The Cumbria County History Trust (CCHT) is a charity (Registered Charity Number 1137379), set up in 2010 with the aim of producing a permanent detailed record of the history of Cumbria. Our website aims to be the major online resource for the history of Cumbria.
Together with Lancaster University we are working on the Victoria County History (VCH) of Cumbria, part of a renowned national project to write the history of every place in England. All the work is being done by volunteers, under the overall direction of Dr Fiona Edmonds and Dr James Bowen (maternity cover for Dr Sarah Rose) from the Regional Heritage Centre, which is located within the History Department at Lancaster University.
Prior to the launch of the VCH Cumbria project in 2010, no VCH town or village histories had been published for the historic counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. 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, for the bulk of the county the VCH Cumbria project is starting from scratch.
A team of over 100 volunteers from across Cumbria has compiled brief histories for each of the 348 parishes/townships in the county, forming a springboard for future work. These have been edited for consistency by Professor Angus Winchester. You can access these through the Interactive Map, the Township list, or the Search engine on the CCHT website. They are also available in print form from Lancaster University Regional Heritage Centre
A smaller core of volunteers is researching and writing full parish/township histories to the VCH template, which will eventually form part of the national work of local historical reference. The following parish/township histories have already been completed in draft form and can be accessed and downloaded now. They are: MOSSER, RENWICK, SKELSMERGH, HELSINGTON, GAMBLESBY, ANGERTON, NATLAND, KIRKOSWALD, STAFFIELD
Any interested individual, history and heritage society, museum, or commercial organisation can join CCHT. Ordinary membership is £25 per annum. To join CCHT, please see the website, there is a link to it in the title panel.