Earliest meeting: Friday 28th April 1848
Final meeting: Friday 11th April 1851
The Cumberland villages of Heathfield, close to the town of Aspatria, and Stainton just 3 miles from Workington, were both chosen by West Cumberland Hunt to stage their race meetings in the middle of the 19th century. The opening meeting on Friday 28th April 1848 was on a 4 mile course on the edge of Stainton and saw Mr A Wilson’s The Rover capture the Sweepstake. On the same card Mr Wilson was once again victorious when Ettrick Shepherd won the Cumberland Sweepstake. Meetings continued for the next three years until a final meeting was arranged at Heathfield on 11th April 1851. Whilst these meetings were organised solely by West Cumberland, many more meetings were held when they teamed up with other Hunt Groups, particularly Whitehaven.

Friday 28th April 1848
Cumberland Sweepstake
1. Ettrick Shepherd, chestnut horse owned by Mr A Wilson
2. The Irishman, aged horse owned by Mr McAdam
3. The Squire, chestnut horse owned by Mr J Peel

The only recorded meeting took place on Friday 11th April 1851.

Later West Cumberland teamed up with Whitehaven to host steeplechase meetings in the latter part of the 1800s.

Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-

London Illustrated News

Racing Illustrated 1895-1899

The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated

Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough

The Sporting Magazine

A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8

Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727

ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3

652 pages

774 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0

352 pages

400 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7

180 pages

140 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4

264 pages

235 former courses