Carlisle City Wall

In the civil parish of Carlisle.
In the historic county of Cumberland (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

Medieval wall following line of Roman bank. William Rufus is reported to have 'set up walls' in 1092. Walls built in stone, possibly from as early as 1130. First murage grant 1232 and then almost continuously after in C13, less frequently in C14 and in first half of C15. West Wall survives and fragment of north wall. Wall dates from C12 with extensive repairs of different periods until current.

This site has been described as a;
Urban Defence.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Certain.
Major remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This site is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 386573, 386574, 386918)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY396562

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 10650, 10651, 1087722, 1087731

County Sites and Monuments Record number; 5058, 3610

• Web site links
  • http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/maps/carlisle1815.gif
• Books
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p24, 65, 66, 114, 145, 197-8, 222, 224, 227, 230, 268, 278
    Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS)
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p33
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p38
    Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p97
    Hugill, Robert, 1977, Castles and Peles of Cumberland and Westmorland (Newcastle; Frank Graham) p60-63
    Gosling, P.F., 1976, Carlisle: an archaeological survey of the historic town in Clack, P.A.G. and Gosling, P.F. (eds) Archaeology in the North p165-8
    Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71 plan p61
    Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p100-2
    Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1967, Buildings of England: Cumberland and Westmorland (Harmondsworth) p99-100
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p664-673
    Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal) p111-5, 118-9
    Jefferson, S., 1838, History of Carlisle (Carlisle) esp p279-82
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p237
• Journal Articles
  • McCarthy, M.R., 1980, ‘Excavations on the city defences, Carlisle' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol80 p69-78
    Jones, B.C., 1976, 'The topography of Medieval Carlisle' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol76 p77-96
    Perriam, D.R., 1976, 'The demolition of Carlisle city walls' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol76 p184-98
    Hogg, 1962, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol62 p326-7
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Rothwell, H. (ed), 1975, English Historical Documents 1189-1327 p610-1 [siege of 1315]
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain [http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities7.htm]
    William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/cumbeng.html#cumb21]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p94
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p52