Cumberland Street

Cumberland was a county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th Century until 1974, when changes were made under the Local Government Act. It now forms part of Cumbria.

The name Cumberland County has travelled to former colonies in which the county forms the unit of local government administration. North Carolina, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia all have Cumberland Counties. So, too, does Nova Scotia in Canada.

Closer to home, in New South Wales, most of the Sydney metropolitan area is located within the County of Cumberland. Governor Arthur Phillip conferred the name in honour of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, at a gathering to celebrate the birthday of his father, King George III, in 1788. The county has been marked on maps since the start of the colony. Ernest, later King of Hanover, was an uncle of Queen Victoria.

Cumberland is home to a pork sausage which has been a local speciality in Cumbria for around 500 years. Seasoning is dominated by black and white pepper. A distinctive feature is that the meat is chopped, not minced, so the sausage has a chunky texture. The sausage is not twisted into short links, but instead is coiled, in the manner of boerewors.

The Cumberland pig was a breed originating in the North of England. A heavy pig with an upturned snout and ears that flopped forwards, the Cumberland had meat of distinctive quality and flavour that was unique. Heavy boned, slow to mature, and extremely hardy, the pig became a symbol of the region, but was allowed to die out in the early 1960s as a result of changes in farming methods and a demand for less fatty meat.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.