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Carlisle is a city in the extreme north west of England , some 10 miles from the border with Scotland . It is part of the City Of Carlisle local government district, and acts as the administrative centre for both the district and Cumbria . It is the traditional county town of Cumberland . The population of the urban area of Carlisle was 71,773 according to the 2001 census, with about 100,000 living in the wider district. NAME The ''ca(e)r'' (meaning "fortress"), the city's name was recorded in 1106 as ''Carleol''. The modern Welsh Language form is ''Caerliwelydd''. HISTORY Carlisle has a compact, historic centre, including a fine castle, unique museum, excellent cathedral, and semi-intact city walls. The former law courts or citadel towers which now serve as offices for Cumbria County Council are also of architectural interest. Because Carlisle was the last English town before the Scottish border, in the days when the two countries were separate kingdoms, it developed importance as a military stronghold, and Carlisle Castle is still relatively intact. Built in 1092 by William Rufus , and having once served as a prison for Mary, Queen Of Scots , it still houses The King's Own Royal Border Regiment . Because of the frequently changing position of the Anglo-Scottish border during the Wars Of Independence , Carlisle has a distinct Scottish ambiance, despite being in England. The has the largest east window of any cathedral in Europe, but the western end of the cathedral was demolished by Oliver Cromwell to shore up the castle. Carlisle also has a first-class racetrack, located to the south of the city centre. In 1916, during World War I , the Government took over all the Pub s and the main Brewery in the city because of endemic drunkenness among munitions workers at nearby Gretna . This experiment in Nationalised brewing known first as the Carlisle Board of Control then after the war the Carlisle & District State Management Scheme lasted until 1971. GEOGRAPHY Carlisle is an ancient city, and the seat of the Diocese to which it gives name. It is situated on a slight rise, in the Cumberland Ward , at the confluence of the rivers Eden , Caldew, and Petteril. An important centre for trade, it is located 56 miles W of Newcastle-upon-Tyne , 71 miles N of Lancaster , 90 miles S of Glasgow , 93 miles SE of Edinburgh , 119 miles NW of York , and 300 miles NNW of London , at 54 deg. 52 min. north latitude, and 2 deg. 50 min. west longitude. The city is linked to the rest of England via the M6 Motorway towards the South, and the M74/A74 towards Glasgow and the North. As well as these routes, many important Trunk Roads either begin or terminate in Carlisle, including the A6 to Penrith (historically the main road south), the A595 to western Cumbria, the A69 to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the A7 to Edinburgh. Carlisle thus bears the distinction of being the only city in Great Britain other than London and Edinburgh with more than one single numbered 'A' road (A6 and A7). In addition, Carlisle is a principal station on the West Coast main railway line. Other railway lines go to Newcastle, Leeds, Glasgow via Dumfries and west Cumbria. In January 2005 Carlisle was hit by strong gales and heavy rain, and on Saturday 8 January 2005 all roads into the city were closed due to severe Flood ing, the worst since 1822 , which caused three deaths [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4160387.stm . Hundreds of people still have not been allowed back into their homes. TRADE AND INDUSTRY Carlisle became an industrial city in the nineteenth and early twetnieth centuries with many textile mills, engineering works and food manufacturers opening up mostly in the Denton Holme , Caldewgate and Wapping areas which lie in the Caldew valley area of the city. In the early nineteenth century a canal was dug connecting Caldewgate with the sea at Port Carlisle , the canal was later filled in and became a railway line. Famous firms that were founded or had factories in Carlisle included Carr's of Carlisle (now part of United Biscuits ), Kangol , Metal Box (now part of Crown Cork and Seal). The Carrs and Metal Box factories are still going. The construction firm of John Laing and the hauliers Eddie Stobart Ltd. were also founded in the city. Carlisle also became a major Railway centre with at one time 7 different companies using Carlisle Citadel Station the city also used to have largest railway marshalling yard in Europe at Kingmoor, now closed. There are various light industrial estates and business parks located on the fringes of the city and on former industrial sites close to the city centre. On March 28, 2005 , Carlisle was granted Fairtrade City status. SPORT Football: The City of Carlisle is represented in the English at the end of the 2004/05 season. Carlisle United Football Club play at Brunton Park Stadium, in the centre of the city. The team has resided in all four divisions of English football, once going top of Division One (now named The Premier League) back in the 1974/75 season. Carlisle are currently top of league division 2, and are set to be promoted into league 1. EDUCATION St Martin's College has a campus in Carlisle on Fusehill Street. It provides a wide range of degree courses in subjects such as Psychology, Business, Teacher Education and Social Work. Carlisle also is host for all three campuses of the Cumbria Institute Of The Arts , with the main building in close vicinity to the River Eden . Also based in the city is an outpost of the University Of Central Lancashire . Both offer primarily Higher Education programmes, the former in Art and affected disciplines, the latter in business, computing and law. There is a plan to create a University For Cumbria , due to open in August 2007. This will be created from an amalgamation of St Martin's College and Cumbria Institute of the Arts. ADMINISTRATION Carlisle has been a City since the Middle Ages and has been a Borough Constituency or Parliamentary Borough for centuries at one time returning two MPs. In 1835 it became a Municipal Borough which was promoted to County Borough status in 1914. The city's boundaries have changed at various times since 1835 the final time being in 1974 when under the Local Government Act 1972 the city and county borough merged with the Border Rural District to become the new City Of Carlisle District . The borough origionally had several Civil Parishes or parts of parishes within it but these were all merged into a single civil parish of Carlisle in 1904. The present day urban area is now classed as an Unparished Area except for the fringes which are in Stanwix Rural , Kingmoor and St Cuthbert Without parishes. Carlisle unsuccessfully applied to become a Lord Mayoralty in 2002. The city council is based in the almost universally disliked 1960s building known as The Civic Centre in Rickergate. CURSE OF CARLISLE In 2005, the locals of Carlisle began to blame certain misfortunes such as the recent Flood ing and their Football team's bad performance on a 16th Century Curse . The curse was first invoked by Archbishop Dunbar Of Glasgow in 1525 against cross-border families, known as the Border Reivers , who lived by stealing cattle, rape and pillage and was NOT a curse directly aimed at Carlisle or its people. For the Millennium celebrations, the local council commissioned a 14-tonne granite artwork inscribed with all 1,069 words of the curse. In March 2005 Liberal Democrat city councillor Jim Tootle, hoping to break the curse, proposed the stone either be moved outside the city boundaries or destroyed altogether. A council meeting on March 8 rejected Tootle's proposal, a move welcomed by council leader Mike Mitchelson, who had earlier questioned whether moving the stone was a good use of council funds. VILLAGES AROUND CARLISLE :Longtown : Haggbeck : Harker : Carwinley : Blackford EXTERNAL LINKS
January 2005 floods:
16th Century curse
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