Ireby, Cumbria

Ireby is a village in Cumbria, England, with a population of over 300.

Ireby forms part of the civil parish of Ireby and Uldale; for local government purposes it is in the ward of Boltons, under the authority of Allerdale borough council. Historically it was in the county of Cumberland – since 1974 it is in Cumbria. It is located above the river Ellen, just outside the Lake District national park, in the area locally called Back o'Skiddaw, with views to the Caldbeck fells. The nearest towns are Wigton, 7 miles away, and Cockermouth and Keswick, both 12 miles distant. Nearby villages include Uldale, Torpenhow, Boltongate and, slightly further away, Caldbeck.

It was granted a market charter in 1237, however it was later lost to Cockermouth as it was proving detrimental to the town.

Ireby has two village halls, the main "Globe Hall" and the smaller WI Hall. The 'Sun Inn' pub was a haunt of John Peel and closed a few years ago but 'The Lion' pub remains open and is a popular meeting place, it used to be called 'The Black Lion' until a few years ago.it was then turned into an Irish style bar which incorporated the village store and Post Office. These were a great asset to the village as you could buy things from the shop whenever the pub was open as well as during the day. Sadly the village lost its Post Office and shop when a new landlord took over who didn't want to preserve the services to the community.Trade at the pub went down as people were no longer calling for food or Post Office services, it became a rather dismal place. Fortunately a few years later a very energetic young couple took it over a built the business back up again. Nowadays Ireby has a Music Festival attracting a wonderful selection of musicians and a capacity audience. In 2010 the Festival had Kate Rusby playing amongst others and all the tickets were sold weeks before the event. A large marquee extends the venues which are all around the village- the two halls, St. James's Church and The Lion.