Cumbria

Cumbria ( KUM-bree-ə) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north; the English ceremonial counties of Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, and Lancashire to the south; and the Irish Sea to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Carlisle. Cumbria is predominantly rural, with an area of 6,769 km2 (2,614 sq mi) and an estimated population of 510,680 in 2024. Carlisle is in the north of the county; the towns of Workington and Whitehaven lie on the west coast, Barrow-in-Furness on the south coast, and Penrith and Kendal in the east. For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas, Westmorland and Furness and Cumberland, the councils of which collaborate through the Cumbria Combined Authority. Cumbria was created in 1974 from the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, the Furness area of Lancashire, and a small part of Yorkshire. The interior of Cumbria contains several upland areas. Together they fringe the Vale of Eden, the wide valley of the River Eden, which runs south-east to north-west across the county and broadens into the Solway Plain near Carlisle. To the north-east are part of the Border Moors, and to the east part of the North Pennines; the latter have been designated a national landscape. South of the vale are the Orton Fells, Howgill Fells, and part of the Yorkshire Dales, which are all within the Yorkshire Dales national park. The south-west contains the Lake District, a large upland area which has been designated a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. It includes England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike; its longest and largest lake, Windermere; and its deepest lake, Wast Water. The county has a long coast to the west which is bordered by a plain for most of its length. The north-west coast is part of the Solway Firth, a national landscape, and the south coa