CLIMATE 
ITUATED as Cumberland is at the extreme north-west angle of 
the map of England, it is usually assumed that the temperature, 
particularly during the winter, must necessarily be very severe. 
In particular, the mountain valleys are commonly supposed to be 
intensely cold at that season, but the thermometer, far from countenanc- 
ing this opinion, shows that the inhabitants enjoy a milder climate than 
those who reside in the open country. In winter, for instance, the mean 
of the night temperature is several degrees higher than at Cockermouth, 
Wigton, or Carlisle, in the open plain, where the frost is generally more 
severe. The indications of the thermometer are in accordance with my 
own observations during a residence of twenty years in the very centre of 
the Lake district where it was not unusual to find the roads over the open 
commons frozen quite hard, when they were found to be soft and clammy 
in the valleys among the hills. The late J. F. Miller, F.R.S., in the 
Philosophical Transactions, has the following remarks bearing on this ques- 
tion: ‘The mean temperature of the winter months at Chiswick in 
Middlesex is nearly the same as in the Lake district, whilst a much 
greater extreme of cold is frequently felt there than in the north. In the 
neighbourhood of the metropolis the thermometer sometimes indicates a 
degree of cold almost unknown in these districts. Thus on the night 
between the 11th and 12th of February, 1847, the temperature at 
Greenwich fell to 6°, at Chiswick to 4°, and at Uckfield in Sussex to 
1°, when at Seathwaite in Borrowdale the minimum was 24'5°, and the 
minimum for the month 20°.’ 
Except in the Alston district and part of the valley of the South 
Tyne river, which has its sources in the eastward slopes of the Pennines, 
the whole county of Cumberland slopes towards the south and west, and 
this exposure constitutes another factor in modifying the severity of its 
climate. During the winter season a very large amount of snow often 
occurs alike on the Pennine range and the more lofty peaks of the 
Cumbrian group, where it frequently remains until the advent of spring ; 
but in near proximity to the coast the snowfall is inconsiderable in 
quantity and mostly is quickly dissolved. 
The rainfall among the hills towards the south of the county is 
frequently excessive and as Mr. J. G. Symonds, who for many years 
ublished an account of British rainfall, has remarked, ‘There is no 
doubt that the Lake district is one of excessive rain, there being some 
parts of it which have seven times as much as London; but if not, where 
would be the lakes, or to my mind the still more charming tarns? Aira 
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