Cumberland, a Border county of England, washed on the W. by the Irish Sea and the Solway Firth, and elsewhere bounded by Dumfries and Roxburgh shires, Northumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, and Lancashire. Eleventh in size of the English counties, it has a maximum length of 75 miles, a maximum breadth of 45, a coast-line of 75, and an area of 1564 sq. m. The surface is mountainous in the south-west and east; the middle consists of hills, valleys, and elevated ridges; and the north and north-west districts, including the vale of Carlisle, are low, flat, or gently undulated. The mountains in the south-west are high, rugged, and sterile, with deep and narrow valleys, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and woodlands. The chief mountains are Scaw Fell Pike (3210 feet), Scaw Fell (3162), Helvellyn (3118), Skiddaw (3058), Bow Fell (2960), and Cross Fell (2892). The largest lakes are Ullswater, Derwentwater, Bassenthwaite, Thirlmere, Buttermere, Wastwater, and Ennerdale. Six of the chief waterfalls are 60 to 156 feet high. The chief rivers are the Eden, the Esk, and the Derwent. The Lancaster and Carlisle railway route from London to Edinburgh crosses the north-east part of Cumberland.
The Lake district, or nearly the south-west half of Cumberland, consists of Silurian slates, with protrusions of granite and trap rocks, and with New Red sandstone along the coast south of St Bees Head. In the north is a semicircular strip of carboniferous limestone; then follow strips of coal strata and Permian rocks; then the new red sandstone plain of Carlisle, with carboniferous limestone on the north-east, including a trap-dike 30 miles long. Cumberland abounds in mineral wealth—silver, copper, lead, iron, plumbago, gypsum, limestone, coal, slates, marbles, marl, and several of the rarer minerals.
In the mountainous parts the climate is wet and variable, especially from July to October; on the coast it is mild. There is an annual rainfall of 50 inches at Whitehaven, and of 59 at Keswick; while at Styhead Pass, at an altitude of 1077 feet, the rainfall has been as much as 243.98 inches. Half of the cultivated soil consists of dry loam. Much of the subsoil is wet clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, turnips, and potatoes. There are many small dairies. Sheep and cattle are reared in the mountains. The estates are generally small, and farmed by the owners, or held under the lords of the manors by customary tenure. Many of the small proprietors, or 'statesmen,' have had their lands in their families for centuries, and have a high spirit of independence. There are manufactures of woollens—much being domestic—cottons, linens, earthenware, and glass. The chief towns are Carlisle, Cockermouth, Whitehaven, Workington, Maryport, Wigton, Penrith, Keswick,
Egremont. Under the Distribution of Seats Act, 1885, Cumberland returns one member for each of the four divisions, North or Eskdale, Mid or Penrith, Cockermouth, and West or Egremont. Pop. (1801) 117,230; (1841) 178,038; (1871) 220,253; (1881) 250,647. Near Keswick and Kirkoswald are two fine stone circles; and many Roman relics have been found, such as altars, coins, and inscriptions. For centuries part of Cumbria or Strathclyde, the present county was finally annexed to England in 1157. For three hundred years prior to the union of the crowns, it was the constant scene of war and devastation, from incursions of the English and Scotch; and it suffered again in both the '15 and the '45. Cumberland had formerly several monasteries and hospitals; and on the Border, many towers or peel-houses; and it has still some fine old churches. See BORDERS, LAKE DISTRICT; and R. S. Ferguson's Hist. of C. (1890).