Kirkby Stephen is a market town and civil parish in Cumbria, England. It lies on the A685 and is surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about 25 miles from the nearest larger towns, Kendal and Penrith. The River Eden rises 6 miles away in the peat bogs below Hugh Seat and passes the eastern edge of the town. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,832. In 2011, it had a population of 1,522.