Brampton
Brampton, with a population of some 4,300, is built of local sandstone and situated in a hollow formed by glacial action which took place during the ice-age.
In the centre of the town is the octagonal Moot Hall, built in 1817, with an external staircase to its upper entrance, pointed windows and a square turret. The building now houses the Tourist Information Centre. East of the town is an exceptionally large motte, about 135 feet high. On it is a statue of the 7th Earl of Carlisle.
St Martin’s Church is famous as the only church designed by the Pre-Raphaelite architect Philip Webb, and contains one of the most exquisite sets of stained glass windows designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and executed in the William Morris studio. The Old Parish Church, on the outskirts of the town, was built from stone from Hadrian’s Wall, and was in use until 1878, when the new church replaced it. Only the Chancel now remains.
Talkin Tarn Country Park lies two miles south-east of Brampton on the B6413 Castle Carrock road. There is a 65 acre lake set amid 120 acres of farmland and woodland. The tarn is an ideal place for active recreation or a quiet stroll through the mature woodlands.
About two miles south of Brampton is Gelt Woods, a delightful walk, and also an RSPB nature reserve. In the woods is a rock with an inscription carved by a Roman soldier in the 3rd Century.
Hadrian’s Wall is the most important monument built by the Romans in Britain. It stretches seventy-three miles from Wallsend near Newcastle, across the neck of England to the Solway in North West Cumbria. Within Cumbria are Banks Turret, near Brampton, and Birdoswald Roman Fort, a few miles away.
To the East is Lanercost Priory, founded about 1166 by Henry II in 1166. When completed in 1220, canons came from the priory in Norfolk, and remained for some 370 years until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, by Henry VIII.
Brampton railway station is on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, serving the town of Brampton. The station is located about a mile southeast of the town, near the village of Milton. In former times a short branch line ran from the station into Brampton town centre. This line closed in 1923, and the route turned into a public footpath.
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Grid Ref : NY 528610