The Romans had a cavalry station, Maglona, known locally as Old Carlisle, just to the south of the town with a large vicus (civilian settlement) associated with it.

From this location they could react to incursions from north of Hadrian's Wall, using the Roman road to sally east or west before traversing northward across the countryside.

Probably of Anglian origin, Wigton was an established settlement in the Kingdom of Northumbria long before the Normans arrived in the area.

Odard de Logis became William II's Sheriff of Carlisle and was made Baron of Wigton about 1100 AD[4] when it became a Norman barony.

Although the town's layout is generally Anglian or medieval, its architecture is mainly in the 18th-century Georgian style which remains largely intact.

After reaching a maximum enrolment of 250 or so in the 1970s and 1980s, the school closed, following sustained drop-off in student numbers and, finally, damage by fire.

Highmoor Bell tower, built during the Industrial Revolution and completed in 1887, played tunes three times daily.

The curfew attracted national attention, with the local secondary school receiving visits from agencies such as Sky News.

In 1936 the British New Wrap Co Ltd was formed in Wigton, Cumberland, and production of cellulose film began at the site which had previously been a jam-making facility, and then set up to produce "artificial silk" or Rayon.

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Border.