Stanwix

Stanwix is a district of Carlisle, Cumbria in North West England. The ward population (called Stanwix Urban) had a population taken at the 2011 census of 5,934.[1] It is located on the north side of River Eden, across from Carlisle city centre. Although long counted as a suburb it did not officially become part of the city until 1912 when part of the civil parish of Stanwix became part of the parish, city and municipal borough of Carlisle. Further areas were added to the city, which was by then a county borough, in 1934 and 1951. The remaining part of the parish was eventually renamed Stanwix Rural in 1966.[2]

This article is about the place in England. For the place in the United States, see Stanwix, Arizona.

Etymology

'Stanwix' means " 'stone wall(s)', v. 'steinn', 'veggr'... The stone walls of Congavata...gave rise to the name." [3] 'Steinn' and 'veggr' are Old Norse. Congavata was the name of the Roman fort at what became Drumburgh-by-Sands on the Solway Firth; however, it was Petriana that gave rise to the name of Stanwix.

Location

Stanwix is built on the site of a Roman fort known as Uxelodunum or Petriana. This was the largest fort on Hadrian's Wall, which adjoined the northwest edge of the fort.

St Michael's Church, Stanwix

The former village of Stanwix was centred on its church of St Michael's [4] at the top of a steep bank rising from the river Eden, close to the junction of the main road north (now the A7) with the road to the east (now the B6264). In the mid nineteenth century the district grew with many large houses built for Carlisle's expanding middle classes. Today Stanwix includes the areas of Edentown, Whiteclosegate, St Anne's Hill and Belah.

Notable buildings

Near the church today is a small parade of shops and other businesses. Morrisons and Aldi supermarkets and a Sainsbury's Local store are located in the area as well. A little further north at Kingstown is a large Asda superstore. The University of Cumbria has a campus on Brampton Road (formerly the main campus of the Cumbria Institute of the Arts). There is also a Roman Catholic private school called Austin Friars St Monica's School located at St. Anne's Hill. The course of Hadrian's Wall runs through the suburb, and the area around the church is built on the site of the fort of Uxelodunum.

A single bridge, the grade I listed Eden Bridge designed by Robert Smirke,[5] crosses the River Eden to connect Stanwix and other northern reaches of the district to Carlisle city centre. Numerous households in low-lying areas in Stanwix were badly affected by the flooding of the River Eden during the Carlisle Floods of January 2005.

The main road running northwards through Stanwix is Scotland Road, and until 2012 had the dubious distinction of carrying the same daily volume of traffic as the nearby M6 motorway. In 2012 the "northern relief road" opened, around the north-west of Carlisle, which should ease congestion.

References
  1. "Carlisle ward population 2011". Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  2. Youngs, Frederic A, Jr. (1991). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.2: Northern England. London: Royal Historical Society. p. 59. ISBN 0-86193-127-0.
  3. Armstrong, A. M.; Mawer, A.; Stenton, F. M.; Dickens, B. (1950). The place-names of Cumberland. English Place-Name Society, vol.xx. Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 109.
  4. church website
  5. England, Historic. "EDEN BRIDGE, Carlisle - 1297364| Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2017.

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