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DISCOVER PENRITH, Cumbria

Penrith is a market town in the county of Cumbria (historically Cumberland), England. It is sited in the Eden Valley just north of the River Eamont, and lies less than 5km outside the boundaries of the Lake District National Park. Other local rivers bounding the town are the River Lowther, and the River Petteril.

The Rivers Petteril and Eamont are connected by a partially man-made watercourse flowing through the centre of the town known as Thacka Beck which, for many centuries, provided the town with its main water supply.

The name Penrith is Cumbric, the British language spoken in Cumbria until about the 11th century. However, there is a great deal of debate over the meaning of the name Penrith.

There are two main strands of opinion. One is that the name comes from the word for "chief ford"; the other is that it means "red hill". It is much more likely that the second theory is the correct one.

ARCHITECTURE & GEOLOGY

The main church is St. Andrew, built from 1720 to 1722 in an imposing Grecian style, abutting an earlier 13th century tower. The church yard has some ancient crosses and hogback tombstones in it known now as "Giant's Grave", and "Giant's Thumb" which is the remains of a Norse cross dated to 920 AD.

The ruins of Penrith Castle (1300s-1500s) can be seen from the adjacent railway station. The castle is run as a visitor attraction by English Heritage. To the south-east of the town are the more substantial ruins of Brougham Castle, also under the protection of English Heritage.

To the south of the town are the ancient henge sites known as "Mayburgh Henge" and "King Arthur's Round Table". Both are under the protection of English Heritage.

In the centre of the town is the Clock Tower, erected in 1861 to commemorate Philip Musgrave of Edenhall.

Penrith has been noted for the number of wells in and around the town, and well-dressing ceremonies were commonplace on certain days in the month of May. Three miles south-east of the town, on the River Eamont are the "Giants' caves", where the well was dedicated to St. Ninian. The caves are enlarged out of Lower Permian sandstones and their associated breccias and purple shales.

Just to the north of the town is the wooded signal-beacon hill, naturally named Beacon Hill. It last use was probably in 1804 in the war against Napoleon. Traditionally, the Beacon Pike was used to warn of approaching danger from Scotland. Today, although surrounded by a commercial woodland owned by Lowther Estates, the hill still contains some natural woodlands and is a popular local and tourist attraction.

On a clear day the majority of the Eden Valley, the local fells, Pennines and parts of the North Lakes can be seen. It is almost certain that the Beacon Hill gave Penrith its name - in Celtic - of "red hill".

FAMOUS PEOPLE OF PENRITH

Penrith was the home town of William Wordsworth's mother, and the poet spent some of his childhood in the town, attending the local school with Mary Hutchinson his later wife.

The MP and social reformer Samuel Plimsoll spent part of his childhood living at Page Hall in Foster Street. The row of houses at Townhead called Plimsoll Close is named after him.

Mary, the wife of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, lived in Penrith for part of her life whilst her father was minister at the Congregational Church in Duke Street.

The feature film Withnail and I features the real Penrith very briefly, but most of the filming locations were actually in and around nearby Shap. The famous "Penrith Tea Rooms" scene was filmed in Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes.

Charlie Hunnam, British actor, attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) Penrith and lived locally in the area during his teenage years. He was not well-liked at the time by people in the town, and has since been very critical of local people during his time spent in the area. It is not known if his unpopularity amongst Penrithians caused his criticisms or whether his criticisms caused his unpopularity. The Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope's mother lived for a while at a house called Carleton Hill (not be confused with Carleton Hall) just outside the town on the Alston road.

The Scottish road-builder and enigneer John Loudon Macadam the inventor of "Macadamized" roads (not Tarmacadam as that came later) lived for a while at Cockell House in Townhead. Close by Cockell House today are the streets Macadam Way and Macadam Gardens. Paul Nixon, Leicestershire wicket keeper and current England cricket international was born in Carlisle but grew up in the Penrith area.

NIGHTLIFE OF PENRITH

As it is a small town relying heavily on agriculture and associated trades, the nightlife in Penrith is not especially notable. Like other rural towns of its size, Penrith relies on public houses to form the basis of social entertainment, and was once famous for the sheer number of pubs in the town and at one time the town had 4 working breweries. There were once many more pubs in the town than there are now, and the trend of pub closure is still continuing. Despite this, there are still a considerable number of pubs in the town.

These range from traditional, small pubs that have a loyal clientele to the bigger bars which form part of the "circuit". Chief among these is 'The Warehouse' which is a large late-license pub which has a slightly more upmarket appearance, and has taken some of the older clientele from the nightclubs. In addition, there are two nightclubs, 'Blues' and 'Toppers'. Both have a reputation for underage drinking and are seen as an essential finish to the evening amongst a certain spectrum of consumer. Of the two, 'Toppers' has the slightly better - among adults - reputation and attracts an older clientele.

Penrith also has numerous dining places and restaurants. There are two traditional Italian Sardinian restaurants in the town; Giannis Pizzeria is situated close to the monument and the Villa Bianca (Glen Cottage) is close to the town hall. Penrith also has another Italian style restaurant (Dolce Vita), a Spanish restaurant (Costa's), 3 Indian restaurants, a Mexican and two Chinese. There are also numerous pubs serving traditional foods such as Cumberland Sausage and Lamb Henry as well as take away restaurants (including Indian and Chinese) situated within the vicinity of the town centre.

The Alhambra in Middlegate is a cinema with 2 screens, and is one of the last cinemas in the country to have ice creams served from trays in the auditorium and intervals during long films. The Alhambra also has an adjoining bingo hall.

Amateur dramatics and musicals are staged at the Penrith Players Theatre, Ullswater Community College and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School

SHOPPING IN PENRITH

As a small market town relying quite heavily on the tourist trade Penrith benefits from a mix of some high street chain stores and many small local specialist shops. Though as has happened with many towns of a similar size a lot of shops have given way to business such as banks, building societies and travel agents

Market days are Tuesday and Saturday. On Tuesdays there is a small outdoor market in Great Dockray and Cornmarket, once a month this is expanded to include a Farmers' Market in the Market Square as well. On Saturdays at the Auction Mart alongside the M6 motorway Junction 40 takes place Cumbria's largest outdoor market. A free bus service is provided between the Auction Mart and the town centre on Saturdays.

The main shopping areas in the town centre are Middlegate, Little Dockray, Devonshire Street/Market Square, Cornmarket, Angel Lane and the Devonshire Arcade and Angel Square precincts with some shops in Burrowgate, Brunswick Road, Great Dockray and King Street.

Some of the more widely known of the small specialist shops are J & J Graham Grocers and Delicatessen, Sportscraft, Arragons Cycle Centre, Harpers Cycles & Toymaster, Arnisons Ladies and Gents Outfitters, Confectioners The Toffee Shop and Cranstons Butchers who have a shop in King Street and also operate the Cumbrian Food Hall on Ullswater Road on the outskirts of the town. In Middlegate are branches of Woolworths, Argos, Superdrug and Burtons. While Clinton Cards, Boots the Chemist, W H Smith and Dorothy Perkins are in Angel Square. There are 2 branches of Greggs the baker who also own a large bakery in the town.

The Penrith Co-operative Society has a large department store and supermarket in Burrowgate close to the bus station. Other supermarkets in the town are Morrisons (formerly Safeway), just outside the town centre on Brunswick Road, Aldi on Ullswater Road and Somerfield (formerly Kwik Save) in King Street; there is also a branch of Spar opposite the Co-op store.

Next to Aldi are branches of Halfords and Focus DIY. The town's branch of B&Q is on Bridge Lane oppisite the hospital and health centre.

Past and present national or regional retailers who at one time had shops in Penrith include Fine Fare, Dewhursts, Gateway, Iceland, Presto Foodmarkets, Greenwoods Menswear, Fosters Menswear, Liptons, Norweb, British Gas, Walter Wilson, Freeman, Hardy and Willis and Currys.

From Wikipedia

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