ABSTRACT
THE civil parish of Gosforth, covering an area of just over eleven square miles, lies on the western fringe of the Lakeland fells of Cumberland. About two miles from its western boundary is the Irish Sea, while to the north and east stand the moorlands and peaks of Copeland Forest and Eskdale, uninhabited save for hardy flocks of Herdwick sheep. The landscape of the parish reflects its position between the Lakeland hills and the undulating coastal plain, which extends from Millom in the extreme south of the county to Carlisle in the north. The southern half of Gosforth is a gently undulating plain rarely rising above 150 feet: the northern portion forms the seaward face of the western fells and the land rises north and north-east to over 900 feet on Bleng Fell and Hollow Moor. In common with all the western dales there are no sharp peaks, and the one valley which bisects the moorland is narrow and steep-sided, with a small development of flat land on the valley bottom through which runs the River Bleng.
