Local History

BRAMPTON and NORTH EAST CUMBRIA

 

THE LOCAL AREA

 

Brampton is situated in a hollow formed by glacial action which took place during the ice-age. This means Brampton is surrounded by rolling hills (the result of glacial action during the Ice Age), hedgerows and woodland. The town is full of history, and the countryside is one of beauty. The town of Brampton was founded in the 7^th century. The thorny shrubs growing in the area's sandy soil give a clue to the origin of the town's name-possibly from the Old English 'brambles', meaning thorny bushes.

 

In 1758 a road from Newcastle to Carlisle helped put the town on the map. Cotton weaving for Carlisle manufacturers-there are rows of old weavers' cottages in the town-and coal mining brought prosperity.

 

In the 1800's there were as many as 45 pubs in the town for only 3000 people. Two breweries in the town kept supplies close to hand. Hadrian's Wall is only a stone's throw away. A statue to Hadrian stands in the town centre.

                                                        

THE TOWN

 

Brampton has a population of around 4000. Historic buildings, many of local red sandstone, decorate the town's streets. The 1603 Oulton House was home, in the 18^th century, to a violin making family. Eden House and the Howard Arms survive from the early 19^th century. Other buildings of note include the 1790 White Lion Hotel, the 1860's police station, and the 18^th century coaching inn, the Scotch Arms. The home where Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed, one of the oldest in the town, dates from 1603 and was the site where he received the keys to Carlisle upon its surrender. Now a shop, his headquarters are marked with a plaque on the wall.

 

  

 

 

In the centre of the town is the octagonal Moot Hall, built in 1817. The building replaced a 1648 one, once used by Cromwell to house prisoners. The Pointed windows,  square turret and external stairs are original features, but the open arcaded market area below-a former poultry, butter and egg market-was enclosed in 1896. A wide and partly cobbled main street was ideal for the market, first held in 1252, its charter granted by Henry III. James I also granted a charter in 1606, a copy of which is at the Moot Hall. In addition to the markets, four annual fairs were held. A bull ring in front of the Moot Hall is a reminder of the bloody sport of bull baiting.

 

  

 

THE MOAT

 

East of the town is an exceptionally large Moat (also written Motte), about 135 feet high. It is thought that an Iron Age fort was situated on the top of the moat before the town moved to its present position.   

  

ST MARTIN’s CHURCH

 

In the town itself, the almost-square St Martin 's Church, designed by the Pre-Raphaelite architect Philip Webb and built of sandstone in 1874-8, is important because of its stained glass windows made in William Morris's studio. The windows were designed by Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898). The windows' themes are worship, the Good Shepherd, heroes of the Bible, virtues, childhood, and paradise

        

THE ORIGINAL CHURCH

 

The Old Parish Church , on the outskirts of the town, was built from stone from Hadrian's Wall , and was in use until 1878, when the new church replaced it. Only the Chancel now remains. The cemetery has a worn gravestone of an early 19^th century "white witch", Lizzie Batey, known as the "Brampton Witch". A windstorm on the day of her funeral was reputedly caused by her supernatural powers.

  

ACCESS TO BRAMPTON

 

When the Newcastle-Carlisle line was laid, a new line to Brampton town was built, opening in 1836. This line was nicknamed the Dandy that started as a number of wooden wagonways hauled by horses. It was laid by the Earl of Carlisle in 1775 to transport coal. George Stephenson planned a new line from Brampton via Kirkhouse to Hallbankgate in 1835. The new line opened and first train ran from Kirkhouse to Brampton in 1836 with 23 wagons hauled by two locomotives "Gilsland" and "Atlas". Brampton 's first stationmaster, Thomas Edmondson invented the first machine printed passenger rail tickets. The first steam passenger service began to Brampton Town on 1881. Passenger services were on and off over the years and finally stopped in 1923.  

 

WORK

 

Brampton itself has various banks, beauty salons, bed & breakfasts, building firms, cafes, a camp site/ caravan park, child care facilities, dentists, doctors, driving schools, estate agents, farms, florists, garages, hairdressers, hotels, nurseries, places of worship, plumbers, a post office, pubs, restaurants, schools, skip hire, shops, solicitors, supermarkets, takeaways, taxi firms and vets

 

 

LEISURE

 

Brampton Community Centre has many and varied activities, child care facilities and internet access.

  

Talkin Tarn Country Park lies two miles south-east of Brampton on the B6413 Castle Carrock road. There is a 65 acre lake set amid 120 acres of farmland and woodland. The tarn is an ideal place for active recreation including rowing or a quiet stroll through the mature woodlands.  Talkin Tarn is a 10 000-year-old glacial lake.

   

About two miles south of Brampton are Gelt woods and the river Gelt (' Mad River ' from the Norse 'Geilt'). The river is fast flowing and has a number of narrow gorges.

 

A useful map of Gelt woods can be found at http://www.eccp.org.uk/images/whats-new/gelt3.pdf

 

 

There is also an RSPB nature reserve in Gelt woods at the site of a former Roman rock quarry. Inscriptions carved in the 3rd century by the Romans into the rocks were discovered at the quarry. All along the cliff face are the marks and chippings left by the quarrymen as they chiselled out the stones for the wall. The chisel marks seem to form a herringbone pattern and the first impression formed is that it is not a quarry but a large temple; it is an awe inspiring place, equally as impressive as the wall itself. The stone was either used to build or to repair the 70 mile long wall built by Emperor Hadrian shortly after 122AD.

  

Hadrian's Wall is the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain . It stretches seventy-three miles from Wallsend near Newcastle , across the neck of England to the Solway in North West Cumbria. Within Cumbria are Banks Turret, near Brampton , and Birdoswald Roman Fort, a few miles away.

  

To the East is Lanercost Priory, founded about 1166 by Henry II in 1166. When completed in 1220, canons came from the priory in Norfolk , and remained for some 370 years until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, by Henry VIII.

  

Brampton has a weather station and information can be found at http://www.bramptonweather.co.uk/