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The majority of the population lives in the narrow coastal strip of which Whitehaven is the main settlement. This fine Georgian town developed into a major port in the mid 18th century for exporting coal and importing sugar, rum & tobacco etc, and retains many excellent examples of the architecture of this period.
Copeland also boasts England’s deepest lake, Wastwater and Englands highest mountain, Scafell Pike. The area is characterised by a superb western coastline that contrasts and complements the mountains and lakes that lie to the east within the National Park.
The main road and rail links extend along the coastal belt. The A595 joins the A66 to provide a northerly link to the M6 at Junction 40, and the A590 links south Copeland with Kendal and the M6.
The modern Borough of Copeland came into being in 1974 when the County of Cumbria (combining the counties of Cumberland & Westmorland) came into existence as part of a government re-organisation of the countries administrative areas. It was formed from the existing District Councils of Whitehaven, Ennerdale, Bootle & Millom. The Cockermouth district council was made part of the Borough of Allerdale situated to the north of Copeland.
This re-arrangement that transferred the most northern parishes of the ancient deanery of Copeland into the new Borough of Allerdale meant that the parishes of Moresby, Distington, Arlcedon, Lamplugh & Ennerdale now formed the northern border of Copeland; and
the River Duddon, the old Cumberland / Lancashire border, still defined the southern border.
The administrative centre is the town of Whitehaven and further information concerning the modern borough of Copeland can be found at their web-site www.copeland.gov.uk
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