Westmorland and Furness in the context of "Penrith, Cumbria"

The City of Lancaster, or simply Lancaster (/ˈlæŋkæstər/), is a local government district with city status in Lancashire, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, and also includes the towns of Carnforth, Heysham and Morecambe and a wider rural hinterland. The district has a population of 145,006 (2024), and an area of 219 square miles (567 km).

Much of the district's rural area is recognised for its natural beauty; it includes part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and parts of the designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty of Arnside and Silverdale and the Forest of Bowland. The neighbouring districts are Westmorland and Furness, North Yorkshire, Ribble Valley and Wyre.

Cumbria (/ˈkʌmbriə/ KUM-bree-ə) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Carlisle.

Cumbria is predominantly rural, with an area of 6,769 km (2,614 sq mi) and a population of 510,680; this makes it the third-largest ceremonial county in England by area but the eighth-smallest by population. Carlisle is located in the north; the towns of Workington and Whitehaven lie on the west coast, Barrow-in-Furness on the south coast, and Penrith and Kendal in the east of the county. For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas, Westmorland and Furness and Cumberland. Cumbria was created in 1974 from the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, the Furness area of Lancashire, and a small part of Yorkshire.

Furness (/ˈfɜːrnɪs, fɜːrˈnɛs/ FUR-niss, fur-NESS) is a peninsula and region of Cumbria, England. Together with the Cartmel Peninsula it forms North Lonsdale, historically an exclave of Lancashire. On 1 April 2023 it became part of the new unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness.

The Furness Peninsula, also known as Low Furness, is an area of villages, agricultural land and low-lying moorland, with the industrial town of Barrow-in-Furness at its head. The peninsula is bordered by the estuaries of the River Duddon to the west and the River Leven in Morecambe Bay to the east. The wider region of Furness consists of the peninsula and the area known as High Furness, which is a relatively mountainous and sparsely populated part of England, extending inland into the Lake District and containing the Furness Fells. The inland boundary of the region is formed by the rivers Leven, Brathay and Duddon, and the lake of Windermere. Off the southern tip of Furness is Walney Island, 11 miles (18 kilometres) long, as well as several smaller islands.

Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the head of Windermere, England's largest natural lake. In 2022 the built up area had an estimated population of 2,586.

Barrow-in-Furness, commonly known as Barrow, is an industrial port town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, Barrow is at the tip of the Furness peninsula, 24 miles (39 km) south-west of Kendal and 18 miles (29 km) west of Lancaster. It is bordered by Morecambe Bay to the east, the Duddon Estuary to the west, and the Irish Sea to the south. In 2021, Barrow's population was 55,489, making it the second largest urban area in Cumbria after Carlisle and the largest in Westmorland and Furness.

In the Middle Ages, Barrow was a small hamlet, with its economy controlled by Furness Abbey. In the 19th century, iron prospector Henry Schneider among other investors opened the Furness Railway to transport iron ore and slate from local mines to the coast, which led to the construction of docks, now the Royal Port of Barrow. The discovery of hematite deposits allowed the steel industry to develop in the town, and for a period, its steelworks were the largest in the world. It was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867, and the town’s steel production and coastal location enabled it to develop as a centre for shipbuilding. The steel industry declined after World War II.

Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness area of Cumbria, England, just outside the Lake District. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, the area was collected under Yorkshire. The area came under the Honour of Lancaster before the barony split. The town became the Barony of Kendal's seat, in 1226/7 this barony merged with the Barony of Westmorland to form the historic county of Westmorland with Appleby as the historic county town. In 1889, Kendal became the county town. Under the 1974 reforms, it became the administrative centre of the South Lakeland district. The town became Westmorland and Furness district's administrative centre in a 2023 reform.

Cumberland is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It covers the north-western part of Cumbria, including the west of the Lake District. The city of Carlisle is the largest settlement and the administrative centre. The unitary authority area covers the majority of the area of the historic county of Cumberland, from which it takes its name, but does not include the area around Penrith.

The unitary authority area was formed on 1 April 2023 during a local government restructuring which abolished the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria and its six districts. Cumberland has the same area as the former districts of Carlisle, Allerdale, and Copeland, being constituted as a non-metropolitan county and coterminous non-metropolitan district with the same area as the former districts. The three remaining districts of Cumbria were merged into Westmorland and Furness. It remains part of Cumbria for ceremonial purposes. Prior to the local government reforms of 1974, which created Cumbria, Carlisle was a county borough and the remainder of the area was within the administrative county of Cumberland.

Westmorland (/ˈwɛstmərlənd/, formerly also spelt Westmoreland) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The area included part of the Lake District and the southern Vale of Eden, and its inhabitants were known as Westmerians.

The county had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974, when it was subsumed into Cumbria together with Cumberland, the Sedbergh area of Yorkshire, and the Furness area of Lancashire. It gives its name to the Westmorland and Furness unitary authority area, which covers a larger area than the historic county.