Conquering Cumbria by Cumbria Tourist Guides

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Cumbria’s conquerors have left something for everyone to enjoy. The county has some of Britain’s finest Roman remains – including some of the best surviving sections of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall. We can visit one of the best preserved forts along the wall at Birdoswald or stretch our legs as we walk the wall as it plunges dramatically into the valley of the River Irthing. In Carlisle – or Luguvalium as the Roman’s knew it – Tullie House holds one of the finest collections of Roman artifacts in the country, which will be brought alive by your Blue Badge Guide. From Carlisle you can journey on to marvel at the wide open skies of the Solway Firth and discover Cumbria’s wild west coast as you explore the Roman coastal defences, finishing at possibly the most spectacularly sited of all Roman remains in Britain, the fort on the Hardknott Pass.

It is not all about Romans however; their successors the Anglo-Saxons, and later the Vikings, left Cumbria with some of Britain’s best early medieval art.  Let your guide tell tales from the Ragnarok or the legend of Loki. Later in the Middle Ages Cumbria became a battleground for the armies of the English and the Scots – discover which King of England died on the marshes of the Solway firth and wander the ruined priory where he spent his final months.

Perhaps your surname is Armstrong, Bell or Graham? If so, we can trace your roots in the mysterious Debatable Lands that lie on the Scottish border and were once ravaged by the fearsome but romantic Border Reivers. Today the countryside is studded with Pele Towers, fortifications designed to protect the local population from these cross-border raids, but today turned into some of Cumbria’s finest castles and country houses. Let your guide take you to gems like Levens Hall, Muncaster Castle or Hutton-in-the-Forest.

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