Westmorland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the English county. For other uses, see Westmoreland.

Westmorland (formerly also spelt Westmoreland, an even older spelling is Westmerland) is an area of north west England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria.

1 Early history
- 1.1 Division into wards
2 Modern history
3 Legacy
4 References

[edit] Early history

Historic county of Westmorland
Geography

Area: (1831)	485,990 acres
Rank:	Ranked 29th
Administration
County town:	Appleby-in-Westmorland
Chapman code:	WES

At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 the county was considered to form part of Yorkshire. The historic county boundaries formed by the 12th Century were with Cumberland to the north, County Durham and Yorkshire to the east, and Lancashire to the south and west. Windermere formed part of the western border with Lancashire north of the sands, and Ullswater part of the border with Cumberland.

The highest point of the county was Helvellyn at 950m (3,117 ft). According to the 1831 census it covered an area of 485,990 acres. <ref>1831 Census cited in Vision of Britain - Ancient county data</ref>

Appleby, the historic county town, formed a historic borough and was unreformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835; although reform came later in 1885. Kendal was reformed as a municipal borough in 1835.

[edit] Division into wards

Rather than being divided into hundreds, Westmorland was subdivided into two baronies of Westmorland (or sometimes Appleby) and Kendal.

The baronies were further subdivided into two wards each:

Westmorland
- East ward <ref>Vision of Britain - History of East ward</ref> - Appleby, Brough, Kirkby Stephen, Orton, Tebay, Troutbeck
- West ward <ref>Vision of Britain - History of Wast ward</ref> - Askham, Bampton, Barton, Patterdale, Shap, Yanwath

Kendal
- Kendal ward <ref>Vision of Britain - History of Kendal ward</ref> - Ambleside, Burton-in-Kendal, Grasmere, Grayrigg, Kentmere, Kendal, Windermere
- Lonsdale ward <ref>Vision of Britain - History of Lonsdale ward</ref> - Kirkby Lonsdale

[edit] Modern history

Westmorland
Administration
Image:Westmorland-coa.png
Status:	ceremonial county, administrative county
HQ:	County Hall, Kendal
History
Created:	1889
Abolished:	1974
Succeeded by:	Cumbria
Area
1911:	505,330 acres
1961:	504,917 acres
Population
1901:	64,409
1971:	72,865

In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888, a county council was created for Westmorland, taking functions from the Quarter Sessions. Westmorland did not contain any county boroughs throughout its history so the administrative county, or area under the control of the county council, was coterminous with the geographic county. The county council was based at Kendal, instead of the historic county town of Appleby.

Aside from the two municipal boroughs of Kendal and Appleby, the Local Government Act 1894 divided the county into urban districts and rural districts. Westmorland's urban districts were very small and would have probably been parts of rural districts in other counties.

According to the 1971 census, Westmorland was the second least populated administrative county in England, after Rutland. The distribution of population was as follows: <ref>1971 Census; Small Area Statistics</ref>

District	Population
Municipal Borough of Appleby	1,944
Municipal Borough of Kendal	21,602
Lakes Urban District	5,815
Windermere Urban District	8,065
North Westmorland Rural District	14,778
South Westmorland Rural District	20,633

In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the county was abolished and its former area was combined with Cumberland and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire to form the new county of Cumbria. It went on to form part of the districts of South Lakeland and Eden.

[edit] Legacy

Westmorland is still used as a place name by organisations such as the Westmorland Gazette, the Westmorland County Agricultural Society Show, the Westmorland Youth Orchestra and the Westmorland Shopping Centre.

The southern part of the county, the former Barony of Kendal or that part of Westmorland that is part of South Lakeland, is included in the Westmorland and Lonsdale parliamentary constituency.

In June 1994, during the 1990s UK local government reform, the Local Government Commission published draft recommendations suggesting that the border between Westmorland and Yorkshire and Lancashire be restored for ceremonial purposes. 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.