Place:Westmorland, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Westmorland is one of the historic counties of England. It was abolished for administrative purposes in 1974 with its territory being merged with the neighbouring county of Cumberland and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire to form the modern administrative county of Cumbria. Westmorland's county town was Appleby, although the County Council had its headquarters at Kendal, the county's largest town.

Westmorland is sometimes spelled Westmoreland; even older spellings are Westmerland and Westmereland.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

At the time of Domesday Book in 1086, the county did not exist; half was considered to form part of Yorkshire and the other half as part of Scotland. Before 1226, the Barony of Kendal was part of the Honour of Lancaster while the Barony of Westmorland was part of the Earldom of Carlisle, the latter became Cumberland and was part of Scotland at times.

Both baronies became a single county of Westmorland in 1226/7. Neighbouring Lancashire was also formed at this time. Appleby was the historic county town, having been chartered in 1179. It was a parliamentary borough from 1295-1832, and incorporated by letters patent in 1574.

Geography

The historic county boundaries are with Cumberland to the north, County Durham and Yorkshire to the east, and Lancashire to the south and west. Windermere forms part of the western border with Lancashire north of the sands, and Ullswater part of the border with Cumberland. The highest point of the county is Helvellyn at . According to the 1831 census the county covered an area of .^[1]

Division into wards

Westmorland was subdivided into the two baronies of Westmorland (or sometimes Appleby) and Kendal. As with Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland it was divided into wards. The baronies were each further subdivided into two wards:

• Westmorland
  • East ward – Appleby, Brough, Kirkby Stephen, Orton, Tebay
  • West ward – Askham, Bampton, Barton, Patterdale, Shap, Yanwath
• Kendal
  • Kendal ward – Ambleside, Burton-in-Kendal, Grasmere, Grayrigg, Kentmere, Kendal, Windermere
  • Lonsdale ward – Kirkby Lonsdale

Research Tips

source: Family History Library Catalog