On Cumbria

Cumbria valley

CUMBRIAN MPs WIN FUNDING FOR MOUNTAIN RESCUE

Rory Stewart, the Chairman of the APPG for Mountain Rescue, Vice-Chairs Tim Farron MP and Sir Tony Cunning MP, Treasurer John Woodcock MP and Jamie Reed MP and John Stevenson MP, along with colleagues from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mountain Rescue have today won funding for Mountain Rescue equipment across Britain. The All […]

“A POSITIVE BUDGET FOR CUMBRIA”

Penrith and The Border MP Rory Stewart has welcomed the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget Statement delivered today, commending in particular measures that will benefit Penrith and The Border and Cumbria such as the compensating of energy-intensive industries with compensation for green levies, and doubling the annual investment allowance to £500,000 until the end of […]

Hadrian’s Wall – 1800 years of Immigration

The central section of Hadrian’s Wall is one of the most remote landscapes in Britain. It is a place of scattered, isolated farms, held by the same families, sometimes perhaps since the time of the Vikings. There is no mobile signal, and few buses, let alone super-fast broadband. The ‘global world’ feels very far away. […]

Cumbria walks: valley deep, mountain high

First published in The Telegraph on 12th February 2014 From my starting point at Patterdale to the summit of Helvellyn the fog was with me, as it had been for two days. I could just make out three Herdwick sheep on the ridgeline track ahead – one chocolate brown, one dark grey and one silver. […]

Predicting the Future

Rt Hon Rory Stewart MP delivers a talk as part of the 750th anniversary celebrations of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Speaking at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, he addresses the topic of how the world might change over the next 75 years by explaining how the ancient kingdom of Northumbria morphed itself from a […]

LONGTOWN’S PAST AND FUTURE

The Longtown munitions depot, which has been threatened with closure for years, has been saved today. We have preserved two hundred jobs in an area where there is not enough good employment. It is very good news. But this story didn’t begin in 2005 when the first announcement of closure was made. In 1914 the […]

RORY ENCOURAGES CUMBRIAN BUSINESSES TO STRENGTHEN THEIR EXPORT ACTIVITIES

Rory is urging Cumbrian businesses to attend regional events during the UK Trade & Investments Export Week during the week of November 11-15, which aim to get businesses to either start exporting or expand their export activity. 130 UKTI Trade Specialists from over 70 markets will hold pre-booked 1-2-1 meetings for any company that signs […]

MPS JOIN TO INAUGURATE FIRST EVER NORTH PENNINES WALKING FESTIVAL

Rory joined parliamentary colleague and neighbouring MP for Hexham Guy Opperman on Saturday at the Roman Fort of Epiacum, just outside of Alston in Rory’s constituency, where they joined fellow local walkers to officially launch the inaugural North Pennines Walking Festival – “Inspired by the North Pennines” – coinciding also with the 75th Anniversary of […]

Forests in Cumbria

We live in what was largely ‘forest’: the medieval equivalent of the national park. Inglewood Forest between Penrith and Carlisle was sixty miles in circumference – if my maths is right 286 square miles. It touched the Forest of Allerdale. Add Nicolforest, in the North, and Gilsland, Geltsdale, Greystoke, and Skiddaw/ Thornthwaite, and more than […]