East Ward - A description

Is the largest of the four Wards into which Westmorland is divided, being in length from north to south about 23 miles, and averaging from 10 to 15 miles in breadth. It is bounded on the north by Cumberland, on the west by the West Ward, on the east by the county of Durham and Yorkshire, and on the south by the latter and a small part of Kendal Ward. A large portion of it is wild, mountainous, and moorish, but during the last 50 years most of the commons have been enclosed and cultivated, and the arable lands greatly improved. Many of the fells afford good herbage for sheep and cattle, so that the whole district is as remarkable for its pastoral as for its wild and picturesque scenery. The rivers* Eden, tees, and Lune, with a great number of their tributary streams rise within its limits, flowing from the mountains, in many places through deep and narrow dales, and in others through open and fertile vallies, the largest of which is that of the Eden, which extends the whole length of the Ward. Lead and copper are found at Hartley, copper at Asby, and lead at Dufton fells, crook, and Hilton, and Stainmore forest, and at the latter place several seams of coal are now working, besides quarries of excellent limestone and free-stone, which are also found in other parts of this interesting Ward, which contains the borough of Appleby, the market towns of Brough, Kirkby-Stephen, and Orton, with forty-three townships, comprising Temple-Sowerby, Ravenstone-dale, and several other good villages, and forming fifteen parishes, of which the following is an enumeration, with the returns of the number of inhabitants in each in 1801, 1811, and 1821; and the annual value of the lands, buildings, &c., according to the assessment for the property tax made in 1815: