Stretches along the south bank of the river Eden, and is bounded on its other sides by Stanwix, Kirkandrews, and St. Mary's, Carlisle. It comprises 838 statute acres of ratable land, of which the gross estimated rental is £1,675, and the assessment value £1,375. The parish is comprised within Cumberland ward and petty sessional division; the county council electoral division of Dalston; the county court district, poor law union, and rural district of Carlisle, and the deanery of Carlisle N.

The soil is a deep rich loam, and is in an advanced slate of cultivation. The commons were enclosed in 1808, previous to which time the southern portion of the parish (about 450 acres) was an unproductive marshy tract, but now under the careful hand of cultivation abundant crops are raised. The parish was intersected by the Roman Wall and vallum. All trace of the latter has been almost entirely obliterated, and the site of the former is now occupied by the footpath leading from Grinsdale along the river side towards Carlisle. Some years ago, there were, near the site of the wall, the remains of two large square entrenchments, but they have been levelled, and no traces of them are now to be seen.

The Manor of Grinsdale, which is co-extensive with the parish, forms a portion of the barony of Burgh, and was, at, an early period, possessed by a family bearing the local name, the last of whom was Henry de Grinsdale, who lived in the reign of King John. He left two daughters, co-heiresses, whose descendants sold their inheritance in the reign of Henry IV, to the Dentons, of Cardew. About the year 1686, George Denton, Esq., sold his portion of the manor to Sir James Lowther; and the other moiety had been previously sold to the tenants. The principal landowners are Miss Sibson, Richard Robson, Mrs. Graham, Knockupworth Hall; Mrs. Graham, Silloth; John Holme, Botcherby; John Nixon, and Mrs. Blackburn.

The village of Grinsdale is 2½ miles N.W. of Carlisle.

The Church, dedicated to the Scottish saint, Mungo, or Kentigern, was originally possessed of rectorial privileges; but in the reign of Henry II, Hugh de Morville, lord of the barony of Burgh, granted it to the canons of Lanercost Priory. From this time until the dissolution of monasteries, it was served by a monk from Lanercost, without any vicarial endowment. After the suppression of monastic houses, the rectory and advowson were given by Edward VI to Sir Thomas Dacre. No religious services appear to have been held in the church after the Reformation, until 1741, and the building went to ruin, but the descendants of Sir Thomas Dacre still continued to appoint a curate, with a salary of forty shillings yearly. The only tithe paid by the parishioners is the above sum, which was reserved to maintain the patron's ecclesiastical rights or Easter dues. The church was rebuilt about 1740, by Joseph Dacre, Esq. It was restored in 1895, at a cost of about £550, raised by subscriptions, chiefly through the exertions of the Rev. M.S. Donald, the then vicar. The old ceiling was removed, and the church entirely re-roofed, re-seated, and re-floored with wood. The living, which has received several grants from Queen Anne's Bounty, with which land has been purchased, is now worth £130 per annum, and is held under the " Pluralities Acts Amendment Act," by the Rev. Joseph Chapelhow, D.D.