“ Clock and watch-making seems to have been an important trade here in the 18th century. The town suffered much from the incursions of the Scots, and Ralph, earl of Westmorland, who died 1426, built the castle, but a tower called the Bishop's Tower had been previously erected on the same site. In 1597–1598 a terrible visitation of plague attacked the town, in which, according to an old inscription on the church, 2260 persons perished in Penrith, by which perhaps is meant the rural deanery. During the Civil War the castle was dismantled by the Royalist commandant. ”

“ Though there are breweries, tanneries and saw-mills, the town depends mainly on agriculture. There are some ruins of a castle erected as a protection against the Scots. Near Penrith on the south, above the precipitous bank of the Eamont, stands a small but beautiful old castellated house, Yanwath Hall. ”

“ Pop. of urban district (1901) , 9182. It contains some interesting brasses. A 14th-century grammar school was re founded by Queen Elizabeth; and there are two mansions dating from the same reign, which have been converted into inns. ”