Presentation
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Cockermouth | ||||||||||||||
Marvejols | ||||||||||||||
T W I N N I N G |
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Europe Prize | Cockermouth | |||||||||||||
Visits
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Twinning
Committees |
Museums | |||||||||||||
Rotary Clubs | ||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||
The City of Cockermouth is situated in England, in the District of the
Cumbria, just underhand of the Ecosse.
To situate it better,
Lying just outside the boundary of the Lake District National Park, Cockermouth
is an attractive market town not overwhelmed by the tourist atmosphere of
Keswick and Ambleside.
Cockermouth grew up at the junction of the two most important rivers in
the area.
Here the River Cocker, flowing out of the lakes Buttermere, Crummock and
Loweswater meets the River Derwent on its journey from lakes Derwent and
Bassenthwaite to the sea at Workington.
The Romans built the fort of Deventio at Papcastle, about a mile from
the present town, at a meeting place of roads from Maryport, Carlisle and
Penrith.
Cockermouth Castle was built
in the 13th century, but little of that remains because of the efforts of
Robert the Bruce. The majority of today's ruins date from 1360 to 1370,
though there have been some modern additions.
The castle is privately owned, and not normally open to the public. Tours
are often available during the Cockermouth Festival in July.
Today's visitors are attracted by the town's calm, its
nearness to some of the more peaceful lakes and mountains, and the fact
that Dorothy and William Wordsworth
were born here.
The large Georgian House in the
Main Street where they were born, actualy named Wordsworth
House, is now in the care of the National Trust.
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Another famous son of Cockermouth
was Fletcher Christian, the man who led the mutiny on 'The Bounty'.
He was born about a mile from the town at Eaglesfield in 1764, and
attended the same school as Wordsworth.
John Dalton, born in 1766 also at Eaglesfield, was one of the most brilliant scientists of his age, and was the originator of the atomic theory. |