MELMERBY, Cumberland

"MELMERBY, a parish in the Leath ward, county Cumberland, 9 miles N.E. of Penrith, its railway station and post town. It is a small agricultural village situated on the Maiden Way, under Hartside Fell, which rises above the village 1,312 feet. The ascension of this hill is 1 foot in 20, and the surface is of a smooth nature, producing excellent pasture for sheep. About half the land is under cultivation, the remainder, about 2,000 acres, in fell and common. The soil is a sandy loam upon a subsoil of sand and gravel."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]