Historic Carlisle

Carlisle is steeped in history - literally. Wherever you go in the city centre, you are walking in the footsteps of Brigantian tribes, Roman soldiers, early missionaries, medieval traders, Cromwellian troops, Jacobite rebels and countless generations of ordinary people that once occupied this great Border city.

Our story begins in the Iron Age when the Brigantes ruled over much of northern England. The Carvetti (a sub-tribe of the Brigantes) occupied the Eden Valley and probably regarded Carlisle as a place of some importance, as the name is linked to the Celtic god, Lugh. This evolved into ‘Caer Luel' and then to the modern name of ‘Carlisle'.

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