Stainmore

For other uses of Stainmore see Stainmore (disambiguation)

Stainmore
Mousegill, with Great Knipe behind
Stainmore  Stainmore shown within Cumbria
Population	253 (2001)
OS grid reference	NY8314
Civil parish	Stainmore
District	Eden
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	KIRKBY STEPHEN
Postcode district	CA17
Dialling code	01768
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
EU Parliament	North West England
UK Parliament	Penrith and The Border
List of places UK England Cumbria

Stainmore is a remote geographic area in the Pennines on the border of Cumbria, County Durham and North Yorkshire.^[1][2] The name is used for a civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, including the villages of North Stainmore and South Stainmore. The parish has a population of 253.^[3]

Geography

Stainmore is drained by the River Belah and the River Balder. It is crossed by the Roman road from Bowes to Brough, now part of the A66, and formerly by the Stainmore Railway. Each of these lines of communication has made use of the relatively low broad saddle between the higher hills to north and south which is commonly referred to as the Stainmore Gap. The summit of the former railway is around 420 metres (1,380 ft) above sea level, though the roads climb to slightly higher elevations.^[4] The Gap is coincident with the Stainmore Summit Fault which throws the relatively flat-lying Carboniferous rocks of the area down to the south.^[5] It acted as a conduit for Lake District-originated ice to pass eastwards during one or more glacial periods. There are several RIGS sites in the Stainmore area.

History

According to Roger of Wendover, it was where Eric Bloodaxe (d. 954), recently expelled from York, was betrayed and killed, an event which some historians believe to have taken place in a great battle.^[6] Ancient monuments include a Roman marching camp at Rey Cross (54°30′25″N 2°09′19″W / 54.5070°N 2.1552°W / 54.5070; -2.1552 (Rey Cross marching camp)), and the Rey Cross itself (54°30′21″N 2°08′55″W / 54.50579°N 2.14867°W / 54.50579; -2.14867 (Rey Cross)), also called Rere Cross (Scheduled monument, no. 32713).^[7]

References

Further reading

• Collingwood, W.G. "Rey-Cross." Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Archaeological Society series 2, 27 (1927): 1–10.
• Ramsden, D.M. From Stainmore to the Tees. Clapham, 1948.
• Richmond, I.A. and McIntyre, J. "The Roman marching camps at Reycross and Crackenthorpe." Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Archaeological Society series 2, 34 (1934): 50–61.
• Robinson, P. Archaeology on the Stainmore Pass – the A66 Project. Barnard Castle, 1993.
• Vyner, B. (ed.). Stainmore. The Archaeology of a North Pennine Pass. Tees Archaeology Monographs 1. Hartlepool, 2001.

v t e Ceremonial county of Cumbria Cumbria Portal Boroughs or districts City of Carlisle Borough of Allerdale Borough of Barrow-in-Furness Borough of Copeland District of Eden District of South Lakeland Major settlements Alston Ambleside Appleby-in-Westmorland Aspatria Barrow-in-Furness Bowness-on-Windermere Brampton Broughton-in-Furness Carlisle Cleator Moor Cockermouth Dalton-in-Furness Egremont Grange-over-Sands Harrington Kendal Keswick Kirkby Lonsdale Kirkby Stephen Longtown Maryport Millom Penrith Sedbergh Silloth Ulverston Whitehaven Wigton Windermere Workington See also: List of civil parishes in Cumbria Topics Parliamentary constituencies Places SSSIs Country Houses Grade I listed buildings Grade II* listed buildings History Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Museums