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Carlisle

[kahr-lahyl, kahr-lahyl]

Carlisle (pronounced CARLYLE)(emphasis on the first syllable) is a city in northern England, the largest settlement in Cumbria. It is part of the City of Carlisle local government district, and acts as the administrative centre for both this district and Cumbria County Council. Carlisle is also home to the main campuses of the University of Cumbria. The population of the urban area of Carlisle was 71,773 according to the 2001 census, with about 100,734 living in the wider district.

Historically the county town of Cumberland, Carlisle developed importance as a military stronghold due to its position at the Anglo-Scottish border; Carlisle Castle, still relatively intact, was built in 1092 by William Rufus, and having once served as a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots.

History

Toponymy

The Romans called their settlement on the site of today's city Luguvalium, as evidenced by Roman writing tablets recently excavated in the city and displayed at Tullie House Museum, bearing this name as the address. Luguvalium can be interpreted from Latin as "the place, or wall (stronghold ?) of Lugus" (a local deity). Around the 11th and 12th centuries, however, surviving documents show the place name spelt Caer (castle) Luel or Llewelyn. Luel, and its variants are Cumbric personal names, and it has been proposed that this was always the basis of the local name, which had been preserved by the continuity of Cumbric-speaking peoples in the area, from before the Roman imposition of a Latinised version. The fact that Cumbria (from Cymru or similar roots) was held by the Celtic kings of Rheged in the 9th century may have stimulated a revival of the Cumbric language and reinstatement of earlier Celtic place-names. Cumbric is no longer spoken, but the surviving Welsh language has "Caerliwelydd" as the modern name for Carlisle.

Carlisle has a compact, historic centre, including a castle, museum, cathedral, and semi-intact city walls. The former law courts or citadel towers which now serve as offices for Cumbria County Council are also of architectural interest.

Roman Carlisle

Around AD 72/73, a Roman timber fort was built at Carlisle. Following its demolition around AD 103 to 105, a second timber fort was built. In AD 165 this fort was replaced by a stone fort. It was probably later the civitas capital of the Carvetii tribe.

Later history

Because Carlisle was sometimes the last town in England before Scotland, and sometimes the last town in Scotland before England, in the days when the two countries were separate kingdoms, it developed importance as a military stronghold, and Carlisle Castle is still relatively intact. Built in 1092 by William Rufus, and having once served as a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots.

In December 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart captured Carlisle after the Siege of Carlisle. During the retreat of Charles Edward Stuart's Jacobites in 1746 he ordered that the Manchester Regiment be left to garrison Carlisle so that he "continued to hold at least one town in England". The Hanoverian army under Cumberland then besieged and took Carlisle. (See: Sieges of Carlisle.)

The Tullie House Museum, an award-winning museum, tells the story of the Border country, including much material on Hadrian's Wall, the Roman defensive structure the course of which runs through the Stanwix area of the city, and many items of Roman architecture. It also features an exhibit explaining the history of the Border Reivers. Tullie House used to house an excellent lending and reference library, but that has now been placed on the upper level of The Lanes. (The Lanes are Carlisle's main shopping area in the centre of the city). Carlisle Cathedral has the largest east window of any cathedral in Europe, but the western end of the cathedral was demolished by Oliver Cromwell to shore up the castle. Carlisle also has a first-class racetrack, located to the south of the city centre.

In 1916, during World War I, the government took over all the pubs and breweries in the city because of endemic drunkenness among construction and munitions workers from the nearby munitions factory at Gretna. This experiment in nationalised brewing known first as the Carlisle Board of Control then after the war the Carlisle & District State Management Scheme lasted until 1971.

RAF Carlisle

RAF Carlisle also known as 14 MU was located at Kingstown near the present day ASDA. The station closed in 1996 after nearly sixty years in a variety of roles. Originally established as RAF Kingstown in 1938, it was originally a bomber station, then one of the RAF's Elementary Flying Training Schools and latterly a post war storage facility.

Royal Observer Corps, Carlisle Group

During the Second World War the air raid warning organisation No 32 Group Carlisle Royal Observer Corps operated from a building in the city centre although it was controlled administratively from RAF Kingstown. The association with Kingstown developed further in 1962 when the ROC ceased its aircraft spotting role for the RAF and took on a new role of plotting nuclear explosions and warning the public of approaching radioactive fallout for the UKWMO . A new administration building and a protected, hardened Nuclear Reporting bunker was built at RAF Carlisle. The nuclear bunker was a standard above-ground structure and both the bunker and Headquarters hutting stood on a separate site at Crindledyke just outside the main gates of RAF Carlisle and roughly opposite the station's officers mess. The Carlisle group was redesignated no 22 Group ROC.

The ROC also constructed a smaller nuclear reporting post called Kingstown post (OS ref:NY 3837 5920), on the main RAF Carlisle site. The post was also an underground protected bunker but designed for a crew of three observers. The headquarters bunker accommodated an operational crew of around 100 with dormitory and canteen facilities included with the operations room and life support plant.

The Royal Observer Corps and its parent organisation the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation were disbanded in December 1995 after the end of the Cold War and as a result of recommendations in the governments Options for Change review of UK defence. The ROC buildings were demolished in 1996 and replaced by a cellphone communications mast. The foundations of the nuclear bunker can still be partially seen outlined in the concreted yard, which also contains the Air Training Corps hut during recent further development of the site.

Geography

Carlisle is an ancient city, and the seat of the diocese to which it gives name. It is situated on a slight rise, in the Cumberland Ward, at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew, and Petteril.

An important centre for trade, it is located 90 km west of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north of Lancaster, south of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh, north-west of York, and north-north-west of London, at 54°52’N, 2°50’W. Nearby towns and villages include Longtown (North), Penrith (South) Brampton (East), Wigton (West), Haggbeck, Harker, Carwinley, Blackford, Houghton, Scotby and Rockcliffe.

In January 2005 Carlisle was hit by strong gales and heavy rain, and on Saturday 8 January 2005 all roads into the city were closed owing to severe flooding, the worst since 1822, which caused three deaths.

Districts/suburbs of Carlisle

To the far north of the city lie the subrubs/areas of Kingstown, Lowry Hill and Moorville all formerly part of the parish of Kingmoor to the south of these areas are Stanwix, Edentown, St Anns Hill and Belah which were added to the city in 1912. The parish of Stanwix Rural still exists but only includes a very small part of Carlisle's urban area.

To the immediate south of Stanwix lies the River Eden on the opposite bank of this is the historic city centre of Carlisle which is bounded on the west by the West Coast Main Railway line and the River Caldew. The banks of the River Caldew was where in the past the main industries of Carlisle flourished in the Denton Holme, Caldewgate area on the west side and Wapping (the area round the former Metal Box works) on the east bank. West of Caldewgate and north of Denton Holme the suburbs of Newtown, Morton, Longsowerby, Raffles and Belle Vue developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The east side of the city centre developed in the 19th century into a more affluent area than the west along what is now the main A69 road linking up with the former separate village of Botcherby to which a large council estate was added in the mid 20th century and later still the Durranhill Housing Estate.

To the south of the city centre lies the Botchergate/St Nicholas area of late Victorian terraced housing similar to that found in Denton Holme and Caldewgate though the Botchergate East area did until fairly recently have some older "slum" dwellings.

To the south west of Botchergate and St Nicholas lie the former villages and now suburban areas of Upperby and Currock with the urban area spilling over the former county borough boundary and including the areas of Blackwell and Durdar within the civil parish of St Cuthbert Without.

Between Upperby and Botcherby lies another former village that was once part of St Cuthbert Without and is now probably the largest suburb of Carlisle namely Harraby which is subdivided into many estates/areas including Harraby East, New Harraby, Harraby Green, Old Harraby, Petteril Bank and the Durranhill Industrial Estate. Adjoining Harraby to the south but outside the former borough boundary is the hamlet of Carleton.

Transport

The city is linked to the rest of England via the M6 motorway towards the South, and to Scotland via the M74/A74 towards Glasgow and the North. As well as these routes, many important trunk roads either begin or terminate in Carlisle, including the A6 to Penrith (historically the main road south), the A595 to western Cumbria, the A69 to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the A7 to Edinburgh. Carlisle thus bears the distinction of being the only city in Great Britain other than London and Edinburgh with more than one single numbered 'A' road - A6 and A7 (although at one time the A5 and A6 met in St Albans). In addition, Carlisle is a principal railway station on the West Coast main railway line. Other railway lines go to Newcastle, Leeds and Glasgow via Dumfries and west Cumbria.

Traffic in the Carlisle area, especially at rush hour, has become a significant problem. A proposed bypass road will take traffic heading to and from west Cumbria off the M6, as opposed to its current path through the centre of Carlisle.

Local bus services are run by Stagecoach North West and Arriva. Following the disastrous flooding of Carlisle Bus Depot (and a lot of the city) on 8th January 2005 and the amazing variety of buses seen in Carlisle afterwards, Stagecoach announced the purchase of a fleet of brand new low-floor buses for Carlisle city routes. These were officially launched on 30th June, complete with "Carlisle Citi" branding, and with most of the buses carrying route branding for individual routes both internally and externally.

Trade and industry

Carlisle became an industrial city in the 19th and early 20th centuries with many textile mills, engineering works and food manufacturers opening up mostly in the Denton Holme, Caldewgate and Wapping areas which lie in the Caldew Valley area of the city. (One such manufacturer located in the Denton Holme area was Ferguson Printers, a large textile printing factory that had stood for many years before its unfortunate closure in the early 1990s). In the early 19th century a canal was dug connecting Caldewgate with the sea at Port Carlisle. The canal was later filled in and became a railway line.

Famous firms that were founded or had factories in Carlisle included Carr's of Carlisle (now part of United Biscuits), Kangol, Metal Box (now part of Crown Holdings). The Carr's and Metal Box factories are still going. The construction firm of John Laing and the hauliers Eddie Stobart Ltd. were also founded in the city.

Until 2004, Carlisle's biggest employer was Cavaghan & Gray, part of Northern Foods which operated from two sites in the Harraby area of Carlisle producing chilled foods for major supermarket chains. As of January 2005, the London Road site was closed with the loss of almost 700 jobs as production was transferred to the nearby Eastern Way site or other factories around the UK.

Carlisle also became a major railway centre with at one time 7 different companies using Carlisle Citadel railway station. Prior to the building of the Citadel Station, the city had several railway stations, including Carlisle London Road Station. The city also used to have the largest railway marshaling yard in Europe at Kingmoor, now closed.

There are various light industrial estates and business parks located on the fringes of the city and on former industrial sites close to the city centre.

On March 28, 2005, Carlisle was granted Fairtrade City status.

Sport

Football

The city of Carlisle is represented in the English Coca-Cola Football League One by Carlisle United F.C.

, after promotion from the Coca-Cola Football League Two at the end of season 2005/06 as champions of the division, this followed their promotion from the Nationwide Conference at the end of the 2004/05 season. Carlisle United Football Club play at Brunton Park Stadium, near the centre of the city. The team has resided in all four divisions of English football, once going top of Division One (now named the Premiership) for a very brief moment back in the 1974/75 season, although they were eventually relegated back to the old Division Two.

Rugby

Rugby League Carlisle was at one time home to a rugby league team, Carlisle RLFC who would later merge with Barrow and leave Carlisle. They now have a new rugby league side called Carlisle Centurions.

Rugby Union Carlisle has two well established rugby union clubs - Carlisle RFC and Creighton RUFC. Carlisle are situated on Warwick Road, alongside Carlisle United AFC. Creighton were originally sited near the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, but following negotiations with Story Homes during 2001/2004 agreed to sell their ground for redevelopment in exchange for a new ground and facilities off Cumwhinton Road, near Junction 42 of the M6.

Current England rugby union captain Steve Borthwick is a native of Carlisle.

Education

University of Cumbria has a 3 campuses in Carlisle on Fusehill Street, Brampton Road and Paternoster Row. The university provides a wide range of degree courses in higher education such as Applied Computing, Applied Psychology, Art, Business, Law, Media, Law, Social Work and Teacher Education.

Carlisle College is the Further Education establishment based in the town.

The secondary schools within the city of Carlisle are: Richard Rose Central Academy, Austin Friars St Monicas (Roman Catholic Private School), Trinity - Centre of Excellence for Languages, Newman (Roman Catholic School), and Richard Rose Morton Academy, formerly known as The Morton School. Other secondary schools in the wider Carlisle district are: Caldew School, (Dalston) and William Howard School (Brampton).

The Richard Rose Central Academy replaced St Aidan's County High School and Specialist Sports and Science College, and the North Cumbria Technology College (NCTC, formerly Harraby School). It is sponsored by Andrew Tinkler and Brian Scowcroft. It opened in September 2008.

Administration

Carlisle has been a city since the Middle Ages and has been a borough constituency or parliamentary borough for centuries at one time returning two MPs. In 1835 it became a municipal borough which was promoted to county borough status in 1914. The city's boundaries have changed at various times since 1835 the final time being in 1974 when under the Local Government Act 1972 the city and county borough merged with the Border Rural District to become the new City of Carlisle district.

The borough originally had several civil parishes or parts of parishes within it but these were all merged into a single civil parish of Carlisle in 1904. The present day urban area is now classed as an unparished area except for the fringes which are in Stanwix Rural, Kingmoor and St Cuthbert Without parishes.

Carlisle unsuccessfully applied to become a Lord Mayoralty in 2002.

The city council is based in a 1960s building known as the Civic Centre in Rickergate. An iconic building and tallest in the city it may soon be demolished and the surrounding area regenerated.

Curse of Carlisle

The Curse of Carlisle is a 16th century curse that was first invoked by Archbishop Dunbar of Glasgow in 1525 against cross-border families, known as the Border Reivers, who lived by stealing cattle and pillage. The curse was not directly aimed at Carlisle or its people. For the millennium celebrations, the local council commissioned a 14-tonne granite artwork inscribed with all 1,069 words of the curse.

In 1998 some Christians, among other projects, began campaigning to prevent the City of Carlisle from installing the stone. In the wake of this controversy, superstition about the stone grew and a number of the town's setbacks were blamed on the curse stone, including an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, a flood, various crimes, rising unemployment statistics and even the fate of Carlisle United, which was relegated out of its league.

In March 2005, Liberal Democrat city councillor Jim Tootle, on the request of a Christian citizen, proposed the stone either be moved outside the city boundaries or destroyed altogether. Kevin Carlyon, the self-titled "high priest of the British white witches" and the "Living God of all Witches", proclaimed that such actions would give the curse more power. He commented that: "A curse can only work if people believe in it. I think at the moment the sculpture is a nice piece of history, but if the council destroys it, they would be showing their belief in the curse." A council meeting on March 8, 2005 rejected Tootle's proposal, a move welcomed by council leader Mike Mitchelson, who had earlier questioned whether moving the stone was a good use of council funds.

Famous residents

Kevin Beattie - ex England football international.
Lee Brennan, former member of the band 911.
Beatrix Campbell, feminist writer and journalist.
Nicholas Cox, first Lieutenant-Governor of New Carlisle, Quebec who named the community after his hometown.
Writer Hunter Davies was brought up in Carlisle.
Douglas Ferguson, bass player from the band Camel.
Mike Figgis, film director, writer and composer was born in Carlisle in 1948.
Novelist Margaret Forster.
Author George MacDonald Fraser.
Former England U21 and Blackburn Rovers striker Matt Jansen, who was born in Wetheral near Carlisle.
Andrew Johnston (singer) who came third in the second series of Britain's Got Talent.
Thomas Logie MacDonald, ex-Mayor and astronomer who had a lunar crater named after him.
Richard Madeley, TV personality worked for BBC Carlisle and Border Television.
Peter Manley, Professional darts player.
England cricketer Paul Nixon.
Actress Roxanne Pallett who stars in Emmerdale, grew up in Carlisle.
Charles Shepherd, Former British, Commonwealth and IBO world super featherweight boxing champion.
Fashion designer Stuart Stockdale, formerly Head of Design at Pringle of Scotland.
Leeds United player and also former Newcastle United player Paul Huntington, grew up in Carlisle.
Janet Woodrow, mother of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States was born in Carlisle. The President made a number of visits to the city and the Lake District during his presidency, most famously on his "pilgrimage of the heart" on 29 December 1918. This visit is commemorated by a plaque on the wall at the Carlisle City Church on Lowther Street