The Croglin, Cumberland

Historical Description

Croglin, The, a river of Cumberland. It rises among the Cross Fell or Penine Mountains, near the boundary with Northumberland, and runs 12 miles west-south-westward to the Eden, 2 miles WNW of Kirkoswald. It traverses some wild scenery, and at the Nunnery, between Croglin and Kirkoswald, plunges into a deep, dark, romantic ravine. There it first leaps through a cleft over a precipice of 40 feet, next boils with tumultuous eddy in a deep rocky caldron, then shoots off at a corner through a narrow gorge, and rushes furiously in a succession of leaps and cataracts through a chaos of obstructing rocks. The faces of the ravine are cliffs rising to the height of from 100 to 200 feet, partly bare, partly stained with lichens and mosses, partly shagged with parasitic wood. A wild path goes along one side on rude timber galleries at a giddy height, now shaded with trees, now standing blank out on the precipice, enabling a visitor to look right down on all the series of waterfall and cataract. 'The floods are roused, and will not soon be weary; Down from the Penine Alps how fiercely sweeps Croglin, the stately Eden's tributary! He raves, or through some moody passage creeps, Plotting new mischief. Out again he leaps Into broad light, and sends through regions airy That voice which soothed the nuns while on the steeps They knelt in prayer.'

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Cumberland is available to browse.