BRAMPTON, Cumberland - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"BRAMPTON, a parish and market town in Eskdale ward, in the county of Cumberland, 9 miles to the E. of Carlisle, and 50 W. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is situated in a hilly country, on the banks of the rivers Irthing and Gelt, about 11 miles from the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, which passes to the S. and has a station at Milton. The townships of Easby and Naworth are included in this parish Brampton is a town of great antiquity, and is conjectured by Camden, the antiquary, to have been the site of the Roman station Bremetenracum, which is now usually assigned to Old Penrith. It is about 2 miles to the S. of the wall of Hadrian. The parish is parcel of the ancient barony of Gilsland, the lords of which had their principal seat at Naworth Castle, now one of the seats of the Earl of Carlisle. The town suffered to a great extent in the border wars of the 14th century. It was held for the Pretender in the rebellion of 1715, and was occupied by Prince, Charles Stuart in 1745. It stands, in a deep valley, surrounded by well-wooded hills, and consists of two principal streets (the houses of which, being mostly, old, are irregularly built), and a spacious market-place. Great improvements, however, have lately taken place, and many of the houses have been rebuilt in a modern style. It is lighted with gas, and has a good supply of water. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of ginghams and checks. There are two breweries, a tannery, skin-yard, and several factories in the town. A branch railway connects Brampton with the extensive collieries and lime-works at Tindal Fell. Freestone is quarried in the neighbourhood. The townhall and market house, built in 1817 by the Earl of Carlisle, is a neat octagonal structure, surmounted by a cupola. Petty sessions are held by the county magistrates every Wednesday in the police-office, which was erected in 1856. Brampton is the seat of a Poor-law Union, and a polling place for the eastern division of the county. The town contains a mechanics' institute, working men's reading room, gas-works, stamp-office, and several clubs. The county court is held every alternate month at the "Howard Arms", and courts-leet are held for the barony of Gilsland at Easter and Michaelmas. The Union poorhouse is situated half a mile to the south of the town. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Carlisle, of the value of £466, in the patronage of the Earl of Carlisle. The church is dedicated to St. Martin, and was erected in 1788, partly out of the materials of the ancient parish church, which stood above a mile from the town, on the south bank of the Irthing. In 1827 the present church was considerably enlarged, and the tower built, which contains a peal of six bells, the largest of which weighs half a ton. Part of the old church is still standing, and the chancel serves for a cemetery chapel. There are chapels belonging to the Independents, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists. A hospital for. 12 aged persons was projected, and the building erected by the Earl of Carlisle in 1688, but the intended endowment was not carried out. There are in the town National, Congregational, and infant schools. The former is a handsome building, completed in 1857 at the cost of £1,260, and has an average attendance of 150 children. The infant-school has an average attendance of 100 children. On a rock by the river Gelt, 2 miles to the S. of Brampton, is a Roman inscription, attributed by some to the soldiers of Agricola, but by others considered to be of much later origin, probably about the year 207. Naworth Castle and Lanercost Priory are each about 2 miles from this town. Eastward of Brampton is a lofty conical mount, called the Mote, or the Castle Hill, at the foot of which are traces of an ancient camp, and the summit of which commands a very wide prospect-westward over Carlisle and the flat country to the Solway Frith, northwards towards Bewcastle and the Scottish mountains, and eastward to the Cheviot Hills and Tynedale Fell. The market, chiefly for corn, is held on Wednesday. Fairs for the sale of cattle, pigs, horses, and sheep, are held on the 20th April, the second Wednesday after Whitsuntide, the second Wednesday in September, and the 23rd October; and for the sale of wool on the 17th June. An annual regatta and wrestling match is held in the month of August at a short distance from the town, on the banks of a small lake called Talkin Tarn." "EASBY, a township in the parish of Brampton, ward of Eskdale, county Cumberland, 1½ mile N.E. of Brampton. It contains the hamlet of Crooked Holme. There is a mineral spring at Coathill, and a stone bridge of two arches at Cambeck." "NAWURTH, a township in the parish of Brampton, ward of Eskdale, county Cumberland, 2½ miles N.E. of Brampton, and 11 E. of Carlisle. The township, which is of small extent, is situated on the Newcastle railway and river Irthing, near Lanercost Priory. The township includes the hamlet of Boothby. Naworth Castle, formerly the seat of the lords of Gilsland, was built for a stronghold in the reign of Edward III. by Ranulph Dacre. It consisted of a spacious quadrangular structure with two lofty towers, but was almost destroyed by a fire in 1844."

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