Changes once again for part of historic Yorkshire April 1, 2023
The area around
Now Cumbria, established as an administrative county in 1974, has been split in two as both it and its district councils are abolished.
The parts of Yorkshire which were in South Lakeland district are now in a new larger Westmorland & Furness unitary authority forming the south-eastern half of the Cumbria split and stretching from Barrow-in-Furness to Penrith.
Westmorland was one of Britain's historic counties, not as old as Yorkshire but with origins in the 13th century. The new district, while including the name, does not match the historic county boundaries but those of three of the 1974 district authorities — Barrow, South Lakeland and Eden.
The Furness of the name reflects the parts of pre-1974 Lancashire in the new authority. Westmorland & Furness includes the part of Yorkshire moved in 1974 and also includes a part of historic Cumberland around Penrith, which is currently the Eden district.
The other new unitary authority formed from the north-west half of the Cumbria split is in fact called Cumberland but will exclude the area around Penrith and therefore not match the pre-1974 historic county of Cumberland.
The new Westmorland & Furness authority will retain offices in Barrow, Penrith and its principal base of Kendal, which was the centre of the South Lakeland district.
Kendal has Westmorland's County Hall, built at the end of the 1930s after Kendal had become the meeting place of the Westmorland County Council. However, Appleby was for many centuries the original Westmorland county town.
The area around