Cumbria
Geography
Status:	Ceremonial & Administrative County
Region:	North West England
Area: - Total - Admin. council	Ranked 3rd 6,768 km² Ranked 2nd
Admin HQ:	Carlisle
ISO 3166-2:	GB-CMA
ONS code:	16
NUTS 3:	UKD11/12
Demographics
Population: - Total (2002 est.) - Density - Admin. council	Ranked 41st 488,513 72 / km² Ranked 28th
Ethnicity:	99.3% White
Politics
Cumbria County Council http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/
Executive:	Conservative & Liberal Democrat
Members of Parliament
Tim Collins, Jack Cunningham, Tony Cunningham, John Hutton, David Maclean, Eric Martlew
Districts
Barrow-in-Furness South Lakeland Copeland Allerdale Eden Carlisle

Cumbria is a county located in the northwest area of England. The boundaries are along the Irish Sea to the west, and along the Pennines to the east. Cumbria's northern boundary stretches from the Solway Firth to Morecambe Bay along the Scotland border.

Cumbria is neighbored by Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the Lieutenancy areas of Dumfries and Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale in Scotland.

It is made up of six districts: Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakeland.

Cumbria was created in 1974, and covers the traditional counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, plus the Furness part of Lancashire, and a protusion of Yorkshire. The name 'Cumbria' has been used for the region for centuries. The area was inhabited by Celts until quite late (see Rheged), and the name derives from their name for the area, in the Cumbric language. It is etymologically connected to the Welsh term Cymru, meaning "Wales."

Cumbria is home to the Lake District National Park, considered one of the most beautiful areas of Great Britain.

Towns and Villages

• Ambleside, Appleby-in-Westmorland, Aspatria
• Barrow-in-Furness, Bowness-on-Windermere, Brampton, Brough, Burton-in-Kendal
• Carlisle, Cockermouth
• Dalton-in-Furness
• Glenridding, Grange-over-Sands, Grasmere
• Kendal, Keswick, Kirkby Lonsdale, Kirkby Stephen
• Maryport, Millom, Muncaster
• Oulton
• Patterdale, Penrith
• Ravenglass, Rheged
• Sedbergh, Sellafield, Shap, Silloth, Swarthmoor
• Temple Sowerby, Thornhill
• Ulverston, Upton
• Walton, Wetheral, Whitehaven, Windermere, Workington

People and Places of Interest

• Bassenthwaite Lake
• Brantwood
• Buttermere
• Donald Campbell
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Coniston Water
• Crummock Water
• Cumbria Way long distance footpath
• Dales Way long distance footpath
• Derwent Water
• Ennerdale Water
• Fisher Tarn Reservoir
• Furness Abbey
• Haweswater
• Holker Hall
• Killington Reservoir
• Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway - heritage railway
• Lake Windermere
• Lanercost Priory
• Levens Hall
• National Nature Reserves in Cumbria
• Pennine Way long distance footpath
• Beatrix Potter
• Quaker tapestry, Kendal
• Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway - heritage railway
• Rydal Water
• Seathwaite Tarn
• Sizergh Castle
• Thirlmere
• Ullswater
• Alfred Wainwright
• Wast Water
• Whinfell Forest
• William Wordsworth

Options for change

On May 25, 2004, the Boundary Committee for England published its final recommendations for systems of Unitary Authorities to be implemented if proposals for elected Regional Assemblies are approved by referendums in three northern Regions of England. They put forward two options for each County Council area, which the electorate will be asked to choose between at the same time as the Assembly Referendums.

For Cumbria, the options are:

• A single authority for the existing County
• A single authority for the northern part of the County, with the southern part joined with Lancaster in Lancashire

There has been some local discontent over the options, with leaders of all six district councils wishing a three-way split (with West Cumbria, East Cumbria and South Cumbria authorities) was one of the options.

Option 1	Option 1 (left) Cumbria Council	Option 2
	Option 2 (right) North Cumbria Morecambe Bay (Lancashire)

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