church is situated south of the village at the foot of a hill, and is somewhat hidden away. It is a surprisingly plain church that is lacking a tower. At the top of the hill and separate from the church is the Gothic style campanile (a free-standing bell tower) for the church which dates from 1897 and on the site of an earlier one.
Parts of Kirkoswald church date back to the eleventh century but it is likely situated on the site of an earlier one. The church was given collegiate status in 1523 by Lord Dacre which means it became a senior church with a large parish under the charge of a community of clergy called canons headed by a Master of which there were only a succession of two. At any one time there were six priests here serving this collegiate church but the collegiate status only lasted about twenty-five years, falling victim to King Henry VIII’s religious reforms.
Administration of the collegiate lands, which included the parish of Dacre to the north of Ullswater was centred on the house known as ‘The College’ which is entered from a gateway across the road to the north of the church. This developed around a fifteenth century tower house under Lord Dacre and came into the hands of Northumberland’s Fetherstonhaugh family (of South Tynedale) in 1590. The gateway entrance to The College dates from 1696 while the neighbouring wall incorporates stones from Kirkoswald Castle.
Croglin Water
About a mile north west of Kirkoswald, the River Eden is joined on its east bank by Croglin Water and half a mile upstream to the north and south of this stream are ‘The Nunnery’ and the village of Staffield. The Nunnery is a house above the wooded north bank of Croglin Water and includes parts of a Benedictine nunnery founded before 1200. It was known as the Nunnery of Ainstable or Nunnery of Armathwaite. The present house, on its site, was built by Henry Aglionby in 1715.
Across the Croglin Water to the south is the tiny, attractive village of Staffield and nearby to its south is the red stone Staffield Hall, built in 1848 following the marriage of Lady Jane Aglionby to Charles Fetherstonhaugh.
Up the Croglin Water eastward from Staffield is Croglin village on the north side of Croglin Water. Croglin Water rises in the Pennines just east of the village passing between Croglin Fell and Scarrowmanwick Fell. Further east, crossing these hills, we reach a watershed beyond which streams flow into the neighbouring valley of the South Tyne north of Alston.
The earliest known spellings of Croglin are ‘Crokelyn’, ‘Crokeling’ and ‘Krokelin’ combining the Norse word ‘krokr’ meaning ‘bend’ with an old world ‘hlynn’ meaning ‘torrent’. ‘Hlynn’ probably refers to the series of waterfalls further down the Croglin Water valley near its confluence with the Eden.
About two miles south of Croglin near Thack Moor is the village of Renwick in the upper part of the Raven Beck that joins the Eden near Kirkoswald. A road to the south east of Renwick heads for Hartside Pass that takes us over the Pennines to Alston, South Tynedale, Nenthead and onward to the Allendales and Weardale.
A mile north of Croglin is the village of Newbiggin (meaning ‘new building’) with a little pub called The Blue Bell Inn. A mile further north still is Cumrew, which has a Welsh or Cumbric name ‘cwm-rhiw’ meaning ‘valley ascent’.
Armathwaite
Returning to the River Eden and heading north along its course from the mouth of the Croglin Water is the village of Ruckcroft, less than a mile east of the Eden.
Another mile and a quarter along the Eden, slightly to the north-west, is the village of Armathwaite which is mostly situated on the western bank of the river where a bridge crosses the River Eden.
The east side of the River Eden here is home to the Fox and Pheasant Inn and Armathwaite Manor, a house of 1829 that along with the inn overlooks the approach to the bridge. Armathwaite Manor should not be confused with Armathwaite Hall near Bassenthwaite lake in the Lake District, to the west.
On the west side of the River Eden but hidden from the rest of the village by trees is Armathwaite Castle, that was built in the fifteenth century as a four-storey pele tower around 1455 for the Skelton family and later developed as a Georgian house in the early eighteenth century. It was home to the Skeltons until 1712 with later owners including the Lowthers, Earls of Lonsdale.
Most of the village itself, centred on Front Street lies on the west side of the River Eden between the Eden and the Settle-Carlisle Railway on which Armathwaite has a station.
The name Armathwaite, first recorded as ‘Ermitthweyt’ in 1272 means ‘hermitage clearing’ and is probably named from the site of a hermitage that is thought to have been in the possession of Armathwaite Nunnery.
A mile east of Armathwaite is the village of Ainstable with a name that derives from ‘einstapi-hlith’. The first part of this name is from the Viking, ‘einstapi’ meaning ‘fern or bracken’. The second part means ‘slope’.
Ainstable’s village church, dedicated to St Michael, mostly dates from 1872 with some elements from an earlier church dating back to Norman times. It contains the medieval effigies of John Aglionby and his wife who died in 1428. The village of Croglin which we have already mentioned is about two and a half miles to the east and the village of Newbiggin is about the same distance to the north east.
On the A6 road, about two miles west of Armathwaite are the villages of Great Hesket and Little Hesket. Their names are intriguing as they derive from the Viking ‘Hestr-skeið’ meaning ‘racecourse with the ‘hestr’ part of the name specifically meaning ‘stallion’. Hesketh near Preston in Lancashire, on the River Ribble, and Hesketh Grange near Thirsk in North Yorkshire have the same meaning although Hesket Newmarket near Penrith has a different root of origin.
Little Hesket is the more northerly of the two villages on the A6 which heads north to Carlisle here. Just under a mile to the west of the Heskets is the River Petterill, also heading north towards Carlisle as also does the M6 motorway, about three-quarters of a mile west of the river.
Cumwhitton
Returning again to the River Eden and continuing north along its course from Armathwaite, the Eden passes near the village of Lockhills to its west, which has pleasant views of the nearby valley. A little to its north is a significant island in the middle of the River Eden called ‘Holm Wrangle’, which is also the name of a farm just to the east. Holm is a Scandinavian word meaning ‘island’.
North of here the River Eden bends west near the village of Hornsby (to its north) forming a horn-like shape and then in just under a mile turns north-west again. Here we soon encounter another island in the river called Fishgarth Holm, although the ‘old course of the Eden’ on the west side of this island is really only a little stream which gives it less off an island appearance than Holm Wrangle.
Continuing northward along the Eden, about a mile and a half to the west are the little villages of Low Cotehill and Cote Hill, while on the east side further to the north, the Eden is joined by the Cumwhitton Beck just over a mile north of Fishgarth Holm.
A mile to the east of the river near the source of the Cumwhitton Beck is the pretty village of Cumwhitton. This village should not be confused with Cumwhinton (with an ‘n’) to the north-west near Carlisle. Early recorded spellings of Cumwhitton’s name include Cumwyditon, Comwhytyton and Cumwhytiton.
Like Cumrew to its south-east Cumwhitton contains the Welsh word ‘cwm’ meaning ‘valley’ that seems to have been combined with an Old English village name ‘Hwittingtun’. The Welsh and English elements of this place-name and the cultural mix it suggests, are made all the more interesting by the finding of a Viking grave site in 2004 that added another element to Cumwhitton’s early historical cultural mix.
The Viking cemetery was excavated after a metal detectorist found a ninth or tenth century oval Viking brooch in the ploughed field of a farm at the western end of Cumwhitton village. On further investigation, a second brooch was found, after which archaeologists uncovered six buried Viking individuals (two women and four men) along with beads, spearheads, swords, knives and textiles.
Cumwhitton’s parish church, dedicated to St Mary, has Norman traces and even an Anglo-Saxon window but there was significant rebuilding in the eighteenth century. Cumwhitton was given by the Bavin family to the Priory at Lanercost around 1200 and it remained in Lanercost’s possession up until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537. It subsequently passed into the hands of the Howard family and through them passed to the Earls of Carlisle.
Wetheral and Great Corby
About half a mile along the Eden to the north of where it is joined by Cumwhitton Beck the Eden plays host to yet another island; this one called ‘Coathouse Island’. Another mile along the river to the north west we move closer to the edge of the large village of Wetheral where on the western bank of the river, to its south, we find the Wetheral Caves, also known as ‘St Constantine’s Cell’.
The caves consist of three chambers cut into the rocks connected by a fourteenth century gallery that was once roofed. It is believed the caves were once used as a hiding place during Scottish raids and are thought to have been developed by the monks of Wetheral Priory from earlier excavations carried out by the Romans for quarrying.
Wetheral Priory is situated half a mile north of the caves on the outskirts of Wetheral village. The village-name derives from Wether-Haugh (wether-halh) which means ‘flat river meadowland of the wether’ (a wether is a castrated ram). ‘Wether’ is a word that also occurs in the name of Wetherby in Yorkshire.
Only the gatehouse of Wetheral Priory and part of the priory wall survives but the gatehouse is substantial and includes a spiral staircase that can still be climbed. Founded by Ranulf de Meschines, Wetheral was a Benedictine priory established about 1100. It was an outlying priory of the Benedictine Priory of St Mary’s in York.
Like Durham Cathedral, Wetheral priory was granted a special right of sanctuary for criminals who came here. The right was granted by King Henry I.
The three-storey gatehouse that remains dates from the fifteenth century and survived beyond the monastery’s dissolution in 1538 as after that it passed into the hands of the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle Cathedral. The gatehouse came to serve as the vicarage for the nearby church, though it later served as a hay barn for the adjoining Wetheral Priory Farm.
The farmyard is thought to partly follow the outline of the priory cloisters and the farm buildings incorporate some of the priory’s masonry. The gatehouse, which is free to visit is under the care of English Heritage.
Along the river just to the north of the priory gatehouse is Wetheral’s parish church of Holy Trinity. The exterior of this church is primarily of the early sixteenth century with earlier internal features dating back to the thirteenth century.
Wetheral village lies close to the A69 to the north and the M6 motorway to its west near the outskirts of Carlisle. There is also a railway station here on the Carlisle to Newcastle line.
The heart of Wetheral village is centred on a triangular-shaped village green with some large neighbouring houses, including a prominent yellow brick Gothic style Victorian house with a tower.
The cross at the corner of the village green is thought to be medieval, although the cross shaft itself is of a later period. At one time there had been a maypole at the centre of the green and its base was later relocated and used for the steps leading up to the present cross.
On the east side of the railway station a Victorian viaduct of five arches crosses the River Eden. It was built in 183-34 by Francis Giles. The river banks of the Eden are beautifully wooded at Wetheral but despite the railway viaduct, there is no road bridge across the river here and you have to head north to Warwick to cross the river by road.
To the east, across the River Eden from Wetheral is the village of Great Crosby, and although as we have noted, there is no direct link across the river, there was once a ferry that operated here as recalled by Ferry Walk on the Corby side and Ferry Hill near Wetheral church on the Wetheral side.
Great Corby’s village centre features a pleasant little village green with a neighbouring pub called the Queen Inn. Opposite the inn is a red stone building of 1833 described by the architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner as “a very odd exedra”. It was built as part of a blacksmith’s shop where horses could come in to be shoed and is meant to represent the forge of Vulcan.
The principal architectural feature of Great Corby is, however, Corby Castle, just to the south, on the east bank of the River Eden looking directly across to Wetheral Priory. Corby Castle was developed from a thirteenth or fourteenth century defensive pele tower that is thought to have belonged to the Salkeld Family but sold to Lord William Howard in 1611
It was the Howards who undertook the transformation of the fortified tower into the present grand house. It began with a new range in the seventeenth century followed in the early nineteenth century (1812-1817) by the work of the Scottish architect, Peter Nicholson who gave the house its present form and facade in his work for the home’s new owner, the antiquarian, Henry Howard (1757–1842).
East of Great Corby roads lead to the villages of Broad Wath (‘wath’ being Viking for a ‘ford’) and Heads Nook, much of which consists of housing of a recent age. Further east still are the villages of Fenton and How near the Trout Beck and Hawkey Beck. How is situated on a hill (‘how’ means ‘hill’) while Fenton to its west is situated below in what was once low-lying fen country.
All four villages lie close to the Carlisle to Newcastle railway with neighbouring bridges across the line. To their south is the village of Faugh (from an old word ‘falh’ meaning fallow) and the village of Cumwhitton, that we have already visited, further still to the south. To the north of How is the village of Hayton while a little over two miles west of How is the village of Talkin and the nearby Talkin Tarn.
Cumwhinton, Scotby and Aglionby
Returning to the Eden, to the south west of Wetheral towards the M6 motorway is the village of Cumwhinton (with an ‘n’), that is so easily confused with the smaller village of Cumwhitton to the south-east. Like Cumwhitton, the first part of its name is the Welsh word ‘cwm’, meaning a ‘valley’ but the second part is thought to be the personal name Quintin or Quentin, possibly adopted from the saint of that name. It was recorded as Cumquintin and Cumquyntyn in the 1150s.
To the north and also close to the M6 with the outskirts of Carlisle beyond the motorway to its immediate west is the village of Scotby which has grown considerably given its obvious commuter location. The parish church in the centre of the village, designed by the architect Anthony Salvin, dates from 1855. Scotby didn’t previously have a church. The church is dedicated to All Saints and is just to the south of the Carlisle-Newcastle railway.
Across the A69 north east of Scotby is Aglionby, which despite its ‘by’ suffix is a plaxe-name from after the Viking period. The first part is from a Norman-French name Agyllun. This is one of a number of place-names in the Carlisle area where a Norman-French personal name has been combined with the Viking word ‘by’ denoting a farm or village (see Carlisle). Agyllun might be identified with a Lawrence, son of Agyllun, who held here in the 1170s or Walter Agullon who was a witness to a charter of Hildred of Carlisle to the monks of Wetheral in the 1130s.
Warwick on Eden
A mile east of Aglionby is the village of Warwick, on the River Eden about a mile north of Wetheral. The name combines the Old English Anglo-Saxon word ‘waroth’ meaning shore or flat piece of land (often alongside a river or stream) with the word ‘wick’ that usually signifies a specialised farm of some kind.
Warwick’s village church, dedicated to St Leonard, is Norman and was described by Pevsner as the “most memorable Norman village church in Cumberland”.
The church is reached along a quiet lane after passing a former Methodist church of 1847 and the neighbouring Warwick-on-Eden Memorial Hall.
In the twelfth century Warwick belonged to Odard of Corby who adopted the surname Warwick. His family descendants held the lands here until 1774. Later owners were the Maddisons and Bonners. The Warwick family lived at Warwick Hall on the banks of the Eden which underwent significant rebuilding in 1828. The hall was destroyed by a fire in 1936 and replaced by a new hall in Neo-Georgian style under the ownership of the Elwes family.
Warwick is connected to the three combined villages of Warwick Bridge, Corby Hill and Little Corby (which have merged together) by Warwick Bridge itself. The bridge is of three broad arches and was built in 1837 by the Tyneside architect John Dobson, who also built the church of St Paul in the village of Warwick Bridge in 1845. Dobson also built the Tudor style Holme Eden Hall, which overlooks the River Eden in Warwick Bridge village. It was built in 1837 for Peter Dixon who was a founder of a cotton mill in Carlisle.
To the north of Warwick the River Eden is joined on its east bank by the River Irthing which can be followed upstream through Hadrian’s Wall country to Lanercost Priory and onwards to Gilsland on the Northumberland border. Just after the Eden is joined by the Irthing, the Eden makes a very definite turn westward towards Carlisle.
From here the Eden passes the adjoined villages of Low Crosby and Crosby-on-Eden on its north bank. The latter of these two villages is home to the Victorian church of St John the Evangelist (1854) and is actually slightly further from the river. The Eden makes a slight twist south-west from the Crosbys, passing underneath the M6 motorway near the little village of Linstock to enter the Carlisle area heading towards Rickerby and Stanwix on its north side, with Carlisle itself on the south bank as it makes its way westward towards the Solway Firth
Eden Valley (Westmorland section)
Carlisle | Lake District pages
Brampton and Cumberland Borderland