Cumbria Trivia Quiz

Answer: Northumberland

The county was formed by an act of parliament in 1974 from Cumberland, Westmorland, part of Lancashire and part of Yorkshire and is the county in the north-western corner of England. It shares a borders with Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland and the Scottish borders with the Irish sea to the west of the county.

Answer: All of these

The Jacobites captured the castle in 1745 on their way south to fight the English before their retreat and eventual defeat at Culloden. The 2005 floods inundated a large proportion of the city centre (there are 3 rivers in Carlisle) and led to a series of flood improvements although these have yet to be tested.

The Civic Centre is a big concrete tower block in one of the most obvious places in the city. Hopefully it'll get demolished soon although at the pace of life in Cumbria it might not be for a couple of centuries!

Answer: Generating Electricity of the National Grid

Calder Hall was Britain's first commercial nuclear power station but was shut down in 2003 to be decommissioned along with Windscale and various experimental reactors. Vitrification makes plutonium safer to store and the Thorp plant reprocesses fuel to allow it to be used more than once.

Answer: Scafell Pike

Scafell Pike is 978m (3,209ft) high and is the tallest mountain in England, followed by Scafell to which it is attached by Mickeldore Col. Helvellyn is the third highest in England at 950m and is infamous for people falling off Striding Edge, a high level path with long drops off both sides.Skiddaw is still a mountain at a little over 3000ft but smaller than the others being a relatively easy and popular days walking from Keswick.

Answer: John Peel

D'ya ken John Peel is a poem or song about a local huntsman who lived between 1776 and 1854 and is buried in Caldbeck. The song was first published between 1870 and 1880 by a Carlisle music publisher and is sung to the tune of "Bonnie Annie". "D'ya ken" means do you know in the local dialect. Tony Cunningham and David Maclean are both local MPs in north Cumbria.

Answer: Keswick

Keswick is a popular town for tourists in the summer with a fine selection of outdoor activities, boating and walking to be had. Kendal is the former county town of Westmorland and is found in the south of the region. Cockermouth is a small town to the west of the region where Jennings beer is brewed. Windermere - correctly Bowness-on-Windermere is found in the centre of the region on the shores of Lake Windermere.

Answer: Shipbuilding

Barrow is a famous shipbuilding port and is the place in the UK where the next generation of military submarines is being built by BAE systems. Mining has taken place in numerous places in Cumbria with iron ore still mined down Florence Mine at Egremont. Coal and other minerals were also mined in various places throughout the county and old workings can often be seen when walking on the fells. Workington was famous for steel working especially railway rails, although the steel works has now been shut.

Many of the coastal towns have fishing fleets which work the Irish sea.

Answer: Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel was born in 1890 when Ulverston was part of Lancashire and was famously one half of Laurel and Hardy in early cinema history producing a large number of silent and early talking films for 20th Century Fox and Hal Roach pictures in Hollywood. He died in 1965, but his films have retained popularity to the present day.

Answer: Gingerbread

Grasmere gingerbread is very different from the gingerbread you can buy in your local bakers with a crumbly texture - it's really tasty! Lamb can be bought locally in most of Cumbria.

Answer: Whitehaven

Whitehaven was attacked by Jones in 1778 where he intended to burn the coal fleet in the port. At the time Whitehaven was one of the busiest ports in the country and the effect could have been devastating. He was defeated however by the weather being too wet (according to the Americans) or by all his sailors getting blind drunk (according to local legend).