The parish comprises the townships of East and West Farlam. The ratable land is estimated at 5,080 acres, of which the gross rental is £7,716, and assessment value £6,724. Lying near to the backbone of England, the surface of the parish is generally of a hilly character. Coal is found, and is worked extensively by Messrs. Thompson & Sons; limestone is also abundant, and is quarried on a large scale at Forest Head, by Henry Proud. The soil about Milton is light and gravelly, but in the neighbourhood of Kirkhouse and Farlam Hall is rich and loamy. The manor of Farlam, or Farleham, anciently a fee of Gilsland, was given Hubert de Vallibus to one Walter de Windsor, whose posterity took the name of Farlam. In the reign of Edward III, John de Farlam, having no issue, devised the manor to Ranulph de Dacre and Margaret Multon, his wife, through whom the barony of Gilsland came into the possession of the Dacres. The manor has ever since passed with the barony, and is now held by the Earl of Carlisle; the following also are landowners - Chas. Lacy Thompson, Esq., J.P. and D.L., Farlam Hall; Mrs. Thompson, Milton Hall; Messrs. Geo. & John Proud; Geo. Bell; John Jas. Bell; Joseph Bell; Samuel Blackburn, Gilsland; Miss Annie Waugh; and Mrs. Hannah Mitchell.

EAST FARLAM township contains a village of its own name, and the hamlets of Kirkhouse and Hallbankgate. Its area is returned with the parish.

The Church, dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket, is a plain stone building, in the Early English style, erected in 1860, at a cost of about £2,000. It consists of nave, chancel, and one aisle, and occupies a site near the old one adjoining the hamlet of Kirkhouse. Farlam boasted its church as early as the year 1169, when it was included in the munificent grant of Robert de Vallibus to the Prior of Lanercost, which he had founded. This Robert was a stout warrior and bravely defended Carlisle Castle against the Scots, under Roger de Mowbray and Adam de Porz. The present dedication is more modem than the original edifice. St. Thomas à Becket, the doughty champion of the Church's liberty against royal assumption, was murdered in his cathedral church of Canterbury, the year following the grant to Lanercost Priory, and his canonisation did not take place for nearly a century after that event. At the dissolution this church, along with the other possessions of the priory, was granted to Sir Thomas Dacre, and is now in the patronage and impropriation of the Earl of Carlisle. The present building has accommodation for 400 worshippers. The Hon. Charles Howard, of Naworth Castle. presented the ground for the site, and also contributed £500 towards its erection; Mrs. Maria Thompson gave £200, a new organ, and also erected the pictorial east window as a memorial of her late husband, James Thompson, Esq. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted £200, and the parishioners also contributed  handsomely towards the cost of erection. The living, now worth £130, is held by the Rev. Thomas Smith, M.A. The parish is free from tithes. The Board School is a commodious structure with accommodation for 250 scholars, average attendance 170. The Spelter Works Board School is also in this parish. The Mechanic's Institute was established in 1857. It contains a reading room and a library of about 700 volumes, and is well supported by the inhabitants. The Wesleyan Methodists have a chapel at Hallbankgate erected in 1856. It has since been enlarged and has now accommodation for about 400 persons. The interior is neatly fitted up, and contains a marble tablet to the memory of Mrs. Pears, wife of Mr. Henry Pears, who contributed largely to the original cost of the building. A Co-operative Industrial Society was established in Hallbankgate in 1873, and is now in a flourishing nourishing condition. The members number 746.

The Hall, used for concerts, lectures, etc., was erected by the then vicar, the Rev. C.F. Gunton at a cost of £1,400. It is now the property of Mrs. C. Lacy Thompson. The Band room close to is the property of Mr. C. Lacy Thompson.

WEST FARLAM contains the village of Milton, one and a half miles from Brampton. The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway passes through the parish and has a station here. A tramline was constructed some years ago by the Earl of Carlisle for the conveyance of coal from his pits. It stretches through the whole parish, forming a junction between the line mentioned and a branch line to Alston.