Claife

{{Short description|Civil parish in Cumbria, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Infobox UK place

| static_image_name = View Towards Wray Castle and the Langdale Pikes - geograph.org.uk - 1550044.jpg

| static_image_caption = Wray Castle and the Langdale Pikes

| official_name = Claife

| country = England

| region = North West England

| os_grid_reference = SD3795

| coordinates = {{coord|54.370|-2.960|display=inline,title}}

| population = 298

| population_ref = (2011)

| civil_parish = Claife {{Cite web|url=https://www.claifeparishcouncil.org.uk/|title=Claife Parish Council | Claife PCC| - HOME|website=www.claifeparishcouncil.org.uk}}

|unitary_england= Westmorland and Furness

|lieutenancy_england= Cumbria

| constituency_westminster = Westmorland and Lonsdale

| post_town = AMBLESIDE

| postcode_district = LA22

| postcode_area = LA

| dial_code = 01539

| pushpin_map = United Kingdom South Lakeland

| pushpin_map_caption = Location in South Lakeland

}}

Claife is a civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness Unitary Authority of Cumbria, England. It is situated west of Windermere, and east of Esthwaite Water and the village of Hawkshead. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 392,{{cite web | url=http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/eLibrary/Content/Internet/536/642/1369/3936414473.pdf | title=Parish information from the 2001 census | publisher=Cumbria County Council | accessdate=14 February 2009 | archive-date=29 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229075640/https://www.cumbria.gov.uk/eLibrary/Content/Internet/536/642/1369/3936414473.pdf | url-status=dead }} reducing to 298 at the 2011 census.{{NOMIS2011|id=E04002595|title=Claife Parish|access-date=28 April 2021}} Settlements in the parish include two villages, Near and Far Sawrey in the south; and the hamlets of High Wray, Low Wray, Colthouse and Loanthwaite in the north.

In the central area of the parish is Claife Heights, a hilly area which rises to {{convert|800|ft}} above sea level at Latterbarrow and contains several tarns.{{cite web | title='Townships: Claife', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8 (1914) | publisher=University of London & History of Parliament Trust | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53337 | page=380 | accessdate=14 February 2009}} There is one major road in the parish, the B5285 connecting Hawkshead to the Windermere Ferry terminus at Far Sawrey.

At Low Wray is Wray Castle, a 19th-century house and grounds now owned by the National Trust. Many of the woodlands in the parish, including the area alongside Windermere are part of the National Trust's Hawkshead and Claife property.{{cite web | url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hawksheadandclaife/ | title=Hawkshead and Claife | publisher=National Trust | accessdate=14 February 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205213230/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-hawksheadandclaife/ | archive-date=5 February 2009 | url-status=dead }}