PENRITH, a market-town of Cumberland, England, is situated near the river Eamont, and on the Lancaster and Carlisle section of the London and North-Western Railway, 18 miles south of Carlisle, and 5 north-east of Ullswater. The town consists chiefly of one long and wide street. To the -west once stood an ancient castle, erected as a protection against the Scots, on the site of an old Roman encampment. But it was dismantled by Charles I.; the ruins still remain. The principal public buildings are the grammar-school, founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1566, the-agricultural hall, the mechanics’ institute, and the working-men’s literary institute. There are breweries, tanneries, and saw-mills, but the town depends chiefly on agriculture. The population of the urban sanitary district in 1871 was 8317, and in 1881 it was 9268.

Old Penrith, the Bremetenracum of the Romans, was about 5 miles north by west of the present town. At the Conquest the honour of Penrith was a royal franchise; but it was alternately in the possession of the English and Scottish kings until given to Anthony Beck, bishop of Durham, by Edward I. The town more than once lapsed to the crown. In 1696 it was granted to William Bentinck, earl of Portland, and in 1783 it was sold by the duke of Portland to the duke of Devonshire.