ABSTRACT
Copeland is an ancient name for a relatively new unit of local and national government, Copeland, which contains most of the old area of Allerdale above Derwent. It comprises a large part of West Cumbria, and it is West Cumbria in a rather general sense that the author wishes to discuss. The new county of Cumbria takes in the old counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, and parts of northern Lancashire and north-western Yorkshire. It covers, in effect, the mountain massif of Lakeland, and the areas surrounding it on all sides. When the population of England thinks of Cumberland and Westmorland, or Cumbria, or the Lake District, it is the mountains, lakes and valleys which come to mind. The area has great symbolic importance in the intellectual and moral history of England. The interest of the social geographers in 'conceptual maps', while useful, seems to want for an awareness of the multi-dimensionality of conceptual spaces of this kind.
