Carlisle ( ) is the county town of Cumbria
, and the
major settlement of the wider City of Carlisle
in North West
England. Carlisle is located at the confluence of the
rivers Eden, Caldew
and Petteril
, south of
the Scottish border. It
is the largest settlement in the county of Cumbria, and serves as
the administrative centre for both Carlisle City Council and
Cumbria County Council. At the time of the
2001 census, the population of
Carlisle was 71,773, with 100,734 living in the wider city.
Historically the county town of
Cumberland
, the early history of Carlisle is marked by its
status as a Roman settlement,
established to serve the forts on Hadrian's Wall
. During the Middle
Ages, because of its proximity to the Kingdom of Scotland, Carlisle became an
important military stronghold; Carlisle Castle
, still relatively intact, was built in 1092 by
William Rufus, and having once
served as a prison for Mary, Queen of
Scots. The castle now houses the
Duke of Lancaster's Regiment
and the
Border Regiment Museum. In
the early 12th century Henry I allowed the foundation of a priory
in Carlisle.
The town gained the status of a diocese in 1122, and the priory became Carlisle
Cathedral
.
The introduction of
textile
manufacture during the Industrial Revolution began a process of
socioeconomic transformation in
Carlisle, developing into a densely populated
mill town.
This combined with its strategic position
allowed for the development of Carlisle as an important railway
town, with seven railway companies sharing Carlisle railway
station
.
Nicknamed the
Border City, Carlisle today is the
main cultural, commercial and industrial centre for north Cumbria.
It is home to the main campuses of the
University of Cumbria and a variety of
museums and heritage centres. The former
County Borough of Carlisle had
held
city status
until the
Local Government Act
1972 was enacted in 1974.
History
Toponymy
The
Romans called their settlement at what
is today Carlisle, Luguvalium, as evidenced by Roman
writing tablets recently excavated and displayed at Tullie House
Museum
, bearing this name as the address.
Luguvalium can be interpreted from Latin as "the place, or wall
(stronghold ?) of Lugus" (a local deity). Around the 11th and 12th
centuries, however, surviving documents show the place name spelt
Caer (castle) Luel or Llewelyn. Luel, and its variants are
Cumbric personal names, and it has been proposed
that this was always the basis of the local name, which had been
preserved by the continuity of
Cumbric-speaking peoples in the area, from before
the Roman imposition of a Latinised version. The fact that Cumbria
(from Cymru or similar roots) was held by the Celtic kings of
Rheged in the 9th century may have stimulated
a revival of the
Cumbric language
and reinstatement of earlier Celtic place-names.
Cumbric is no longer spoken, but the surviving Welsh
language has "Caerliwelydd" as the modern name for Carlisle.
Carlisle has a compact historic centre, including a
castle, museum,
cathedral,
and semi-intact
city walls. The former law
courts or
citadel towers which now serve as
offices for Cumbria County Council are also of architectural
interest.
Roman Carlisle
Around AD 72/73, a
Roman timber fort
was built at Carlisle. Following its demolition around AD 103 to
105, a second timber fort was built. In AD 165 this fort was
replaced by a stone fort. It was probably later the
civitas capital of the
Carvetii tribe.
Later history
Because
Carlisle was sometimes the last town in England before Scotland,
and sometimes the last town in Scotland before England, in the days
when the two countries were separate kingdoms, it developed
importance as a military stronghold, and Carlisle Castle is still relatively intact. Built in 1092 by
William Rufus, and having once
served as a prison for
Mary, Queen of
Scots.
In
December 1745 Prince Charles
Edward Stuart captured Carlisle after the Siege of
Carlisle
. During the retreat of Charles Edward
Stuart's Jacobites in 1746 he ordered that the Manchester Regiment
be left to garrison Carlisle so that he "continued to hold at least
one town in England". The Hanoverian army under Cumberland then
besieged and took Carlisle. (See:
Sieges of Carlisle.)
The
Tullie House
Museum, an award-winning museum, tells the story of the
Border country, including much material on Hadrian's
Wall
, the Roman defensive
structure the course of which runs through the Stanwix area of
Carlisle, and many items of Roman
architecture. It also features an exhibit explaining the
history of the
Border Reivers. Tullie
House used to house an excellent lending and reference library, but
that has now been placed on the upper level of The Lanes.
[9656] (The
Lanes are Carlisle's main shopping area in the city centre).
Carlisle
Cathedral has the largest east window of any cathedral in
Europe, but the western end of the cathedral
was demolished by Oliver Cromwell to
shore up the castle. Carlisle also has a first-class
racetrack, located to the south of the city centre.
In 1916, during
World War I, the
government took over all the
public houses and
breweries in Carlisle because of endemic drunkenness
among construction and munitions workers from the nearby munitions
factory at
Gretna. This
experiment in
nationalised brewing
known first as the Carlisle Board of Control then after the war the
Carlisle & District
State
Management Scheme lasted until 1971.
President Woodrow Wilson
visited Carlisle in 1918.
[9657]
RAF Carlisle
RAF Carlisle
also known as 14 MU was located at
Kingstown near the present day Asda. The
station closed in 1996 after nearly sixty years in a variety of
roles. First established as
RAF Kingstown in 1938,
it was originally a bomber station, then one of the RAF's
Elementary Flying Training Schools and latterly a post war storage
facility.
Royal Observer Corps, Carlisle Group
During the
Second World War the air
raid warning organisation No 32 Group Carlisle
Royal Observer Corps operated from a
building in the city centre although it was controlled
administratively from RAF Kingstown. The association with Kingstown
developed further in 1962 when the ROC ceased its aircraft spotting
role for the RAF and took on a new role of plotting nuclear
explosions and warning the public of approaching radioactive
fallout for the
UKWMO. A
new administration building and a protected, hardened Nuclear
Reporting bunker was built at RAF Carlisle. The nuclear bunker was
a standard above-ground structure and both the bunker and
Headquarters hutting stood on a separate site at Crindledyke just
outside the main gates of RAF Carlisle and roughly opposite the
station's officers mess. The Carlisle group was redesignated no 22
Group ROC.
The ROC also constructed a smaller nuclear reporting post called
Kingstown post (OS ref:NY 3837 5920), on the main RAF Carlisle
site. The post was also an underground protected bunker but
designed for a crew of three observers. The headquarters bunker
accommodated an operational crew of around 100 with dormitory and
canteen facilities included with the operations room and life
support plant.
The Royal Observer Corps and its parent organisation the
United
Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation were disbanded in
December 1995 after the end of the
Cold War
and as a result of recommendations in the governments
Options for Change review of UK defence.
The ROC buildings were demolished in 1996 and replaced by a
cellphone communications mast. The foundations of the nuclear
bunker can still be partially seen outlined in the concreted yard,
which also contains the Air Training Corps hut during recent
further development of the site.
Governance
Historical
Carlisle has held
city
status since the
Middle Ages and has
been a
borough constituency or
parliamentary borough for
centuries at one time returning two MPs. In 1835 it became a
municipal borough which was
promoted to
county borough status in
1914.
The
city's boundaries have changed at various times since 1835 the
final time being in 1974 when under the Local Government Act 1972 the city
and county borough merged with the Border Rural District
to become the new enlarged City of
Carlisle, a non-metropolitan district of
Cumbria.
The borough originally had several
civil
parishes or parts of parishes within it but these were all
merged into a single civil parish of Carlisle in 1904.
The present day urban
area is now classed as an unparished
area except for the fringes which are in Stanwix Rural
, Kingmoor and St Cuthbert
Without
parishes.
Carlisle unsuccessfully applied to become a
Lord Mayoralty in 2002.
Carlisle City Council is based in a 1960s building known as the
Civic Centre in Rickergate. An iconic building and tallest in
Carlisle, it may soon be demolished and the surrounding area
regenerated.
Westminster
The current member of Parliament is
Eric
Martlew – Labour
European Parliament
Carlisle
is within the North West England constituency of the European
Parliament
the North West's current MEPs are:
County Council
Carlisle's county councillors are currently:
- Alan Toole (Conservative) Belah Ward
- Cyril Weber (Labour) Belle Vue Ward
- Anne Glendinning (Labour) Botcherby Ward
- Olwen Luckley (Liberal Democrat) Castle Ward
- Heather Bradley (Labour) Currock Ward
- Hugh McDevitt (Labour) Denton Holme Ward
- Michael Richardson (Labour) Harraby Ward
- John Bell (Labour) Morton Ward
- Reginald Watson OBE (Labour) St Aidens Ward
- Elizabeth Mallinson (Conservative) Stanwix Urban Ward
- Stewart Young (Labour) Upperby Ward
- Helen Horne (Labour) Yewdale Ward
District Council
Carlisle is governed by a
district council called Carlisle
City Council and is currently under Conservative control.
The
council also covers a large rural area with many villages and small
towns within it eg: Dalston
, Brampton
, Longtown, Wetheral
, Bewcastle
and Scotby
.
Geography
Carlisle
is situated on a slight rise, in the Cumberland Ward
, at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew, and
Petteril.
An
important centre for trade, it is located west of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
, north of Lancaster
, south of Glasgow
, south-west of Edinburgh
, north-west of York
, and
north-north-west of London
, at 54°52’N,
2°50’W. Nearby towns and villages include Longtown
(North), Penrith
(South) Brampton (East), Wigton
(West),
Haggbeck, Harker,
Carwinley, Blackford, Houghton, Scotby and Rockcliffe
.
Climate
Carlisle experiences an
oceanic
climate (
Köppen
climate classification Cfb). In January 2005 Carlisle
was hit by strong gales and heavy rain, and on Saturday
8 January 2005 all roads into Carlisle were closed
owing to severe
flooding, the worst since
1822, which caused three deaths.
Divisions and suburbs
To the far north of Carlisle lie the suburban areas of Kingstown,
Lowry Hill and Moorville, all formerly part of the parish of
Kingmoor. To the south of these areas are
Stanwix, Edentown, Etterby St Anns Hill and
Belah which were added to Carlisle in 1912.
The parish of
Stanwix
Rural still exists but only includes a very small part of
Carlisle's urban area.
To the immediate south of Stanwix lies the River Eden. On the
opposite bank of this is the historic city centre of Carlisle which
is bounded on the west by the West Coast Main Railway line and the
River Caldew.
In the past the main industries of Carlisle
flourished on the banks of the River Caldew, especially the
Denton
Holme
, Caldewgate area on the west side and Wapping (the
area round the former Metal Box works) on the east bank.
West of
Caldewgate and north of Denton Holme the suburbs of Newtown,
Morton, Sandsfield Park, Longsowerby, Raffles and Belle
Vue
developed in the late 19th and 20th
centuries.
The east side of the city centre developed in the 19th century into
a more affluent area than the west along what is now the main
A69 road.
This links up with
the former separate village of Botcherby
to which a large council estate was added in the
mid 20th century and later still the Durranhill Housing
Estate.
To the south of the city centre lies the Botchergate/St Nicholas
area of late Victorian terraced housing similar to that found in
Denton Holme and Caldewgate. The Botchergate East area did until
fairly recently have some older "slum" dwellings.
To the south west of Botchergate and St Nicholas lie the former
villages and now suburban areas of Upperby and Currock.
The urban
area spills over the former county borough boundary and includes
the areas of Blackwell and Durdar within the civil parish of
St Cuthbert
Without.
Between Upperby and Botcherby lies another former village that was
once part of St Cuthbert Without and is now probably the largest
suburb of Carlisle namely Harraby. This is subdivided into many
estates/areas including Harraby East, New Harraby, Harraby Green,
Old Harraby, Petteril Bank and the Durranhill Industrial Estate.
Adjoining Harraby to the south but outside the former borough
boundary is the hamlet of Carleton.
Transport
Carlisle is linked to the rest of England via the
M6 motorway towards the South, and to Scotland
via the
M74/A74 towards Glasgow and the
North.
As
well as these routes, many important trunk
roads either begin or terminate in Carlisle, including the
A6 to Penrith and eventually leading onto Luton (historically the
main road south), the A595 to western
Cumbria, the A69 to
Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the A7 to Edinburgh. The City of Carlisle
thus bears the distinction of being the only city in Great Britain
other than London and Edinburgh with more than one single numbered
'A' road - A6 and A7 (although at one time the A5 and A6 met in
St
Albans
).
Traffic in the Carlisle area, especially at rush hour, has become a
significant problem. A proposed bypass road will take traffic
heading to and from west Cumbria off the M6, as opposed to its
current path through the centre of Carlisle.
Carlisle is a principal railway station on the West
Coast
main railway line. Other railway lines go to
Newcastle, Leeds and Glasgow via Dumfries and west Cumbria.
Kingmoor
Traction Maintenance Depot
is a major facility located to the north of
Carlisle.
Local bus services are run by
Stagecoach North West and
Arriva. Following the disastrous flooding of Carlisle
Bus Depot (and a lot of Carlisle) on 8 January 2005 and the amazing
variety of buses seen in Carlisle afterwards, Stagecoach announced
the purchase of a fleet of brand new low-floor buses for Carlisle
city routes. These were officially launched on 30 June, complete
with "Carlisle Citi" branding, and with most of the buses carrying
route branding for individual routes both internally and
externally.
Trade and industry
Carlisle
became an industrial city in the 19th and early 20th centuries with
many textile mills, engineering works and food manufacturers
opening up mostly in the Denton Holme, Caldewgate and Wapping areas which lie in the
Caldew Valley area of Carlisle. (One such manufacturer
located in the Denton Holme area was Ferguson Printers, a large
textile printing factory that had stood for many years before its
unfortunate closure in the early 1990s).
In the early 19th
century a canal was dug connecting Caldewgate
with the sea at Port
Carlisle
. The
canal was later filled in and became a railway line.
Famous firms that were founded or had factories in Carlisle
included
Carr's of Carlisle (now part of
United Biscuits),
Kangol, Metal Box (now part of
Crown Holdings). The Carr's and Metal Box
factories are still going. The construction firm of
John Laing and the hauliers
Eddie Stobart Ltd. were also founded in
Carlisle.
Until 2004, Carlisle's biggest employer was
Cavaghan & Gray, part of
Northern Foods which operated from two sites
in the Harraby area of Carlisle producing chilled foods for major
supermarket chains. As of January 2005, the London Road site was
closed with the loss of almost 700 jobs as production was
transferred to the nearby Eastern Way site or other factories
around the UK.
Carlisle
also became a major railway centre with at
one time 7 different companies using Carlisle
Citadel railway station. Prior to the building of the Citadel
Station, Carlisle had several railway stations, including London Road
station
. Carlisle also used to have the largest
railway marshaling yard in Europe at Kingmoor, now closed.
There are various light industrial estates and business parks
located on the fringes of Carlisle and on former industrial sites
close to the city centre.
On March 28, 2005, Carlisle was granted
Fairtrade City status.
Sport
Football
Carlisle is represented in the English
Football League One by
Carlisle United, where they have played
since 2006.
They play at Brunton Park
on Warwick Road.
Their first
Football League tenure
began in 1928 when they were elected to the northern section of the
Football League Third
Division, replacing
Durham
City. Their past achievements include reaching the
Football League Cup semi-finals (their
best run in either of the two domestic cups) in 1969, and winning
promotion to the top flight (then the
Football League First
Division) in 1974. They famously topped the whole English
league after winning their first three games of the
1974-75 season, but failed to
keep up their good form and were relegated after just one season.
In 1987 they fell back into the
Football League Fourth
Division, and in 2004 were relegated to the
Football Conference - the first former
top division club to suffer this difficulty - only to regain their
Football League place after one
year.In 1999, Carlisle famously escaped relegation from the
Football League on the final day of the season when on-loan
goalkeeper
Jimmy Glass scored an injury
time winner for them against
Plymouth Argyle. Their 2-1 win meant
that
Scarborough were relegated
instead.
Though Carlisle United have rarely attracted the national football
headlines, they have fielded a number of high profile players over
the years. Some of these have achieved fame at bigger clubs after
spending the early part of their career at the club. These include
Peter Beardsley,
Stan Bowles,
Steve
Harkness,
Matt Jansen and
Rory Delap. Many older players have spent the
later years of their career at Carlisle United after playing for
bigger clubs. These include
Michael
Bridges,
Mervyn Day,
Kevin Gray and
David
McCreery. Notable former managers of the club include
Alan Ashman,
Bob
Stokoe,
Harry Gregg,
Mick Wadsworth,
Nigel Pearson and
Paul
Simpson.
Since
Workington were voted out of the
Football League in 1977, Carlisle United have been the only
Cumbrian team to have played senior football.
Rugby
Rugby LeagueCarlisle was at one time home to a
rugby league team,
Carlisle RLFC who would later merge with
Barrow and leave Carlisle. They now
have a new rugby league side called Carlisle Centurions.
Rugby UnionCarlisle has two well established rugby
union clubs - Carlisle RFC and Creighton RUFC. Carlisle are
situated on Warwick Road, alongside Carlisle United AFC. Creighton
were originally sited near the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle,
but following negotiations with Story Homes during 2001/2004 agreed
to sell their ground for redevelopment in exchange for a new ground
and facilities off Cumwhinton Road, near Junction 42 of the
M6.
Current England rugby union captain
Steve Borthwick is a native of
Carlisle.
Education
University of Cumbria has a
four campuses in Carlisle on Fusehill Street, Brampton Road,
Paternoster Row and Newcastle Street. The university provides a
wide range of degree courses in
higher
education such as
Applied
Computing,
Applied
Psychology,
Art,
Business,
Law,
Media,
Social Work
and
Teacher Education.
Carlisle
College
is the Further
Education establishment based in the town.
The
secondary schools within the city
of Carlisle are: Richard Rose Academy (comprising of the Central
Campus and the Morton Campus), Austin
Friars St Monicas
(Roman Catholic Private School), Trinity - Centre
of Excellence for Languages, Newman (Roman Catholic School).
Other
secondary schools in the wider Carlisle district are: Caldew School
, (Dalston) and William Howard School
(Brampton).
The Richard Rose Central Academy replaced St Aidan's County High
School and
Specialist Sports and
Science College, and the North Cumbria Technology College (NCTC,
formerly Harraby School). It is sponsored by Eddie Stobart owner
Andrew Tinkler, and local businessman
Brian Scowcroft. It opened in September 2008. In January 2009,
there were protests by parents and pupils regarding poor quality
education and school facilities. The school was found to be failing
and was placed in
Special Measures,
with the headmaster and chief executive being immediately
replaced.
Curse of Carlisle
The
Curse of Carlisle is a 16th century curse that was first
invoked by Archbishop Dunbar of Glasgow in 1525 against cross-border families, known as the
Border Reivers, who lived by stealing
cattle and pillage. The curse was not directly aimed at
Carlisle or its people. For the millennium celebrations, the local
council commissioned a 14-tonne granite artwork inscribed with all
1,069 words of the curse.
In 1998 some Christians, among other projects, began campaigning to
prevent the City of Carlisle from installing the stone. In the wake
of this controversy, superstition about the stone grew and a number
of the town's setbacks were blamed on the curse stone, including an
outbreak of
foot-and-mouth
disease, a flood, various crimes, rising unemployment
statistics and even the fate of Carlisle United, which was
relegated out of its league.
In March 2005,
Liberal Democrat
city councillor Jim Tootle, on the request of a Christian citizen,
proposed the stone either be moved outside the city boundaries or
destroyed altogether.
Kevin Carlyon,
the self-titled "high priest of the British
white witches" and the "Living God of all
Witches", proclaimed that such actions would give the curse more
power. He commented that: "A curse can only work if people believe
in it. I think at the moment the sculpture is a nice piece of
history, but if the council destroys it, they would be showing
their belief in the curse." A council meeting on March 8, 2005
rejected Tootle's proposal, a move welcomed by council leader Mike
Mitchelson, who had earlier questioned whether moving the stone was
a good use of council funds.
Notable residents
Born in Carlisle
- Kevin Beattie, former England
football international
- Lee Brennan, former member of the
band 911
- Beatrix Campbell, feminist
writer and journalist
- Peter Cox, vegetarian
cookbook author
- Nicholas Cox,
first lieutenant-governor of New Carlisle, Quebec
who named the community after his
hometown
- Bryan Dick, actor,
best known for his roles in Blackpool
and Torchwood
- Douglas Ferguson, bass player with
the band Camel
- Mike Figgis, film director, writer
and composer, born in Carlisle
- Margaret Forster, novelist
- George MacDonald Fraser,
author
- Mike Harrison, lead singer of the
band Spooky Tooth
- Paul Huntington, Leeds United and Newcastle United footballer, grew up in
Carlisle
- Matt Jansen,
former England U21
and Blackburn
Rovers
striker, born in Wetheral, near Carlisle
- Thomas Logie MacDonald,
ex-Mayor and astronomer who had a lunar
crater named after him
- Paul Nixon, England cricketer
- Roxanne Pallett, actress,
starred in Emmerdale, grew up in Carlisle
- Stuart Stockdale, fashion
designer, formerly head of design at Pringle of Scotland
- Derek Townsley, professional
footballer
- Janet Woodrow, mother of Woodrow
Wilson, the 28th President of the United
States was born in Carlisle. The President made a number of
visits to Carlisle and the Lake District during his presidency,
most famously on his "pilgrimage of the heart" on 29 December 1918. This visit is commemorated by
a plaque on the wall at the Carlisle City Church on Lowther Street
[9658].
Resident of Carlisle
- Ivor Broadis, ex
England
international footballer and journalist moved to
Carlisle after the Second World
War
- Hunter Davies, Writer, brought up
in Carlisle
- Rory Delap, professional footballer
who plays for Stoke City FC.
- Richard Hammond, TV presenter,
lived in Carlisle
- Richard Madeley, TV personality,
worked for BBC Carlisle and Border Television
- Peter Manley, professional darts
player
- William James Blacklock,
19th century landscape artist, studied in Carlisle and later had a
studio in Stanwix
References
- Vindolanda Tablets Online - mentioning
Carlisle
- ROC role
- ROC HQs
- Kingstown Post
- Demolished ROC bunker
- County councillors
- "Carlisle 'cut off' by flood water" at BBC News – 8 January, 2005, 13:15 UTC
- "Floods leave homes without power" at BBC News –
8 January, 2005,
23:31 UTC
- [1]
- Kevin Carlyon's website kevincarlyon.com.
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