Cockermouth
Encyclopedia
History
The RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle
Papcastle
Papcastle is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in the English county of Cumbria. The village is now effectively a northern extension of Cockermouth, which lies to the south of the River Derwent. It has its own parish council and lies within Bridekirk Parish for Church of...
, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
.
The main town developed under the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, who after occupying the former Roman fort built Cockermouth Castle
Cockermouth Castle
Cockermouth Castle is in the town of Cockermouth in Cumbria on a site by the junction of the Rivers Cocker and Derwent.The first castle on this site was built by the Normans in 1134. Significant additions were made in the 13th and 14th centuries. The castle played a significant role in the Wars...
closer to the river crossing: little remains today of the castle thanks to the efforts of Robert the Bruce. The resultant servicing and market town resultantly developed its distinctive medieval layout, of a broad main street of burgesses’ houses, each with a burgage plot stretching to a "back lane": the Derwent bank on the north and Back Lane (now South Street), on the south. The layout is still largely preserved to this day, resulting in the British Council for Archaeology in 1965 noting it being worthy of special care in preservation and development.
Market centre
The town marketMarket
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
pre-dates 1221, when the market day was changed from Saturday to Monday. Market charters were granted in 1221 and 1227 by King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
, although this does not preclude the much earlier existence of a market in the town. In recent times, the trading farmers market now only occurs seasonally, replaced by weekend continental and craft markets.
In the days when opening hours of public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s were restricted, the fact that the pubs in Cockermouth could open all day on Market days made the town a popular destination for drinkers, especially on Bank Holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
Mondays. The Market Bell remains as a reminder of this period (inset into a wall opposite the Allerdale Hotel), while the 1761 and Castle pub (which spans three floors) have been renovated to reveal medieval stonework and 16th and 18th century features.
Architecture
Much of the centre of the town is of medieval origin substantially rebuilt in GeorgianGeorgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
style with Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
infill. The tree lined Kirkgate offers examples of unspoilt classical late 17th and 18th century terraced housing, cobbled paving and twisty curving lanes which run steeply down to the River Cocker. Most of the buildings are of traditional slate and stone construction with thick walls and green Skiddaw slate
Skiddaw Slate
Skiddaw slate is an early Ordovician metamorphosed sedimentary rock, as first identified on the slopes of Skiddaw in the English Lake District....
roofs.
Many of the facades lining the streets are frontages for historic housing in alleyways and lanes (often maintaining medieval street patterns) to the rear. An example of this may be observed through the alleyway adjacent to the almost time-frozen Market Place hardware merchant (J.B.Banks and Son) where 18th-century dye workers' cottages line one side of the lane and the former works faces them across the narrow cobbled lane. Examples of Georgian residences may be found near the Market Place, St. Helens Street, at the bottom of Castlegate Drive and Kirkgate.
Curiously, Cockermouth lays claim to be the first town in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
to have piloted electric lighting
Lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
, reputedly in 1881.
Present
The centre of Cockermouth retains much of its historic character and the renovation of Market Place has been completed, now with an artistic and community focus. The Kirkgate Centre is the town's major cultural focus and offers regular historical displays by the Cockermouth Museum Group in addition to holding major cultural events including theatre, international music and world cinema. The tree-lined main street boasts a statue of Lord MayoRichard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo
Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo KP, GMSI, PC , styled Lord Naas between 1842 and 1867, was a statesman and prominent member of the British Conservative Party from Dublin, Ireland....
, formerly an MP for Cockermouth, who became British Viceroy of India and whose subsequent claim to fame was that he was assassinated.
The renovated arts and cultural zone in the 13th century Market Place has undergone something of a "regeneration" following European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
funding, and is now pedestrian-friendly adorned with stone paving and roadways, underground lighting and controversial seating in bright colours to reflect the area's facades. Pavement art and stonework commemorate eclectic historical events, John Dalton's atomic theory, local dialect, flooding and a curious range other memorabilia.
There is a cycleway which runs along the former Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway
Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway
The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 1 August 1861, for a line connecting the town of Cockermouth with the London and North Western Railway West Coast Main Line at Penrith. Arrangements for the use of the stations at either end The Cockermouth,...
route, and spans a high bridge over the Cocker affording views of the town and river-scape.
Cockermouth suffered badly in the nation-wide flood on the 19th and 20th of November 2009. Over 200 people needed to be rescued, with helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
s from RAF Valley
RAF Valley
RAF Valley is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales, and which is also used as Anglesey Airport. It provides fast-jet training using the BAE Hawk and provides training for aircrew working with Search and Rescue. Unofficially the motto for RAF Valley is 'One Valley, Training...
, RAF Boulmer
RAF Boulmer
RAF Boulmer is a Royal Air Force station near Alnwick in Northumberland and is currently home to Aerospace Surveillance and Control System Force Command, Control and Reporting Centre Boulmer, the School of Aerospace Battle Management, No...
and RAF Leconfield
RAF Leconfield
The former RAF Leconfield, or 'Leconfield Camp' was a Royal Air Force airbase in Leconfield , East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site is now used by the MoD Defence School of Transport Leconfield .-History:...
retrieving about 50 and the remainder being rescued by boats, including those of the RNLI
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
. Water levels in the town centre were reported to be as high as 2.5 metre and flowing at a rate of 25 knots. Many historic buildings on and adjacent to Main Street sustained severe damage, as did a number of bridges in and around the town. Recovery from the devastation was slow, with residents placed in temporary accommodation and some businesses temporarily relocated to Mitchells auction mart. By the summer of 2011 most of the damage had been repaired and buildings re-occupied, though some remained empty or boarded up.
Landmarks
Cockermouth CastleCockermouth Castle
Cockermouth Castle is in the town of Cockermouth in Cumbria on a site by the junction of the Rivers Cocker and Derwent.The first castle on this site was built by the Normans in 1134. Significant additions were made in the 13th and 14th centuries. The castle played a significant role in the Wars...
is a sizeable but partly ruined Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
, the home of Pamela, The Dowager Lady Egremont. Built at the confluence of the Rivers Cocker and Derwent, the castle has a tilting tower which hangs Pisa-like over Jennings Brewery
Jennings Brewery
Jennings Brewery was established as a family concern in 1828 in the village of Lorton, between Keswick and Cockermouth in the Lake District, England. The brewery was started by John Jennings Snr, son of William Jennings . Jennings brewed exclusively in Lorton until 1874 when its present home, the...
. The castle, with its preserved dungeons, is only opened to the public once a year during the annual town festival.
Wordsworth House
Wordsworth House
Wordsworth House is a Georgian townhouse situated in Cockermouth, Cumbria, England, and in the ownership of the National Trust.It was built in the mid-18th century. William Wordsworth was born in the house in 1770. The house is a Grade I listed building. It is open to the public from March to...
has been restored following extensive damage during the November 2009 floods, and features a working eighteenth century kitchen and children's bedroom with toys and clothes of the times. Harris Park offers riverside walks and views down over the historic Town.
Jenning's Brewery offers regular public tours and occasional carriage rides pulled by a shire horse. Other attractions include William Wordsworth's birthplace, and the Lakeland Sheep & Wool Centre which offers daily shows in its theatre.
Culturally, the Kirkgate Centre offers international music, theatre and world cinema (including critically acclaimed and art-house movies on Monday evenings) and the town has an annual festival of concerts and performances each summer. Cockermouth has an annual Easter Fair, fireworks display and carnival. In April 2005 it hosted its first Georgian Fair, which was repeated in 2006, again in May 2008. At Christmas the town presents festive lighting throughout its main and subsidiary streets, accompanied by competing shop displays.
The main cemetery on the Lorton Road is something of a walker's garden, featuring streams, humped stone bridges and views of the nearby fells.
The adjoining village of Papcastle
Papcastle
Papcastle is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in the English county of Cumbria. The village is now effectively a northern extension of Cockermouth, which lies to the south of the River Derwent. It has its own parish council and lies within Bridekirk Parish for Church of...
is also picturesque in its own right, and stands on the site of the Roman fort of Derventio, lined with grand 18th and 19th century houses.
Two and a half miles northwest of the town lies Dovenby Hall
Dovenby Hall
Dovenby Hall is a Grade II listed country house in Dovenby, about north-west of Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. The estate totals .- History :...
Estate, a 115 acre (0.4653889 km²) park and woodland estate. Dovenby Hall is the home of the Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
Rally
Rallying
Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...
team. The estate was bought in January 1988 by Malcolm Wilson
Malcolm Wilson (rally)
Malcolm Irving Wilson, OBE is a British former rally driver. He is the father of current World Rally Championship driver Matthew Wilson....
for his M-Sport
M-Sport
M-Sport is a large and successful motorsport team based in Cockermouth, Cumbria in England. Formed in 1979 by former WRC driver Malcolm Wilson, and originally known as Malcolm Wilson Motorsport, the team has had varying success running cars in several rally championships...
motorsport team and in 1996 they were selected by Ford Motorsport to build, prepare and run a fleet of cars for entry into the World Rally Championship
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 13...
.
Economy and services
Created as a market town, being located close to a fast flowing river in a farming area that had always created cloth, meant that during the industrial revolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, Cockermouth became a hub for spinning
Spinning (textiles)
Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...
and weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
. Records show that the town had a fulling mill by 1156, by the mid nineteenth century there were over forty industrial sites – mills (wool, linen, cotton), hat factories, tanneries and smaller concerns making chairs, churns, mangle rollers, nails, farm machinery, etc.
With the need for steam power, industrialisation declined, but the coming of the railway and the Victorian holiday, together with the power of Wordsworth's publications, meant that Cockermouth became an early inland tourist centre. The local economy is still reliant today on farming and tourism, with light industrial facilities servicing local needs. Industrialisation and hence work has moved to the west coast around Carlisle and Workington, and servicing the nuclear
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
facilities at Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
.
Many of the shops offer a distinctive and local appeal, and yet there are three supermarkets, two chemists, a cycle shop, a Wilkinson's store, a sports centre, three bakers, over twenty hairdressers, a music shop and two art galleries. Cockermouth has several churches, three medical and dental surgeries, a complementary health centre, a sports injuries and physiotherapy centre.
There are many restaurants and of course lots of pubs, many selling the locally brewed Jennings beers, who are a major local employer. The Bitter End pub in Kirkgate has its own micro-brewery and visiting ales. The largest hotel is the Georgian fronted Trout which still has a faded photo on its walls of Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
who used the hotel as a base for his fishing in the town's rivers. At the end of Harris Park, there is a small youth hostel sited in a 16th century mill on a bend in the River Cocker's approach to the town.
Education
Cockermouth has three primary schools. These are Fairfield, which has separate infant and junior Schools; All Saints Church of England and St. Joseph's Roman Catholic.Cockermouth School is a comprehensive
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
secondary school with around 1400 pupils including 310 Sixth Formers. The School is also a specialist Language
Language College
Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...
, Mathematics and Computing School
Mathematics and Computing College
Mathematics and Computing Colleges were introduced in England in 2002 as part of the Government's Specialist Schools Programme which was designed to raise standards in secondary education. Specialist schools focus specifically on their chosen specialism but must also meet the requirements of the...
. The current Headmaster is Mr. G. Walker. Cockermouth School won the regional championship in the north of England for the kids lit quiz 2009 coming 1st with 92 points
Transport
The nearest motorway is the M6M6 motorway
The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...
junction 40 at Penrith
Penrith, Cumbria
Penrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....
, which is 30 miles (48.3 km) away via the A66
A66 road
The A66 is a major road in northern England which in part follows the course of the Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith. It runs from east of Middlesbrough in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire to Workington in Cumbria...
.
The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway
Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway
The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 1 August 1861, for a line connecting the town of Cockermouth with the London and North Western Railway West Coast Main Line at Penrith. Arrangements for the use of the stations at either end The Cockermouth,...
served the town. The original Cockermouth & Workington Railway station
Cockermouth (C&W) railway station
The original Cockermouth railway station was situated on the Cockermouth & Workington Railway and served the town of Cockermouth, Cumbria. The station opened on 28 April 1847, and closed on 2 January 1865. The station was replaced by the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway station when the...
was replaced on a new alignment when the Cockermouth railway station
Cockermouth railway station
Cockermouth railway station was situated on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway and served the town of Cockermouth, Cumbria, England. The station opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865, and closed on 18 April 1966. The station was the second to be built in the town...
opened to passenger traffic on 2 January 1865. The station was immortalised in 1964 in the song "Slow Train
Slow Train
"Slow Train" is a song by the British duo Flanders and Swann, written in 1963.It laments the loss of British stations and railway lines in that era, due to the Beeching cuts, and also the passing of a way of life, with the advent of motorways etc....
" by Flanders and Swann
Flanders and Swann
The British duo Flanders and Swann were the actor and singer Michael Flanders and the composer, pianist and linguist Donald Swann , who collaborated in writing and performing comic songs....
. The station closed on 18 April 1966. The site is now occupied by Cockermouth Mountain Rescue and the Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service
Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service for the Shire county of Cumbria, England. Of the 38 fire stations, there are six wholetime and 32 retained...
Headquarters. The old track bed now a public walkway, with the nearest railway stations now being Maryport on the Cumbrian Coast Line
Cumbrian Coast Line
The Cumbrian Coast Line is a rail route in North West England, running from Carlisle to Barrow-in-Furness via Workington and Whitehaven. The line forms part of Network Rail route NW 4033, which continues via Ulverston and Grange-over-Sands to Carnforth, where it connects with the West Coast Main...
, and Penrith and Carlisle, the latter two located on the West Coast main line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
.
A coach service runs daily from London Victoria, via Milton Keynes, Wigan, Preston, Lancaster and Kendal to Cockermouth, then on to Workington and Whitehaven (approx 9 hrs). A second service runs from Birmingham Digbeth
Digbeth Coach Station
Birmingham Coach Station is a major coach interchange in Digbeth, Birmingham, England offering services to destinations throughout Great Britain and also to Belfast, Dublin and Poland. National Express, the largest scheduled coach service provider in Europe, has its national headquarters on the site...
, via Wigan, Preston, Lancaster and Kendal to Cockermouth, then on to Workington and Whitehaven (approx 6 hrs). Local bus services connect Cockermouth to Workington, Penrith and Carlisle, operated by Stagecoach North West
Stagecoach North West
Stagecoach North West is a major operator of bus services in North West England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and has its origins in the purchase of Cumberland in 1987 and Ribble in 1988 from the National Bus Company. The head office of Stagecoach North West is in Carlisle...
.
The nearest major airport is Newcastle Airport
Newcastle Airport
Newcastle International Airport is located in Woolsington in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, north-west of the city centre. In 2010 it was the 11th busiest airport in the United Kingdom....
. Leeds Bradford international airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport
Leeds Bradford International Airport is located at Yeadon, in the City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, northwest of Leeds city centre itself...
and Blackpool Airport
Blackpool Airport
Blackpool International Airport is an international airport on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, England, in the Borough of Fylde, just outside the Borough of Blackpool. It was formerly known as Squires Gate Airport....
are little further, and further again is Manchester Airport, which offers a wider choice of destinations.
Two cycle routes pass through the town, the Sea to Sea Cycle Route
Sea to Sea Cycle Route
The Coast to Coast or Sea to Sea Cycle Route is Great Britain's most popular long-distance cycle route and is based on minor roads, disused railway lines, off-road tracks and specially constructed cycle paths...
from Workington to Tyneside, and the Reivers Cycle Route.
Sports and leisure
Cockermouth has a swimming pool, two gyms, and two parks which both facilitate riverside walks.Cockermouth Rugby Football Club is based at the former Cockermouth Grammar School site and can boast that in 1987 it played the first ever rugby union league match when they played Kirby Lonsdale when the Rugby Union formed national and regional leagues, the precursors of what have now become the national and premier leagues.
The town has a thriving youth football club, Cockermouth F.C. In the 2007–2008 season, the Under 12 team were County Cup Champions. Cockermouth beat Allerdale Leisure, from Workington
Workington
Workington is a town, civil parish and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England, at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the Borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport...
, 1-0 in the final.
The West Cumbria Hockey team play their home games at the Cockermouth School Astro Turf pitch.
Cockermouth is the home town of Belfagan Women's Morris, an all-female team established in 1981 who perform North West morris
Morris dance
Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and bells may also be wielded by the dancers...
wearing traditional wooden clogs and using garlands, sticks and hankies in their various dances. The town is also home to CADS (Cockermouth Amateur Dramatic Society), and the Cumbria Youth Alliance.
Cockermouth is also home to a Detachment of Cumbria Army Cadet Force
Army Cadet Force
The Army Cadet Force is a British youth organisation that offers progressive training in a multitude of the subjects from military training to adventurous training and first aid, at the same time as promoting achievement, discipline, and good citizenship, to boys and girls aged 12 to 18 and 9...
, a youth organisation present throughout the United Kingdom.
The 1st Cockermouth Scout group meets on various days and incorporates all sections of the scouting movement.
Derwent Valley Cycling Club (DVCC) is based in Cockermouth. DVCC is situated within the Derwent Valley which covers an area from Keswick to the river Derwent's outlet at Workington. Activities also take place in the neighbouring Solway Plain and Eden Valley areas.
Notable residents
Best known as the birthplace of William WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
and Dorothy Wordsworth
Dorothy Wordsworth
Dorothy Mae Ann Wordsworth was an English author, poet and diarist. She was the sister of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and the two were close for all of their lives...
, others include:
- Fletcher ChristianFletcher ChristianFletcher Christian was a master's mate on board the Bounty during William Bligh's fateful voyage to Tahiti for breadfruit plants...
, of HMS Bounty - John DaltonJohn DaltonJohn Dalton FRS was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory, and his research into colour blindness .-Early life:John Dalton was born into a Quaker family at Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, Cumberland,...
, a father of atomic theoryAtomic theoryIn chemistry and physics, atomic theory is a theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of discrete units called atoms, as opposed to the obsolete notion that matter could be divided into any arbitrarily small quantity...
, born in EaglesfieldEaglesfield, CumbriaEaglesfield is a small settlement in West Cumbria, England. It is near the A5086 road and is four kilometres southwest of the town of Cockermouth....
nearby - Fearon FallowsFearon FallowsFearon Fallows was an English astronomer.-Life:He was born in Cockermouth in Cumbria, the son of John Fallows, a weaver, and his wife Rebecca...
, Astronomer Royal - Matthew WilsonMatthew WilsonMatthew Wilson is an English rally driver from Cockermouth in Cumbria. He is the son of M-Sport boss and former WRC driver Malcolm Wilson. Wilson currently competes in the World Rally Championship for the Stobart M-Sport Ford team...
, Rally driver