alteration, are often slaty; they have been called the “green slates and porphyries” or the Borrowdale Series. The Skiddaw slates are usually separated from the newer green slates above them by a plane of differential movement, for both have been thrust by earth-pressures from south to north, but the former rocks have travelled farther than the latter which have lagged behind; hence Messrs Marr and Harker describe the plane of separation as a “lag-fault.” Much general faulting and folding have resulted from the movement; the thrusting took place in Devonian times. About the same period great masses of granitic rock were intruded into the slates in the form of laccolites, which often lie along the lag planes. Such rocks are the granophyre hills of Buttermere and Ennerdale, the microgranite patches on either side of the Vale of St John, and the great mass of Eskdale granite which reaches from Wastwater to the flanks of Black Combe. At Carrock Fell, N.E. of Skiddaw, is an extremely interesting complex of volcanic rocks, and in many other places are diabase and other forms, e.g. the well-known rock at Castle Head, Keswick.
From Pooley Bridge, Ullswater, on the east, by Udale round to Egremont on the west, the mountainous region just described, is surrounded by the Carboniferous Limestone series, with a conglomerate at the base. Upon these rocks the coalfield of Whitehaven rests and extends as far as Maryport. The coal seams are worked for some distance beneath the sea. The vale of Eden between Penrith, Hornsby and Wreay is occupied by Permian sandstone, usually bright red in colour. Red Triassic rocks form a strip about 4 m. broad east of the Permian outcrop; a similar strip forms a coastal fringe from St Bees Head to Duddon Sands. The same formations are spread out round Carlisle, Brampton, Longtown, Wigton and Aspatria. East of Carlisle they are covered by an outlier of Lias. A great dislocation, the Pennine Fault, runs along the eastern side of the vale of Eden; it throws up the Lower Carboniferous limestones with their associated shales and sandstones to form the elevated ground in the north and north-east of the county. Several basic intrusions penetrate the limestone series, the best known being the Whin Sill, which may be traced for a number of miles northward from Crossfell. Evidences of glacial action are abundant; till with sands and gravel lie on the lower ground; striated rocks and roches moutonnées are common; perched blocks are found on the plateau by Sprinkling Tarn and elsewhere. Moraine mounds are quite numerous in the valleys, and have frequently been the cause of small lakes.
Climate and Agriculture.—The climate is generally temperate, but in the higher parts bleak, snow sometimes lying fully six months of the year on Cross Fell and the mountains of the Lake District. As regards rainfall, the physical configuration makes for contrast. At Carlisle, on the Solway plain, the mean annual fall is 30.6 in. At Penrith, on the north-eastern flank of the Lake District, it is 31.67; on the western flank 42.3 in. are recorded at Ravenglass, close to the coast, and 51.78 at Cockermouth, some miles inland. In the heart of the district, however, the fall is as a rule much heavier, in fact, the heaviest recorded in the British Isles (see Lake District). Somewhat less than three-fifths of the total area of the county is under cultivation, the proportion being higher than that of the neighbouring counties of Northumberland and Westmorland, but still much below the average of the English counties. Black peaty earth is the most prevalent soil in the mountainous districts; but dry loams occur in the lowlands, and are well adapted to green crops, grain and pasture. Wheat and barley are practically neglected, but large crops of oats are grown. Turnips and swedes form the bulk of the green crops. Hill pasture amounts to nearly 270,000 acres, and a good number of cattle are reared, but the principal resource of the farmer is sheep-breeding. The sheep on the lowland farms are generally of the Leicester class or cross-bred between the Leicester and Herdwick, with a few Southdowns. Throughout the mountainous districts the Herdwicks have taken the place of the smaller black-faced heath variety of sheep once so commonly met with on the sheep farms. They are peculiar to this part of England; the ewes and wethers and many of the rams are polled, the faces and legs are speckled, and the wool is finer and heavier in fleece than that of the heath breed. They originally came from the neighbourhood of Muncaster in the Duddon and Esk district, and tradition ascribes their origin variously to introduction by Scandinavian settlers, or to parents that escaped from a wrecked ship of the Spanish Armada. In general they belong to the proprietors of the sheep-walks, and have been farmed out with them from time immemorial, from which circumstance it is said they obtained the name of “Herdwicks.” Long after the Norman Conquest Cumberland remained one of the most densely forested regions of England, and much of the low-lying land is still well wooded, the Lake District in particular displaying beautiful contrasts between bare mountain and tree-clad valley. The oak, ash and birch are the principal natural trees, while sycamores have been planted for shelter round many farmsteads. Plantations of larch are also numerous, and the holly, yew, thorn and juniper flourish locally.
Landed property was formerly much divided in this county, and the smaller holdings were generally occupied by their owners, who were known as “statesmen,” i.e. “estatesmen,” a class of men long noted for their sturdy independence and attachment to routine husbandry. Most of these estates were held of the lords of manors under customary tenure, which subjected them to the payments of fines and heriots on alienation as well as on the death of the lord or tenant. According to the Agricultural Survey printed in 1794, about two-thirds of the county was held by this tenure, in parcels worth from £15 to £30 rental. On large estates, also, the farms were in general rather small, few then reaching £200 a year, held on verbal contracts, or very short leases, and burdened like the small estates with payments or services over and above a money rent. In modern times these conditions have changed, the “statesmen” gradually becoming extinct as a class, and many of the small holdings falling into the hands of the larger landed proprietors.
Other Industries.—Carlisle is the seat of a variety of manufactures; there are also in the county cotton and woollen industries, pencil mills at Keswick, and iron shipbuilding yards at Whitehaven. But the mining industry is the most important, coal being raised principally in the district about Whitehaven, Workington and Maryport. Side by side with this industry much iron ore is raised, and there is a large output of pig-iron, and ore is also found in the south, in the neighbourhood of Millom. Gypsum, zinc and some lead are mined. Copper was formerly worked near Keswick, and there was a rich deposit of black lead at the head of Borrowdale. Granite and limestone are extensively quarried. Stone is very largely used even for housebuilding, a fine green slate being often employed. Shap and other granites are worked for building and roadstones.
Communications.—The chief ports of Cumberland are Whitehaven, Workington, Maryport, Harrington and Silloth. The London & North-Western railway enters the county near Penrith, and terminates at Carlisle, which is also served by the Midland. The Caledonian, North British and Glasgow & South-Western lines further serve this city, which is thus an important junction in through communications between England and Scotland. The North-Eastern railway connects Carlisle with Newcastle. The Maryport & Carlisle, the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith, and the Cleator & Workington Junction lines serve the districts indicated by their names, while the Furness railway passes along the west coast from the district of Furness in Lancashire as far north as Whitehaven, also serving Cleator and Egremont. The Ravenglass & Eskdale light railway gives access from this system to Boot in Eskdale. Coaches and motor cars maintain passenger communications in the Lake District where the railways do not penetrate.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient and the administrative county is 973,086 acres, with a population in 1891 of 266,549 and in 1901 of 266,933. The county contains five wards, divisions which in this and neighbouring counties correspond to hundreds, and also appear in Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire in Scotland. The municipal boroughs are Carlisle (pop. 45,480), a city and the county town, Whitehaven (19,324), and Workington (26,143). The other urban districts are Arlecdon and Frizington (5341), Aspatria (2885), Cleator Moor (8120), Cockermouth (5355), Egremont (5761), Harrington (3679), Holme Cultram (4275), Keswick (4451), Maryport (11,897), Millom (10,426), Penrith (9182), Wigton (3692). Of these all except Keswick, Millom and Penrith are in the industrial district of the west and north-west. The urban district of Holme Cultram includes the port of Silloth. Among lesser towns may be mentioned St Bees (1236), on the coast south of Whitehaven,
