This is an extensive civil parish, containing about 18,607 acres, of which upwards of 1,400 acres are mossy waste land, and a wild mountainous tract, known as Spadeadam Waste. It is in Eskdale ward and petty sessional division; the county council electoral division of Farlam, and the poor-law union, deanery, county court and rural districts of Brampton. Kingwater, Askerton, Burtholme, and Waterhead were formerly townships in the old parish of Lanercost, but according to the Local Government Act of 1894, the four were constituted distinct civil parishes; but for matters ecclesiastical the three first-mentioned remain united, under the name of the ancient parish - Lanercost. The parish derives its name from the King Water, a rivulet formed by the confluence of several mountain streams north of Gilsland, and flowing to the Irthing, near Walton. The principal landowners are the Earl of Carlisle; the Exors. of Thomas Ramshay, Esq.; J.J. Addison, Esq., J.P.; Messrs. Thomas and J.H. Ridley, Thomas Bowman, T.J. Bell, and John Rutherford. The gross rental is £5,095; the ratable value of the land, £3,581; and of the buildings, £702. The hamlet of West Hall is about six miles N. of Brampton; here is a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, erected in 1835, and enlarged in 1883. It has accommodation for 160 persons. At Nickies Hill is another Wesleyan Chapel, erected in 1838.

The village of Lees Hill is situated partly in this parish and partly in Askerton.

Near to Palmer Hill Farm is a well, called "The Holy Well," the water of which is said to possess curative properties equal to those of Gilsland.