Shap

Although Shap is a small village in terms of population, it is legally a market town with a charter dating from the 17th century. The parish was administered between 1905 and 1935 by an urban district council. At one time, the granite works situated a mile outside the village was a separate community, with its own Co-op store. Shap polished pink granite can be found in many buildings in the UK, including outside St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Shap Summit is located on the motorway at and the railway at . Before the M6 opened, Shap Fell used to be notorious for the difficult and dangerous stretch of A6 for drivers, and it includes a well-known section of the West Coast Main Line. It has a 1:75 gradient for trains heading north, and in the days of steam locomotives banking engines from Tebay were often used to assist trains. It has been popular with railway photographers and there have been many pictures published taken in the area, most notably at Scout Green which lies on the southern approach to the hill. Shap Fell is known for Shap granite, a pink rock rich in orthoclase, quartz and biotite; Shap Pink Quarry takes its name…

The library which, in 2014, was in the process of being relinquished from local council control and being adopted by the community as part of a budget cutting measure. As of 2025, it is operated as "Shap Library Link" by the local council. On 3 November 2025, a Glasgow to London Avanti West Coast train with 86 passengers and five crew derailed near the village due to a landslide. There were four minor injuries.