Carlisle, a parliamentary and municipal borough, the county town of Cumberland, stands on a gentle eminence in a wide-spreading plain, at the influx of the Caldew and Petteril to the Eden—three streams that nearly encircle it. An important railway centre, it is 299 miles NNW. of London, 101 miles S. of Edinburgh, 22½ E. by N. of its seaport, Silloth, and 66 W. by S. of Newcastle. In spite of its hoar antiquity, 'merry' Carlisle as a whole is disappointingly modern, its gates having vanished, and almost the whole of the walls. The castle was founded in 1092, and now serves as a barrack. The remains of its Norman keep form a massive tower; but that portion of the fortress in which Mary Queen of Scots was for two months imprisoned (1568) was demolished in 1835. The cathedral, founded by William Rufus, and dedicated in 1101 by Henry I., in 1133 was made the cathedral church of the newly-formed diocese. It has four times suffered by fire, the greatest in 1292; and ranging in date between 1092 and 1419, it comprises every variety of style from Norman to Perpendicular. The fragment of the Norman nave, long used as a parish church, is cut off from the choir, which, mainly Decorated in style, is 137 feet long, 71 broad, and 75 high. It is one of the finest choirs in England, the exquisite tracery of its nine-light east window being of matchless beauty. The central tower, only 127 feet high, formerly supported a timber spire, which was removed in the 18th century. There are monuments and other memorials to Paley, Dean Close, and Archbishop Tait's five children; and in Carlisle Cathedral Scott married Miss Carpenter (1797). The building was restored in 1853-57. The court-house and county gaol are the most noticeable of the public buildings; the Eden is crossed by a handsome five-arch bridge (1851); and in the town are statues of the second Earl of Lonsdale and of James Steel, editor of the Carlisle Journal. The chief branches of industry are cotton, calico, hat, and iron manufactures; fancy biscuits are largely made; and the Eden has salmon-fisheries. The parliamentary representation was reduced to one member in 1885. Pop. (1801) 10,221; (1851) 26,310; (1891) 39,176. The Luguvalium of the Romans, and Cacer-Luel (hence Carlisle) of the Britons, the town was destroyed by the Danes in 875, and restored by William Rufus in 1092. From its position as a Border fortress, it has a wealth of martial memories—none more famous than the rescue of 'Kinmont Willie' by Buccleuch from Carlisle Castle in 1596. During the Great Rebellion it twice surrendered to the Parliamentarians (1645-48); and in the '45 it was held for a time by the Jacobites, thirty-one of whom were afterwards executed on Harraby Hill. The Carlisle Tables of Mortality, based on the deaths here in 1779-87, are much used in Insurance (q.v.).
See Freeman's English Towns (1883); Bishop Creighton's Carlisle ('Historic Towns,' 1889); R. S. Ferguson's Carlisle ('Diocesan Histories,' 1890).