The Victoria County History in Cumbria

No Victoria County History town or village histories had been published for the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland before the VCH Cumbria project was launched in 2010; the only parts of Cumbria previously to have been researched in detail by the VCH were the Furness and Cartmel areas, which were formerly in Lancashire and are covered in VCH Lancashire, Volume VIII (published in 1910). So, with the support of the Cumbria County History Trust and help of volunteer local historians, the VCH Cumbria project has embarked on an ambitious programme of work to research and write the history of every place in Cumbria.

Progress to date

• Team of over 100 volunteers from across Cumbria has compiled brief histories for each of the 344 parishes/townships in the county, forming a springboard for future work. You can access these through the Cumbria County History Trust (CCHT) website.
• A smaller core of volunteers are researching and writing full parish/township histories to the VCH template, which will eventually form part of the national work of local historical reference
• A number of full parish/township histories have already been completed in draft form and can be accessed and downloaded now from the CCHT website, and our publication 'Cumbria: An Historical Gazetteer'
• Our first parish history, Kirkoswald and Renwick, has recently been published.