Clifton | |
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Old Church |
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Clifton shown within Cumbria | |
Population | 497 (2011) |
OS grid reference | NY5326 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | PENRITH |
Postcode district | CA10 |
Dialling code | 01768 |
Police | Cumbria |
Fire | Cumbria |
Ambulance | North West |
EU Parliament | North West England |
UK Parliament | |
Clifton is a small linear village and civil parish 3 miles (4.8 km) south east of Penrith in Cumbria, England.
The civil parish of Clifton has its western boundary defined by the River Lowther, to the north and east lie the civil parishes of Brougham and Great Strickland, to the south is the civil parish of Lowther. The village of Clifton has a church, primary school, and a pub. Most of the hamlet of Clifton Dykes (on the C3047 road) also lies within the parish. The name of this was shown as Longchimney on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1897, and then as Clifton Dikes on the later second edition. The current spelling was settled on more recently.
Clifton Dykes has been suggested as the (pre-Roman conquest) centre of the Carvetti, an Iron Age and Roman-period 'tribe', one that possibly led a resistance against Roman forces in 69 A.D. under the leadership of Venutius. This is based upon the evidence of a large (c.7 acre) Iron Age enclosure discovered there, plus assumptions about its strategic importance on the Eden Valley communication routeway. However, this has been disputed: the Carvetii may have always been centred on Carlisle even before the Romans set up Luguvalium and Venutius may not have been Carvetiian.
Clifton Moor was the site, in 1745, of the final battle in England (and the last battle ever on English soil) between Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Duke of Cumberland.
The story of a local family, the Wybergs, whose property was forcibly sold by Oliver Cromwell in 1652, is told in Sir Walter Scott's novel, Waverley, which also features the battle on Clifton Moor.