Appleby, fully Appleby-in-Westmorland, is a town in Northwest England. It is situated within a loop of the River Eden and has a population of 2,500. It is the traditional county town of Westmorland. Though traditionally a town, elsewhere a settlement of this size would be regarded as a village.

Appleby's main industry is tourism due to its remote location, scenery and closeness to the Lake District. Appleby is on the Settle-Carlisle Railway and is overlooked by the (currently closed) Appleby Castle, a predominantly Norman structure which provided the home for Lady Anne Clifford in the seventeenth century.

Unfortunately, the closure of Appleby Castle during the Summer months means that this lazy backwater remains just that almost all year round. Its main status - with very little industry in Cumbria - is to sell goods to the farming communities round about. Many residents commute to jobs elsewhere, and this means that this town has changed from a centre of rural life to - with rising rural car ownership - a relatively small and unimportant settlement. However, the annual Horse Fair, held regularly in early June since at least the 18th century, brings Gypsies from all over Britain to the town.

Appleby was a parliamentary borough, electing two members of Parliament, from medieval times; by the 18th century it had become a pocket borough, the nomination of its MPs effectively being in the gift of the Lowther family. Its representatives included William Pitt the younger, who was MP for Appleby when he became Prime Minister in 1783 (although he stood down at the following general election when he was instead elected for Cambridge University). A later member for Appleby was Viscount Howick, subsequently (as Earl Grey) the Prime Minister whose administration passed the Great Reform Act of 1832; but Grey's history as a former MP for the town did not save it from losing both its members under the Act. As the only county town to be disfranchised, Appleby was one of the more controversial cases in the debates on the reform bill, the opposition making unsuccessful attempts to amend the bill so as to save at least one of its MPs.

The town remained a municipal borough until this status was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 and replaced by Eden District Council based in Penrith. Although having the status of a municipal borough it was never the less a lot smaller in size and population than most urban districts in the country whose councils had slightly less power but incidentally larger in population than some early Westmorland UDCs eg: Grasmere and Shap.

Although Appleby is the county town of Westmorland the former county council sat in Kendal even though the assize courts were in Appleby.

External links

• town site from the local chamber of commerce.
• Appleby Horse Fair Appleby is the site of a celebrated horse fair.

English county towns | Towns in Cumbria | Westmorland | Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 | Locations featured in Time Team | Appleby-in-Westmorland