Cumberland

Cumberland is an area of north-west and one of the 39. It formed an from 1889 to 1974 (excluding Carlisle from 1915) and now forms part of.

Early history
At the time of the in 1086 most of the county was part of  although some villages in the far south west were included in the  section with the  region.

The historic county boundaries formed by the 12th Century were with and  to the east,  to the south, the  part of  to the south-west,  in  to the north and  in Scotland to the north-east. formed part of the border with Westmorland.

The highest point of the county is at 978 m (3,208 ft); it is the highest  in England. is the historic of the county.

Division into wards
The county was divided into five s, rather than the s found in most English counties. The wards were:



Modern history
In 1889, under the, a county council was created for Cumberland, taking over administrative functions from the. The further divided the county into urban districts and rural districts.

Carlisle was created a in 1915 and no longer formed part of the area under the control of the county council, or.

In 1974, under the, the administrative county and county borough were abolished and their former area was combined with and parts of  and the  to form the new county of. The area from Cumberland went on to form the districts of, , and part of.

The distribution of population in 1971 was as follows:

Legacy
The name continues in use as a geographical and cultural term, and survives in, and various organisations and companies, such as the local newspapers The Cumberland News, and The West Cumberland Times and Star, and the .

In June 1994, during the, the Local Government Commission published draft recommendations, suggesting as one option a North Cumbria (also including , the historic county town of Westmorland). It also suggested that Cumberland could be reinstated as an independent. The final recommendations, published in October 1994, did not include such recommendations, apparently due to lack of expression of support for the proposal to the commission.

As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity chose the  as the. Parnassus flowers had been associated with the county since, when they were included in the granted to the Cumberland County Council. They subsequently featured in the arms granted to Cumbria County Council and , in both cases to represent Cumberland.