ROSE CASTLE, the seat of the Bishop of Carlisle, in the centre of the N of Cumberland; on the river Caldew7 miles S S W of Carlisle. An ancient castle, which gavename to it, was a halting-place of Edward I. in 1300, in his progress against Scotland; was burnt by the Scots in 1322 and 1337; and was dismantled, by the parliamentarians, in the civil wars of Charles I. The present edifice was originally a renovation and extension of the ancient pile; was so frequently altered, in different stylesby successive bishops, as to lose its pristine character; was all reconstructed, in good taste, by Bishop Percy, after designs by Rickman; has an elegant interior; and stands amid terraced and finely-wooded grounds. An oldkeep, called Strickland's Tower, built about 1400, standsa little apart.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))